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 Victorious! Hunger strikers (left to right) Guddi Bi, Sathinath Sarangi (in turban), Rashida Bi, AID Jeevan Saathi Rachna Dhingra (in glasses), Jabbar Khan and Shehzadi Bi emerge after the Bhopal District Collector agreed to their demands on March 19th. Photo: Bhopal.net
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Sometimes you have to fight to win what is rightfully yours. No one knows this better than the survivors of Bhopal, who recently won a tremendous victory in their struggle for justice with the Madhya Pradesh government.
On February 20, they began an indefinite sit-in urging the MP government to implement the promises the Prime Minister made in April 2006. Their Right to Life Campaign demanded proper medical care; economic rehabilitation in the form of tens of thousands of jobs; pension for widows and families with children congenitally handicapped by the gas; and the most basic of all - clean drinking water. Their message was clear: We want to be able to live a decent life, and we will not take “no” for an answer.
Two weeks of protest went by with no news from the government. Six protestors - Guddi Bi, Jabbar Khan, Rashida Bi, Rachna Dhingra, Shehzadi Bi, and Sathyu – began an indefinite fast. After threatening to hospitalize and force-feed the fasters, the police showed their true colors on the thirteenth day. At 7 am, sixty khaki-clad men and women arrested five fasters and several supporters.
As news of the arrest went out, hundreds of phone calls and faxes flooded in from across the world. In a pivotal meeting, the Collector agreed to the people’s demands. Upon receiving a written copy of this
agreement, amidst much jubilation and dancing, the hunger strikers broke their fast on March 19, 2007, fifteen days after they began. Their determination and international pressure had brought them this victory. What would come next?
The promised meeting with the Principal Secretary and the Director of Gas Relief is, as of this writing, yet to take place. But not to worry; the Bhopalis know that sometimes you have to fight to gain what is rightfully yours.
Rachna Dhingra was an AID Ann Arbor volunteer when she learned
of the Bhopal struggle. As an IT consultant, one of her clients was Dow
Chemicals (owner of Union Carbide). Citing unbearable moral dilemma,
she left for Bhopal in 2003 to coordinate the International Campaign
for Justice in Bhopal, struggling to make Dow take responsibility to
clean up in Bhopal. Rachna is now an AID Jeevansaathi; we stand by her
and others who fasted for justice in Bhopal.
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Pragya Bhagat (AID Austin), a medical student, volunteered at Sambhavna Clinic (2006-7), serving Bhopal survivors and lending her support at the protests.
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