“Rebel with a cause”

I do appreciate the sensitivity with which "Rebel with a cause” (Editorial Viewpoint, Parsiana, October 7, 2009) and "Committed to the cause” (Parsiana, November 21, 2009) were written on me, even though you do not agree with the views I represent. Particularly the conclusion in the editorial is indeed touching. With our community relatively wealthy, and with a reputation of generosity, I am sure many will respond to your appeal.

Without going into debate, I would like to make a few clarifications. It was the evils of the present system and the horrors of the two World Wars, together with the Great Depression, that threw up communist countries in about one-third of the world. But, it is true that since then all the communist countries have reverted into terrible dictatorships. Obviously, there have been some lacunae. Yet, in this post-World War II era we have witnessed devastating wars, tyranny, genocide and the continuation of excruciating poverty throughout the globe, not only in the third world but also in the ex-Soviet bloc countries. What then is the solution?

Coming to our country, we are still virtually at the bottom of UNDP (United Nations Development Programme) estimates, ranking with countries of sub-Saharan Africa. Eighty percent live on Rs 20 per day. Imagine life under these conditions, specifically when there is 18 to 20 percent food inflation. Imagine life in the horrible and unhygienic Bombay slums. Imagine the lives of the widows and children of the two lakh indebted farmers who committed suicide in the last decade. And what of the ever increasing malnutrition and starvation deaths in the vast tribal belts like Melghat, Thane, Kalahandi, etc? Life at the bottom of the pyramid is unimaginable, but for our market fundamentalists it is a mere market to be tapped. In our 60 years of independence, where have we reached? And together with this, rampant corruption in all spheres of life has corroded the very moral fabric of the country.

Quite obviously, both the models — nationalization and privatization — have failed to deliver to the people of the country. The Maoists, they say, have an alternative model. But, instead of listening the government trains its guns on them. The Maoists say that for the country to get out of backwardness it requires to develop the home market and prevent flight of capital. The former can be initiated by increasing people’s purchasing power through land reforms and heavy investments in agriculture (particularly irrigation and watershed management). The latter can be developed through a self-reliant economy, and by stopping building up the mountain of external debt.

When the other two models have failed, should not one at least give this alternative some thought? But the government only answers with bullets, arrests, fake encounters, etc. As our community has many leading lights in the professional world, I do hope they can help influence the government to see some sense.

One last point I wish to make. Many of the points quoted in your article linked to my alleged ties with the Communist Party of India (Maoist) are newspaper plants by the Andhra Pradesh intelligence who arrested (kidnapped) me. Only these have got reported in the Press. For example, it was they who kept insisting that I wrote the document you mentioned, when I kept telling them that I myself saw it just a month earlier when I got it from the Internet. But, my voice is stifled and only the police version finds its way to the Press. Recently, The Indian Express also printed a report which was nothing but the statements of the Andhra Pradesh intelligence.

My denials to the media are ignored. So much for freedom of the Press! Inside jail my voice is further stifled. I hope at least your magazine will print my version.

KOBAD GHANDY

Tihar Jail, New Delhi