Tribute to a nationalistic hawk-turned-peacemonger with a SouthAsian vision

Posted on March 28, 2020 by beenasarwar

Lahore, 1992: Dr Syeda Hameed with Dr Mubashir Hasan, uncle, comrade and mentor. Photo by Reza Kazim.

With the world in the grip of the novel coronavirus pandemic, it’s hard to find space for anything else. As horrors unfolded in country after country, exposing the hollowness behind military might, glittering capitalist facades, and exploitation, a gentle soul slipped into the hereafter at his house in Lahore. At 98, he had spent the last half of his life fighting for exactly the kind of egalitarian, people centered system that would have mitigated the ravages of Covid-19. There have been some wonderful tributes to Dr Mubashir Hasan. Two of the best I’ve seen are by his old friend I.A. Rehman and Indian journalist Nirupama Subramaniam in Indian Express, also published in Aman Ki Asha.

Below, my tribute to Dr M. in The News on Sunday last weekend, a follow up to my piece in The Wire earlier. Also below, two previously unpublished pieces I am honoured to present here — a powerful, poignant poem in Dr M’s memory by his niece in Delhi, and a lively little remembrance by a 12-year old based on her memories of the Chaukas collective meetings she attended with her mother, that led to A New Social Contract published by Dr M, 2016. Also linking here this tribute in Mainstream Weekly magazine, Kolkata, founded by Dr Mubashir’s friend Nikhil Chakravartty — “one of the greatest journalists of the subcontinent” as Dr M called him — now edited by his son Sumit Chakravartty.

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In solidarity with Dr. Udayakumar, anti-nuclear activist targeted by “journalists”

Posted on June 22, 2017 by beenasarwar

Udaykumar-Vidhi Doshi

Dr Udaykumar believes that India’s nuclear programme is a costly prestige exercise that endangers the lives of millions. Plus, he points out, villagers are still living in the dark, since most of India’s energy is used by the industrial sector. “Who really benefits from the nuclear plants in the end, except the foreign companies that are building these plants in India?” he says. Photo: Vidhi Doshi/The Guardian

Just heard from peace activist friend Lalita Ramdas in India that the well known anti-nuclear, village-based activist in India Dr. S. P. Udayakumaran, has filed a complaint with the press council of India against the harassment meted out to him and his family by Republic TV and its reporters (see below). Shame on these people using journalism like an entertainment tool, bringing a bad name to the profession. This is not the first time he has been targeted. Read this piece in The Guardian last year on The lonely struggle of India’s anti-nuclear protesters – a struggle that Dr Udaykumar plays a key role in.

It is truly shocking to see the extent to which our so called free and fair media will go to implicate one of our best minds, those with integrity of purpose and courage to stand up for what they deem to be right.

Uday Kumar whom we have known for decades, is a fine scholar, a fearless fighter, and a Gandhian practitioner who had led one of the longest , peaceful and non- violent struggles in our recent history.

Being against nuclear energy and nuclear weapons does not make you anti national.

On the contrary it is these men and women of Idinthikkarai/Koodankulam, who have demonstrated a commitment to the people of this country through their amazing struggle for a nuclear free India.

If this is seditious and unpatriotic and anti national, then I am too.

Lalita Ramdas

Dr Udaykumar’s letter below:

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