On October 31, 1984, when Mumbai-born
Sushobha Bharve boarded a train from her
hometown to Barabanki, along with a friend,
not even in her worst nightmare had she
witnessed such a blood-curdling event - the
lynching and burning to near-death of two
fellow Sikh passengers by rioters, who were
incensed by Mrs Indira Gandhi's
assassination by her Sikh bodyguards. This
gory event transformed her into a totally
anti-communal activist - her mission in life
being "conflict prevention and
reconciliation".
After a few days she went in search of the
Sikhs and was relieved to find that they
were not dead. But the lives that they were
to lead (as she discovered when she visited
them again, years later) were tormenting -
for them and their family members alike.
When the trouble in Indian Punjab ended,
Bharve was concerned about the
rehabilitation of the militants. This was
despite the fact that the Sikh extremists
had, in retaliation to the attack on the
Golden Temple, murdered many innocent Hindu
men, women and children. Later, Bharve was
personally involved in the rehabilitation of
Muslim families in Logain village in Bihar,
where 120 Muslims had been massacred.
Bharve motivated many people to join her in
the work. Women, belonging to both Hindu and
Muslim communities, were more often willing
to help her as she was to see in the great
job that was done in Dharavi, the slums in
Bombay, during the riots of December 1992
and January 1993. Men somehow were less
forthcoming. She and her colleagues were
often misread, more by Hindus than Muslims,
when they worked for rapprochement between
the two communities.
"They bombarded us with questions. They were
suspicious of us as 'outsiders'. They
thought we were taking the side of the
Muslims. They wanted to know what caste we
belonged to. They were not satisfied with
our answer that we were Hindus who did not
believe in the caste system but were firm
believers of humanism," writes Sushobha
Bharve in the book under review, Healing
Streams.
That Bharve was fair in her words and deeds
goes without saying. She maintains, "One
cannot alter certain facts of history. Yes,
without doubt Muslim invaders and kings have
desecrated temples in India. And Hindus have
desecrated Buddhist monasteries. But there
are also numerous examples of Muslim rulers
either having built temples or given land
for building temples. One cannot be
selective about remembering history."
More than anything else, Bharve risked her
own life quite often when she worked in
riot-stricken areas, sometimes even spending
a night or two there, particularly in
Dharavi, which is billed as the largest slum
in Asia. When asked if she was not afraid of
the goons of Shiv Sena, she says, "No, I did
not fear Shiv Sena then nor do so today. I
do not think one should give in to a bully."
This reviewer feels that she broke the
shackles of fear after she and her friend
had gone through the nightmarish experience
of being branded as Sardarnis, when she
tried to save the two Sikhs. Her friend lost
all her belongings. Nothing new, for in all
riots one of the prime motives of the
rioters is to loot the property of their
victims. Then there are scavengers waiting
for their turn.
This happened time and again, particularly
in the Punjab of 1947 and Gujarat of 2002.
"In every riot often the main issue that
triggers off the violence gets brushed aside
and the secondary motive of arson, looting,
land and property grabbing, and settling
personal scores takes over."
Bharve rightly points out that most riots
erupt as a result of rumours or
misunderstandings. For instance, in Dharavi
when the Muslims went on a peace march, soon
after the Ayodhya tragedy, the police
misread it as an attack on them and firing
ensued. Bharve conveys the common feeling of
both Muslims and Hindus that the police
often became a party in the riots. But she
also refers to occasions when some police
officers helped Bharve and her colleagues in
restoring peace.
One such occasion was when a dargah
was desecrated. With monetary help from some
donors, the police, some peace activists and
some members of the two communities quietly
removed the debris, whitewashed the
dargah and brought back copies of the
Holy Quran. Helping them were four
journalists, who refrained from publishing
the news of the desecration and restoration
to avoid further inflaming passions.
Some NGOs, involved in restoration, were
more often than not helped by the government
departments during the riots in Mumbai. Then
there were many individuals too who extended
a helping hand. One Dr R.K. Anand manned the
clinic of a Dr Khan, who couldn't come to
Dharavi from another locality because of the
curfew. Anand treated patients from
Indiranagar and Muslimnagar alike. Then
there were some celebrities like Dilip
Kumar, Sunil Dutt, Shabana Azmi, Javed
Akhtar and Farooq Shaikh who worked
indefatiguably towards restoring peace and
helping the victims.
At one stage, after the serial bombs
exploded in Mumbai in March 1993, Bharve
almost gave up. At about 11 pm her phone
rang and it was Dilip Kumar at the other end
of the line. "Suddenly I found myself
saying, 'Ab bahar jakar madad karne ki
himmat nahi hai.' He sounded alarmed and
replied, 'If you say this, what will happen
to the rest of us?' I don't know how long
Dilip Kumar spoke, pleading with me not to
give up courage. I promised not to give up."
He spent the night to help organize
volunteers to donate blood needed urgently
in the hospitals for the hundreds of
individuals, adds Bharve, who never fails in
giving credit where credit is due.
All said, Healing Streams is the
story of a tireless woman, who as an
individual and as a member of peace
committees and muhalla committees, worked
with dedication and demonic energy to
reconcile and restore two combating communal
groups. The slim volume is a must-read for
all those who value peace and harmony. |
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