Kadam

Part I

Nagpur, Maharashtra

The light on the study table switches on, while a hand adjusts the table lamp. A spectacled face is revealed in semi-darkness and part-brightness, as the man reaches out for his diary and uncaps his pen. He keeps the pen in the middle of the diary and fetches his pack of smokes. He lights a cigarette and lets out a puff of smoke. With one hand on his forehead and a lit smoke, he starts writing…

"There are moments in time when no matter how hard one tries to escape the past, it still catches up. Over the last few years, ever since I took up teaching political science at the university, life seemed to have become mundane and meaningless. Not only has mundanity crept in; but also some questions that haunt me from time-to-time.

Many a times, I find myself at the crossroads of theory, books, practice and objective reality. Is the subject and text that I teach in the classrooms similar to the scenario we find ourselves in? Do I actually believe when I endorse the point-of-view that people, in particular, masses can be a medium to social change? It is these contradictions and paradoxes that consume me…

Eventually, it is a lack of purpose in one's own life that fills the person with an internal anguish so magnanimous that everything else in the periphery seems to be absolutely non-existent and immaterial."

Gadhchiroli, Maharashtra

File closed and pen cap is sealed. One guy gets up to drink a glass of water, as the other while loading the batteries in the camera says…

"Bhaiyya, target toh lock kar diya… Schedule poori tarah se pakka kar liya hai Na?"

"Haan chotey! Chinta nahi karo. Taiyaari poori hai. Bas kuch hi din toh hain… Phir toh saala yahin hoga…

One week later in Nagpur:

Right outside the Nagpur university campus, a man dressed in brown Khadi Kurta and a white pajama walks out towards his bike. He reaches his bike and inserts the key into the ignition hole and right then, a Maruti van pulls over and drags the man inside. Puff of dust flies in the air as the van speeds away. Inside the van, this man is blindfolded and his hands tied, and so are his feet. He is dumped at the back seat.

Gadhchiroli, Maharashtra

Back in Gadhchiroli, a man, appearing almost tribal-like, sits outside a room with a semi-automatic rifle in his hand. Dressed in a military green shirt and similar colored pants, he crushes the tobacco leaves between his palms while choosing to stay completely oblivious to the continuous sounds of muffled screams from the inside. After a little while, the man sees a bunch of other men walking up to the room. He stands up at once and salutes them and the men ask…

"Andar hai?"

"Haan bhaiyya. Woh Andar hi hai… Lekin saala bahut cheekh raha hai. Jab se cheekh cheekh ke kaan se khoon nikaal diya, madharchod!!

Agar aap ka aadesh ho toh saaley ko thok peet key theek kar dein!

"Darwaza kholo; dekhte hain saaley ko!" says one of the man from the bunch of men.

The door opens letting what is perhaps first ray of light in an otherwise dark room. The streak of light from behind the 5 guys who entered the room casts an imposing silhouette. With their faces not visible against the light, they just look like a bunch of masses that are powerful and imposing.

Nagpur, Maharashtra

At Nagpur university, it's been almost 15 days since the professor went missing. Students get restless. At the canteen of the university…

(Ratnakar Shirke) "Guys, where the hell is the prof. man? He has been missing like for god knows how long… What's the matter?" while sipping on chai and taking a drag of his cigarette.

(Abhishek Jadhav) "15 days, man. It's been 15 days since the prof. went missing. Did anyone care to check out the teachers' attendance or bother to cross-verify with other teachers to know the whereabouts of Mr. Naik?" while biting on to his kachori and sipping on to his chai.

While the other students are bothered about the professor going missing, there is one guy (Vinayak Manjrekar) who is sitting on the same table as the others but is being a silent listener to all the conversation. He keeps rotating and playing with the notebook while just looking at others speaking about the prof. He fetches his pen and reaches out for his notebook and colors the name of the notebook as he orders a chai and a kachori.

