At the beginning of my career I came to understand the value of nonviolence. I made the decision to train more and more young people to deal with structural problems through nonviolent action.These young people were sent to many different villages after being trained. This is the process that gave birth to Ekta Parishad. By sending one person to each village, Ekta Parishad was trying to fill the gap and solve problems that were very difficult to solve in the villages. When they are working in the village, these young people encountered much resistance because they were raising issues that were not very convenient for the feudal system and the political system that existed there. And that was why Ekta Parishad was born, so that together, as a larger forum we could support those village workers and raise those larger issues. Janadesh in 2007 was the culmination of this work in which a group of trained young people led a social movement. Through this process we were also able to change certain policies, both at the state level and the national level. This was all accomplished through nonviolent actions of young people.

One can understand that in 2007 when people saw 25,000 people walking from Gwalior to Delhi, they realized the potential of nonviolent action. In spite of the truck accident that killed several of the marchers, people maintained their nonviolent discipline. Finally, they achieved the goal of setting up a National Land Reforms Committee. That means, really, that nonviolent action was so powerful that it could shake the central government.

This is an indication that Ekta Parishad has a commitment to nonviolence-without compromising on the issues of the poor. Ekta Parishad is drawing inspiration from Gandhi, Vinobha and Jayprakash. We are not only drawing inspiration but we want to complete the work that was not completed by these leaders. As a result, Ekta Parishad is accepted by a large number of people at the village level. Ekta Parishad is also accepted and respected Internationally and many young people from different parts of the world are now coming to Ekta Parishad to learn about nonviolent mobilization.

Ekta Parishad has the support of people like S.N. Subha Rao, Swami Agnivesh, Aruna Roy, Radha Bhatt-all very well-reputed people are associated with Ekta Parishad. We are all joining hands to see how we can remove poverty and injustice.

It has been historically proven that Ekta Parishad has a commitment to nonviolence and that Ekta Parishad workers are all trained in nonviolence. Yet there are some people in this country who are trying to make allegations against Ekta Parishad, saying that Ekta Parishad is a sympathizer or even a supporter of violent. We are sure that this is being done in order to contain Ekta Parishad and reduce the popular base of Ekta Parishad. In this way, the system will not be truly challenged and the status quo will be maintained. Some political groups which are involved in this game are close to the political parties which are ruling some of the states in India. In this way, they can influence the bureaucracy to believe that Ekta Parishad is a supported of armed groups. We believe that this is basically an effort to suppress the voices of the poor people who are asking for control over resources and asking for justice. I am pained that government officials are also playing this game, and trying not to understand the value of nonviolence and promote it but rather they seem to be trying to reduce the power and expansion of Ekta Parishad.

It is time for us to understand that the inheritance of Gandhiji is not just a set of institutions, and that he was not just speaking about justice, he was also asking us to act. So this misunderstanding is that Ekta Parishad will just speak about Gandhi and celebrate the of October and the 30^th of January is not correct. Our commitment to Gandhian values is not just about celebrating Gandhian values, it is also about taking his message ahead. People should understand that Gandhi's heritage needs to be acted out and not just spoken about in conferences and seminars.

This is an open letter to those who are making these allegations and spreading this misinformation. I expect people who are making these allegations now to show proof that any leaders of Ekta Parishad were involved in making speeches that promote violence or whether they have produced any material that promotes violence or whether we have trained any young people to take up violence. Without having concrete evidences, what they are saying is just propaganda. Until they produce this concrete evidence no one can take their claims seriously. I am here, Rajagopal is the leader of this organization and I am responsible for it. I am not hiding and I am available. I expect them to stop spreading this slander against nonviolent organizations.

I think it is also time to educate government officials about who Gandhi is and what he teaches and how different that is from Mao and his teaching. Government officials at the bottom level have very little education and they do not know the difference between violence and nonviolence, the difference Marx and Mao and Gandhi. When they make propaganda and the entire official system starts singing the same song, it only how limited the knowledge base is. If we have the intelligence and the education, we should use to understand that after sixty three years there are still so many problems and injustices. What is important now is to attack these problems, not to criticize people who are trying to solve these problems.