This
Is Not A Story About Binayak Sen
By Subhash Gatade
02 July, 2007
Countercurrents.org
This
is not a story of the fifty plus Children's doctor Binayak Sen from
Raipur, Chattisgarh who is at present languishing in jail under draconian
provisions of a law which has declared him a 'terrorist' because he
had the courage to speak truth to power.
This is not meant to be a
story of two young daughters of this man who are eagerly waiting for
their father who is one of their closest friends and with whom they
have shared all secrets of the world.
This is not a story of Illina,
whose companionship with Binayak exceeds more than three decades, and
who recently penned down her experiences at the jail gate, where ordinary
people - who want to have a glimpse of their near and dear ones lodged
in the jail - are even robbed of their last Penny by the custodians
of law and order.
This is also not a story
of those kids from nearby villages who joined a protest demonstration
held in Raipur to express their bewilderment over the arrest of their
doctoruncle who use to tell them interesting stories when he could find
some free time at the community clinics.
This is also not meant to
tell you my first meeting with this gem of a man way back in 1981 in
Dalli Rajhara, District Durg where the legendary Shankar Guha Niyogi
had charted a new path in worker's struggle and where the idea to start
a Shahid Hospital - a hospital started by workers of the mines for the
other toiling masses of the area - was germinating then.
This is also not a story
of the institution called Vellore Medical College which felt honoured
to have produced a student of such calibre and felicitated him for his
conscious decision to work for the poor and downtrodden.
This is also not a story
of the manner in which ex-students of this college who are spread in
different parts of the world have taken the initiative to mobilise the
medical community of the world to tell the powers that be that the proper
place for a children's doctor should be among childern and their parents
and not the confines of a jail.
This is also not a story
of the work Dr Sen did as an adviser to the community health scheme
of the state called 'Mitanin' nor a description of the program wherein
he was awarded the prestigious Paul Harrison award for his commendable
work in community health.
This is also not a story
of the appeal sent by world renowned individuals/activists like Noam
Chomsky, Romila Thapar, Irfan Habib etc. who felt 'dismayed' at the
'continued detention of Sen' and who have demanded that all charges
against Dr Sen be dropped immediately and he be released forthwith.
Of course nor it is a report
of the widening ambit of state harassment which today includes Illina
Sen, Gautam Bandopadhyaya and Rashmi Dwivedi, Rajendra Sail - members
of People's Union For Civil Liberties and other organisations who have
refused to bow before the machinations of the state machinery. It is
the same state machinery which has acquired the dracula like qualities
of bumping off innocents and which did not have any qualms going to
the ridiculous extent of arresting Dr Sen as an 'emissary of a naxalite'
when the said meetings were held in the presence of police themselves.
This is not a critique of
the manner in which a broad section of the media preferred to toe the
government line and putting all journalistic ethical norms to the winds
presented sensational, juicy stories to demonise this ex-adviser to
the state government on its community health schemes.
This is also not a story
of the frightening message on wireless sent by a Superintendent of Police
stationed in one of those 'troubled districts' in Chattisgarh itself
which clearly instructed the armed police to target journalists, individuals
who seem to be overzealous about the question of human rights.
This also does not deal with
the so called Peace Campaign called Salwa Judum - where a section of
the tribals have been armed at the behest of the government- who have
become a law unto themselves, where they have been found to be burning
villages and abusing their women. It also does not deal with the manner
in which this 'Peace Campaign' has uprooted more than 40,000 villagers
and placed them in camps along the road, reminding people of the failed
“strategic hamlets” used by the US military in South Vietnam
more than forty years ago.
The following writeup does
not intend to once again bring to the fore the grief of a mother called
Madiyam Soni ( there are thousands of such women ) from a non-descript
village Ponjer whose son's life was snuffed out by the security forces
and whose body was found with similar eleven bodies at a place called
Santoshpur much farther from her village.
To be very frank all such
insignificant sounding details about ordinary people's ordinary lives,
their travails and tribulations, and the response of the powers that
be towards their attempts to aspire for a normal life with dignity is
not the crux of this writeup. One very well knows that neither do they
carry any import for the custodians of this country nor the articulate
sections of our society. Perhaps all such details from the hinterland
of India are meaningless for the young generation also which is busy
networking with friends from the other part of the globe thanks to the
various websites which have sprung up.
This is in fact a story of
all those people who have rather stopped thinking about all these relevant
things.
This is in fact a story of
the continuous bombardment of messages through various channels which
has rather desensitised a greater lot among us towards the mundane looking
sufferings of the people.
This is in fact a story of
the criminal silence which all such stories, reports normally encounter
- may it be the declaration of a children's doctor as 'Public Enemy
No. 1' or for that matter fake encounter killings in some hinterland
of India .
This is in fact a story of
reassessing whose lives we should value and prioritize.
This is in fact a story of
getting ready to ask some discomforting questions about the system in
which we live.
Perhaps the need of the hour
seems to be starting with a simple query : When would the two daughters
meet their father ?
[email protected]
Leave
A Comment
&
Share Your Insights
Comment
Policy
Digg
it! And spread the word!
Here is a unique chance to help this article to be read by thousands
of people more. You just Digg it, and it will appear in the home page
of Digg.com and thousands more will read it. Digg is nothing but an
vote, the article with most votes will go to the top of the page. So,
as you read just give a digg and help thousands more to read this article.