One of the fellow students present at the table says… "What the fuck are you doing, dude? Are you not concerned about Mr. Naik? He has suddenly gone missing… And the worst is he has not even been returning calls or smses…

Just as this student says this, the other one says… "Hey, let me try his number again. Who knows, you know?"

After a minute, "Damn, the phone is now switched off."

Public reaction

The abduction case of a professor in Nagpur generates quite a buzz in the media as well. The Times of India carries the news in a small corner on the front page; while The Hindu carries the same story as a lead story on the front page.

TV news channels also very conveniently fit the story right in the middle of their programming slot to give it air time.

Another 2 weeks later, the story begins to disappear from the media space and public glare.

Gadhchiroli, Maharashtra

The door to the room of Prof. Naik opens and a plate of food is passed on to him and also a bottle of water.

"Bhaiyya, ek newspaper milega?" asks Naik.

"Angrezi, Hindi ya Marathi, huh?" asks the door keeper.

"Kuch bhi chalega, bhaiyya" replies the professor.

The door keeper walks off to get the newspapers for the professor when he is seen by the superiors. He is stopped and asked… On hearing the reply, he is given the newspapers and also given the assurance that the newspapers will be slipped into the room every morning, henceforth. He is asked to never leave the door again.

A bunch of vernacular and few English newspapers are slipped into the room right from under the door.

Another week of being held captive and the professor calls his door keeper and says… "Bhaiyya, mujhe tumhare boss logon se koi baat karni hai. Kya unhe sandesha dekar bula sakte ho?"

"Theek hai. Hum sandesha bhijwa dete hain. Dekhte hain kya hota hai…"

While this happens, the reports in media claim a train blast has taken place near Chandrapur and 56 dead while 133 injured. Another report claims that in a fierce gun battle between the CRPF officials and the locals, 6 CRPF officers dead while taking 16 locals down.

New Delhi

The NHRC representatives stand outside the MHA headquarters in the numbers of hundreds. With placards in their hands and slogans on their mouths, the human rights activists scream for the disbanding of Operation Green Hunt and suspension the officers involved with the killings of innocent tribals in the crossfire between CRPF and the locals in Gadhchiroli.

Operation Green Hunt and the subsequent events taking place brought the Ministry of Home Affairs under the scanner and obviously some amount of unwanted media attention.

Almost 2 months later in Gadhchiroli

The doors of the room where the professor had been held captive all this while opened yet again and this time the same bunch of men who had walked in to room earlier walked in. They open the blindfold and throw some water on the professor's eyes. Professor shakes his face off and opens his eyes slowly. With only blurred sights in front of his eyes, he closes his eyes and opens them again to get a better vision.

For the first time in 2 months, there is a conversation between the men and Mr. Naik.

"Kya chahiye aap logon ko? Do mahiney se mujhe yahan, yeh kyun? Meri samajh mein kuch nahi aa raha…

Nagpur, Maharashtra

Ratnakar Shirke: Guys, have you been following up the news? The events in Gadhchiroli, Chandrapur and so on and so forth?

Group: Haan yaar! It's the same old crap. Who gives a fuck about what happens? Yeh sab hota aaya hai aur hota rahega! Bhenchod, saalon se kuch nahi badla; ab kya badal jaayega? In saaley terrorists ko toh; they should be shot at sight.

Vinayak Manjrekar (to the group): Jaisa nizam chalta aaya hai; waisa hi chalta rahega, huh? Hum kyun apni maraayein, hai na?

Group: Absolutely! What the fuck are we gonna get out of it? Why should we worry? As it is life mein tension kam hai kya jo is sab ke baarey mein sochein…

Vinayak Manjrekar (to the group): Let me wash my hands off and then get going. I am stuck here. See ya, fellas!

Gadhchiroli, Maharashtra

After a week since the last conversation between the captors and the professor, the captors walk into the room again. This time, while the 3 other men take the seat, the deputy is asked to untie the professor's hands and open the blindfold. The orders are executed and he is let loose and made to sit on the chair. For the first time since the capture, the professor and the captors were now sitting on the same plane.

