Whose Dog?

The way the Sangh Parivar has co-opted the working class and youth militants while serving the interests of the rich and powerful is a phenomenon which has torn India apart and challenged the secular credentials of the Indian state.

Here is a story- set in the mid 1990s in Bombay based on interactions

with trade union militants and mass leaders in the working class district of Parel-Bombay.

According to one veteran mass leader- "Worli and Parel are the places where the oldest working class of the Indian subcontinent lives. Some of them are fourth generation working class."

The names of the persons and some details have been altered to protect their identities and respect their privacy. The story is based on true events and actual conversations.



Hey tumcha Kutra Inamdar aahe- (In Marathi)- This is your dog Inamdar.

The face of the Director had been blackened and he was paraded around the whole campus and shown to all the staff and told- This is your dog-Inamdar.

The local group leader of “ Army�- and his men had gone into the campus of the Institute of Medical Research and rounded up the director, a researcher and academician of many decades of experience, international reputation and universally respected in the medical fraternity. Dr.Inamdar was also the incharge of medical education of the entire state.

He had recently signed an agreement with the local union which was affiliated to the “Army�. There was some dispute regarding the implementation of the agreement and some of the union members had complained to Pramod, the local militant leader of “The Army�.

He had done the needful. A few days later I met the Pramod in the campus.“I paid five thousand rupees as bail to get out� he announced with pomp, and recalled his few hours spent at the local police station.

“We even took the dog to our party headquarters but the chief did not meet Dr.Inamdar, just saw him from his first floor balcony and then we were told to leave.�

“I do not know why he refused to meet him.� Pramod wondered and proudly showed me the newspaper cuttings which told about the incident, the arrests and the background.

The chief was probably more aware than Pramod about the fall-outs and backlashes of such a brazen attack on one of the most respected doctors of the state.

“This will serve as a warning to any administrator to not take agreements signed with our union lightly.�

Pramod was a local militant, a tall well-built man whom I first met when he had come with a friend with suspected eye-injury. He was soft spoken and courteous, but when it came down to ‘business’ he knew all the tricks of the trade.

***

Hands and feet marked.

“It was not always like this. Earlier Pramod used to work with us� Bala recalled the time when he had groomed Pramod into union work as a young man in his twenties.

“I have slept on the pavements outside the hospital in the seventies and my hands and feet were marked in the local police station during the emergency� Bala said one evening, as we were having chicken curry made by his wife who had come from the village. For most of the year Bala lived alone in the campus, got up early and was usually the main person to address the morning 7 am shift of workers.

He is a short thin slightly built man, and always wears white trousers and pants, but has a forceful manner of presenting his speeches. But the most surprising part of Bala was the loudness of his slogan shouting. He did not require a loud speaker and would call the 7 a.m. shift of workers to order with his loud slogans.

It was after one such meeting that Bala had met Pramod and started discussing with him, thus initiating the process of his active social life.

But over a period of time, Pramod and Bala had moved away from each other and Bala did not approve of Pramod’s strong arm tactics, and also resented the fact that ‘outsiders’ were often called in to settle campus issues.

Don’t pay for the tea.

Sorabjee takes classes in Shirodkar school in the evening. The school rents out rooms at Rs.25 for unionists and study groups to meet and discuss. One day I tried to introduce Bala to Sorabjee, but they required no introduction. These veterans had known each other for decades. They had their differences but were usually on the same side when it came to mass issues.

Sipping tea in the shop in front of the medical college, after the class at Shirodkar, Sorabjee told me “There was a time when all this area was Red. Now it is saffron. The workers kept waiting for over twenty years, but nothing happened. Then their sons grew up and crossed over.�

Sorabjee had known Bala in his younger days, and recalled the times when the labor militancy was at it’s peak, they used to block roads by deflating the tyres of BEST buses and have sessions of practice for their cultural group, before parting ways at the Elphinstone bridge and catch the last local to Churchgate. “The failure of the textile strike changed the trend,� he reflected on the times gone by.

As we stood up to leave and tried to pay for the tea, the owner of the stall refused payment from Sorabjee. “I have been a supporter and admirer of yours for many decades. Please do not embarrass me,� he said. This same tea-stall owner also owns a photocopy machine from where all the notices are copied free of charge.

It was not always like this. Unionism and hooliganism were not one. The leaders had an understanding. But then the strong arm tactics of breaking our unions and strikes, violence against our activists and collusion with the management changed things.

But there are many silent supporters who have seen those older times. Persons like the tea-stall owner who know what is actual representation and can tell the difference.

He will never accept payment for tea from Sorabjee.

The cycle checked?

As Sorabjee and I walked towards Elphinstone station after tea, I met our Dr.Umang, our assistant dean (AD). Bala and the AD were arguing about the deterioration of the standards.

“But we did not call them in� Bala was defending and also conveying his helplessness at such elements having entered his union, over whom he had no control. “They are doing this on purpose, to bring us a bad name,� he continued.

“They have cleverly divided us workers into locals and outsiders. The outsiders who have left their villages to escape poverty, have been divided into upper and lower castes.�Bala continued in exasperation.

“The regional and caste disputes have come to the fore, forging an identity which will never solve the basic issues.�

Dr.Umang and Sorabjee knew each other well. “But can someone stop these chauvinists?� Dr. Umang turned the question towards Sorabjee.

“After the blasts and the subsequent riots, it has become very difficult to reason out the sane voices,� Sorabjee said before descending down the steps of Elphinstone local station. The 11.17 slow train to Churchgate was coming.

“Who is the dog? Whose dog is it? …
Our dog- Dr. Inamdar ….?!�…the words resonated in his mind, as he boarded the local.