Hope or despair? The choice is ours

Can you recall the name of the political party Hitler belonged to? Or Mussolini? Or in our time, Recep Erdogan’s party in Turkey? Probably not. But everybody knows what party Joe Biden belongs to, or Sheik Hasina. Unlike in democracies, political parties don’t play a pivotal role in a dictatorial or fascist state. In these regimes, one man comes to power riding on a party, and over time, he makes the same party irrelevant as he gradually usurps all the powers of the state. I think we have come to a stage in India where BJP and even its ideological big brother, the RSS have become irrelevant. One man calls the shots in India today, Narendra Modi, MA (Entire Political Science).

And this man has basically done two things during his nine years of (mis)rule. 

He has systematically weakened the foundations on which the structure of our democracy stands: the parliament, the judiciary, the election commission, and the agencies that maintain order, like the CBI and the ED.

His other major “contribution” is that his followers and a section of the media systematically spread hatred against minorities, of whom Muslims are the first target. Hate campaigns humiliate them relentlessly. Muslim Indians—most of them don’t have a forefather who ever lived anywhere outside India—are told they have no place in their country. They should go to Pakistan. They are lynched; they are killed in manufactured riots; the culprits aren’t punished. Rather, mass murderers and gang rapists jailed in an earlier regime are released prematurely and feted by the master’s followers. In the states ruled by Modi’s party, the situation is the worst. If you go to Ahmedabad, the laboratory of Hindutwa hooliganism, you will see that all Muslims, from former IAS officers to peons live in a ghetto, where the civic amenities are terrible. In at least three states, UP, MP, and Haryana, for every real or perceived offence committed by Muslims, the state government sends bulldozers to destroy Muslim homes. No notice, victims get no opportunity to defend themselves in court. Bulldozers arrive and demolish their homes. The news is carried in some newspapers the next day and that is the end of it. No legal process, no judge has the courage to call out the grotesque illegality. 

All these monstrosities go unchallenged because a large section of the majority Hindu community has been blinded by hate against Muslims (and Christians). Hatred and anger are a dangerous mix. It makes decent people blind and unable to think rationally. (This fact was seen time and again in history and also proved experimentally by psychologists.) In India today, there are millions who don’t believe demonetisation lead to massive damage to the economy. Millions think if bodies floated in the Ganga during COVID, the Modi government had no fault. Millions believe—without a shred of evidence—that Muslims will somehow become a majority in the country and decimate Hindus. Hindu khatre mein hai!

By an accident of birth, I am a Hindu. And I am ashamed of the poison that many of my friends (or former friends) carry in their dysfunctional brains. If you haven’t succumbed to the poison, please open you heart to your Muslim friends, colleagues, and neighbours. Please tell them you don’t belong to the bigoted, insane lot. It will not change the system, but it will be your contribution to the sanity of the nation.

 There is no sign that the Modi bhakts’ collective madness will be cured anytime soon. No let up in the blizzard of poison. Rather, there’s every sign that Indian politics will become even more poisonous. As things stand today, there seems little chance that Modi will be defeated in the elections in 2024, although a lot can change in politics in the next eight months. And it is more or less certain that if did win next year, he would possibly be able to change the Constitution and convert India a Hindu Rashtra. We are already following Pakistan in a similar path of destruction. If Modi wins next year, we will reach a point of no return.

But however bleak the immediate future may seem, if we gave up hope, it would be our defeat at the hands of autocracy. That cannot happen, despair is not an option for us. We must speak up and speak to anyone who cares to listen. The message must be kept alive. The revolutionary poet from Telangana, Varavara Rao, who has spent many years in jail, gives us hope. Let me close this short note with a few lines written by him.

“Political prisoners know the meaning of hope but they do not know the meaning of despair. Chera called me a frightful optimist for this, and yet I must honestly admit that although I have known pain, suffering and anxiety along with hope, happiness and enthusiasm, never have I been plunged into despair and frustration even in the most trying times. … In personal matters, I felt sorrowful indifference at moments and said, ‘Let troubles and hardships come if they must.’ I have felt detachment, but never have yielded to cynicism even for a moment in my solitary cell.”

Varavara Rao, quoted by Arvind Narrain in his book India’s Undeclared Emergency p199 (Westland Publications Pvt. Ltd., 2021). Varavara Rao’s picture courtesy Wikipedia.

My Second Day at the Bharat Jodo Yatra

There was a damp breeze under an overcast sky when our march began from outside Ballari at 6:30. Our destination was the village of Moka, near the Karnataka-Andhra Pradesh border. The distance between Ballari and Moka is 19 kilometres. From Santiniketan, where I did college, the district town Suri is 19 kilometres away. I never dreamed of walking the distance. What was unthinkable at the age of 17 is doable at 71. That is the magic of social uprisings. 

As I walked, I heard Hindi, Malayalam, Telugu, Kannada, Punjabi, Haryanvi, and an Indian language I could not identify. Among the diverse men and women were qualified professionals, working people, peasants, teachers, and students. That is, people from both urban and rural India, and of all ages. There were lots of young men. In our group of Swaraj India volunteers, two men in their twenties, Suheil and Arunoday were the principal coordinators. 

This picture shows Vinayak Rao Patil and Ganesh. Eighty-one-year-old Vinayak Rao from Maharashtra (Latur) would be one of the oldest civil society activists still walking the path of inqilab in India. He was with the Congress, and later, with Anna Hazare movement, and AAP in its initial phase. Many a time his dreams have been shattered, but he keeps on, undaunted. Ganesh, 21, is a student from Mangalore who supports Congress. He has taken a train to join the yatra at his own initiative. The yatra has brought together Vinayak and Ganesh.

Virendra Bagodia is a political worker who was jailed multiple times for his firebrand activism. He is a landless peasant from Haryana whose son is an engineer, and daughter, and MA. Bagodia ji carries the tallest national flag in the yatra, a flag post is so tall that he has to be careful not to touch an overhead electric wire. Mahendra Yadav, who is with me on a selfie, is from Gazipur, UP. Mahendra ji has literally “do bigha jamin”. Both Bagodia and Mahendra, who are in their sixties, are walking 3,500 kilometres from Kanyakumari to Kashmir. They have been with Swaraj India, the political party led by Yogendra Yadav for many years. Neither has much formal education, but when we talked politics, I was amazed to see how well-informed they are and the clarity of their views. 

Virendra from Haryana, Naushin from Kolkata, and Mahendra from Gazipur U.P.

Mahendra Yadav and me

The 118 “National Yatris” are walking from Kashmir to Kanyakumari. Besides, there are state yatris, and others like me. People in the yatra stay together in a community living area, share rudimentary amenities without complaint. Treat strangers as friends. At our camp in Moka this afternoon, I sat between Mahendra Yadav and a handsome young man. When I asked the young man what he did, he simply said, ‘I’m a Congress worker.’ An erudite man, he was a pleasant conversationalist. After the meal, Mahendra ji told me he is the son of a former chief minister. If Congress returned to power in his state, my companion at the lunch table would be a candidate to become the chief minister. 

On both days, I saw local people coming out of their homes to greet the yatris. Waiting for hours to meet Rahul Gandhi. Their goodwill for the yatra and its leader was palpable. They waved at us, smiled at us. It was a new experience to observe such goodwill from people I had never met, nor I ever will. 

