New Delhi: Renowned activist and writer Arundhati Roy has said that Indian Army has been used against its own people since 1947. She said that the situation in India was worse than the time of British rule

Speaking on the launch of the Tamil translation of her book on BR Ambedkar essay Annihilation Of Caste, Roy expressed serious concern over the current situation in India, calling it very dangerous. “We are living in a time where language is twisted, videos are doctored, everything around is changed and I am already facing criminal trials against me,” she said while criticizing gag on free speech. She said that she was not able to talk freely because of criminal charges against her.

Roy said that since 1947, there has not been a single day when the Indian Army was deployed against its own people. India is following the same strategy as British used in the world wars. She said since 1947 Indian army has been deployed against its own people in Nagaland, Mizoram, Assam, Manipur, Kashmir Junagarh, Goa, Punjab, and now they were fighting in Chhatiisingarh, Orisaa and Jharkhand. Roy talked about the actions of Indian army against Muslims, Christians, Sikhs, and Dalits. It is always between the upper class mindset and the rest.

Just like colonizers, the Indian army is operating against the minorities and low caste. Soldiers from Tamil Nadu are being deployed to Kashmir, Assam to Nagaland and Nagaland to Jharkhand as did by the British in the world wars, she said.

She said that the worsening situation in India was the product of upper caster dominance. “If you look around, the land, the government, capital and the whole system is ruled by the upper caste. Who owns the media? Who runs courts? Who are professors and editors? It is indeed shocking and we have no idea what is being done to us.”

“Today we live in times, although we are not officially colonized nobody would dare to say what DrAmbedkar said in 1936”, she said.  Sharing views on the aggression against untouchable caste, she said what would happen if someone talks like DrAmbedkar in the Annihilation of Caste, that to untouchable caste Hinduism is a veritable horror, and that person would be put behind bars. No matter, you just have to praise India and “say Bharat Mata Ki Jay, otherwise you are not Indian”.

Concluding her speech and recalling history, she gave a reference what Dr. Ambedkar has said to Gandhi in 1932. During a round table conference Gandhi asked him why he was criticizing the congress, which meant criticizing the homeland. To which Ambedkar had said “Gandhi Ji I have no homeland, no untouchable worth his name would be proud of this land”.