Not to question why: Ramachandra Guha
Ramachandra Guha,
Hindustan Times
Thirty years ago, in an act I still feel guilty about, I woke up a very great Indian from his sleep. I was volunteering at a conference in New Delhi, and had been asked to fetch the Member of Parliament from Dhanbad, AK Roy, from his quarters in Vithalbhai Patel House. Roy, a labour leader legendary for his integrity and his wide range of reading, had been elected from the mining town as an Independent, his campaign funds raised from the workers themselves. It was characteristic of the man (and perhaps also of the times) that instead of asking for a Lutyens’ bungalow or even a spacious flat on South Avenue, he settled on a single room in a tall, dark, unattractive building off Parliament Street.
We students asked the reception for Roy’s room number, took the lift up, and knocked on the door. No one answered. We knocked again. At this stage we should probably have left and told the organisers that the MP was not in. But we were students, eager to prove our keenness, so we knocked several times more and also shouted to attract attention. Finally, the door opened, and an erect man in a khadi kurta-pyjama stood in front of us, rubbing his eyes. He asked who we were and what we wanted, meeting our answers with an extraordinarily gentleness of manner. His friend, and temporary host, had apparently gone out on an errand.
The man we had woken up was Shankar Guha Niyogi. He was resting perhaps after a long train journey, and in any case for a man who worked where and like he did any sleep snatched anywhere was a bonus. Originally from Bengal, Guha Niyogi had gone to the Bhilai region as a young man and started working among unorganised labour. While workers employed by the Bhilai steel plant were represented by unions affiliated to the major parties, the labourers in the mines and ancillary industries were unrepresented, and hence shockingly exploited. Under Guha Niyogi’s leadership they came together in unions, and demanded and obtained better wages. But their leader’s vision was never merely economistic. He opened clinics for them and schools for their children, and, with the help of their wives, ran a successful campaign against alcoholism. Guha Niyogi was also a precocious environmentalist, urging factory owners to protect workers from pollution, and asking the general public to conserve the water bodies, forests and overall biodiversity of the region.
A man of quiet dignity and an almost heroic commitment to the poor — like Mahatma Gandhi in both respects — Guha Niyogi inspired many middle-class professionals to join him. Among them was Binayak Sen, a gold medalist from the Christian Medical College in Vellore, who, with the world at his feet, moved to Chhattisgarh in the early 1980s. He has lived in the region ever since, ministering to patients from a wide variety of backgrounds. If his mentor’s vision went beyond higher wages, Sen’s goes beyond medical ailments. He became increasingly interested in the social rights of the area’s adivasi population, who live on the margins, without access to decent schools or regular employment.
In 1991, Guha Niyogi was murdered by a man hired by industrialists who disapproved of his attempts to enhance the self-respect of the workers. Now, 20 years later, his friend, colleague and protegé has been awarded a life sentence by a court in Raipur for the crime of talking to Maoist prisoners in jail. Binayak Sen has never fired a gun; he probably does not know how to hold one. He has explicitly condemned Maoist violence, and even said of the armed revolutionaries that theirs is “an invalid and unsustainable movement”.
In the eyes of the government of Chhattisgarh, the crime of Binayak Sen is that he dared question the corrupt and brutal methods used to tackle the Maoist upsurge. In 2005, the state government promoted a vigilante army that spread terror through the districts of Dantewada, Bijapur and Bastar. In the name of combating Naxalism, it burned homes (and occasionally, whole villages), violated tribal women, and attacked (and sometimes killed) tribal men who refused to join its ranks. As a result of its depredations almost a hundred thousand adivasis with no connection at all to Maoism were rendered homeless.
Sen was one of the first to document the excesses of the vigilante army, and to expose the hand of the state government in promoting it. That his charges were true I can confirm, for I visited the region shortly afterwards, in the company of a group of independent citizens, who included the respected editors BG Verghese and Harivansh, and the distinguished anthropologist Nandini Sundar, winner of the Infosys Prize. Our report, War in the Heart of India, provides a sober, non-ideological account of the crimes of the state and Union governments in this regard.