Waiting to see Rahul Gandhi

I have written that the distance between Ballari and Moka is 19 kilometres. However, we began outside the town, and we would have walked only about 14 kilometres this morning. The yatra is not a well-knit procession. As people walk at different varying speeds, they get split into small groups. At the head of the yatra is the leader, that is Rahul Gandhi, who walks admirably fast, and the people who can keep up with him, plus the police cordon around them. Behind them are scatterings of yatris for two to three kilometres.  Another procession of high-end SUVs was a pain in the wrong place for the staggered walkers. They belonged to the out-of-shape Congressmen who could hardly walk, but were obliged to show their face to Mr Rahul Gandhi.

As I gradually fell behind, a local person stopped his motor bike and offer me lift. We didn’t have the bond of a common language, but the bond of Indianness was enough. I didn’t have the heart to say No to him, but I didn’t wish to cheat either. So, I got off after about 500 metres. 

On the way, I came across a temporary shed from where villagers were distributing apples, water bottles, tender coconuts etc. to the yatris. I stopped and checked with two men in the kiosk separately. Who organized all this? Congress? The answer was an emphatic “No!” from both. They said villagers had joined together to give some relief to the yatris. When I pointed out at the Congress banner behind, one of them said it was a gift from the local Congress unit. I am inclined to believe them because if a Congress leader had organised it, there would have been large flex banners with the man's portrait announcing his generosity.  

Does the spontaneous expression of love say something? 

Why Bharat Jodo?

Why did I, a person with no political affiliation except for a strong desire to reclaim a liberal democracy join the yatra? In the following lines, I will try to answer myself

Over the last eight years, a poison has taken hold of a lot of Indian Hindus. They believe that Muslims, who are 14% of the population, will somehow destroy the Hindus who are 80%. This is their core belief: Hindu khatre mein hai. Therefore, for their safety, they must pin down the Muslims now. This silly fiction—which has no evidentiary support—has divided India down the middle. It has also divided families and friends.

On one side of the divide are the people who believe they are in danger (the 37.36% of the electorate who voted for BJP in 2019, they are often upper caste Hindus). The group has been created and led by an efficient RSS-BJP machinery. 

On the other side of the line are Hindus who do not buy the “Hindus-are-in-danger” rubbish, along with Muslims, Christians, Sikhs, Parsis, plus everyone else. The latter have no formal organization / leadership. After every government misadventure like demonetization, or CAA-NRC, or the Farm Bills, the second group protests. They also hope that as their agitations gain momentum, the opposition parties, who have not seriously challenged BJP-RSS, will defeat BJP through the ballot box. 

It will not happen.

Because of the poison I mentioned. The people who support the present regime see the economy tanking, they have seen dead bodies floating in the Ganga during the COVID pandemic, their nephew or niece may be unemployed for years, yet their faith in BJP is unflinching because they think only that party can “save” them from Muslims. Psychologists like Daniel Goleman say when your mind is in the grip of hatred and anger against someone, you cannot think straight. Your baser caveman instincts take hold of you. This, roughly, is the state of mind of the people who abuse Muslims day in and day out. In that state of mind, it is possible for women to garland a gang of criminals who serially raped a pregnant woman, smashed the body of her three-year-old daughter, and murdered her 14 family members for no reason other than hatred against Muslims. 

If we wish to regain our secular India, we must detoxify those people. But we can achieve little by arguing with them. What we need today is affirmative action to bring people together, to spread love.

Democracy is not self-executing. We must make it work, particularly at a time when the forces of hatred, divisiveness, and violence have taken root in our country. Bharat Jodo Yatra is an attempt to precisely do that. <>

16 October 2022

Bharat Jodo Yatra (BJY)—My first day

Last evening in about eight hours, we covered the distance of 311 kilometres from Bangaluru to Ballari, a mining town in western Karnataka that was earlier spelt as Bellary. The motley crowd of six yatris consisted of an exceedingly soft-spoken activist politician, an environmental activist and author, a tailor who's doing MA, an engineer, a young college prof, and me. Regarding the age profile, we were between in early twenties and early seventies. The six of us, who speak four different languages at home, have come to join the Bharat Jodo Yatra. As you might have guessed, a tiny bit of jodoing has already happened!

It was 10:30 PM when we reached the KRS Function Hall at one end of the town, our camp for the night Throughout South India, we have marriage / function halls which usually have three main sections: a big hall with a stage on one end, an equally big dining hall plus kitchen, and some bedrooms for people who would stay overnight. The main hall often seats 1000 or more people.

As we walked in, we found an empty ornate sofa on the stage at the far end of the main hall. More than 200 basic beds had been spread on the stage and the floor: cotton mattresses covered with garish bedsheets with designs in all the colours the human eye can see. Columns of plastic chairs were piled in a corner. At one end—somewhat unexpectedly—a large man in a dark T-shirt sat hunched before an equally large 24-inch computer screen, engrossed in work. Enormous fans fitted outside at the ground level blew in air through a grille. Although it was past 10:30, the lights were on. Few had slept. They were the yatris of the Bharat Jodo Yatra, the political Kumbh of our time. The men and women would have walked at least 30 kilometres during the day.

The adjacent dining hall had been divided into two parts. Half of it contained a similar array of beds, and the other half, two long rows of narrow dining tables covered with aluminium sheets. We quickly joined the few men and women who were eating. The simple vegetarian meal was piping hot and excellent.

As the halls had been full, we got a small room on the fourth floor. There were five of us in the two-bed airconditioned room with three beds on the floor. Enormously comfortable. 

The breakfast that I had next morning at 5:10 consisted of steaming upma, chatni, and kesar bath. A tall gentleman, who was possibly from the management of the function hall, was supervising the operations; he made us feel we were his personal guests. I silently saluted the famous Kannadiga hospitality and also, the Congress Party, which is organising the yatra. 

*

Inqilabs, that is, revolutions, are “the locomotives of history,” said Karl Marx. According to his most well-known follower Lenin, “Revolutions are the festivals of the oppressed and the exploited.” Nobody knows if the Bharat Jodo Yatra will turn into the locomotive that will ferry us from the present-day dystopia back to a civilised India, but when we were ferried in a van to the starting point of today’s yatra in the tenebrous light before sunrise, I did think I was witnessing a festival of the masses. 

The absolute exhilaration among people was to be seen to be believed. At the beginning of the long procession, local artistes in ceremonial attires—many of them wearing huge masks—presented a pageantry with the accompaniment of drums. They were followed by Congress Seva Dal Volunteers in white. Then came groups of yatris raising slogans. The slogans were surprisingly creative and nonviolent, like, Jodisi jodisi, Bharata jodisi in Kannada (Join, join, join India), or in Hindi: Hum Bhagat Singh ke diwane hai, hum nahi rukhne walle hai (We love Bhagat Singh, we aren't going to give up!) There were NO murdabads, hai hais, or down-downs. 

Except for the Seva Dal volunteers and the performing artistes, the rest of the participants didn’t form two neat columns, as if to highlight that their participation was spontaneous, voluntary, and free from regimentation. A festival, in short. 

My friends Kamlendra Pratap and Jeevan had warned me that when Rahul Gandhi arrived, he would be accompanied by a flood that would throw away anything in their path. The flood arrived soon. 

Rahul Gandhi, who walks really fast, sets the pace and the rest of the people walk / run with him. He has his security men in black safari suits around him and then an outer ring of close associates and registered yatris. Around all of them, state policemen in khaki made a moving cordon with a thick yellow rope and walked along. The mobile yellow ring was the nucleus of the yatra. Beside, in front of, and behind it, there were thousands more walking cheerfully, shouting slogans. 

