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What kind of man inspires such a huge swell of civil society support wondered this correspondent as she marched with all the rest to Central Jail in Raipur, demanding the release of Binayak Sen just days before he was granted bail
May 26,2009. As the television news channels repeatedly flash visuals of Dr Binayak Sen hugging his wife Ilina moments after his release on bail after two excruciatingly long years in jail, I have a flash-back moment….. Less than two weeks ago, on May 13, on the eve of her husband’s second anniversary in jail on unproven charges of sedition, unlawful behaviour and aiding Naxalites, Dr Ilina Sen had a lot on her plate. She had met Binayak at the Central Jail in Raipur that morning, been photographed herself in a process she said was clearly meant to intimidate, was leaving the next day to meet lawyers in Delhi to discuss the bail petition in the Supreme Court’s vacation bench. And she was the main guest at the cultural functions that evening in the Mukti Utsav being held in support of the ‘Free Binayak Sen’ campaign in Raipur. As people from diverse groups and regions trooped in to express solidarity with Binayak Sen, Ilina and her elder daughter Pranhita sat quietly and unobtrusively among the 350-odd audience at the relatively small open-air stadium premises. For the next five hours, as performer followed performer, Ilina watched and often applauded the singers, dancers, poets and filmmakers onstage. Songs of protest, of outrage, of freedom of expression were uniquely expressed --whether it was the martial-Panthi dance by Satnamis or dalits from Durg or Budhan Bai Meshram’s Jhurmil morcha fiercely denouncing the Salwa Judum. Her refrain of “nai lage lathi-goli, nai lage Salwa Judum, nai lage papi sarkar, nai lage bairi kanoon,” resonated among listeners who were, after all, singing the same song… No one took so much as a tea or even water break. Finally at 10.45 pm as part of the evening’s finale, the qawwals from Bhopal, the Liaq Masum-Mubarak Ali team, requested her to sit right up front, “so that we feel we are singing for/to Doc saab”. Half an hour later she was on her way home in the car, tired beyond description, apprehensive about what the next day would bring and yet humming a haunting melody in a remarkably soothing and musical voice. Her friend Kavita Shrivastava of the PUCL remarked wryly, “She can still hum, after all this!” When asked the predictable question of how she and her family have coped with the surreal lives they have led over the last two years, Ilina candidly confessed, “If Binayak is alive today and physically unharmed and if we have somehow managed to carry on, believe me, it’s only because of the attention on the case, the immense support of so many many people.” And they all came the next day…..the support system that ultimately ensured that Binayak Sen was granted bail by the Supreme Court. The roll-call began with a strong show of strength by the PUCL chapters from Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka, honouring one of their own. Speeches outlining Dr Binayak Sen’s outstanding work in the rural area over 30 years, his championing of human rights, his unlawful arrest on “unlawful charges” of abetting Naxalites, the total lack of evidence in a case filed under the draconian Chhattisgarh Special Protection of Securities Act (CSPSA). Speaker after speaker -- whether it was advocate and Chhattisgarh PUCL President Rajendra Sail openly critical of Chief Minister Raman Singh’s posturing on the case or Sudha Bhardwaj of the Mazdoor Karyakarta Samiti fiercely demanding unconditional bail, or Chhattisgarh Mukti Morcha President Janak Lal Thakur expressing solidarity -- validated Ilina Sen’s belief that her husband was not alone inside that jail in Raipur that day. In fact, as more and more people gathered at the dusty, partially-covered Budha Talab venue -- strewn with hand-made placards and printed posters of the by-now famous photograph of Binayak Sen’s smiling face peering from behind the bars of a police van – with tribal women, children, trade unionists, CPI-ML activists, doctors, minority groups, student unions from JNU, Students Islamic Organisation etc participating en masse, with the media and the police peeping in, it almost seemed as if Binayak Sen was a part of it all. What kind of man commands support like this, from people who may never even have met him, from those who see him as some kind of an icon, a hero? What part of the Binayak Sen story touches people’s hearts enough for them to travel long distances and walk in 43-degree afternoon heat to fight for his freedom? Is it the choices he made in his life, first to choose to work in villages instead of pursuing further studies abroad or a lucrative private practice, and then to expose and record human rights abuses in Chhattisgarh, that people admire? Or is it also their outrage at the enormous price he paid for taking a stand, for being what he himself has called “an index case” for dissent? Certainly for the 600-odd crowd diligently walking towards Central Jail in Raipur that hot afternoon, Binayak Sen symbolised a kind of ideal, perhaps even a lost hope, of a person who followed his conscience with courageous choices and should be free to continue to do so…. Even as the police clamped Section 144 to halt the procession, an effigy of Salwa Judum and the CSPSA was burnt outside Subhash Stadium which then doubled as a temporary jail, with 250 supporters courting arrest in a peaceful sit-in with Budhan Bai’s ringing voice singing again, “We don’t want your blows and bullets, we don’t want your unfair laws and government, we want freedom….azadi de hammanla”. The Raipur protest on May 14 sparked a chain of similar rallies in New Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata, Jaipur, Pune, Lucknow, London and Washington. In addition to the Free Binayak Sen campaign on Facebook and the binayaksen.net website that featured blogs and regular updates the entire month of May, the sheer volume and quality of support has been both phenomenal and consistent. Satyagrahas, rallies, cultural events, seminars, signature campaigns, medical camps….the forms of protest have been unique, the citizen activism unprecedented. On May 25, when the Supreme Court judge granted bail to Binayak Sen in a matter of 60 seconds, the jubilation was swift and shared. Civil society had reaffirmed its credentials once more, even as the battle, like Dr Sen’s trial, continues. --MV in Raipur InfoChange News & Features, May 2009
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