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Monthly Archives: December 2014

Remembering Bhopal: Years of Injustice

02 Tuesday Dec 2014

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25 Years, 30 Years, Animal’s People, Bhopal, DOW, Dow Chemical Company, Injustice

Following is the article I wrote 5 years ago, on the 25th Anniversary of Bhopal Gas Tragedy. To me, nothing has changed over these years. Today when we are observing 30th Anniversary of ‪#‎Bhopal, I am reminded of the following words of the protagonist in Indra Sinha ’s novel, Animal’s People, which is based on Bhopal and its aftermath:

“…(M)any books have written about this place, not one has changed anything for the better, how will yours be different? You will bleat like all the rest. You’ll talk of rights, law, justice. Those words sound the same in my mouth as in yours but they don’t mean the same, Zafar says such words are like shadows of the moon makes in the Kampani’s factory, always changing shape. On that night it was poison, now it’s words that are choking us.”

Bhoal25

I used to be human once. So, I am told. I don’t remember it myself, but people who know me when I was small say I walked on two feet just like a human being…I was born a few days before that night, which no  one in Khaufpur (old Bhopal)  wants to remember , but nobody can forget.

~Animal’s People,Indra Sinha

These are the words of a boy, who was born a few days before that catastrophic night, when ten thousands of lives were wasted like dust in a disaster that could have been averted had the least bit of value been given to those lives and the least bit of prudence by our corporate gods and their allies. What occurred at the midnight of 2nd-3rd December of 1984, on the streets of Bhopal, is a scar that we as a nation, or society at the least, projected to be civilized and humane , should not and must not, be so hasty to wipe out of our collective memories.

25 years ago

At the midnight of 2nd-3rd December of 1984, 40 tonnes of the deadly Methyle ISO Cynidine (MIC) gas leaked out of the Union Carbide India Limited (UCIL)’s factory. This highly poisonous gas, black green in colour, according to those who witnessed it, swept an area covering almost the whole of old Bhopal in a matter of hours killing 8,000 people and leaving half a million permanently in sub human, in fact animal condition. Since then, an additional 15,000 people had to die untimely because of its exposition of poisonous gas to them. It needs a special mention that, the threat posed by Union Carbide’s pesticide process in Bhopal was known long before the night of the gas leak. Between 1981 and 1984, smaller leaks killed or hospitalised workers and residents on three separate occasions. The experts sent by Union Carbide itself sometime ago from the leak, found 61 potential hazards, 30 of them major.

Cocktail of Corporate sins and State Criminal Negligence

What can be said precisely, Bhopal is the classical example of the cocktail made of sins of Multinational Companies (MNCs) and Government’s criminal negligence in terms of its irresponsible behavior towards its own citizen. For many of the gas-victims, the situation is not very different from the day of tragedy.

Till date, neither proper compensation has been awarded nor have appropriate arrangements been made for their treatment and rehabilitation. Instead of attempting to medically, economically and socially rehabilitate the gas victims, the Central and State governments are working against their own people and defending the interests of Union Carbide. In 1989 Bhopal Settlement between the Government of India and Union Carbide was based on assumption that only 3000 gas-victims had died in the tragedy and another 1, 02,000 had suffered injuries in varying degree. However, the Claims Courts established by the Welfare Commissioner, Bhopal, has determined that there were in all 574,367 gas-victims including dead, which effectively meant that the magnitude of the dead and injured was at least five times more than what was assumed at the time of the Settlement. Criminal cases against Union Carbide and its accused officials are proceeding at a snail’s space and it is still before the Court of the Chief Judicial Magistrate, Bhopal. Medical, economical and social rehabilitation work undertaken by the State and Central governments have been inadequate and much below the requirements.

What is more ironical and frustrating, neither the Government of India nor the state governments   seems to have drawn appropriate lessons from the gruesome disasters like Bhopal. Instead, they have been pursuing such reckless policies that have the potential to create Bhopal type situations at several places across the country. In fact, millions of citizens across the country have since been exposed to a verity of toxic substances at their place of work as well as from exposure to other hazardous materials that have been released into the environment by multi-national companies and local industries.

