Manthan Samvaad centres on current political situation, decrease in liberalism

 Hyderabad: The 11th edition of Manthan Samvaad saw several experts and luminaries take part in political and intellectual discourses ranging from Mahatma Gandhi to patriotism and constitutional rights.

The first speaker on the day was retired judge S. Muralidhar, who spoke on the topic ‘M.K. Gandhi: The Lawyer: a precursor to the Mahatma’, discussing Gandhi’s reading habits, efforts to keep himself informed and accepting mistakes upon losing cases.

“As a lawyer, he advocated uniting people and not prolonging conflicts. Gandhiji was meticulous in reading details of the case. Fighting for rights, righteously, in the right places, including courts, made Gandhi the leader he was,” he said.

Yamini Aiyer, the president of the Centre for Policy Research, New Delhi, spoke on ‘Citizens vs Labharti?’, in the context of research and reflection being considered anti-national. She discussed the dangers of encouraging a politics of ‘Vishwaas’, where loyalty is sought in exchange for welfare.

Niraja Gopal Jayal, a politics professor at King's College in London, the UK, addressed the audience on the topic ‘The Question of Academic Freedom’, discussing a decline in academic freedom and democracy, as reported by a Swedish think-tank.

Citing a report, she said that of 243 cases of violation of academic freedom, 37 were from the country. “India, unlike other developing countries, does not have a legal framework to protect academic freedom, despite its commitment to democracy being robust,” she said, calling for academic freedom to be considered a Constitutional right.

Other speakers included Hindi poet and satirist Sampat Saral and Arghya Sengupta, founder-director of Vidhi Centre for Legal Policy, who addressed the public and took questions on the Constitution of India, its function, interpretation and amendments.