Binayak Sen, public health specialist and human rights activist, perhaps more widely known now as a Maoist/Naxalite-sympathizer, was convicted of ‘conspiracy’ and ‘sedition’ by the Raipur Sessions Court as an accomplice in Naxalite activities in the state of Chhattisgarh on 24th December 2010.
Binayak Sen’s case history began since his arrest in 2007, when he was charged with being involved in illegal activities by acting as accomplice to a jailed Naxalite leader, Narayan Sanyal, for delivering letters to his underground followers. He spent around 2 years in prison before being released on bail in 2009 while his trial was still pending. Supporters and human rights activists were waiting with bated breath around the world to learn of the trial outcome on 24th December 2010, when he was awarded a life sentence, found guilty under the ambiguous Chhattisgarh Special Public Security Act and Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, which curiously overturns the basic tenet of law by presuming guilt until proven innocent.
Sen has been globally recognized for his humanitarian work; The Paul Harrison Award for a lifetime of service to the rural poor(2004), R.R. Keithan Gold Medal by The Indian Academy of Social Sciences(2007) and The Jonathan Mann Award for Health and Human Rights(2008) are testimonies for his contribution to the rural poor in areas of health care and legal rights through his organization, People’s Union of Civil Liberties(PUCL). Amnesty International lists him as a prisoner of conscience. Here is a man who could’ve earned millions as a doctor in any ‘developed’ country, but instead chose to adhere to by Gandhian principles, devoting his entire life along with his wife to help elevate suffering and poverty in rural India, and the only award India bestowed on him is a life sentence. The draconian application of the law on conspiracy leaves much to imagination, much less the prosecution’s case that declared him guilty for waging a war against the Government of India for simply delivering a letter from jailed Naxal suspect, Narayan Sanyal, to his ‘henchmen’ outside. It paints a bleak picture for India’s future in terms of tolerance of alternate opinions. I’m certain, even a century down the line people will cherish their freedom of expression more than an iPad; what good is a medium if you can’t share your most cherished thoughts and ideas?
Around 2009 when i was in second year of college at St. Xavier’s, i witnessed a demonstration outside Churchgate station in support of Binayak Sen, organized to put together a signature campaign calling for his immediate release. I had recently made the transition from the personal to the political, hence i had keenly followed Sen’s story right from the beginning. On Sen’s arrest in 2007 under charges of conspiracy, his elder daughter wrote in a few national newspapers explaining his side of the story. Sen’s involvement in Chattisgarh included working with the villagers on health care and educating them on their fundamental rights, as any charitable person ought to have done knowing how the state machinery was dispossessing them of their ancestral lands, only to be given over to mining corporations, while all this gets scrubbed under carpet with the tacit complicity of the bastions of free media. Around mid-2000s the activities of the Naxalites picked pace as there were instances of their growing influence in poorer regions of Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Orissa, West Bengal and certain parts of Maharashtra – places where the state corruption had driven the villagers to abject poverty. Consequently, the political vacuum created was filled by the armed Naxal leaders, who vowed to provide basic amenities for them and fight for their rights, thus recruiting more cadres for the revolution. In this light, anyone who worked for the poor, was not philanthropic, or Gandhian, or socialist; but branded Naxalite, or Maoist, or Commie, or anti-national, and worse, an enemy of the state. Sen’s case is no different than any of the organizations and individuals who work for educating and providing basic necessities to tribals in these conflict zones.
It was also the time my interest with socialism was peaking; enjoying Naomi Klein’s No Logo and admiring Motorcycle Diaries(film); Sen’s story naturally was the sort that enthralled me. I walked up to the petitioners and signed up without hesitation. I felt like a shareholder, if you please, in committing to a crusade for freedom of speech, not only Sen’s, but the Naxalite’s too. I felt strongly about this, and vowed to support it by whatever means I can. This post is an extension of just that. The public campaign did eventually get him out on bail in May, but the subsequent conviction is obviously disheartening. I definitely don’t regret signing that petition in hindsight, because for what it’s worth, I made a conscious choice to rise above my cynicism and do my bit rather than hang my hands down in defeat and curse the world.
Though Sen has said that he’ll obviously appeal to the Allahabad High Court, his justification for doing so is curious – that the Sessions Court failed to establish his Naxalite links. The premise is that if the links are proven, then you are guilty of sedition. Sen’s defense is very telling of the fear of persecution that has become the policy of the State executive, legislative and judiciary in this witch hunt.