Can you see Rahul Gandhi? If you can, you'll know how much risk he is taking.

Many of them were local people and curious onlookers. They were keen to get a good glimpse and maybe, a picture of Rahul Gandhi. Some went into the ring and close to Rahul Gandhi after getting a nod from the people in charge of security. Rahul smiled, shook hands, and spoke with each one of them, as people took selfies. But most of his fans were not so fortunate. They would walk as close to the yellow cordon as possible, and try go ahead of Rahul Gandhi to get a good look. 

As soon as the cordon approached where I was, a deluge of people threw me away from the road. And once the deluge went past, Jeevan and I fell back and followed the yatra at a relaxed pace, lending our voices to whoever was leading the slogan near us.  

I got a strong feeling that the yatris aren't going to give up even after the yatra ends. <>

15 October 2022

Bharat Jodo Yatra (BJY)—Day Zero

On the way to Bellary with a group of wonderful people. To walk in the Bharat Jodo Yatra.

My participation will mean little to the Yatra, but the yatra should make a world of difference to me. The picture below has been sent by a friend. It is a picture of the Yatra today somewhere in the remote Chitradurga District of Karnataka.

 Let the mainstream media ignore, let the ruling dispensation and their cohorts try to mass-produce hatred, Bharat is joining herself … and erasing ugly lines that have been dividing her children in the recent past.

 Love spreads, quietly, but unquestionably, just as the sapling grows in front of your eyes but without you noticing it. Away from TV studios and troll factories.

 Watch this space for updates.

 

14 October 2022

Little boy with a young mother in burqa

 

Little boy with a young mother in burqa,

Please look at me, I want to talk to you.

You see, I’d be older than your grandpa—

Long ago, my eyes too had wonder

Just like yours, but

That’s not what I wanted to tell you.

Old men often lose their way,

You’ll soon find out.

 

I wanted to tell you that when I saw you,

A vague, overpowering fear gripped me

As I tried to see you ten years into the future.

Will you be in a school that teaches you

To love every human

And hate nothing, except

Selfishness, violence, and blind faith?

 

Will you be in a school

That teaches you to question

What everyone believes is true?

A school where you’ll learn

That humans, whales, and butterflies

Are all made of atoms,

In fact, particles even tinier

That might have been parts

Of stars and galaxies once?

That you and I are no different from

Moondust or the fiery sun?

That is a brief summary of human knowledge,

But please don’t take my words for it.

Read, think, and find out.

 

Fifteen years into the future,

Will you be in a college

Where fools won’t try to teach you

About borders, barbed wires,

And why you must build walls?

 

Fifteen years down the road,

Will you have lots of friends,

And maybe, a girlfriend too,

Whose religions or kinships won’t matter

In the relationships you make?

 

Will you grow up to live

In a middleclass mohalla where

Narayanans, Kalams, Mukherjees, and Murmus

Live side by side? And no college

Bars entry to your sister

Because of what she chooses to wear

On her head? Or maybe, she will

Choose not to cover her head?

 

Little boy with a young mother in hijab,

A vague, overpowering fear gripped me

When I looked into the future

And tried to find you.

In your journey through the years

Will you rediscover the land

Where your grandpa and I lived

Long, long ago?

It was

A highly flawed place even then,

But those days, hatred wasn’t state policy,

And nobody had to wear

An invisible yellow badge on their chest.

 

Krishnagiri, Tamil Nadu

15 September 2022

 

 

 

 

 

History however, is ruthless

 West Bengal is at the cusp of a change. Ms Mamata Banerjee and her party have failed the people who pinned their hope on her as opposed to the brutal rule of the aging Left on the one side and the hatemongering BJP on the other. If the news and social media show us the writings on the wall, in 2026, a new government will come to power in Bengal. At least should!

We must try to understand what has been happening in Bengal. Here is an article by a leading public intellectual who has held his head high through the murky currents of Bengal politics, Kaushik Sen. The original was published in Ananda Bazar Patrika on 3 August 2022.

Translated into English by Kaushik Chatterjee

*

A convention was held on the 2^nd floor of Calcutta Information Centre in 1990. It was organised by the Left Front Government. All the intellectuals of the times had converged there. The then Information Minister, Shri Buddhadev Bhattacharya, was also present. It was necessary to convene such a meeting at a time, when, thanks to a few serial events that rocked West Bengal, the credibility of the Left Front Govt had been considerably shaken in the perception of the people at large.  It is now on records, that, quite surprisingly, all the intellectuals present on that day, barring a few exceptions, strongly and concertedly denied any sense of frustration or misgivings majorly troubling the society; rather, they felt, it was after all, the product of an orchestrated anti-left propaganda, of the vanquished crying hoarse or even that of a bourgeois mentality gone paranoid. We come to know that, among others, even Utpal Dutta, with a clear voice and firm conviction, held on to the ground of the majority.

The poet Sankha Ghose was also present in that meeting. He read out from a small chit of paper. Everyone must have listened to him carefully but didn’t quite feel the urge to dwell upon the deeper anxieties voiced by the poet seriously enough.

The enthusiastic readers can easily retrieve the exact contents of the page from where the poet had read aloud in that intellectual-studded convention, organised by the Left Front Government on 11^th September, 1990. All I can say is that all those grim forewarnings which the poet had prophesied in his pithy but insightful write, were the subject of intense discourse and deliberation, following the electoral eclipse of the Left Front Government in 2011—disconnect with the masses, induction within the party of persons of dubious credentials, corruption, criminalisation, etc. The seeds of decay were all there for the people to take note of. But a large majority of them couldn’t or didn’t quite like to.

I am pretty sure if one goes through its contents today, there wouldn’t be any line of distinction between the parties that have been in governance in Bengal. You could easily swap the label of ‘Left Front Government’ with that of ‘TMC Government’ in that piece of paper. The issues of ‘dangerous laxity or irresponsiveness’, which the poet highlighted then, to have led to a series of ignominious incidents thereafter, were no accidents or conspiracies. They were not then and are not now either.

It would be impossible for the reigning TMC government of West Bengal to write off the instance of naked corruption and embezzlement of funds which has recently come to light, as a non-event or even treat it as conspiratorial. It is not possible for one Partha Chatterjee to commit such a ghastly crime single-handedly. The tentacles of the evil are enmeshed within the nooks and corners of the organisation itself.

The month of July of 2022 will either be remembered or consigned to one of the most inglorious episodes of the socio-political-economic history of West Bengal. The relentless agitation of those aspiring for the teaching posts of Classes IX to XII  for more than 500 odd days now, shall too be etched in the pages of history. A whole new set of questions and agitational dynamics would be scripted on the tales of dogged defiance they showed amidst sufferance of so much deprivation and misery. It is time we understood how this heinous crime had affected us all, beyond those who have been directly harmed by it. While complementing the perfectly professional and thoroughbred role performed by the Officers of Enforcement Directorate (ED) in unearthing crores of rupees from the different flats of the accused, it may be a sobering reminder at this stage, that barring, of course, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), none of the mainstream political parties of India are currently breathing free, thanks to the extraordinary clout and sweeping powers commanded by ED. The recent Supreme Court rulings may also add on the anxieties of the principal opposition parties in this regard, for everyone   knows how BJP can effectively weaponise the ED in bringing the entire Opposition to an uneasy standstill. And it is in this context, that the TMC, through this murky Partha Chatterjee episode, had significantly blunted the anti-BJP, ultra-Hindutwa campaign being taken up at the national stage. The recent events have only helped the party in power to get a firmer political foothold in the map of India; the same party, which operating through the smokescreen of whataboutery and subterfuge, has no qualms in defying the constitutional norms, openly threatening to decimate the minority community with bulldozing of their home and property, through a process of selective  targeting.

