Podcast
13: Defending Rights in India Amid Covid and Repression
We devote the whole episode to a conversation with Indian social justice campaigner, Harsh Mander, a renowned activist on the rights of the poor, the marginalized and those suffering from identity-based hatred. He has worked in a host of campaigns including access to health services and food security, and against homelessness and child labour, and he has taken a passionate stand against xenophobia and discrimination. In 2019, Mander fought to prevent passage of the Citizenship Amendment Act, introduced by the Hindu nationalist government of Narendra Modi and widely perceived to be discriminatory against Muslims. But the law passed in December of that year despite large protests, and a new blow followed just weeks later when the pandemic surged and the Modi administration ordered a sudden and violent lockdown.
Harsh Mander talks with host Akwe Amosu and her colleague Chris Stone, principal moderator of the Symposium on Strength and Solidarity for Human Rights, about the impact of both Covid 19 and political repression on human rights in India.