Democracy Dialogues Lecture Series ( Webinar)
Organised by New Socialist Initiative
3rd Lecture
Topic: State of the Judiciary and
Reforms Required
Speaker: Prashant Bhushan, (eminent
Supreme Court lawyer and civil rights activist)
Date and Time: Sunday, September 20, 2020 at 6
PM IST
ZOOM Meeting ID- 832 3640 0368
Pssward- Webinar1
Facebook Live on - http://fb.com/
About the Democracy Dialogues Series :
The idea behind
this series - which we would like to call 'Democracy Dialogues' - is basically
to initiate as well as join in the on-going conversation around this theme in
academic as well as activist circles.
We feel that
the very idea of democracy which has taken deep roots across the world, has
come under scanner for various reasons. At the same time we have been witness
to the ascendance of right-wing forces and fascistic demagogues via the same
democratic route. There is this apparently anomalous situation in which the
spread and deepening of democracy have often led to generating mass support for
these reactionary and fascistic forces.
Coming to
India, there have been valid concerns about the rise of authoritarian streak
among Indians and how it has helped strengthen BJP's hard right turn. The
strong support for democracy here is accompanied by increasing fascination
towards majoritarian-authoritarian politics. In fact, we would like to state
that a vigorous electoral democracy here has become a vehicle for hindutva-ite
counterrevolution.
The inaugural lecture in
the series was delivered by Prof Suhas Palshikar on
12 th July 2020. The theme of Prof Palshikar’s presentation was TRAJECTORY OF INDIA’S DEMOCRACY AND CONTEMPORARY CHALLENGES.
Pratap Bhanu Mehta delivered the second lecture on
THE STRUCTURAL CONTRADICTIONS OF INDIAN DEMOCRACY AND THE RISE OF THE BJP on 16
th August 2020.