‘No Vote to BJP’ was the key slogan rallying which most of us openly mobilised ourselves in the last Assembly Elections. Without casting any disrespect on the TMC leadership or their foot soldiers who made a robust electoral show in the last Assembly elections, it may be averred that this inglorious event in the Bengal political chapter is a frontal betrayal of whatever bit of resistance that the apolitical segment of the societal space was trying to organise, in its own way, against the destructive and totalitarian regime of the BJP.

It is to be noted that TMC had cast their chessboard very astutely and expediently, both within the realm of the Parliamentary politics and outside of it, after a thorough calculation of their political payoffs. They had welcomed with open arms all of those discredited and defeated BJP leaders who had spewed communal venom. It is true that the issue of admittance or otherwise of any persons within a political formation is well within the prerogative of concerned political entity; and yet the 2021 Assembly elections in Bengal assumed a different dimension altogether. Most of us didn’t quite perceive it as a mere allocation of seats among different political dispensations. A large section of the citizenry, casting off the colours of political partisanship, had come out in the open and had in their own way, scripted verses, play-acted, composed songs, made intense parleys in both urban and rural locales, unitedly against a dominant political ideology which loved spewing communal hatred. The corruption that has come to the fore is a frontal assault on the generous faith that inspired such a great endeavour. Mere expulsion of Partha  Chatterjee cannot absolve the party of its moral responsibility.

People in this country now flaunt their masculinity in openly valorising Nathuram Godse. In the current year, in the ‘International Press Freedom index’, India is placed among the trailing 30 countries among the 180 contesting nations. The Modi Government had appropriated every means possible to curtail media and press freedom. Even more than its political contenders, the Bharatiya Janata Party seems to be deeply wary of the enlightened citizenry. Most of the alternate political dispensations are in a pitiable shape at this stage... some are suffering from organisational weaknesses, others are rudderless in absence of a decisive leadership, some have turned maniacal in the rush for political power and the rest of them, which raised a semblance of hope in the initial days, are so deeply mired in corruption, that unless some ground-breaking, far-reaching changes are made, it would indeed be difficult to believe that that they would be able to sustain a formidable and credible challenge against the communal forces.

In the realms of parliamentary democracy, it is the underlying urge of every political order worth its name to cling to power as long as possible. The TMC had scripted massive triumphs in the last three Assembly elections. And yet, in the last few elections, be they the assembly/parliamentary by-elections, Panchayat or the municipal, its relentless efforts to keep its political adversaries in check through an open display of muscle power, had raised serious misgivings and sent shivers down the line. And we have the well entrenched memories of how, thanks to the courageous and formidable resistance shown by the current Chief Minister, the entire political architecture of the Left Front and the CPI(M) came crashing from the height of its political brazenness to a nadir of nothingness. No political dispensation has been able to sustain itself in the long run merely scoring on its numerical strength. If the people lose faith, no material or muscular power can ever redeem a political party. TMC too is no exception. History always has a tough call to take. <>

*

You can read the original Bangla article here:

https://mepaper.anandabazar.com/imageview_64859_5412792_4_71_03-08-2022_4_i_1_sf.html

From ONE RANK, ONE PENSION to NO RANK, NO PENSION

 A friend of mine who I respect a lot has written on Facebook: “I think the Agneepath recruitment scheme is excellent. One retires young with about 12 lakhs in his/her bank account. At 25 the retired Agniveer remains eligible for a wide range of jobs.”

For those unfamiliar with the beautifully named scheme, Agnipath is a plan is to recruit men between 17 ½ and 21 years in the armed forces. The recruits, called Agniveers, will be a distinct rank, different from all other existing military ranks. So far so good, but the catch is they will serve for 4 years and no more, although 25% of them will get the opportunity to join the regular forces. After drawing a fixed salary for 4 years, they will go home with Rupees 11.71 lakhs. No gratuity, no pension.

Moving back to my friend’s post, I do not know if he has lost his mind or is being deliberately provocative. His opinion is grossly untenable for the following reasons:

(1) The 25-year-old will be ready for jobs, as my friend says, but jobs won’t be ready for him, particularly in the current economic scenario.

(2) Hand over 11-12 lakhs in cash to 10 twenty-five-year-olds, 9 of them will either blow it away in months or invest in assets like a house, which unfortunately cannot be eaten. People with much better experience with managing funds find it tough to manage a corpus to yield enough for their monthly expenses, particularly when interest rates are falling steadily. Ask any retired person except the blessed government pensioners, you know how the cookie crumbles. Do you seriously expect a moderately educated 25-year–old with natural cravings for the good things in life—fast bikes and fancy clothes, not to mention wine and women—learn to invest astutely or begin a successful business in a decaying economy? You must be kidding!

(3) The Agnipath scheme is also called “Tour of Duty.” Does it allow us a Freudian peep into the minds of the Gujju idiots who consider the army a “tour”? Last night, I was hearing a retired Colonel’s opinion that the Indian Army needs 5 to 6 years to make a jawan battle-ready. Therefore, this bizarre four-year “tour” will not only make the armed forces weaker, it will also destroy the ironclad discipline and efficiency of the Indian army, which is one of the finest in the world. The traditions and discipline built over centuries of blood and sweat will be destroyed in a stroke of a failing government which doesn’t have money to pay pension. But has money for projects like the Bullet Train, the tallest statue in the world, PM’s fancy residence, and a subway for him to drive to office, and so on.

(4) When they are out of the army, how will these unemployed young men with incomplete military training (and discipline) be used by a religious fascist government? Will the Brown / Black Shirts from Europe in the 1930s come back? I don’t see any other way to deploy them given the shrinking economy, ever decreasing job opportunities, and our relentless journey on the fascist path.

(5) According to Yogendra Yadav, a rare politician who talks sense, the vacancies in the army at the jawan’s level was 16,500 eight years ago, but now it has ballooned up to 97,000. So, the government that blabbers ceaselessly on national security has neglected what matters most. 

(6) Yogendra Yadav also said Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan, Bihar and a few other states with a martial tradition contribute a large percentage to our armed forces. Personally, I have seen, many from Kerala and Tamil Nadu join the army. However, unlike them, the North Indian states have little job opportunities outside the army. Therefore, from the teenage, boys there work hard, exercise, run miles and miles to prepare for the military. The new scheme has also made recruitment uniform all over India. Therefore, if a Haryanvi youth could look at say, 1000 vacancies in the past, now will find much fewer, perhaps 250. We can understand why young people have burst in anger in North India. And why young men are committing suicide.

I do hope there won’t be another suicide and the protests will be peaceful. Neither will another train be burned or any other property destroyed.

Finally, this is the latest of a number of disastrous steps taken by the current government which began with demonetization. Hopefully, this will be the last and one hopes the government will have the wisdom to shelve the bizarre plan immediately.

PS: I have copied the caption of the story from Facebook. I will acknowledge the author as soon as I see the post again.

17 June 2022

Three questions in the time of cholera

I was born in a middleclass Bengali family in the early 1950s. “Middleclass” those days meant the glass was always half full. But the more important aspect of my family was the modifier “Bengali”. We spoke Bangla at home and everywhere. Listened to Bangla songs and watched Bangla films. We read Bangla alone, with the exception of an English newspaper, The Statesman. Being Indian was important, but it was in the background; the everyday reality of our life revolved around Bengaliness.

