Mahatma Gandhi was arrested and tried for sedition on March 10, 1922 and got a six-year jail sentence. However, the British authorities released him only after two years because he had to undergo an appendicitis operation. In 1918, Gandhi had taken active part in the Champaran and Kheda peasant agitations. The following year, he supported the Muslims in the Khilafat movement, a pan-Islamic agitation to protect the status of the Caliph, as for Gandhi this was a great opportunity to bring Hindus and Muslims together. By 1920, there was great discontent among Indians. The Rowlatt Act, the Jalianawalabag killings and the imposition of martial law in the Punjab had made things worse. Gandhi’s ‘noncooperation’ movement had caught the fancy of all literate Indians by then. The agenda included surrendering titles, honours, and boycotting Government-run schools, colleges, courts, foreign-made clothes and nonpayment of taxes. All this had led to a nonviolent civil obedience except the single Chauri Chaura incident where policemen were killed by Khilapat activists. So, on March 10, 1922, Gandhi was arrested on charges of sedition.
During the trial, Gandhi had said to the judge, “I have come to the conclusion that it is impossible for me to dissociate myself from the diabolical crimes of Chauri Chaura . . . Nonviolence is the first article of my faith. But I had to make my choice. I had either to submit to a system which I considered has done an irreparable harm to my country, or incur the risk of the mad fury of my people bursting forth when they understood the truth from my lips. I know that my people have sometimes gone mad. I am deeply sorry for it; and I am, therefore, here to submit not to a light penalty but to the highest penalty. The only course open to you, Mr. Judge, is either to resign your post or inflict on me the severest penalty.”
The judge slapped a six-year imprisonment but observed, “You are in a different category from any person I have ever tried or am likely ever to try... In the eyes of millions of your countrymen you are a great patriot and a great leader; even all those who differ from you in politics look up to you as a man of high ideals and of noble and even saintly life.”
Now in India, a student leader of the JNU is facing sedition charges for shouting anti-India slogans. The police say there is prima facie proof. But non-BJP and quite a few party rebels say the boy has done nothing wrong to attract sedition charges. The Kanhaiya story is confusing. But then, the people have great faith in the judiciary which will clarify if the JNU student is guilty.
*On March 17, this day in 1959, Tibet spiritual leader Dalai lama had fled his country seeking asylum in India, after a 15-day journey on foot from lhasa with an entourage of 20 men, including six Cabinet Ministers, travelling only in dark to avoid being seen by the bloodthirsty Chinese soldiers. The Dalai lama regime had risen against the Chinese invasion. But the Chinese authorities cracked down severely on the Dalai lama’s State days before killing 2,000 Tibetans in a fierce, three-day battle. The lhasa uprising was crushed for good. The surviving soldiers were deported; the fleeing ones recounted later that Chinese troops kept burning corpses in the city for at least 12 hours. Without losing time, Chinese Premier Chou en-lai announced that though the rebellion had been crushed in lhasa, the revolt was still continuing outside the capital. They made Tibet an autonomous region within the Chinese Republic, a strange political arrangement on record in history.
*Back home in Odisha, a most disturbing event did happen recently. Prominent tribal anti-liquor champion and social activist Tulasi Munda rushed mad to receive liquor major Seagram’s ‘True legends’ Awards-2016, sponsored by Pernod Ricard India, a multinational beverage alcohol company in association with a newspaper. The French company Pernod Ricard purchased business shares of the Canadian alcohol outfit Seagram known for the Scotch whisky 100 Pipers. No wonder, the organisers used the age-old surrogate tricks by naming the product “100 Pipers pure music CDs”.
Cuttack-based tea vendor D Prakash Rao’s educational initiatives for the slum children to clear top competitive exams, which has inspired millions across the globe, more so our village youths, have been shamefully ignored. There are many who go hungry to save for the deprived communities in pursuing their noble missions. Surrogate ads are meant to promote warning-linked brands like alcoholic beverages and tobacco products though in strictest terms they are prone to challenges in public interest.
According to a media report, India will be the third largest market for Pernod Ricard soon. It has achieved a sales growth by 19% in the first nine months of the fiscal year 2014-15 largely because of its local whisky brands. It has also fixed a target of getting over 22 million consumers above the legal drinking age every year in India.
Pernod Ricard webpage has a tagline, which says alcohol abuse is detrimental to your health. If only the corporate entities had spent the 100 Pipers publicity money on some worthwhile corporate social responsibility activities, people would have ignored their alcohol promoting moves in other ways. Most painfully, the awardees never said “No” to their nomination or selection. Maybe, over time, they have derailed themselves from the original missions and joined the bandwagon seeking publicity gloss and glitter.
No one is of course surprised that the long since corporatised media houses have lost sight of ethical standards to remain credible in society. Money is all that matters today.
Bijubabu had organised a Padmashree for Tulasi Munda. She has offended Bijubabu and the whole NGO and activist community and the people who are working for the downtrodden. Interestingly, a few NGOs have inducted her as a member of their governing bodies to put up a credible front and avail huge spending money from headless agencies of the West that are under pressure to grant to collect more from the Governments and the gullible citizens, all to lead a luxurious life.
True NGO racketeering stories would appear soon. People who understand the cardinal principles of social work by nonprofit agencies must come together to pull down greedy, machinating or idiotic operators by exposing what goes on within the organisational structures and expose all, particularly those availing a fat salary and incalculable perks not permissible by law or convention. Tulasi Munda must be persuaded to surrender the Padmashree which she got to have liquor destroyed, not promoted even unknowingly.
*lastly, to the high drama of the Marik-Anadi row:
No one can predict if Sanjeev Marik would be proven to have been so unforgivably corrupt as Anadi Sahu has thrown charges. But the fact is Anadi is a proven hero with an impressive track record. Incidentally, Marik was SP under Anadi when the latter was DIG. Insiders joke about how the senior taunted the junior for silly lapses during those days.
Hopefully, the drama would conclude well with the real rogue identified at the law courts, to be eventually thrashed by the public. The Indian judiciary fortunately is still held in high trust unlike the other pillars of our great democracy.
(The writer is a core member of Transparency International, Odisha)