Bombay HC Tells CPI(M): ‘Be Patriots—Focus on India, Not Gaza

In an observation that could potentially spark off a legal and political issue, the Bombay High Court on Friday dismissed a petition filed by the Communist Party of India (Marxist) challenging the Mumbai Police’s refusal to grant permission for a protest meeting at Azad Maidan to register protest against the alleged Israeli genocide in Gaza asking the political party to show patriotism for the citizens of India first.

The observations has come from a division bench of the Bombay High Court comprising Justice Ravindra Ghuge and Justice Gautam Ankhad, where the CPI (M) has filed a plea to challenge Mumbai Police’s rejection of application filed by All India Peace and Solidarity Foundation (AIPSF), which had applied for permission to stage a protest at Azad Maidan, a designated place for protest and rallies.

Senior Counsel Mihir Desai, a human rights lawyer and civil rights activist, appeared on behalf of the petitioner.

“Our country has enough issues. We don’t want anything like this. I am sorry to say, you are all short-sighted. You are looking at issues in Gaza and Palestine. Look at your own country. Be patriots. This is not patriotism. People say they are patriots. You are an organisation registered in India. If you could take up issues like garbage dumping, pollution, sewerage, flooding. We are just giving examples. You are not protesting on those but on something happening thousands of miles outside the country,” the bench said.

The bench has further observed, “You don’t know the dust it could kick up. Getting on to the Palestine side or the Israel side. Why do you want to do this? It’s obvious, going by the party you represent, that you don’t understand what this could do to the foreign affairs of the country…. You are an organisation registered in India. If you could take up issues like garbage dumping, pollution, sewerage, flooding. We are just giving examples. You are not protesting on those but on something happening thousands of miles outside the country.”

Condemning the Bombay High Court order as anti-constitutional, the CPI (M) said that it goes against the stated positions of the United Nations’ bodies and the International Court of Justice and Mahatma Gandhi’s cause for the Palestinian people’s right to freedom and homeland.

The Polit Bureau of CPI (M) said that the court went to the extent of calling into question the patriotism of the party.

“Ironically, the bench appears to be unaware of either the provisions of the Constitution which enshrines the rights of a political party, or the history of our country and our people’s solidarity with the Palestinians and their legitimate right to homeland. The observations smack of distinct political bias in line with the central government,” the CPI (M) statement said.

It said that the observations overlook the fact that Mahatma Gandhi in the 40s of the last century, the national movement and subsequent foreign policy of independent India had not flinched from supporting the cause of Palestinian people’s right to freedom and homeland. “It also lays bare the fact that the bench does not realise the unequivocal condemnation globally against Israeli action and the stated positions of the UN bodies and the International Court of Justice. We appeal to the freedom and democracy loving people of the country to join us in unambiguously rejecting such a reprehensible attitude,” it said.