Gentle reader, you would have noticed that I have described the time of my childhood without a religious marker, without telling you what religion we belonged to. Such was the time. My parents didn’t care much for religion either. My father never participated in the somewhat perfunctory pujas offered by mother—without the aid of a priest—to the goddess of learning Saraswati and to her older sister Laxmi, the deity of wealth, once a year. Besides, every Thursday, Ma would read a hymn before the framed picture of Laxmi. (The picture was a bit worn out, like the financial state of our family.) But I believe these acts were less about religion and more about culture, like the community Durga pujas, or making pithe with powdered rice, jaggery, and cocoanut, a practice that continues to this day as a trace of the harvesting festival in the distant past when most people depended directly on farming.

The Hindu religion played little role in our life. Religion was never discussed at home. However, my parents were not irreligious. In fact, both of them deeply believed in, ignoring every evidence to the contrary, a supreme power somewhere above that worked relentlessly for the good of humanity. Anyway, the bottom line was that our religious identity didn’t matter.

Also, although my parents had lived through the violent Hindu-Muslim riots of 1946, never ever did I hear them say a word against Muslims. They knew neither community was holier than the other, and more importantly, an-eye-for-an-eye could only lead us to a kingdom of the blind.

Seventy years later, I am not only being constantly reminded that I am a Hindu, I am also told that “my” religion is in danger: “Hindu khatre me hai.” Hindus of India, 80% of the population, are destined to be overwhelmed by the other 20%, in particular, by Muslims who are under 15% of the population.

Looking around, I don’t see any truth in the bizarre yarn. No Muslim has attacked another community in recent memory, barring isolated incidents like the Mumbai train bombings in 2006 in which 209 innocent people were killed in a most brutal manner. (What happened in the same city on 26/11/08 was a barefaced undercover operation by the Pakistani state; it had nothing to do with Indian Muslims.) Secondly, there is absolutely no evidence that the Muslim population has been increasing as percentage of the population of India. Finally, in every significant profession under the sky, from the judiciary to the academia, from the armed forces to the medical profession, clearly there are very few Muslims. Far fewer than the percentage of the community in India.

How on earth are the 15% threatening the 80%? I would request you to stop and ponder over the question. And there are other questions too.

Since the BJP government came to power in 2014, there have been relentless attacks on Muslims, both physically and otherwise. The Wikipedia lists 22 incidents across North India between 2015 and June 2017 in which 28 Muslims were lynched by cow vigilante mobs. The situation continued to worsen. On 2 September 2021, the BBC summed up a report* with these words: “Unprovoked attacks on Muslims by Hindu mobs have become routine in India, but they seem to evoke little condemnation from the government.”

Since then, the process has taken a more insidious turn as the entire Muslim community is targeted through a range of laws and communal messaging that spread like wildfire in the time of a cholera called the social media. For example, it is bizarre to contemplate that Indian Muslims have collectively decided to somehow make Hindu girls fall in love with Muslim boys, but our ruling dispensation would like us to believe so through the “Love Jihad Laws” passed by several BJP state governments. The powers that be do not want Muslim vendors to come anywhere near Hindu festivals or temples. As the discourse in TV channels revolve around hijab and halal, communal riots are planned meticulously, intensifying the relentless effort to corner and marginalise the Muslim community both socially and economically.

In April 2022, there have been multiple communal clashes in mostly BJP ruled states like Delhi, Gujarat, and Madhya Pradesh. These riots followed an exact template. On the festival of Ram Navami, processions led by Hindutwawadis would pass by mosques and through Muslim areas. There would be aggressive slogans and abuses against Muslims until there was protest or retaliation from the other side. Then the Muslims would be beaten up and their homes and businesses would be burned.

The central government and BJP-ruled states used to be silent spectators to similar violence in the past, but now, the state has become a major actor in the hate project. Destroying Muslim lives and livelihood is no longer left only to the indoctrinated thugs. Following the violence, the state sends bulldozers as in Jahangirpuri in Delhi to Khargaon in Madhya Pradesh, to demolish homes and businesses in Muslim areas giving no notice, claiming those were “unauthorised structures”.  

A bulldozer during a demolition drive in Delhi's Jahangirpuri area on Wednesday (20 April 2022) | Shahbaz Khan / PTI | from the Scroll

While this goes on unchecked, there is carpet bombing of anti-Muslim propaganda. BJP leaders, including ministers, publicly call to shoot Muslims. The most widely articulated political sentence since 2020 is possibly “Deshki gaddaro ko, goli maaro saloko.” A bunch of saints—rather, thugs in saffron—believe India is an Islamic state and call for “genocide against Muslims and other minorities in the name of name of protecting Hinduism.” [Wikipedia, accessed on 30 April 2022] The government cares not, the courts turn their head away, and the media spreads the lies peddled the government and ruling party.

All this is bound to have an impact. Many Hindus, who were impeccably balanced and open minded all these years are nowadays heard to say, “I agree, but about Muslims, …”

That brings us to the second question. What does India gain through this insane project to marginalise and torment a section of our own citizens?

The third and final question that comes to my mind is: Can you name a country that has progressed by attacking and marginalising its own citizens? If you need any clue, please think of Pakistan in 1971 and Sri Lanka between 1983 and 2009.

* https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-58406194

The Digital Divide

The graphic above is true and so sad! If anything shows our government’s complete indifference – if not disdain – for ordinary people, it is the COWIN app. Our rulers have made internet access almost a precondition for the life-saving vaccination against COVID-19. The poor in India don’t get anything easily, from ration card to medical aid. Now, a vast majority of them who don’t have internet access have an even bigger handicap vis-à-vis the vaccine.

However, India was not like this always. When I was a child, once a year, our whole family would visit a nearby corporation office for the small-pox vaccine to be administered with a bifurcated needle that would make two parallel punctures. It was open and free to all and the government advertised it widely to encourage people to get vaccinated. In fact, the efforts were much more than mere publicity. The University of Michigan Library website says:

“[In India in 1974] During a six-day period each month, health workers visited every one of the country’s 100 million households. Supervised by about fifty international advisors and an equal number of Indian officials, some thirty-three thousand district health personnel and more than 100,000 additional field workers conducted house-to-house searches in a total of 575,721 villages and 2,641 cities.”

Clearly, a much poorer India had wiser and better educated leadership that invested scarce resources into public health programmes thanks to which India has been able to kill to demons: small pox and polio. The second graphic has captured our past beautifully.

But today, we have a government run by idiots with phoney degrees and charlatans who promote unscientific, so-called ayurvedic cures so that fellow crooks can make a quick buck even in the middle of a devastating pandemic. More importantly, the government invested nothing except on the 3^rd stage clinical trial of the vaccine developed by the Indian Council for Medical Research (ICMR) and Bharat Biotech. Even Covaxin, the vaccine jointly developed by ICMR, they didn’t license to other manufacturers. Contrarily, the Russian Sputnik-V vaccine is going to be manufactured by six companies in India. Why did the government restrict production of Covaxin to only a small Hyderabad-based private company? If you know the answer, please tell me. Questions galore. Why do the owners of the biggest vaccine manufacturer Serum Institute of India have to run away to England when they should try to augment their manufacturing capacity to help millions of Indians?