Mr. Naik: Kya chahiye aap logon ko? Aap logon ne mujhe kaafi arse se yahan baandh kar rakha hua hai. Chahte kya hain aap mujhse?

The Leader (a spectacled man) of the group wearing a typical Maharashtrian style dhoti and a Kurta speaks for the first time to the professor. He says…

"Aapko kya lagta hai? Humne aapko kisiliye uthaya hai?

Mr. Naik: Mujhe koi jaankari nahi hai… Itne dinon mein main yeh zaroor samajh paaya hoon ki aap log hain kaun aur aapka iraada kya hai? Aur mera Vishwas kariye ki aap log mujhe jis bhi soch ke antargat utha ke laaye hain; main aapke kisi kaam nahi aa sakta hoon…

The moment the professor says this; the leader of the group orders his deputy to tie the prof to the chair and torture him. The prof is immediately and with force tied to his chair and is tortured in front of the leader. The prof screams and begs for mercy and repeats his claims of being no use to the group; but it creates no impact whatsoever in the minds of his captors. The leader says…

"Aapke upar humara homework kaafi lambe arse se chal raha hai… Chutiye nahi hain hum. Ghaas nahi kaat rahe hain itne saalon se… Ab batao professor, seedhey seedhey sach batate ho ya aur takleef se guzarna chahte ho?

The professor, already panting for breath and having gone through enough in this time, agrees to talk.

Part II

Gadhchiroli, Maharashtra

The professor and the group of men, for the first time since abduction, walk out of the room in the open. They come out in the woods and sit their and order a cup of chai. As the chai is served, a man comes running and breaks the news of another 3 of their tribal brethren being killed in the cross-firing with the CRPF officers.

The leader looks at the man, looks at the professor and goes somber…

Mr. Naik: Yehi vajah hai ki aap logon ke saath yeh hota hai… Sir (the prof addresses the leader of the group), mujhe aap se baat karna hai… Akele mein. Kuch zaroori baat hai…

The two men walk away… With their cups of tea in their hands, they walk back to the room from where they came out. The doors shut and a light is switched on…

West Bengal – late 1960s and early 1970s

Voiceover of the professor: My father Jaideep Naik used to be a professor too. He was born and raised in Calcutta. Right from his student days, he was very intrigued and deeply involved in the local politics, study of political culture and so on… Even when he reached college, the university elections and increasing student protests in the city swept him of his feet. He got sucked into the whirlpool of politics of subversion.

It was only during the late 60s and early to mid-70s when we began to see less and less of him. As time progressed, things at home began getting more and more hostile. My father's visits to home became lesser and lesser.

Student unrest gripped the city of Calcutta owing to the peasants uprising in the region of Naxalbari and other prominent regions.

Frequent visits by the cops, harassment and mental torture became inevitable. I often used to be instructed by Ma to keep shut and to not question anybody. Even in college, our professors who taught us political science became too watchful and cautious about their words and actions. Nobody desired to be seen in public places – be it coffee shops, restaurants, bars and so on – discussing the state of affairs and the prevalent political scenario. Holding an opinion became a sin and airing them became crime. Any voice rose against the establishment reached one end – crushed!

Eventually after months of hostility at home, Ma finally hid the books that Pa had. But that wasn't to stay that way all through the life… When I grew up, I stumbled upon the locked stuff that belonged to Pa.

On opening the trunk, I found that there were books – The Communist Manifesto, Autobiography of Lenin and articles and books written by Marx, Engels, Stalin and also some other documents written by Charu babu. I sat down in the room and started to read them while Ma came and she panicked.

"What're you doing there? Didn't you know that you were not supposed to touch that?"

"Ma, for years I obliged! But not anymore. I'm not a kid, damn it! I need to know what was in this that you said is dangerous and is banned and that I should not know about… I thought there might be some kind of arms and ammo or something. But these are just books. How can books, opinions and education ever be dangerous? Tell me, Ma!" I asked her back.