It reminds me of this wonderful movie, The Majestic(2001), which tells the story of Peter Appleton(Jim Carrey), a Hollywood screen-writer in the 1950s, who is accused of being in collusion with Communist rebels, because he attended an anti-war meeting to impress a girl. The movie captures a slice of the rampant McCarthyism then, which resulted in several film personalities standing trial under the House Committee of Un-American Activities, even boycotted by industry peers. Peter’s reaction is that of disbelief and initially struggles to come to terms with the insinuation, considering he knows squat about Communism. Peter decides to give in to the demands of the HCUA and provide them with names of fellow Communists as a bargain plea, but after an altercation with Adele, the girl he comes to love and who inspires him to stand up for his ideals and not let the bullies trample over him, he summons courage and makes an impassioned plea to challenge the court by asserting that America is a free country, and he is free to be a Communist or not, resorting to the First Amendment of the American Constitution –
“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.”
Admirers of the film will note that it makes a case for a much larger issue than proposing Communism just as valid a political philosophy as any other; that of a citizen’s freedom to choose his politics in a free country. The antipathy we are witnessing to this state-created problem in this country of ours reeks of hypocrisy. The state committed monstrous acts of neglect, deprivation, dispossession and violence against it’s own people for decades, and as an end product created a monster, which has now come home to roost. Despite the government’s monumental humanitarian failures, why then is it ‘seditious’ to sympathize with the Naxalites, even to provide them a supportive voice, a helping hand to settle their grievances peacefully? The government is going in an over-drive with the witch hunt to silence any mediators on behalf of the Naxalites, as it fears further embarrassing revelations of it’s brutal history. Take for instance the encounter of Cherukuri Rajakumar, alias Azab, senior leader of the CPI(Maoist) brigade. Swami Agnivesh was the designated mediator for peace talks between the Naxalites and the Centre, but if the untimely mysterious fake encounter of Azad is anything to go by, the government is consistently reinforcing it’s policy on Naxalites- no talks, just kill. They’re busy rendering the movement ‘headless’. It is incumbent upon the system to hold accountable the politicians who are responsible for this mess, because it is their undue self-aggrandization that is wreaking havoc today.
Article 19(1) of the Indian Constitution is in essence what the First Amendment of the American Constitution guarantees. Of course this right is not absolute; Article 19(2) provides that the State shall make any law prohibiting anything contained in Article 19(1) in so far as it imposes reasonable restrictions in the interests of sovereignty and integrity of India, security of the State, friendly relations with Foreign States, public order, decency or morality, or in relation to contempt of Court defamation or incitement to an offence. What part of Art. 19(2) has Sen transgressed to invite such harsh punishment, is beyond any reasonable person’s comprehension. As far as the law regarding sedition is concerned, it’s ridiculousness stretches beyond it’s language to also its quantum of punishments. Apparently, you can commit a seditious act in India and either a life term or get away with a fine. The IPC is silent on what exactly a judge must consider in deciding what qualifies a mere fine, or a lifer. What kind of a message is that to society? It allows you to commit such a grave offence as prescribing a life sentence, but insulates you from it by shelling out some money. In the slew of prosecutions that are trying people on their alleged Naxalite links, how much fine shall make it okay for them to ally with Naxalites? A violation of fundamental rights with undue process of law shall certainly not be tolerated. But what is re-assuring is that the voice of dissent is not dead yet. Two weeks have passed between Sen’s conviction and his appeal to the HC, and the human rights watch guards continue to raise their voices in defiance of the judgement. I say this at the risk of committing contempt of court, but the Sessions Court has wasted public money in conducting a malicious trial, which I suspect is part of the national policy on Naxalites. But I am very optimistic that even if the Allahabad HC doesn’t pardon Sen, the build-up leading to the SC led by the national as well as international human rights campaigners will succeed in ensuring Sen’s vindication. With a considerable following of supporters commanded by the subaltern Indians, like Arundhati Roy, Medha Patkar, Gautam Navlakha, and P Sainath, that transcends nationalities, it is impossible for a judgement of this stature to go un-noticed and without public backlash. Even Noam Chomsky, prominent American professor/philosopher/dissident, has already signed a petition for Sen’s immediate release addressed to the President of India, asking for his appeal to be heard expeditiously with enlightened reason. If one is a follower of Chomsky’s political writings, they will agree that his books are nothing short of what the American Govt. might classify as ‘jihadist‘ literature, in that they provide much academic motivation in opposing the West. He is a vocal supporter of Hamas, Hezbollah and everything that America declared war against in it’s ‘War on Terror’, and with good reason. Yet in his lifetime of activism of more than six decades, consistently exposing America’s perverse penchant for global hegemony, Chomsky has not once been booked guilty under charges of ‘sedition’ or ‘subversion of state’. Is it because American law is not tough enough to handle the rants of an over-the-hill, but still feisty activist? No, not it. It’s because there is such a thing as Justification (Truth), that is a legally valid defense for an action of speaking up against the establishment, one of those few things that American courts shall be congratulated for upholding more often than other democracies. As Amartya Sen rightly pointed out, the purpose of having a functional democracy is to be under no obligation to air only patriotic jingles.