Since the middle of 2020 the USA (even under a madman president) and Europe have been investing heavily into private companies for researching vaccines; many governments bought millions of doses of vaccine much before they were tested or produced. But our government ignored warnings from the scientific community about an impending second wave and didn't pre-book a single dose of the vaccine. What were they doing with the thousands of crores reportedly received in the completely opaque PM Care Fund if they didn’t utilise it for vaccines?

Our government has messed up every aspect of the problem whether making digital access a priority or the pricing of the vaccine or the age-group to which it should be given first. It has come out with a series of seemingly random decisions which has helped none. But these acts of stupidity pale into insignificance when you consider that in the humongous machinery called government and its adjuncts like the Niti Ayog, there was nobody to compare the number of vaccines required and the available production capacity in the country. Did they actually forget to do this when they were gleefully celebrating their stupidity as late as in March 2021? Can anything be more bizarre?

*

I belong to the privileged minority that has much better access to scarce resources. I personally have access to most of the ladders shown in this graphic. Therefore, anything I write on ordinary people not getting the COVID-19 vaccination would amount to hypocrisy. I accept the charge, but that doesn’t alter facts. We have a bunch of moronic rulers who are destroying the country.

The PM must resign. If ever a national government was needed with the best talents available in the country, it is now.

 18 May 2021

 

26 JANUARY, FAILURE / SABOTAGE, AND LATER

Something terrible happened in Delhi on the Republic Day 2021. The farmers’ protests, which had been completely peaceful for over two months until then, got blemished by a group of hooligans who took over the Red Fort for some time, flew a Sikh religious flag under the tricolour there, and randomly clashed with police. Here is an attempt to sum up the developments in brief.

1. In 2020, the Indian government brought in three inter-connected farm laws.
2. There has been a widespread view that agriculture being a “state subject” in the Constitution of India, the centre had no business to enact these laws. Pritam Singh writes in the Wire (20 January 2021): “Since the inauguration of the Indian constitution on January 26, 1950, these three [laws] constitute the most concerted entry of the Centre into the sphere of agriculture, which was designated a state subject” in the Constitution.
3. The laws were controversial since beginning for other reasons too. Agricultural experts like P Sainath and Yogendra Yadav believe these laws will give big industrialists a free hand in agriculture, where they were barred until now. On the other hand, a few reputed economists like Dr Ashok Gulati and most TV experts (?) believe the laws will improve the farmers’ conditions and farm productivity immensely. I will not go into the merits of their arguments here, but what is beyond argument is that the laws, if implemented, will change for ever the way farmers sell their products and the farm economy in general.
4. Let me just add that while the government believes it’s a huge gift to farmers, the famers don't see the laws as a gift. On the contrary, almost all the farmers’ bodies have begun an agitation demanding repeal of the laws. It’s by far the biggest protest happening on the planet now.
5. Let’s also note that the government brought in these bills first through ordinances and then through minimal discussion in Lok Sabha and got it passed by “voice vote” in Rajya Sabha. “Voice vote” means actual votes of members will not be recorded. Members supporting will shout “Aye” and those who oppose will shout “Nay”! The Speaker of the house, whose hearing shouldn’t be questioned, will decide which side had more people. Voice vote, naturally, is taken on minor issues. Also, the ruling party and their supports do not have a majority in Rajya Sabha. So, passing such a game-changing law which is going to impact every Indian by voice vote is a mockery of parliamentary practices.
6. Lakhs of farmers have been sitting peacefully in protest against the farm laws for over two months now and have blocked major roads leading into Delhi from Haryana, Rajasthan, and Uttar Pradesh under the leadership of an umbrella organisation: Sanyukt Kisaan Morcha or the SKM. Their protests were completely peaceful until 26 January when they brought in 96,000 tractors to the capital.
7. While the tractor marches were largely peaceful, in some areas, groups of farmers broke away from predetermined routes and attacked policemen brutally, injuring over 300 of them. The mob also took over the Red Fort for a brief while and raised some Sikh religious flags under the tricolour on the ramparts of the fort.
8. True to their wont, the mainstream media completely ignored peaceful marches on 26 January and focussed solely on the trouble makers. They also held the farmers’ leaders squarely responsible for the mayhem and what they called insult to the national flag. They ignored the fact that even the mob didn’t touch the national flag.
9. The SKM leadership condemned the trouble makers unequivocally, but also took moral responsibility for the mayhem. In my lifetime, this is the first time I have seen leaders of an agitation taking responsibility for hooligans who (mis)used protest platform.
10. Also, the SKM leadership said there was a gang of people led by one Deep Sidhu who created all the trouble at Red Fort. Interestingly, these thugs had tried to join the protest before, but they were shooed away by the SKM. Deep Sidhu and his gang had been known thugs. (Deep Sidhu is also close to the BJP and has his picture with the PM right at the PM's residence.) The Deep Sidhus had stayed put despite being cold-shouldered by SKM. Where? If you had seen the agitation site at the border from a helicopter, you would have seen this: SKM agitators camping outside the Delhi border – police barricade at the border – and the Deep Sidhu gang on the other side of the border, clearly, aided and allowed by the police within the Delhi border.
11. On 26 January, they were the first people to get off the block. They reached the Red Fort unobstructed by the police. Why were they not stopped by the Delhi Police? Your guess is as good as mine. 

The above, Dear Friends, is what I believe is a STATEMENT OF BARE FACTS. There have been 3 different kinds of reactions to these facts.

 

Firstly, the sarkar, the sarkari party, and the media that are heavily tilted towards them, from Times Now to Aaj Tak, are baying for the blood of the farm leaders. The now-famous troll army of the ruling party has threatened the most articulate farm leader, Yogendra Yadav and his family in the dirtiest possible language. (After all, this is New India, where some people who shout "Bharat Mata ki jay" also use the filthiest words against women who they consider enemies!)

 

Among those who are not enamoured to the government, some like my friend Satyajit Mitra writes: “Once you fumble, the fascist adversaries will pounce on you. The leadership of farmers movement showed their uneasiness about R-day incidents, RSS cadre and police all have come to demolish the weakened movement. Sad events are unfolding.”

 

On the other hand, a respected Bengali author and activist, Jaya Mitra has shared this picture with the following caption: “In the wind that has been blowing the rumours that the agitation is crumbling, this picture of a massive assembly on 27 January 2021 has been sent to me by one of the editors of the Trolley Times, Nav Kiran Nat” (Translation from Bangla mine.)

 

My information from a friend on the field and an NDTV report goes to the second view. My friend says, last night, the UP government, well-known for its pro-democracy credentials, switched off electricity at and removed water tankers from the Gazipur border. They even removed the toilets from the protest sites. (So much for Swatch Bharat!)

 

But despite all this, the crowd at Gazipur border has been growing. More farmers have been joining the protest site and the gathering was the biggest ever last night. He said, Rakesh Tikait, who told NDTV that he is "ready to face bullets" if needed, has the credentials and farmers love him.

 

People also remained awake last night as they expected a police crackdown.

 

So, is the farmers’ protest crumbling?