Amidst all

Every year since the December 2-3, the survivors and supporters of the justice for Bhopal are struggling in all forms. In 25 years, people-young and old, women and children have walked three times (1989, 2006 and 2008) from Bhopal to Delhi, some 800 Kilometers to take their complaints to the central government. The padyatras, are followed by fasts. In 2009, the fast lasted 6 days and resulted Prime Minister’s nod for clean water, economic rehabilitation and increased medical care. Through demonstrations, fasts and padyatras in the last 25 years, the survivors of Bhopal have achieved some important victories as well. The most important success so far is that, they have effectively stopped Dow Chemicals, who bought Union Carbide India in 2001, making any significant investment in India. Its due to their legal and extra-legal battles that Union carbide and its officials remain criminally charged.

Miles to go

The fight for the Bhopal is far needs to be continued as the culprits responsible are yet to be punished and the victims have not received just compensation. 6000 gas-victims continue to seek medical treatment for disaster-related ailments; thousand of gas-victims continue to die due to lack of proper medical treatment. Government’s financial rehabilitation program has almost come to an end. No provision to provide pension to thousands of widows, orphans and other handicapped. Under environmental rehabilitation programme, the Government has failed to provide safe drinking water, toilets or clean environment to the needy gas-victims. Large quantities of toxic materials lying in and around the Carbide plant and toxic waste discharged into the Solar Evaporation Pond has leached into the ground and contaminated thousands of tones of soil and ground water near the plant in approximately 5 sq. km of area leave alone the plan for a memorial for the victims of the tragedy, which is still on paper.

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Of Chutzpah and Bhajpah: Sangh Parivar’s Art of Appropriating Historical Figures

01 Monday Dec 2014

Posted by MahtabNama in Uncategorized

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AMU, Appropriation of Historical Figures, Bhajpah, Chutzpah, Jamia, Raja Mahendra Pratap, Sangh Parivar

The Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) is once again in news, even before it had time to disappear from the front page of some of the daily newspapers, especially The Times of India. However, unlike the previous episode, the ‘regressive’ administration or students of AMU are not responsible for the news this time. Okay, but what’s then news this time?

Indian Express reports that the BJP has declared to celebrate the birth anniversary of “Jat King” Raja Mahendra Pratap Singh at an entrance to the Aligarh Muslim University campus on December 1. “AMU celebrates its founder’s birth anniversary as Sir Syed Day. I have no objection to that. Raja Mahendra donated land for the university, then what is the harm in celebrating his birthday,” (UP State BJP chief Laxmikant) Bajpai told The Indian Express. He even visited Aligarh a week ago and directed local party workers to prepare for the event. “I am not afraid of any government. The day is not far off when we will celebrate Raja Mahendra’s birthday inside the campus,” he said.

of Chutzpah and Bhajpah_KT

Great, but who is this Raja, what did he have to do with the BJP (Bhajapah) and why on earth has, all of a sudden, the BJP has realised that they should be celebrating Raja’s birthday?

Well, according to Wikipedia, “Raja Mahendra Pratap Singh (1 December 1886 – 29 April 1979) was a freedom fighter, journalist, writer, and Marxist revolutionary social reformist of India”. Sounds like some bloody Communist, in Hindutva lingo, right? He was, a sort of as IndianPost, a website of Stamp Collection of philatelic stamps
issued in India (Post-Independence) notes, “Raja Mahendra Pratap was a revolutionary and a patriot with an ondomitable zeal for India’s freedom. He was a rare prince who voluntarily chose the path of a wandering pilgrim in quest of freedom of his motherland.” Recognizing his contribution, on 15th August 1979, the government of India issued a commemorative stamp in his name.

IndianPost further notes, “Spurred by the conviction that freedom was not possible without revolutionary struggle and revolutionary struggle was not possible from within the country, he left India in 1914. For the next three decades, he relentlessly strived to arouse the conscience of the world community to help India free herself from the foreign yoke. In 1915, through Germany and Turkey, he made his way to Afghanistan. That year in Kabul, along with other Indian revolutionaries he established Provisional Government of Free India. He was the President and Maulana Barkatullah was the Prime Minister.”

And what was his connection with Bhajpah (BJP), or erstwhile Jan Sangh or BJP’s father organization, RSS better known as Sangh Parivar? If there is any connection at all?