While we’re at it, let’s clear the air around the politics of the Nobel. I am sure there are many supporters of Sen who liken him to this year’s choice of the Nobel Foundation for the Peace Prize, imprisoned Chinese dissident Liu Xiaobo, in that they both challenged the authority of the State with ‘subversive’ actions/words in their attempts of bringing about a more egalitarian society. On closer observation, Xiaobo fits the bill of what countries like Iran, China, Venezuela, Bolivia and Argentina have suffered, ‘West-sponsored propagandists’. A professor and human rights activist, Xiaobo may very well be the champion of democracy back home, protesting against China’s crimes at Tiananmen Square and a vocal critic of the one-party rule in China, but it only takes a quick glance through his recent history to realize Xiaboa’s street-cred stands on slippery ground. He publicly propagates/demands the ‘virtuous idea’ of Western nations colonizing China to effect a transformation of ‘civilization’, supports US-backed Israeli invasions of Palestine and is a great admirer of Bush and Blair for waging a ‘just war’ against Iraq(there’s laughter in my head). Notwithstanding his righteous positions on China, Xiaobo’s daydreams of the West clearly indicate that, if not a case of bought-priesthood sponsored by Western nations to destabilize China’s image on the global stage, he at least needs to be apprehended to control his distorted ideas on effecting change. The facts that justify his incarceration were censored by the global media, including in India, which reinforced Western perceptions of China as the belligerent dragon. Despite China’s repeated pleas with India for giving this year’s Nobel ceremony a miss as a mark of support for it’s upswing collaborations, India went ahead with pompous rants on sovereignty, all through abiding by the US dictated Foreign Policy. These turn of events are sufficient to learn that the Nobel Foundation is nothing but another politically-motivated white boys’ club to further it’s own agenda, and that India has zero-consistency in upholding an independent Foreign Policy. And yet while Xiaobo continues to be toasted as a sentinel of freedom across the world, Sen languishes in prison for much nobler deeds…
Despite Aung San Suu Kyi’s immense work for promotion of democracy in Burma and the worthy Nobel recognition in 1991, India strengthened it’s collaboration with the military regime for a lucrative oil and natural gas deal. India has repeatedly destroyed it’s moral compass on the global stage, hence the Indian leadership has no authority to comment on Sen’s work.
Why is there a conspiracy of silence on part of the world’s greatest paragon of democracy, US? I’ll tell you why; because what Binayak Sen represents is the exact anti-thesis of America! If America chose to speak out in favour of Sen, it would do a massive disservice to it’s nations GDP, which is how they really define ‘national interests’, courtesy Adam Smith. It would be amusing to see how the Indian Govt. reacts if Sen is indeed nominated for a Nobel next year.
Upholding the sacred Hippocratic Oath in the villages of India apparently gets you a lifer. What we’re witnessing is a radical wave of Chidambaramism, which is far more vengeful than the McCarthyism once prevalent in America. There is credible reason to panic for the country’s spiral into a dystopian future, and this is why – the man who occupies the high seat of the Union Home Minister, P Chidambaram, is karmically motivated to wipe out the tribal belt as he feels duty-bound to his once significant role, having served on the Board of Directors for Vedanta Resources. Chidambaram resigned from the mining company before he was appointed Finance Minister, but it is perceptible where his loyalties lie. It is indigestible to believe of how the mining lobby managed a coup of such proportions, and to what bloody-proportions! Binayak Sen’s conviction sends out the desired message by the Indian government, as it is strictly following the mandate set earlier in 2010 – Naxalite sympathizers will not be tolerated.
