With the emotive issue of capital shift from Dehradun toGairsain dominating the political landscape in the state, it is sad to reflect that Baba Mohan Singh Uttarakhandi who died after a marathon 38- day- long- hunger strike on this day in 2004, demanding Gairsain being made the permanent capital of the state, has sunk into near oblivion. August 09 this year being the thirteenth death anniversary of the Baba, a few people from his native village in Pauri district and one or two villages in Chamoli district where he died care to remember his monumental role in bringing Gairsian into the focus of state’s political trajectory. It is indeed sad that the voluble politicians, missing no chance to spring into the limelight while paying lip-service to the cause Gairsain as the future capital of the state, do not show the spunk to pay homage to the Baba who embodies supreme sacrifice for the mission that once led many into the thick of the statehood movement.Interestingly, Baba Uttarakhandi embarked on as many as 13 hunger strikes-12 in support of the demand of Uttarakhand and the final one to make Gairsain as its capital.
Baba Uttarakhandi deliberately chose Benital as the place of his hunger strike as it was situated just above Gairsain, the highland location that truly represents the ethos of the hill state.
Though Gairsain as the permanent capital of Uttarakhand figured at the top of the slew of demands for his final fasting stir, there were other demands like meting out punishment to the perpetrators of the infamous Rampur tiraha incident, generating employment opportunities for youth of Uttarakhand and framing a policy to stop migration from the mountainous areas to the plains. The hunger strike beginning on July 02, 2004, it swept the state with a pro- Uttarakhand and pro- Gairsain sentiment as it dragged on, day after exciting day. On August 08- the 38th day of the hunger strike- Baba was forcefully lifted and taken to the CHC Karanprayag by the district administration where on the wee hours of August 09, he was found dead. The death which remains mired in mystery sparked a storm across the state.
Reminiscing those days, Ganesh Kala, a resident of Satpuli in Pauri, informed that the death of the Baba had left the state fuming in anger. “A state-wide bandh being observed, then state government was forced to order a high- level inquiry. The Baba was cremated with full state honour at the confluence of West and East Nayar near Satpuli,” he said.
Narendra Singh Negi, a resident of Village Bantholi, said that his death was followed by the state government promising many things like declaring his native village as ‘Shaheed Gram’. “But none of them was fulfilled. What is sadder is that the house of the Baba in his village lies in a shambles with nobody left to take care of it after his only son who was serving in the Army died in April this year,” he recounted.
Another villager narrated that the Rampur Tiraha episode in Muzaffarnagar district of Uttar Pradesh during which UP police indiscriminately sprayed bullets on the statehood activists, heading for Delhi, and a number of women were molested on intervening night of 01 and 02 October 1994 had left Baba shell- shocked. “He decided not to cut his hair or shave his beard till the perpetrators of the heinous crime were punished. The strength of his commitment to the pledge could be gauged from the fact that he refused to tonsure his head after his mother died in 2002,” he said.
Born on December 03, 1948, Mohan Singh Negi (Baba Uttarakhandi) was the second son of Manwar Singh Negi of Bantholi village located in Ekeshwar block of Pauri district. After completing high school and ITI, he joined the Indian Army in 1970. He later left the job of the Army and plunged headlong into the statehood movement for Uttarakhand. His involvement in the movement was so deep that he left his family, became an ascetic and pledged to eat only once in a day. He was lovingly accorded the title of ‘Baba Uttarakhandi’ by the people for his unflinching commitment for the cause of Uttarakhand. However, Baba was disillusioned soon after the state was formed as he realised to his anguish that things had not changed in the least for the better for the poor highlanders of the state. He then decided to undertake a marathon fast to fight for the cause of the hill people through demanding Gairsain being declared the permanent capital of the hill state.
It is a pity that even 13 years after he embraced death, his dream remains elusive despite the politicians of the rival camps crossing swords over the emotive issue to sway the electorate and then shoving it into the oblivion once the electoral dust settles down.
