New Delhi, Jul 12 (PTI) Laxman ‘Master’ was a child labourer working his fingers to the bone at a stone quarry in Faridabad in the late 1970s. Staring at a bleak future, he said he got a new lease on life when activist Kailash Satyarthi rescued him, along with several others, from the gruelling work.
More than 40 years later, Laxman is the treasurer of Bachpan Bachao Andolan — founded by Satyarthi in 1980 to free children from bonded labour — while his three sons are “well-settled”.
Nobel Peace Laureate and child rights activist Satyarthi on Thursday shared on X a photo of Laxman and his youngest son Rahul Kumar. The duo had come to meet Satyarthi after Kumar cleared his Chartered Accountant exam.
Talking to PTI, Laxman, who is now in his early 50s, said he, along with his father, came to Haryana from Chhatarpur in Madhya Pradesh to escape extreme poverty.
However, he had never imagined that he would be forced to work long hours in hazardous conditions in a stone quarry on the outskirts of the national capital.
“One day, we came to know about Kailash Satyarthi who used to run a union there for bonded labourers. He used to come at night since nobody was allowed to meet us during the day. He would ask us about our problems,” Laxman said.
“I worked there for around five to six years. In 1983, Satyarthi rescued around 2,500 families, including mine,” he added.
As Laxman wanted to study, Satyarthi enrolled him in a nearby school. Later, he started teaching at one of the schools run by Satyarthi for the children of quarry labourers.
“As I became a teacher, people started calling me ‘Laxman Master ji’,” he said.
Thereafter, Laxman joined the administration department of Bachpan Bachao Andolan. In 2010, he became the treasurer of the BBA.
“Satyarthi would always say in his speeches that people will not progress until they get educated. So, I promised myself to educate my children,” he said.
Laxman has two other sons — Raj Kumar, who is an engineer and Ankit Kumar, who is an MBA.
“I give all credit for this success to Satyarthi who gave us the direction which we followed. Had he not been there, I can’t imagine what would happened. Satyarthi gave us a life of dignity,” Laxman said.
Satyarthi, in his post on X on Thursday, said, “It was a very emotional moment for me. Laxman Master came to meet me with his younger son Rahul. He has become a chartered accountant today”.
“We had freed Laxman from bonded labour with the help of the Supreme Court. He is the treasurer of our organisation and our inspiration. His elder son is an engineer, and the other one has an MBA degree. I always say, save one generation and the next generations will take care of themselves,” he said. PTI NIT RHL
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