 

The answer my friend …

 

29 January 2021

The news you won’t find in the mainstream media

যে জরুরী খবর সংবাদপত্রে / টিভিতে পাবেন না

আন্দোলনের ময়দান থেকে / From the protest site

ডাঃ স্বপন বিশ্বাস ও আমি ডাঃ কল্যাণব্রত ঘোষ মেডিকেল সার্ভিস সেন্টার (এমএসসি) ও সার্ভিস ডক্টর্স ফোরাম (এসডিএফ)-এর তরফে দিল্লির সংগ্রামরত কৃষকদের পাশে দাঁড়াতে সিংঘুতে পৌঁছই ১৬ ডিসেম্বর ২০২০। দিল্লি থেকে সিংঘু প্রায় ২৪-২৫ কিমি রাস্তা। আমরা যে ট্যাক্সিতে গিয়েছিলাম তার ড্রাইভারের সঙ্গে আলাপচারিতায় জানা গেল, তিনি এই আন্দোলনের সমর্থক। তিনি জানালেন, দিল্লিতে ঢোকার বেশিরভাগ রাস্তা বন্ধ থাকায় শহর অনেকটাই ফাঁকা। বললেন, লোকজন কম থাকায় তাঁর মতো অনেকেরই উপার্জন কমে গেছে। তা সত্ত্বেও দিল্লির সাধারণ মানুষ এই কৃষি আইনের বিরুদ্ধে।

On 16 December 2020, Dr. Swapan Biswas and I, Dr. Kalyanbrata Ghose, reached Delhi to stand beside the protesting farmers at the Singhu-Delhi border, representing Medical Service Centre (MSC) and Service Doctor’s Forum (SDF). Singhu is 24-25 kilometres from Delhi. As we drive down to the place, our taxi driver tells us he supports the movement. He says as most roads to Delhi have been blocked, there isn’t much traffic in the city. Consequently, his business is down. Even then, he is on the side of the agitating farmers.

সিংঘুতে পৌঁছে আমরা রোগী দেখা শুরু করলাম। আমি মূল ক্যাম্পে রোগী দেখার দায়িত্ব নিলাম আর স্বপনদা নিল ভ্রাম্যমাণ ক্যাম্পের আরও গুরুত্বপূর্ণ দায়িত্ব। সকাল ১০টা থেকে সন্ধ্যা ৬টা সারাক্ষণ রোগী দেখেছি। সারাদিনে মূল ক্যাম্পে প্রায় ২০০-র উপরে এবং ভ্রাম্যমাণ ক্যাম্পে ৫০-এর উপরে রোগী আসতেন। প্রতিদিন সংখ্যাটা বেড়ে যাচ্ছিল। দিনের শেষে ডাঃ অংশুমান মিত্র আমাদের সবাইকে নিয়ে বসতেন সারাদিনের অভিজ্ঞতা বিনিময় ও পরের দিনের পরিকল্পনা করতে। ফার্মাসিতে স্নাতক পাঞ্জাবের এক মেয়ে আন্দোলনে এসেছিলেন। মেয়েটি আমাদের সঙ্গে কাজ করতে শুরু করেন। আরও দু’জন যুবক একইভাবে আমাদের কাজের সঙ্গে যুক্ত হয়ে যান।

After reaching Singhu, we began working with patients. I was at the main camp and Swapan-da took the responsibility of the more important mobile camp. From 10 in the morning to 6 in the evening, we would continuously see patients: over 200 in the main camp and more than 50 in the mobile camp. At the end of the day, Dr Angshuman Mitra would lead the discussion with us to share the day’s experience and plan for the following day. A young girl from Punjab, a pharmacy graduate, had come to the movement. She joined our team. Two more young men too joined in the same way.

মূলত সর্দি-কাশি, গ্যাসট্রাইটিস, হাঁপানি, জ্বর, প্রস্রাবে ইনফেকশন, ফাংগাল ইনফেকশন, আর্থ্রাইটিস, অ্যালার্জিক কনজাংটিভাইটিস, অনিদ্রা, কাটা-ছেঁড়ার আঘাত ইত্যাদি সমস্যা নিয়ে রোগীরা আসতেন। তার সাথে বেশ কিছু উচ্চ রক্তচাপ, ডায়াবেটিস মেলিটাস, ইসকিমিক হার্ট ডিজিজ-এর রোগী, যাঁরা মূলত তাঁদের ওষুধ ফুরিয়ে যাওয়ায় সেটা পেতে আসতেন। এ ছাড়া বেশ কিছু মাঝবয়সী ও যুবক কৃষক আসতেন ওপিয়াম নেশার উইদড্রয়াল লক্ষণ নিয়ে। এঁরা খুব কষ্ট পেলেও আন্দোলন ছেড়ে যেতে রাজি ছিলেন না। তবে পরিচ্ছন্নতার ব্যবস্থা এত ভাল যে, ডায়েরিয়ার রোগী ছিল খুব কম।

A majority of the patients suffered from cough and cold, gastritis, asthma, fever, urinary infections, arthritis, allergic conjunctivitis, insomnia, or minor cuts and bruises. Besides, there were quite a few people with hypertension, diabetes mellitus, or ischemic heart, who had run out of their regular medicines and came to get them. Also, there were quite a few middle-aged and young farmers with opium withdrawal symptoms. They suffered immensely, but refused to leave the front. Significantly, the level of cleanliness was so high that hardy anyone suffered from diarrhoea.

করোনা নিয়ে বলতে গেলে কৃষকরা বলতেন, মোদি সরকার করোনা ভাইরাসের থেকে ভয়ানক। তারা মনে করেন করোনা তাদের কিছু ক্ষতি করতে পারবে না। এই আন্দোলনে প্রচুর বয়স্ক মানুষ এসেছেন। মহিলা আন্দোলনকারীর সংখ্যাও কম নয়। একজন ৬২ বছর বয়সী মহিলার চিকিৎসা আমরা করেছি যিনি হাই ব্লাড সুগার ও প্রেসারের রোগী এবং পায়ের ক্ষতস্থানে ব্যাণ্ডেজ বেঁধে আন্দোলনের ময়দানে এসেছেন এবং এই ঠাণ্ডায় খোলা আকাশের নিচে দিন কাটাচ্ছেন।

When we discussed the Coronavirus, the famers say the Modi government is more dangerous than the virus. They believe Corona can do them no harm. Lots of elderly people are part of this movement. And there are many women protesters too. I treated a 62-year-old woman who has high blood sugar and pressure. She has come to the protest site with a bandaged infected leg. And she has been sleeping under the open sky in this severe cold.

অপপ্রচার হচ্ছে যে এই আন্দোলন মূলত ধনী কৃষকদের আন্দোলন। কিন্তু কথা বলে দেখেছি, শতকরা ৮০-৯০ ভাগ কৃষকই ক্ষুদ্র এবং মধ্য চাষি, যাঁদের জমির পরিমাণ গড়ে ১০ বিঘার নিচে। খুব কম জনেরই একশো বিঘার বেশি জমি আছে। আবার এই অপপ্রচারও আছে যে এটা খালিস্তানিদের আন্দোলন। কিন্তু এখানে তেমন দাবির চিহ্ন পর্যন্ত পাইনি। বরং কয়েক জায়গায় পোস্টারে লেখা দেখেছি: আমরা খালিস্তান চাই না, কৃষি আইনের রদ চাই’।

There is a false campaign that this is an agitation by rich farmers. However, 80 to 90% of the people we talked to were small or middle farmers, whose average land holding won’t be more than three acres. There were only a few who had over 30 acres of land. Another falsehood that is being spread is that the agitation belongs to Khalistanis. We have seen no sign of pro-Khalstani people. On the contrary, we have seen several posters saying, “We don’t want Khalistan, we just want the farm bills are repealed.”

