IT'S A LONG, LONG NIGHT

Some days ago, when I first saw the images of the Farmers’ March from Nasik to Mumbai, I was over-awed by its very idea… I knew it would be powerful… I knew it would make its impact, even though a large section of media, for its own reasons, chose to ignore it, down play it or even ridicule and condemn it…

I knew, this: Nothing could stop an idea whose time had come!

 

To me, the poor farmers of drought-hit districts of Maharashtra are brave! Imagine walking a distance of 180 kilometers in the burning heat for six-seven days! Imagine the magnitude! What are their demands? Loan waiver and transfer of land to the tribals… Both these demands are genuine and they have been long-pending and not taken seriously by the authorities…

Hence the March to Mumbai…

As I write this, over thirty-five thousand of protesting farmers have camped themselves at the K.J. Somaiya grounds, barely 15 minutes away from where I live. The sky is their roof and the stars are their guiding light and hope… My heart really bleeds for them… I pray, “Lord, please guard them, help them… May nothing unpleasant happen tomorrow!”

It is going to be a long, long night!

My mind goes back to Gandhi’s historic Dandi March. It was an act of defiance. Gandhi had conceived this idea as a potent weapon of Civil Disobedience. He had started with barely about 70 trusted Satyagrahis… from his ashram in Sabarmati to the beach of Dandi near Navsari village... some 280 kilometers… walking 10 kilometers a day. Along the march, thousands of people had joined the march, drawing worldwide attention… Gandhi picked the fist of salt as a mark of defiance and courage. This march had inspired courage and passion in the hearts of millions across the nation… and had served as a definite impetus for the freedom movement…

Gandhi’s vision was so clear and so piercing, that, today, as the free citizens of this blessed land, we all feel the need to bow before our visionary leader, who we rightly hail as ‘The Father of our Nation’!

Barely three decades later, Gandhi’s non-violent freedom movement in general, and Dandi March in particular, were destined to inspire another remarkable figure, thousands of miles away from Gandhi’s land… Martin Luther King Jr.! His historic March to Washington D.C. had culminated at the Lincoln Memorial… with over 2,50,000 people, of which about 60,000 White and the rest, Black. Can you imagine the plight of the Black in America at the time of this protest march… that is, not even six decades ago? The Black were treated as untouchables… That ‘N’ word is now treated as racial comment… But, during those inhuman times, the Black were not allowed to walk, eat, travel, study, play, sing etc alongside the White…

At the Lincoln Memorial, that afternoon, Martin Luther King’s awe-inspiring speech – ‘I Have a Dream' – carried the vision that he, as the Messiah of his fellow Blacks, had so vividly borne… It was so clear, so prophetic… that, today, when we see the status of the Black citizens in America, we feel the need to bow before their visionary leader - Martin Luther King Jr.!

I do not know what is going to happen tomorrow when our own poor farmers – over thirty-five  thousand of them – reach Maharashtra Assembly… I only pray, their simple demands be met. We, as a privileged citizens of this state, owe it to our marginalized farmers… Many of us are simply clueless about their plight. For, it hasn’t affected us directly, you see!

So, let me conclude: you and I may not be able to join their march, carrying red, orange, blue, green or white flags … For God’s sake, let’s not be mean by looking at them from the coloured glasses of our political ideologies…

They are poor farmers and tribals. The least that we can do, tonight, is: Wish them well… Pray, all will be peaceful and will end well…

Yes, it is a long, long night!

GERALD D’CUNHA

Pic.: Internet

Videos: YouTube