A public meeting was organized on January 1 to express solidarity with jailed human right activist Dr Binayak Sen at Yaadgar-E-Shahjehani, the public park in Bhopal made famous by Abdul Jabbar’s indomitable organization of gas tragedy victims-- the Bhopal Gas Peedit Mahila Udyog Sangthan-- through its regular meetings over the last two decades.
I was standing at the main entrance of the park trying to figure out fiery speech by a tribal activist in his West Nimar dialect. Abdul Jabbar and senior journalist LS Herdenia saw me from near the dais and beckoned to come. I reached there and quietly sat on a chair.
As I looked around, a strange sensation ran through me. I found myself surrounded by activists of various peoples’ organizations with banners and posters, condemning life term to Binayak Sen by a judge in Raipur. The case is too well known to reiterate here.
Some of the activists present there such as Madhuri, Silvi, Sathyu and Sunil are well known. But most others were very ordinary, poor people fighting against governments to ensure a dignified life for themselves and their communities. I felt myself small before them.
Overwhelmed by empathy for the gathered activists, I imagined myself being asked by Abdul Jabbar to make a speech. How will I begin? I started framing sentences in mind. The speech began with “Dear comrades” though suddenly it occurred that this form of address is rather clichéd. Never mind, I told myself and proceeded. “My name is Rakesh Dixit. I am a journalist by profession and a leftist ideologically”.
Beyond that, the mind got clogged with too many ideas. And then the mind shifted to the tribal speaker who was still on the mike, undaunted by the fact that hardly two percent among the people gathered might be following his speech.
The tribal’s courage was inspiring and made me recall Gajanan Madhav Muktibodh’s famous poetry—O Mere Adarshwadi Man, O Mere Siddhantvadi Man….. .
The poetry is a loud but genuine self-pity of the poet over the hypocrisy of having to genuflect before the rotting, anti-people system with all the boasting about living with scruples and idealism. This is a quintessential bourgeois feeling of helplessness in the face of dehumanizing but mighty system.
Now I understood what that strange sensation was that had run through me when I saw the crowd while sitting on the chair barely five minutes ago. Now I realized why too many ideas had clogged my mind when I was imagining a speech.
Such occasions jolt me to ponder what I had intended to do in life when young and what have I become.
Of course, I am honest to my family, to my profession, to my ideology and, most important, to my conscience. But is that enough? Is it too late to join the peoples’ movement upfront ?
On that day I felt Binayak Sen’s incarceration for ridiculously flimsy charges should make every conscientious person to think where the democracy in India is headed. Legislature, executives, judiciary and the press—all four pillars of democracy seem to have combined to conspire against the peoples fighting for the rights of the dispossessed.
Sunday, January 2, 2011
Saturday, January 1, 2011
Pamphleteering and Bhopal press
Pamphleteering and Bhopal press
One more pamphlet about journalists got circulated last week in Bhopal, and, as always, I don’t figure in it. The anonymous sender of this one-page pamphlet did not consider me worthy enough for even his mailing list. I got to read the pamphlet at senior journalist ND Sharma’s place. Am I really sad about the omission? Here’s is dilemma. A part in me wishes that some pamphlets had mentioned me as honest and true professional. But the inner voice castigates me for cherishing such a wish. ‘You are not doing any favour to anyone if you are honest and professional,’ it reasons with my conscience. I must heed to my inner voice.
That said, I must confess, if ever any future pamphlet mentioned me in bright light—as truly me --, I will be immensely pleased. Another confession; I find the pamphlets a great entertainment. True, not all that is written in them about targeted journalists is correct. In fact, most pamphlets suffered from sweeping generalization. They say Mr so and so are touts/ middlemen/ powerbrokers without corroboration. They are a joyful reading nonetheless. Any way, most journalists don’t need any pamphlets to know about their corrupt and racketeer colleagues. The pamphlets only provide people like us an opportunity to gloat over imagined embarrassment or torment of the targeted ones. This is just a small reward for remaining a true professional.