সিংঘুতে কৃষকরা অসংখ্য ট্রাক্টর আর ট্রাকে করে প্রায় ১৫ কিমি রাস্তা জুড়ে বসে আছেন। ট্রাক্টরের ট্রলি আর ট্রাকের ছাদ পলিথিনে মুড়ে তাদের অস্থায়ী থাকার ব্যবস্থা তারা করে নিয়েছেন। কেবল পাঞ্জাব আর হরিয়ানার কৃষকরা শুধু নন, এখানে উত্তরপ্রদেশ, হিমাচলপ্রদেশ, মধ্যপ্রদেশ, গুজরাট, পশ্চিমবঙ্গ থেকে আসা আন্দোলনকারীরা আছেন এবং দিনে দিনে অন্যান্য রাজ্য থেকে আসা মানুষের সংখ্যা বাড়ছে।

At the Singhu border, farmers have occupied 15 kilometres of highway on innumerable tractors and trucks. Covering the tops of tractors and trollies with polythene sheets, they have made their temporary homes. And they are not from the Punjab alone, they have come from Uttar Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, West Bengal, and their number has been growing every day.

এখানে কৃষকরা পর্যাপ্ত খাদ্যসামগ্রীর ব্যবস্থা করেছে বিভিন্ন লঙ্গরখানার মাধ্যমে। আন্দোলনে আসা যে কেউ নিখরচায় পেট ভরে খেতে পারে। এখানে রাস্তার ধারে ধারে অস্থায়ী শৌচাগারের ব্যবস্থা তারা করেছে যাতে স্বাস্থ্য ও পরিচ্ছন্নতা বজায় থাকে। তারা জামা-কাপড় কেচে নেওয়ার ব্যবস্থাও করে নিয়েছে অনেকগুলো ওয়াশিং মেসিন জোগাড় করে। তারা স্বেচ্ছাসেবী হিসাবে বাকিদের জামাকাপড় কেচে দিচ্ছেন। কিছু কৃষক স্বেচ্ছাসেবী প্রতিদিনের তৈরি হওয়া আবর্জনা পরিষ্কারের দায়িত্ব পালন করছেন। আবার দেখলাম কিছু কৃষক নিখরচায় অন্যদের চুল-দাড়ি কাটার দায়িত্ব পালন করছেন। কয়েকজন যুবক বিনামূল্যে ইচ্ছুক কৃষকদের হাতে ট্যাটু একে দিচ্ছে, তাতে চে গুয়েভারার ছবিও দেখেছি। সন্ধ্যার পরে মাঝরাত পর্যন্ত যখন মূল মঞ্চের ভাষণ স্থগিত থাকে তখন বিভিন্ন গ্রুপে কাঠের আগুন জ্বালিয়ে বাদ্যযন্ত্র নিয়ে প্রতিবাদী গান বা লোকসংগীত গাইছেন কৃষকরা।

The farmers have brought in sufficient food that are being distributed through langars. Anyone who is a part of the movement can eat at no cost. Hygiene has been taken care of through temporary toilets on the roadside. Even clothes are being washed in a large number of washing machines. There are volunteers who have been washing clothes of others. Some volunteers are removing garbage daily, while some others are giving others haircuts and shaves free of cost. Some young men were doing tattoos on the arms of farmers, and I’ve seen pictures of Che Guevara too as tattoos. From evening to midnight, when there are no speeches on the main podium, groups assemble around campfires to sing songs of rebellion or folk songs with the accompaniment of instruments.

শিখদের গুরুদোয়ারার বড় ভূমিকা দেখলাম এখানে। একটা বড় সংখ্যক লঙ্গরখানা গুরুদোয়ারার পরিচালনায় চলছে। প্রত্যেকেই আলাদা আলাদা দায়িত্ব নিয়ে একটা দীর্ঘমেয়াদি আন্দোলনের প্রস্তুতি নিয়েছেন। তাদের প্রত্যেকের প্রত্যয় যে জীবন গেলেও যাবে কিন্তু দাবি আদায় তারা করবেনই। ব্যক্তিবাদী স্বার্থের দ্বন্দ্ব, দায়িত্বহীনতা আর সুবিধাবাদের পরিবেশে বড় হয়ে আগে আমি এমন পরিবেশ দেখিনি যেখানে একতা আছে, বীরত্ব আছে, ভ্রাতৃত্ববোধ আছে। এই আন্দোলন আমাকে নতুন জিনিস শেখাল। নতুন দিশা দিল।

Gurudwaras have played a major role (in this movement), running a large number of community kitchens. Every individual here has taken up different responsibilities following a blueprint for a sustained movement. Every one of them believe they will achieve their goals, even if it came at the cost of their life. While growing up in an environment of conflict of narrow interests, irresponsibility, and opportunism, I never came across a situation of such unity, valour, and fraternity. This movement has taught me many a new lesson, has shown me new possibilities.

আমরা চিকিৎসকরা মূলত টেন্টে রাত কাটাতাম রাত্রিকালীন চিকিৎসা পরিষেবা বজায় রাখতে। এখানে আমাদের ছাড়াও আরও কিছু মেডিকেল ক্যাম্প ছিল, কিন্তু সেগুলো মূলত হেলথ স্টাফরা চালাত। সেই ক্যাম্পগুলিতে বিভিন্ন শহর থেকে ডাক্তাররা কখনও সকালে এসে রাতে আবার ফিরে যেতেন। একমাত্র আমাদের ক্যাম্পেই দিন-রাত সবসময় ডাক্তার পাওয়া যেত। প্রতিদিন রাত্রে আমরা বেশ কিছু ইমার্জেন্সি রোগী দেখেছি। ফলে দিনে দিনে আমাদের প্রয়োজনীয়তা ওখানে বেড়ে গেছে। ৩-৪ কিমি দূর থেকেও খোঁজ করে রোগী এসেছে আমাদের কাছে। আমাদের পর্যাপ্ত ওষুধ না থাকলেও আমরাই ওখানে মূল চিকিৎসাটা দিচ্ছি। আমাদের লেখা ওষুধ অন্যান্য ক্যাম্প থেকেও দিয়ে দিচ্ছে। অনেক ক্যাম্প ও সংস্থা খোঁজ নিয়ে নিজে থেকে আমাদের ক্যাম্পের জন্য প্রতিদিন ওষুধ দিয়ে যেতেন। রোগীরা সুস্থ হয়ে পরের দিন আমাদেরকে কৃতজ্ঞতাসূচক নমস্কার করে গেছেন।

We, the doctors, mostly spent the night in tents, so that medical facilities could be provided at night too. There were other medical camps too, but they were mostly run by paramedics. At some of those, doctors used to come in the morning and leave after the day’s work. Only we offered 24 X 7 healthcare facilities. Every night, we had some emergency patients. Consequently, our demand increased. Patients even came from three to four kilometres away. Although we didn’t have an adequate stock of medicines, we were the principal provider of medical care. Medicines prescribed by us were given by other medical camps too. Several organisations and medical camps sought us out and augmented our stock of medicines. Many a patient visited our camp after recovery to thank us.

এর আগে বেশ কিছু মেডিকেল ক্যাম্প আমি করেছি কিন্তু সিংঘুর এই ক্যাম্প সম্পূর্ণ আলাদা। এখানে কৃষকদের যে মমত্ব, তেজস্বিতা, কষ্টসহিষ্ণুতা, একতা দেখে এলাম তা মনকে নাড়া দেয়।

Earlier, I participated in a fairly large number of medical camps, but this camp is Singhu is entirely different. The empathy, valour, fortitude, and unity I saw in these camps was mind-numbing.

 

                                                            - ডাঃ কল্যাণব্রত ঘোষ /  Dr. Kalyanbrata Ghose