Writer-activist Meena Kandasamy held P Chidambaram responsible for Saibaba's death, saying the UAPA was the Congress leader's brainchild.
Published Oct 21, 2024 | 1:57 PM ⚊ Updated Oct 21, 2024 | 2:11 PM
Professor G Haragopal speaking during the memorial meeting of GN Saibaba in Hyderabad.
People’s organisations, friends, and family of late Professor GN Saibaba on Monday, 21 October, organised a memorial meeting in Hyderabad to honour the writer and human rights activist who was imprisoned for almost a decade and acquitted later.
It was organised at the Sundarayya Vignana Kendram and was attended by his wife Vasantha, daughter Manjeera, writer Meena Kandasamy, Political Scientist Professor G Haragopal, Kothagudem MLA Kunamneni Sambasiva Rao and others.
The event began with a folk music performance by the Praja Kala Kendram with a communist tune praising Saibaba’s revolutionary spirit.
Acquitted in the Maoist link case for which he had spent 10 years in jail, Saibaba died at a private hospital in Hyderabad on 12 October.
Speaking during the event Haragopal mentioned how Saibaba cared for the lives of others even when he was incarcerated for almost a decade.
Referring to NCP President Sharad Pawar, he recounted: “When Sharad Pawar met Saibaba on our request, he asked him about the troubles in prison. Saibaba spoke of the plight of everyone in the prison instead of his own.”
Calling Saibaba a great strategist, he said: “Saibaba didn’t think he’d survive his last summer in prison. GN Saibaba is to social rights what Stephen Hawking is to astrophysics.”
“Reducing all Adivasi struggles to Maoist struggles is inappropriate,” Haragopal said.
Meanwhile, Sambasiva Rao questioned the ruling regime’s branding of people who raise dissent as anti-nationals.
“If people like Saibaba and G Haragopal are anti-India, were Gandhi and Vajpayee also anti-India?” he asked.
“Those responsible for Saibaba’s wrongful arrest must pay for their mistakes. This country is being run by criminals like Modi and Shah,” he lamented, expressing disgust at the treatment of Saibaba and numerous others.
“Amit Shah is bragging about winning the war on Naxals, our fellow Indians demanding their rights. He is bragging about the state machinery overpowering those fighting with their ideology,” he stated.
Meanwhile, Meena Kandasamy questioned the Supreme Court’s decision to deny bail to Saibaba while he was imprisoned.
“The Supreme Court which goes on vacation for two months, and the judges who come as per their whims, sat on a Saturday to deny Saibaba his bail,” she said.
Referring to Narendra Modi’s crackdown on “urban Naxals”, she said it perpetuated an atmosphere of silence due to the fear of the backlash that dissent is met with.
“Saibaba was a romantic revolutionary who looked at love as a symbol of hope. Today, P Chidambaram can say that the state killed him, but he is the first culprit in Saibaba’s death,” she said.
Calling the UAPA the former Union minister’s brainchild, she said Modi’s governance does not absolve him of his role. “Even those who called for the release of Saibaba were targeted,” she stated, calling Saibaba a victim of state terrorism.
Meanwhile, Haragopal added that the prime minister capitalised on the association between Naxals and violence due to propaganda to demonise dissent.
“Strangely, Narendra Modi calls Rahul Gandhi an urban Naxal alongside Congress and all other Opposition parties,” he added.
An assistant professor at Delhi University’s Ram Lal Anand College, Saibaba was arrested in May 2014, alleging Maoist links.
The Bombay High Court granted him bail on medical grounds in June 2015, and he was released a month later. He was again jailed between December 2015 and April 2016, when the Supreme Court granted him bail.
The polio-affected man was convicted in March 2017 for connections with the banned Revolutionary Democratic Front, an outfit tied to the CPI(Maoist). During the trial, Saibaba denied having any links with the banned organisation. Besides Saibaba, Mahesh Tirki, Pandu Narote, Hem Mishra, Prashant Rahi, and Vijay Tirko were also convicted.
In October 2022, the earlier bench of the Bombay High Court held the trial void due to the absence of a valid sanction under Section 45(1) of the UAPA. The court had underscored the importance of procedural compliance in cases involving terrorism and emphasized that departures from due process could foster an environment conducive to terrorism.
Within days, a Bench of the Supreme Court had set aside the Bombay High Court order, saying the offences involved are very serious in nature and the accused were convicted after detailed appreciation of evidence.
The Supreme Court clarified that it had not determined the case’s merits and emphasized the need for a thorough review by the high court.
Saibaba and five others were acquitted on 14 October 2022. However, the Supreme Court reversed the acquittal and asked the high court to reevaluate the case. Though the high court rapped the state for failure of justice, Maharashtra went to the apex court again when he was acquitted for a second time.
In March 2024, the Nagpur Bench of the Bombay High Court once again acquitted Saibaba and five others.
(Edited by Muhammed Fazil)