Nearly a hundred pamphlets may have been circulated in the Bhopal media in the last and half decades but the memories of the first pamphlet still linger on. What a pamphlet it was! Its subtle humour, wit, irony and linguistic beauty had greatly charmed us all. The pamphlet had created such a huge sensation in the corridors of power that the then chief minister Digvijay Singh had to announce a sort of inquiry into the whole episode. The journalists who figured in it were all fire and brimstone and, the journalists who did not figure in it, bubbled with mirth. The righteous indignation of the targettted journalists was a great, if secret, source of joy for all of us. Not only journalists, the politicians and bureaucrats also thoroughly relished the pamphlet. Wild conspiracy theories abounded about writer of the pamphlet. Some speculated that it could be the handiwork of Digvijay Singh himself, as he wanted to expose some of the journalists for what they really are. Since the pamphlet was purported to be Digvijay Singh’s opinion about the journalists in first person, there were many takers for Digvijay’s behind-the-scene role. Of course, Digvijay Singh was never serious about the probe he had announced to find the truth behind the pamphlet. The then SP of Bhopal Mr Sanjiv Singh did go through the motion of quizzing some journalists about the source of the pamphlet but the probe, predictably, remained elusive.
The pamphlets that followed could maintain neither beauty nor dignity of the first one. Some of these pamphlets were outright vulgar, unfit for reading. They insinuated bizarre sexual link-ups among and about journalists.
One more pamphlet about journalists got circulated last week in Bhopal, and, as always, I don’t figure in it. The anonymous sender of this one-page pamphlet did not consider me worthy enough for even his mailing list. I got to read the pamphlet at senior journalist ND Sharma’s place. Am I really sad about the omission? Here’s is dilemma. A part in me wishes that some pamphlets had mentioned me as honest and true professional. But the inner voice castigates me for cherishing such a wish. ‘You are not doing any favour to anyone if you are honest and professional,’ it reasons with my conscience. I must heed to my inner voice.
That said, I must confess, if ever any future pamphlet mentioned me in bright light—as truly me --, I will be immensely pleased. Another confession; I find the pamphlets a great entertainment. True, not all that is written in them about targeted journalists is correct. In fact, most pamphlets suffered from sweeping generalization. They say Mr so and so are touts/ middlemen/ powerbrokers without corroboration. They are a joyful reading nonetheless. Any way, most journalists don’t need any pamphlets to know about their corrupt and racketeer colleagues. The pamphlets only provide people like us an opportunity to gloat over imagined embarrassment or torment of the targeted ones. This is just a small reward for remaining a true professional.
Nearly a hundred pamphlets may have been circulated in the Bhopal media in the last and half decades but the memories of the first pamphlet still linger on. What a pamphlet it was! Its subtle humour, wit, irony and linguistic beauty had greatly charmed us all. The pamphlet had created such a huge sensation in the corridors of power that the then chief minister Digvijay Singh had to announce a sort of inquiry into the whole episode. The journalists who figured in it were all fire and brimstone and, the journalists who did not figure in it, bubbled with mirth. The righteous indignation of the targettted journalists was a great, if secret, source of joy for all of us. Not only journalists, the politicians and bureaucrats also thoroughly relished the pamphlet. Wild conspiracy theories abounded about writer of the pamphlet. Some speculated that it could be the handiwork of Digvijay Singh himself, as he wanted to expose some of the journalists for what they really are. Since the pamphlet was purported to be Digvijay Singh’s opinion about the journalists in first person, there were many takers for Digvijay’s behind-the-scene role. Of course, Digvijay Singh was never serious about the probe he had announced to find the truth behind the pamphlet. The then SP of Bhopal Mr Sanjiv Singh did go through the motion of quizzing some journalists about the source of the pamphlet but the probe, predictably, remained elusive.
The pamphlets that followed could maintain neither beauty nor dignity of the first one. Some of these pamphlets were outright vulgar, unfit for reading. They insinuated bizarre sexual link-ups among and about journalists.
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