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HomeOpinionGujarat CM labeled Medha Patkar urban Naxal but Narmada Andolan never saw...

Gujarat CM labeled Medha Patkar urban Naxal but Narmada Andolan never saw this cancel culture

Hasmukh Patel, then Officer on Special Duty to the Narmada Development Minister, had said that Medha Patkar's concern regarding fair and just rehabilitation was genuine.

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The dam on Narmada River in Gujarat has been a centrepiece of slugfest for decades. Recently, Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel declared Medha Patkar and other Narmada Bachao Andolan activists “urban Naxals” in the presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi at a function in Bhuj. Occasion: the inauguration of Bhuj-Mandavi Branch Canal. The canal is a fulfilment of one of the dam’s original promises — to bring Narmada water to the arid region of Kutch.

Calling the anti-dam activists “urban Naxals” is sheer political rhetoric but not out of tune with the tradition. Chimanbhai Patel, the CM of Gujarat from 1990 to 1994, associated the dam with “Gujaratni Asmita” (pride of Gujarat). The stand against the Narmada dam was widely termed “anti-Gujarat” during his tenure. It was Chimanbhai who declared the dam as “Jeevadori” (a lifeline) for Gujarat. Many also punned on the coinage “Jeevadori” as the CM’s father was called Jeevabhai.

His aggressive pro-dam stand helped boost Chimanbhai’s political popularity. The hatred against anti-dam activists was widely accepted. The attacks on the activists were treated softly by the state government, if not blessed secretly. BJP, Congress, Janta Dal, many Gandhians, academicians, NGOs, and others were explicitly pro-dam/anti-NBA for their respective reasons.


Also read: ‘Urban naxals’ tried to stall Narmada dam project to deprive Gujarat, Kutch of water, development: CM Patel


Opposition but no cancel culture

Polarisation on the issue of the Narmada dam was complete in Gujarat in the 1990s. But the cancel culture was yet to arrive. One of the foremost critics of the dam and a supporter of the Narmada Bachao Andolan (NBA) was Ashwini Bhatt, a hugely popular Gujarati novelist. He was associated with a Gujarati weekly Abhiyaan, co-edited by journalist Sheela Bhatt. It ran stories and reports presenting the case of the NBA and even organised an open discussion, which was ransacked by some goons. Yet, I don’t remember boycott calls for Abhiyaan. Ashwini Bhatt’s massive fan following remained untouched by his clear pro-NBA stand.

File photo of Keshubhai Patel, then-Gujarat CM, greeting novelist Ashwini Bhatt | Special arrangement

Girish Patel, a legal stalwart, human rights activist, and a vocal NBA supporter was a close friend of Ashwini. Medha Patkar used to visit and sometimes stay at Ashwini’s bungalow in Ahmedabad. A part of his bungalow was rented out to Abhiyaan for its office. But it was much more than a commercial arrangement. 

As a fresh reporter-cum-subeditor at Abhiyaan in 1995-96, I had a chance to watch unabashed hatred unfolding against Medha Patkar and NBA. Both Congress and BJP workers took out processions in front of Ashwini’s bungalow and hurled abuse at her while the two were having a chat in the drawing room. But no one equated Ashwini with anything close to “urban Naxal”.

The NBA’s cause drew Ashwini’s attention and concern after his chance meeting with one of the engineers associated with the dam’s work. It made him a sceptic. He also had a novel plot named ‘Jalkapat’ (The Water Fraud) in his mind, though it remained unborn. He ventured to translate Arundhati Roy’s article The Greater Common Good and published it as a 64-page book in Gujarati. Titled Mrugjal (Mirage), it had a two-page introduction by Ashwini in which he requested the people of Gujarat to read the lengthy article and think about the issues raised in it.

In our last conversation in 2012, a few months before his death, I asked him, “Did you ever think the pro-NBA stand could have been a disaster for you, especially when your sole source of income was from writing?” He replied with his usual candour, “No. That thought didn’t cross my mind.” He paused for a moment and added, “Even if it had, you have to do what you have to do.”


Also read: In drought-prone Kachchh, Sardar Sarovar project is ‘dream come true’. But not for all farmers


Reasonable criticism

Hasmukh Patel was on the other side of the NBA debate. He served as an Officer on Special Duty to Narmada development minister, Babubhai J. Patel, and rehabilitation advisor to the chairman of Narmada Nigam, Sanat Mehta for more than four years. Even though Patel represented the government’s voice and had to deal with the hostility of NBA activists, including Medha Patkar’s, he was reasonable in his assessment.

In an article he wrote for Saarthak Jalso (issue 15), a Gujarati biannual I co-edit, Patel criticised the extreme stand of the NBA and their strategy of shifting the goalposts. Medha Patkar’s initial focus was on the protection of the environment and just rehabilitation. Many prominent social workers, especially from South Gujarat, were with her on those issues. Once “the best rehab package in the world” was announced, many of them started working on effective implementation. When the issue of raising the height of the dam faced a wall in the form of a strict environment secretary T.N. Seshan (who rose to become India’s Chief Election Commissioner later on), Rajiv Gandhi had to intervene. Medha Patkar changed her stand to “no dam” after that.

“There cannot be two opinions about Medha Patkar’s integrity. Her hostility towards the Narmada dam was not reasonable. But her concern regarding fair and just rehabilitation was cent percent genuine,” Patel wrote.

A.K. Luke, who served as the managing director of Sardar Sarovar Narmada Nigam Ltd for nearly two years, has expressed a somewhat similar sentiment in his memoirs. “I often saw Medha Patkar in the Supreme Court corridors with her plucky group around her, clutching their bags. Because of them the project was forced to prove itself and became a better project. She made us pay the price and thereby legitimized the project. We Indians can be proud how the issues surrounding the Sardar Sarovar Project were finally resolved, peacefully, legally and democratically. It is one of the enduring successes of modern India.”

It is easy to write off any opposition to such a project summarily as a giant con or a far-Left stubbornness. But it sounds hardly just in light of the insider’s views on the project, the agitation and the relative truce that was achieved by its activists.

Urvish Kothari is a senior columnist and writer based in Ahmedabad. He tweets @urvish2020. Views are personal.

(Edited by Anurag Chaubey)

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