NAPM alleges ban on meet, Admn denies

LUCKNOW: The National Alliance of People’s Movements (NAPM), as part of its ongoing campaign against communalism, will organise a two-day workshop on ‘communal harmony’ on September 25 and 26 at Press Club, Faizabad.
The organisers of the event said that they had not sought permission from the district administration as the workshop was supposed to be a close door affair to be attended by NAPM activists only and not a public programme.
They alleged that the district administration had banned this workshop and issued orders not to allow Sandeep Pandey and Swami Agnivesh to hold any event in Faizabad district. The district administration by banning this workshop had denied the basic fundamental right to freedom of expression to volunteers belonging to different organisations including NAPM, they alleged.
Distinguished persons like Dr Nirmala Deshpande, former MP, Medha Patkar, Narmada Bachao Andolan activist, Swami Agnivesh, senior journalists like Praful Bidwai and Achin Vinayak, Prof KM Chenoy, Prof Anuradha Chenoy of JNU, Prof Roop Rekha Verma of Lucknow University and Magasasay awardee Sandeep Pandey are the likely speakers at the workshop.
The organisers said that NAPM’s national convener Sandeep Pandey had assured the district magistrate of Faizabad that the event would be peaceful and that his organisation would cooperate with the district administration in maintaining law and order situation. He even assured the DM that in the face of any confrontation, the NAPM was even willing to withdraw its programme but the administration did not agree and had banned the event.