“Jantar Mantar is now out of bounds. The moment you outlaw dissent from a society, you’re finished”

Aruna Roy should have needed no introduction, but as often happens with real heroes, they manage to be everywhere and invisible all at once.

Perhaps the best way to describe what Aruna does is to say she is our foremost constitutional bodyguard: a member of the elite fiercely committed to delivering its ideals to those deprived of them.

And at Algebra, she spoke with her customary candour and courage about why civil society matters, and her greatest fear in today’s India.

“In every democracy you need space for difference, dissent, for disagreement. The moment you outlaw dissent from a society, you’re finished,” she vehemently argued.

Perhaps our greatest reason to fear as members of civil society, then, she said, is the systematic outlawing of physical space for protest.

“Jantar Mantar is now out of bounds. The most marginalised of this country; people fighting to receive Rs 200 a month as pension after a lifetime of work, are told to book Ramlila grounds at Rs 50,000 to be allowed to protest. Can a democracy run if you give no space for protest?”

She spoke passionately about the space the street – the hard, physical reality of public streets – hold in a country’s democratic foundation.

“The street is the people’s parliament. We walked the streets for 11 long years, talked to activists and ordinary citizens and media and politicians and the elite on these streets, to create the RTI act,” she said.

Aruna is that extraordinary mix of intellect, integrity and grassroots action who doesn’t just talk ideas, she has put them into revolutionary practice, so it is impossible to encapsulate this riveting conversation here, but perhaps her answer to an audience question put it best.

“What should we do to help?” asked a member of the audience.

“Gandhiji said it better than I can,” Aruna replied. “Seva, sangharsh, aur nirmaan. Seva – charity – give anything you can to those who have less than you. Sangharsh – protest – where something needs to be fought, start the fight. And creatively dealing with issues – nirmaan – find creative solutions to issues.”