No-no, it’s not that there was no connection between Raja Mahendra Pratap and the Jan Sangh (BJP was established in 1980, before that it was known as Jan Sangh). There was a very close connection between the two. But any Bhajpayee (read BJP worker) will not tell you that, because it is contradictory to what they are claiming about the Raja today. By any account, Raja Mahendra Pratap was fiercely anti-Hindutva in his ideology. He even founded a new religion called Prem Dharma (Religion of Love), preaching Hindu-Muslim unity and wrote a book on it, which can be accessed on rajamahendrapratap.net.   Moreover, the most important fact is that he defeated Hindutva forces in election. In 1957’s general elections, Mahendra Pratap defeated BJP’s first Prime Minister, Atal Bihari Vajpai from the Mathura constituency of UP as an Independent Candidate. Vajpayee was Jansagh’s candidate in the election!

Surprised? If yes, you should not be, as over the years Bhajapah and its father organisation, the Sangh Parivar or rather brigade, has mastered this art of appropriating historical figures.

Take the case of Bhagat Singh. Yes, the same Bhagat Singh whom we know as a Marxist revolutionary. According to Sangh Parivar’s propagandists, he was a staunch follower of the ideology of Sanathan Dharma. But “the communist’s ideologues conveniently ignore the truth that the roots of Bhagat Singh’s ideology lie in the very concept of Hindu Rashtra.” To justify their claims, they will give you examples like Bhagat Singh was born in a family who were staunch followers of the Arya Samaj, was educated at Dayanad Anglo Vedic (DAV) School and National College of Lahore, was inspired by the sagas of two great patriots Chatrapati Shivaji and Maharana Pratap and finally, they link his association with the RSS. Of course, without any reference!  To any of us who has read Bhagat’s writings, it is nothing but absurd. Absurd and irrational as it may sound, the fact of the matter is that these arguments are being used frequently, to the extent that it has started gaining currency. The appropriation of various anti-Hindutva historical figures like Babasaheb Ambedker and Subhas Chandra Bose are the pet projects of Sangh. How this is happening has been explained in my article, Bhagat Singh and the Hindu Rashtra.

Hence, I won’t be surprised if tomorrow the BJP announces that they will celebrate the birth anniversary of Jamnalal Bajaj in front of Jamia Millia Islamia gate because he had contributed to the development of Jamia. Never mind that Bajaj is duly acknowledged in Jamia’s official history and was a staunch secularist. I am saying this not because I am tendentious but I have seen this happening in Jamia’s case.

Let me give you only one example. In the wake of the Batla House ‘Encounter’ (September 2008), the BJP branded Jamia as the Nursery of Terror and demanded the dismissal of the then Vice Chancellor, who offered legal aid to the Jamia students accused in Delhi Blast (2008). In those days, it was really difficult for anyone to identify himself or herself as a student of Jamia or a pass out. Many could not get a job despite being suitable candidates because s/he studied at ‘Nursery of Terror’.  The smear campaign was such that the Members of the University Academic Council had to write an open letter explaining its position. This did not happen only in 2008 but many times even this year. The Sangh Parivar uses bogey of terror to demonise Jamia, for that matter, most of the Muslim managed/run institutions as when and when required.

But recently (17th November 14), when the tulasi of Sangh Parivar, Smiriti Irani (HRD Minister) visited Jamia and addressed the convocation, she said nothing about Jamia’s alleged linkage with terrorism. On the contrary to her party’s views, she spoke about Jamia’s illustrious past, legacy and its nationalist character. She spoke about Insaf (Justice) and Insaniayat (Humanity). Congratulating the Law graduates, she said, “I am hopeful you will make sure that Justice and Humanity is protected in the country”. This reminded me of the above episode, where Jamia tried to ensure Justice (through Legal Aid) for those accused of being terrorists and how Irani’s own party reacted to it. Moreover, it was also interesting to note the use of Urdu words in her speech.

Listening to Smiriti Irani’s speech, I could not resist thinking about Mirza Ghalib. To my mind, had Chacha Ghalib been alive today, seeing all of this, he would have said:

Bazeecha-e-atfal hai duniya mere aage/ Hota hai shabo-roz #chutzpah mere aage!

First published on TwoCircles.net, 29th November 14

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  • Mr Minister, Muslims need equality not your ‘proper sanctity’
  • Syed Shahabuddin: A man who could win over even those who disagreed with him
  • Book Review : Citizen and Society by M. Hamid Ansari
  • Replug: In defense of Hansda Sowvendra Sekhar, a young adivasi writer from Jharkhand
  • Cow Vigilantes’ Attacks: The Privileged Must Rise in Rage

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