The Demons of Dams

The amount of agitating force is equal to the weight of people displaced - Archimedes revisited

Mr. Modi replied each and every question on the name of some five crore people of Gujrat and in the name of development (using pompous phrases like Rastriya Nirman, Rastriya Pragati and Rastriya Asmita ) and sentiments attached to them. He also linked the people against the dam as against the people of Gujrat (reminiscent of Bush's rhetoric, "with us or against us"). He issued naked threats to those who are against him and he said that he will win because god and 5 crore thirsty Gujaratis are with him. Just to clarify, I don't have any hard feeling or personal grudge against the people of Gujrat and I strongly hope they should never reach the stupidity levels of the people of other states but Mr. Modi is pushing them too hard to cross that legal stupidity limit and with power and god backing him, as he claims, no one can stop his asinine blabbering.

Yesterday, after the SC verdict on the Sardar Sarovar Project came, Mr. Modi didn't loose a minute to sip the juice of victory and to give a full throated speech that seriously put in doubt the sincerity of his 51 hr fast. All news channels went crazy to toggle between reports from Gujarat where Mr. Modi was going to end his fast and Jantar Mantar where Medha Patkar was about to call off her 20 days hunger strike, till they split the screen to show the enemies side by side, the pompous big saffron colored stage of Modi and the clapping and singing clan at Jantar Mantar.

On more interesting thing going on TV are the debates on the celebrity associations on such high-octane socio-political issues. The biggest name, being Aamir Khan, who has earlier came with his Rang de Basanti crew to hear the grievances of the effected and promptly held a press conference to tell the world about it. Yesterday and the day before, news channels were airing Aamir's appeal to the RDB-infected youth of India like Coca cola commercials. In one such debate, Nalini Singh (from the good ol' doordarshan days) questioned the credibility of a celebrity, who endorses package tours, Swiss watches and credit cards on one day and switches to issues like low water table or global warming the other day, without required knowledge and hence a commitment to those issues on the part of the celebrity, her argument infuriated Mr. Rahul Bose, also on the panel of discussion, who claimed that he can answer the questionnaire from NBA at any moment and pass the test with distinction. Later I found out the real reason for his sweet anger, the watch brand he recently endorsed.

Anyway, the point was whether these celebrities bring such issues to notice - may be yes - but what good it does to the movement. Irrespective of my low respect for Mr. Khan and his troupe, his knowledge on the issue seemed very shallow (as a matter of fact, Mr. Bose was very well informed on the issue and had a better stand than Mr. Khan, may be because he has lesser scripts to read and lesser public to please). And Dare-I-say that Mr Khan seemed a counterpart of Modi, speaking to stir the emotions with his appeal to youth (why he only appealed the youth might be addressed in a separate post). The day before yesterday, he was seen on TV saying that the displaced should be compensated and the height of the dam should not be increased and now he seems quite happy and all with the SC verdict (may be his lawyer has given him some dose from the chapter called 'Contempt of Court'), which he called victory of humanity and thinks the rehab can be done in next three months (as a comic book hero, he even assured the masses that he will be back after 3 months and will see that progress has been made or not, or otherwise he will again appeal to the youth), such optimism is kiddish, given that fact that nothing is done in last 20 years.

When I was watching all this, my heart sank with a thought that it might strike to Aamir's creative mind to make a film on the plight of the displaced, which will eventually emotionalize, regionalize and trivialize the issue and given his commitment to the commercial well-being of the film, its happy ending - the victory of the poor souls - might paint a picture that the poor have, in reality, won the battle and all those fans who are thinking about the issue (in purely emotional terms) because the smart and the successful Aamir is listening to the poorest of the people with a serious face, will close the book with a satisfactory smile that the justice is done. It should not be story like this - he came, he hijacked, all died in peace.

Mr. Modi , again shamelessly, came out against Aamir Khan saying that where was he when Kashmiri Pundits were displaced (seems that Mr. Modi is the happiest of the lot that Kashmiri pundits were displaced, otherwise where else he can get other such common reason to sweep every other issue) and advised him to stick to his song and dance routine, and also issued threats to him in public (his party workers took the hint and did what they are best at). Mr. Modi had also said that the voice of the common man who is getting benefited from the project is shadowed by the English speaking celebrities. He must remember himself giving speeches in lyrical English to woo the Gujrati NRI community and the multinational in his Vibrant Gujrat campaign. His loathe for English and his desperate effort to strike an emotional balance between the crowd pulling swadeshi-rant and multinational wet dreams, looks partially like a kiddo who has not read his test book on American policies and politics, rebuking the protest against Bush's visit to India, and suggesting this and partially as a house wife who can not look as beautiful as a popular actress despite her several effots, ends up calling her a whore.

The only voice among all the chaos, which has its logic intact, the consistency and the preciseness that addresses the issue with sincerity and urgency is that of Arundhati Roy. Listening to the SC verdict, she said she is not feeling victorious, she said she is rather feeling vindicated that what has been said by NBA for years is put on papers by the SC, she told that she is not optimistic of the judgment because it seems just another way to delay the real judgment, she said the 5 crore people of Gujrat that Mr. Modi talk about with great emotions will not get much out of the project because only 9-10% water is given to Kutch and Saurashtra, and that too will go to big players, she said the celebrities are welcome like any other common man to join the movement but they need to gain knowledge and thus commitment to the cause with time (Mr. Khan should take it as an advice and start his homework), she told to look at the other face of development, she ridiculed Mr. Modi in most beautifully appropriate words and called his hunger strike a 'Crash diet'.

This doesn't merely seem to be a tale of fasts and false propagandas, this shows how emotional and regional sentiments and prejudices rule over anything else, this shows how it is bad to be against government and the powerful especially when you are poor, this explains how one can be termed anti development activist if he speaks for those displaced by a huge developmental scheme, this shows that even 20 years is an inadequate time to bring something committed on papers to ground, this might explain who are maoists and where they come from, from where they are displaced and where they will go now.