Sen’s conviction happened in a court subject to intimidation by a government run by (and I use the word advisedly) paranoid politicians (helped by sometimes paranoid police officers). His conviction will and should be challenged. As it stands, however, it is a disgrace to democracy. His brave wife commented on the verdict that if “one who has worked for the poor of the country for 30 years, if that person is found guilty of sedition activities and conspiracy, when gangsters and scamsters are walking free, I think it’s a scandalous situation”. Any reasonable Indian would concur.
Ramachandra Guha is the author of India After Gandhi: The History of the World’s Largest Democracy. The views expressed by the author are personal.
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Binayaksen.net is one of many efforts by well wishers and supporters of Dr Binayak Sen to bring the injustice being done to him by the government of Chhattisgarh to the attention of people around the world. 
In a brief but brilliant note, Guha has managed to put across the thoughts of million others.
Binayak Sen’s conviction mocks our judicial system. I feel that our democracy now is very much vulnerable.
“…..In 2005, the state government promoted a vigilante army that spread terror through the districts of Dantewada, Bijapur and Bastar. In the name of combating Naxalism, it burned homes (and occasionally, whole villages), violated tribal women, and attacked (and sometimes killed) tribal men who refused to join its ranks. As a result of its depredations almost a hundred thousand adivasis with no connection at all to Maoism were rendered homeless.”
well well well ! above seems like a match to the gujarat 2002 stories put out by you friendly media,being sung in various forms in your bylanes till date.
how about putting out the details on this site for eg. for people at large to evaluate the truth in your claims.DON’T JUST HIT AND RUN.
for people like guha facts rest on reputations.
sample this “…That his charges were true I can confirm, for I visited the region shortly afterwards, in the company of a group of independent citizens, who included the respected editors BG Verghese and Harivansh, and the distinguished anthropologist Nandini Sundar, winner of the Infosys Prize. ”
whereas it is REPUTATIONS that should be based on facts.
it is an example of growing intolerance and fanaticism among Rulers
As Dr. Guha makes it clear, the Indian state, or rather some paranoid politicians aided by some more paranoid policemen, suspect urban educated men working among the poor and the deprived. The latter do not work for material rewards alone and this the paranoid policemen and politicians do not, and possibly cannot, understand. Interestingly, these men and women too work to bring some material entitlements, but primarily to others, not themselves. They pose no threat to politicians and policemen, unless of course the latter corner all the material entitlements meant for the poor and the deprived. The violence, both physical and legal, against such well meaning individuals, therefore, is a symbol of the paranoia that their long, silent and distinguished work has induced in the minds of the politicians and policemen, and indeed everyone who has perpetuated the deprivation of the deprived. Mounting a civil society campaign is only one part of the right strategy to carry forward Sen and Guha Niyogi’s legacy. Some of us will have to bring the voice of the beneficiaries of Sen’s three decade long service to bear on the present debate. How about making a beginning by reading the report Dr. Guha mentioned? Here it is http://www.rightsandresources.org/documents/files/doc_387.pdf
Finally, why can’t some of us arrange for some of the beneficiaries of Dr. Sen’s service to come to Delhi and address a Press Conference at, say, Jantar Mantar or India International Centre? Indeed, the point is so self evident that I am wondering, as I write, whether I am not displaying my naivety by raising such a proposal. Somebody must have done it years ago, don’t you think? Assuming it is true, why then is it that the average literate Indian like me has no clue about such an happening? It may either my lack of initiative to find out, or inadequate coverage by the media. Either, I am afraid, is condemnable. I convict myself, therefore, of letting the state of affairs slide so far down. What about you?
Calling the verdict as it should be. Thanks Mr. Guha. A shame India can never live down…
Ashwani,
All it takes a simple Google search for us to locate Mr. Guha/s report (which has has referenced in this article). It can be found here – http://www.otherindia.org/dev/images/stories/war_heart.pdf
Pls do try to read and open up your mind if you may. Our blinkered vision and prejudices have done enough injustices already…