#dnaEdit: Message in bullets

It’s dangerous to be an activist in India, especially in a so-called progressive state like Maharashtra. Perhaps, the veteran CPI leader Govind Pansare knew that sooner or later he would have to pay the price. The 82-year-old activist and his 72-year-old wife were shot at from close range, when they left home for a morning walk on Monday. While his condition is reported to be stable, his wife’s state is deemed critical. 

When it comes to protecting fearless voices, Maharashtra’s track record is the worst in the country. Since the right to information act (RTI) came into force in 2005, the Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative’s study published in December 2013 shows that the state registered 53 assaults, including eight murders, in eight years. 

Pansare’s five-decade-long career as an activist is marked by several movements and agitations. For the past four years he was spearheading a campaign in Kolhapur against toll collection. Previously, he had taken up the cause of landless farmers, domestic helps, slumdwellers and labourers. He was also the first to spot irregularities in the Kolhapur Municipal Corporation’s road development project. Pansare had made some very powerful enemies while working closely with anti-superstition activist Narendra Dabholkar, who was killed in Pune in 2013. In fact, the similarities in the modi operandi of the attackers in Dabholkar and Pansare’s cases strengthen the suspicion that a radical fringe Hindu outfit might be involved. This outfit is, allegedly, inspired by Nathuram Godse’s life and philosophy. A few days ago, Pansare had defied the warnings of Hindu extremist organisations and taken part in a panel discussion on a book titled Who killed Hemant Karkare. Some time back, he had strongly criticised Godse and spoke out against the rising trend of glorifying Gandhi’s killer. 

Though the attacks on Dabholkar and Pansare triggered all-round condemnation — the political class was united in its criticism — the precarious situation on the ground doesn’t inspire confidence. After all these months, Dabholkar’s killers are still at large. In May last year, the Bombay high court transferred the case from the Maharashtra police to the CBI, but even the bureau has failed to come up with concrete leads. Pansare’s attackers, too, have evaded arrest, even as 20 teams from various police units are engaged in tracking them down. This can only mean that some very influential people are shielding the goons, and the state government appears powerless against them. 

It must be borne in mind that the attacks on Dabholkar and Pansare are assaults on democracy. They can derail the movements against corruption because whistleblowers have become easy targets for the very powers they threaten to expose. Activists know it’s futile to expect help from both the state government and the Centre. The cases filed under the Maharashtra Prevention and Eradication of Human Sacrifice and other Inhuman, Evil and Aghori Practices and Black Magic Act 2013 suffer from slipshod police investigations. Consequently, the conviction rate is zilch. The Centre is yet to frame the rules for the Whistleblowers Protection Act, 2011, which was passed in early 2014. 

Faced with institutional apathy, activists continue to offer spirited resistance against vested interests. But, they may not be able to sustain it for long if the official machinery remains indifferent or hostile.