Awaaz - South Asia Watch News
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Tuesday, October 26, 2004
Posted by: Awaaz / 10/26/2004 10:52:41 AMAnhad is organising Two day Workshop on
October 30, 31, 2004 at Anhad,
4, Windsor Place, New Delhi-110001
Schedule for October 30, 2004
9.00-9.30- Introduction of Anhad, Youth For Peace-Moyna Manku
9.30-11.00- Formation of Indian Identity-Sohail Hashmi
11.00-11.30- Tea Break
11.30-1.00- Threat to Secular Democracy-Harsh Mander
1.00-2.00- Lunch
2.00-3.30- Communalisation of Education- Rizwan Qaiser
3.30- 4.00- Tea Break
4.30-6.00- Communalism and Status of Women- to be confirmed
Schedule for October 31, 2004
10.00-11.30- Dalits- issue, movement & interrelation
with communal politics- Anand Kumar B
11.30-12.00- Tea break
12.00-1.30- Indo-Pakistan Relationship- Praful Bidwai
1.30-2.30- Lunch 2.30-4.00- Relevance of Gandhi in our Times – Marko Ulvila
4.00-4.30- Tea Break
4.30-6.00- Legacy of the Freedom Movement—Mridula Mukherjee
6.15 onwards: Documentary – Michael Moore's Farhenheit 9/11
Kindly send an e-mail to anhad_delhi@yahoo.co.in or contact Mansi Sharma/ Moyna Manku- 23327366/ 67 if you want to participate in the workshop.
Monday, October 25, 2004
Posted by: Awaaz / 10/25/2004 10:51:42 AMDate: 25 Oct 2004 18:34:50 -0000
Obituary
BATUK VORA
Voice of 'Other Gujarat'
-Subhash Gatade
''Badi Shouk se Sun Raha Tha Sara Jamana
Tumhi So Gaye Dastaan Kahte Kahte'
It was late 40s when a young lad from a modest
town Palitana in Saurashtra made a small
committement to himself and the society
around him. Little did his near and dear ones
must have dreamt at the time that it would not
prove to be a ' passing fad commensurate with his
age' and would stick on to him throughout his
life. Hardly anyone realised that this young man
who had embraced Marxism by then would make
'history of sorts' to become the first and only
Communist MLA from a state which continued to
remain under the influence of conservative
politics for a long time.
One does not know why his parents christened him
'Batuk' ( the small) but even a cursory glance at
his life, work and other creative endeavours
would make it amply clear that he rather kept on
'falsifying' it all his life. Not only did he
prove himself to be a militant trade union
activist as well as a famous journalist but he
also became a well known literary figure in
Gujarati. This 'small' man who made it 'big' in
the true sense of the term breathed his last a
few days ago after fighting a long battle with
liver cancer ( 19 oct 2004)
Batuk Vora, ex MLA, journalist and a leading
voice of the the civil society in Gujarat
following the communal carnage of 2002 is no
more. He was 74 years old at the time of his
death. It appears that many of his close friends
had an inkling of what was coming, possibly Batuk
also. But that did not deter him from his
lifelong committment to a better and humane world
free from any injustice or oppression. It did not
stop him from blasting the US for its barbaric
role in Iraq in one of his last despatches nor
did he spare Narendra Modi, the ringleader of the
'modern day Neroes'.
Very few people who might have read hundreds of
his despathches from different parts of the world
would in fact be knowing that he was one of the
pioneers of the left movement in Gujarat. In
fact, Batuk alongwith Pravin Shridharani, Niruben
Patel, Dinkar Mehta and Subodh Mehta worked
together to launch a communist movement in the
state. Active in the railway employees union in
his hometown of Palitana in his young age Vora
led a number of agitations.Among them one against
a "betterment levy" imposed on farmers of the
state in the 1950s received such massive support
that it nearly brought down the government. He
had even actively participated in the 'Maha
Gujarat' agitation in the 1950s demanding a
separate Gujarat state. In a report in the Indo
Asian News Service to which Batuk Vora
contributed regularly it was told that
"..[w]ithdrawing from active politics, Vora
returned to his first call, journalism and joined
the "new Age", the official newspaper of the CPI.
He drew on his early experiences as a journalist
in Mumbai in 19499-50, with progressive Gujarati
journals "Jay Gujarat" and "Mashal".
This report also reveals another dimension of
Batuk's personality which is not known outside
Gujarat. He was famous in Gujarat also for his
literary masterpieces. His novel " Lok Thok Thok
( A lot of Masses) published in 1969 dealt with
rural life adn the exploitation of have nots. His
book on his four year stay in US " Aah America"
was also a commercial success.
Political activist, writer, journalist and to top
it all a nice human being who according to the
famous Gujarati poetess and social activist Ms
Saroop Dhruv ,"combined in him a vision for a
just society with a lifestyle which was very very
modern.'
In fact, in one of the darkest chapters in the
history of Gujarat when the state had connived
with the marauders of the Hindutva brigade
unleashing a reign of terror against the
minorities, when many a erstwhile secular
activists also preferred to remain quiet, Batuks'
was one of those voices of the 'other Gujarat'
which could never be intimidated into silence.
Very few people know that the much discussed
petition to the Supreme Court in 2002 requesting
it to intervene in the situation in state was
moved by four signatories only. Apart from
Mallika Sarabhai, Teesta Setalvad, veteran
journalist Digant Oza it had only Batuks name on
it.
But Batuk did not limit his opposition to only
writing and signing petitions . He fearlessly
tried to reach out to people with all the might.
Critical of the Narendra Modi government handling
of the situation, he served on a number of
people's tribunals.In a 'Sadbhavana Sammelan'
organised in Bhavnagar he in his popular style
"..[r]idiculed the BJP government's
self-righteous postures. He said he had travelled
around the world but nowhere had he witnessed
such an exercise of the state itself encouraging
strife. In Gujarat, peace endeavours were being
threatened and those who work for peace and
harmony are considered enemies of the state."
There is no doubt that all those persons who
yearn for a better humane world would definitely
miss him for a long time to come. People will
miss him despatches, they will miss the deep
analysis of capitalism or fascism which he could
do in simple words which even a layperson could
understand. And everybody would agree that it is
such a crucial juncture in our country's life
when the forces of hatred have been put on the
defensive that we needed him on this part of the
barricade to deliver them a knock out punch.
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