A consistent and prolonged conversation with the Greens in India and beyond resulted in the foundation of the INDIA GREENS PARTY (iGP) — an essentially Green political party with a pan-India perspective, and with allegiance to the Constitution of India.
There has always been a great need to have a pan-India Green party as Green actions in the forms of movements and politics were urgently called for to deal with the burning ecological and environmental issues in the country. To achieve that, it was important to bring Green vision, mission, voices and thoughts together; and to support the ongoing Green movements and build such new movements, and create conditions for Green Politics in the country.
To deliver these desired goals, we created the INDIA GREENS PARTY — to make India clean and green – ecologically and politically; to establish Green Politics; and to create possibilities for Green Ideology, Green Philosophy, and Green Future!
It was also felt that the existing political parties in the country have done and continue to do nothing to address the vital issues related to: ecological wisdom, sustainability, social justice, non-violence, participatory democracy, and respect for diversity. They appear to have unanimously signed up to a growth model that shall progressively undermine and then destroy the livelihoods of the natural resource dependent majorities.
This lack of realism was enough to bring us together to bring in a paradigm shift and create conditions for Green Politics through the INDIA GREENS PARTY so that those who depend on the land or the forest, on the rains and the rivers, or on the price of food and fuel for their needs have their rights in place for a just, sustainable and decentralised society with a political-economic model that fits within the Green Philosophy.
We can see the impact of unending overconsumption on the environment. Also, we are not secure in the comfort of industrial and economic growth and wealth. The rural areas remain placed at risk by the capricious agricultural economy.
We actually need a vision for the landscapes and their ecological usage. We need a vision to democratise our land use and find a sustainable socio-economic vision.
As a result, the seeds of the INDIA GREENS PARTY were sown on 2 July 2017 in a modest meeting in New Delhi, in which 44 people from 17 states/union territories including Ms Irom Sharmila Chanu, an eminent civil rights and political activist from the northeastern state of Manipur, took part and agreed that there was an urgent need for a national Green Party in India in the era of globalisation, liberalisation, marketisation, global warming and climate crisis. These 44 people acknowledged that a few attempts were made in the past to found a pan-India Green Party, but could not fructify.
In a nutshell, there has been a strong and unflinching desire to found a Green Party in India – a country generous to evolve and develop as one of the largest democracies.
The INDIA GREENS PARTY was visualised to respond to the challenges mentioned above, and engage people, in the fields and in the forests, of the country in a political conversation that has certain objectives to achieve — ecological wisdom, sustainability, social justice, non-violence, participatory democracy and respect for diversity — at the pan-India level.
Such a conversation, when built in all parts of the country, shall demonstrate that a Green radical transformation towards a just and sustainable society is possible.
The main constituency of the INDIA GREENS PARTY consists of those people who are on the edge already, those who depend on the agricultural land or the forest, those who depend on the rains and the rivers, or those who depend on the price of food and fuel for their day-to-day needs.
This constituency also consists of the people who are the best placed to defend rights not only to nature but of nature, within a more just, sustainable and decentralised society with a political-economic model that fits within this.
Now, the build-up must be towards a comprehensive ecological movement that brings together social movements which are already fighting for the interests of those set to be further dispossessed.
It is only upon this ground that an effective pan-India Green political party and the movement can evolve and thrive.
In a nutshell, bringing into shape a pan-India Green Party is a huge undertaking!
-Suresh Nautiyal
Founder, Patron & Mentor
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