Lok
Swaraj Abhiyan
10th May 2000
Aughadnath Mandir, Kalipaltan
Meerut Chaavani
1857
is a historically important day for the people of our country
since it reminds us of the First War of Independence which got
the ignition at the temple premises of Lord Shiva, by Mangal
Pande. The war was fought by all, irrespective of the
caste and religion and the result was an Independent India. The
freedom fighters at Meerut celebrate this historical day every
year and bring out procession through all the places of significance
associated with the First War of Independence. This year
the celebrations assumed extraordinary significance because
of the call heralding the launch of Lok Swaraj Movement from
the same place, to assert people’s sovereignty over decisions
and resources that affect their lives and livelihood –
food, seed, land, water and the commons and to save the country
being hijacked by a new form of colonialism. On
this day Navdanya and Freedom Fighters Association, Meerut,
together with numerous other groups and farmers associations
initiated the Lok Swaraj Movement by taking pledge to begin
another freedom movement – a movement to defend our basic
sovereignties and survival. The
Lok Swaraj Movement aims to create synergies between different
movements for people’s sovereign control over food for
anna swaraj,seed for bija
swaraj, land for bhu swaraj,
water for jal swaraj, forests and
commons for van swaraj. The
peoples’s collective power can challenge the illegitimate
power of global corporations, World Bank, IMF, WTO. The
Lok Swaraj Movement seeks to reverse the devastation of globalisation,
privatisation and liberalisation by asserting our rights and
defending our sovereignty. The
message of freedom was carried through rotis in the First War
of Independence. The message of Lok Swaraj is being disseminated
through the distribution of baskets of Swaraj Sandesh –
with basmati rice symbolising anna and bija swaraj, neem seeds
symbolising van swaraj, the water from historic Meerut well
symbolising jal swaraj and soil from the organic farms symbolising
bhu swaraj. Smt
Sakuntala Devi ji, 93 year young fiery freedom fighter,who had
gone to jail to jail several times during her struggle
for independence distributed the baskets of swaraj sandesh and
blessed the respective candidates from almost all the states
for exhorting them to spread the Lok Swaraj Abhiyan so as to
maintain the freedom she and her compatriots won through their
sacrifice, for all times to come. For
further details contact:
Navdanya, New Delhi
e-mail: rfste@ndf.vsnl.net.in |
