I am on a long drive. Long drives always remind me of Harsh Mander and a very long drive to the dangs- the southern most district of Gujarat and the poorest district of India. There were VHP preparations in full swing to organise shabhri kumbh mela, we had gone to inspect pampa sarovar which was made to fit the new myth created by vhp and govt money for check dams was used to create one big pond. Manan, harsh mander and 5-6 others who were with us had walked down the stairs of the sarovar. I had smelled problem and was on alert. Soon 3-4 cars appeared and a few men also went down the stairs as if they were tourists. I peeped into the cars and one car had enough lathis and iron rods to make pulp out of us. I saw an ambulance approaching the road which climbed up the little mound from where one could see the pampa sarovar. I ran back to the point from where I could call harsh and others. All of them were irritatingly slow and also not happy with my forcefully pushing them inside our vehicle. It was just touch and go. We managed to escape. Our movements were followed since when we arrived but this was the only lonely spot where we could have been attacked and then given first aid to show police arrived. Having the experience of earlier attacks I could act in time but how many people would be able to if vigilantes start dictating what you say and what you think. Yesterday a close friend said nothing will change even if Modi comes. Reminds me of 1930 Germany and the apathy of even the so called progressives. I started with Harsh Mander because he is one of those few friends who understands the gravity of whats happening. You have to be engaged with the whole politics of communalisation to understand the depth of the danger. They will eliminate the more vocal people perhaps but more criminal and dangerous than that is taking away the ability of intellectual growth by undermining and poisoning education and in turn producing mediocres and robots to tow the line.
Posted on: Tue, 13 May 2014 18:14:58 +0000
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