Talking of support pouring in from diverse quarters of the Indian community, the most reassuring news to emerge so far is that veteran lawyer Ram Jethmalani has volunteered to defend Sen’s case in the Allahabad High Court. I mean, finally the guy’s come around to the defense for someone we actually want to see set free. Film-maker Sudhir Mishra, whose film Hazaaron Khwaishein Aisi(2005) brilliantly chartered the rise of Naxalism in 1970s India, has revealed that he is planning to make a biopic on the life of Binayak Sen. HKA was life-changing for me, it opened a whole new part of my mind, and my heart, and hence I feel a film on Sen’s life by a director who understands the Naxalite story much better than our ‘leaders’, should generate good public sentiment to understand Sen’s message. Amartya Sen ominously observed that tomorrow anyone of us can be held for sedition because of a letter we posted for someone else, the contents of which might well be unknown to the messenger.
Ilina Sen says she doesn’t feel safe for her family anymore. When she sent for a couple of books for Binayak in prison, one of them being Naomi Klein’s The Shock Doctrine, the jailor confiscated them saying that the books need to be ‘scrutinized’. So maybe if you promote vegetarianism, khadi, sustainable development and admire Satyajit Ray films, you could end up being ‘scrutinized’ under dubious definitions of ‘subversion’, conspiracy’ and ‘sedition’. As an after thought, I can imagine a government warehouse branded Haz-Mat, stockpiled with confiscated subversive paraphernalia – seditious organic vegetables, reels/DVDs of conspiratorial Ray films, yarns of anti-national khadi and people tied up in chairs, force-fed infomercials. What is happening in effect is the murder, sorry, state approved cleansing, of Gandhian ideals. The Sen family has managed to reignite that fading beacon of Gandhism at a time when the majoritarian spectrum of Indian masses feel Gandhi is passe, while they chase their skewed sense of aspirations. It would be a shame if the Sens are allowed to leave the country in search of a more liberal one. When all Sen is guilty of is compassion, it is time the four estates of the country came together and revisited their stands on ideas of patriotism, nationalism, sovereignty, justice, socialism, freedom of thought and expression and most importantly encourage a tolerance of healthy dissent amongst it’s citizens – and legislation can play a great role in it by dialing down the crazy.
I look at history, and my faith in the Naxalite-struggle is reinstated. There are uncanny parallels to the Cuban Revolution – exploited countrymen reclaimed their government by overthrowing a US puppet who served the interests of the elite; at the epicentre is a man of medicine who renounced a career and dedicated his life to serve the disadvantaged. Are we still talking about Cuba? Wake up and smell the cigars, Che-peddlers! Binayak Sen is India’s Ernesto ‘Che’ Guevara, and the best part is, a peaceful one at that. The missing piece of the puzzle is – why are Indians reticent? What confuses me is, you always thought that Che became this megalomaniac after he ordered executions of hundreds of ‘traitors’, hence his followership got a beating as some of us don’t want to subscribe to ‘benevolent dictators’. But nothing more than utter lack of moral courage with-holds Indians from coming out in full-support of a man who embodies the exactly same spirit, yet in a totally non-violent and apolitical manner. We need not invoke the Cuban Revolution to justify the fight of the Naxalites, we simply need to understand of the idea of justice. We’re not doing a good job of respecting history- it tells you what not to do, and we consistently fail it. I think what they really mean when they say ‘History repeats itself’, is that despite the gift of history which holds the potential to evolve Man’s notions of universal justice, his utter inability to choose to do good things despite there being evidence on the contrary to infallibly suggest he’s going down the wrong road, signals the doom that future generations are destined for. Once you’re empowered with that kind of knowledge, the only thing holding you back from acting, at least voicing your opinion, would be the fear of incurring the wrath of your peers. I think I can live with that. I believe a couple of centuries ago mankind witnessed an era that recognized the idea that man’s enlightenment stems from the fact that he possesses the ability to go beyond personal concerns and address larger public concerns(read: compassion).
I am a Naxalite sympathizer myself. There, I said it! I guess after droning on for so long I didn’t exactly need to spell it out; but I like to have full-disclosures to avoid deliberate ambiguity. For what it’s worth, I’d love to see some of that cliched Hollywood jingoism spill out on India’s streets, with every responsible citizen served with an opportune time to make his/her voice heard, especially incumbent upon us now with so much at stake – come out of the Maovaadi-sympathizer closet and proudly declare your support for a revolution. Hopefully the momentum it generates reaches the corridors of the Supreme Court, and ‘for the satisfaction of the collective conscience of society’, Binayak Sen is free once again.
(The descriptions Naxal and Maoist are used inter-changeably in the article. The Maoist struggle as we know it today, has its origins in 1960s Naxalbari, a small village in Darjeeling, Paschimbanga.)
Desperately Seeking Nutopia 