WHO CARES ?
Yogesh Avasthi
Posted On Wednesday, September 21, 2011 (
As chief minister of the state, the pain of each and every citizen is my own pain. Ensuring justice to all is the duty of the state,” wrote Narendra Modi in an open letter shortly before he started his three-day sadbhavana fast.
The irony could not have been more stark. On one hand we have an extremely concerned CM who says CM for him stands for the Common Man, and on the other his government shows blithe disregard for aggrieved people who are common men and women.
Hundreds of emotionally charged letters addressed to him expecting the Chief Minister’s Sadbhavna were simply abandoned after the high profile event. The disconnect between the head of the state and his administration was evident at GMDC ground on Tuesday where hundreds of these letters were lying scattered.
These letters — each narrating a story of pain and injustice and begging help — were dropped in the ‘Sadbhavna Soochan Peti’ by those who could not meet him despite waiting for hours. “We are common people and meeting you is difficult. We waited for two hours and are now leaving this letter”, one person wrote, stressing he expected the Chief Minister to express “sadbhavna” in his action instead of mere words. Of course the person would never come to know whether his letter would reach the CM or not as nobody was simply bothered.
On Tuesday, Mirror found these letters discarded in the open. Workers dismantling the makeshift domes found an abandoned box dumped on the venue along with other disposable stuff like used water bottles. The illiterate workers emptied the suggestion box and used it to store nuts and bolts. Since the workers, many of them illiterate, could not make head or tail of the letters, they threw it away thinking the safai workers would do the needful.
Mirror browsed through some of the heart-wrenching letters written by people from all walks of life — businessmen, retired citizens, housewives, students, larriwallahs harassed by corrupt police and corporation officials. Common citizens threatened by the rich, famous and powerful thought Chief Minister Modi’s sadbhavna fast was the best venue to make the CM aware of their real life issues.
‘I WANT SCHOLARSHIP’
An emotional letter by a 17-year-old said he wanted to avail himself of state government’s scholarship programme. The boy, who had scored 80 per cent in class XII exam, belonged to a financially poor background. He had even attached copies of his marksheet with the letter, hoping Modi would help him out.
Another note sought to draw Modi’s attention to alleged corruption by Bhuj District Health Officer. The complaint alleged that the officer charged Rs 50,000 in bribe for every transfer he sanctioned.
CORRUPTION COMPLAINT
One of the letters, where the complainant sought anonymity if it was published, alleged corruption by the director of Ahmedabad Textile Industries and Research Association (ATIRA).
An elderly state government official wrote an emotional letter to the CM, requesting him to allot a plot of land since he was to retire soon. He said he had completed all the formalities including handover of nagarpalika’s no-objection certificate, but was still not given the plot.
GIVE US PLACE TO CONDUCT BUSINESS
Vijaynagar char-rasta larrigalla owners requested Modi to allocate them place to conduct their business. “We are aware that people are not able to use the footpath because of our larris. But we have no other place to go. Please give us a place from where we can run our businesses,” it read. The letter was signed by 14 people including a paratha stall owner, fruit vendor, panwallah, painter and a carpenter.
MY DAUGHTER IS INNOCENT
A letter written by a distraught father from Dahod alleged that his daughter was “framed” in a copying case during the board exams. He wanted the CM to initiate a probe and punish the guilty. An airforce captain too was one of those who wrote to the CM, seeking his appointment to discuss a business proposal that aimed at making Gujarat “the biggest hub of aeronautical industry”.
AHMEDABAD IS UNSAFE. MAFIAS RULE THE CITY
One of the letters was from a Khokhra businessman who complained about threats from a local goon. He said the local mafia had grown very powerful and common citizens’ complaints were not heeded by the police. So terrified was he that he packed off his pregnant wife to her native place, he said in the letter.
HAPPY GOLMAAL BIRTHDAY
Not all letters were complaints. One of them was a greeting card by an Amrut Panchal wishing the CM a ‘Happy Golmaal birthday’. “Jyaan aape balpan na divaso kadhya chhe”, it read. Some had scribbled a congratulatory note wishing him “10 lakh votes” in the next election, others expressed an unfeigned “I love you”.
The trust many of these people have in their chief minister can be gauged from the fact that their letters posed a risk to their own safety, in case they reached wrong hands. But they still put those letters in the drop box, confident the CM would read them. Some people categorically wrote that the CM only should read the letters and if they reached in wrong hands their lives could be endangered by the people they were complaining against.
Since the letters were found at GU Convention Centre premises, Mirror reporter handed them over to Gujarat University Vice Chancellor Parimal Trivedi.
“People have a lot of faith in the CM and that is the reason they wrote letters to him. I will make sure these reach him,” Trivedi has promised Mirror.
Mirror hopes that not only these letters reach Chief Minister Modi, but he also looks into the grievances of the commoners. That would be real Sadbhavna. Isn’t it ?