Gadhchiroli, Maharashtra (Present Day)

The leader: "What happened after that phase?"

Mr. Naik: That is when I also got inclined towards politics. Having studied politics in the university, I did not want to be a bookworm. I wanted to understand the political system and experience the complexities facing us as common men real time. When I read in the lectures about the red corridor and the terrorists and the aspect of terrorism and so on, I was hooked to it.

I won't say that whether I was pissed off with the kind of representation certain groups got in the media; but I always knew that the cause and effect relationship is something that is inevitable. It's this relationship that defines the existence of everything on a fundamental level.

So, I started by being the card holder for a labor party. Being a party that worked for people at the grassroots level and whose efforts were to galvanize them, they soon became hunted by the "authorities".

Initially, a lot of the peasants, laborers and other people from the marginalized section joined us and though while being hunted; we were still able to create some action. However, slowly and surely the people who had joined the party to support the ideology and the battle, left us. They quit the party and went back to the same lives which they were fed up with and which we were trying to improve.

A lot of our cadres also died in the crossfire against the CRPF and the other forces.

The leader: "Why did that happen?"

Mr. Naik: "Have you ever questioned yourself about that? You have seen all of what I just said, haven't you? Have you ever cared to question yourself?"

The leader: Why did you leave the party when you had such a vision? Why did you become a professor when you had the chance to be involved with activity at the grassroots and improve situation there?"

The moment the leader asks professor the question, the prof. very swiftly waves towards a cadre who was drinking a chai. Naik calls him.

The Tribal: "Kya hua saheb?"

Mr. Naik: "Kaisa chal raha hai sab kuch?"

The Tribal: "Sab theek hai, saheb. Bas bhaiyya ki dua hai aur unka aashirwad." Replies the tribal pointing a finger towards the leader.

Mr. Naik: "Ek sawaal poochna tha. Agar aapko aitraaz nahi ho toh poochoon"

The Tribal: "Jee saheb. Poochiye!"

Mr. Naik: "Yeh jo ladai tum aur tumhare saathi la rahe hain, yeh kyun?"

The Tribal and the leader exchange looks. They look into each others' eyes and the tribal is absolutely clueless.

The Tribal: "Sarkar, hum to wahi karte hain jo bhaiyya ji kehte hain. Woh jaante hain sahi kya hai aur kya galat… Hum to inki aagya ka paalan karte hain.

The moment they hear the reply, they send the tribal back. Professor asks the leader if he wants any more explanations.

Mr. Naik: The answer given by him is no different than the answer that is likely to be given by any other cadre of yours. In fact, the answer will absolutely be similar to that given by an army officer or any of the soldiers that you guys kill in the counter attack day in and day out. They as well as your cadres are nothing but guns for hire. And who is hiring them? It's you. You tell them to go and shoot someone and they do it. Similarly the government machinery gives the same orders to their counter-insurgency officers' vis-à-vis you. So why do you think an ordinary citizen still supports the army and criticizes you? The answer is simple. The soldiers have their reasoning clear – country!

But yours? No reasoning! Forget the standing by for your cause; do your cadres even know your cause? The answer is a resounding NO!

The way you have been practicing your value systems, it's going to do nothing for the people you are supposedly "fighting for". It's going to replace the system that you are against; but eventually you will end up creating a similar system. Period!

If you passionately feel the cause you're fighting for and want to bring about a change, then you have to educate the people who you need to be with you. What you need to do is to trigger a revolutionary consciousness. You need to make these people realize their objective reality and the necessity for them to revolt. And justify every move they make.

Nagpur, Maharashtra

At Vinayak's place, the landline rings. It's 10.30 in the night and Vinayak's room is filled with Ratnakar and Abhishek. Ratnakar is busy crushing and rolling a joint while Abhishek is being the DJ. The song playing in the background is "Power to the People" by John Lennon. Vinayak gets up to pick up the call and asks Abhishek to reduce the volume.

On the phone

Abhishek: "Yes, hello!"

Abhishek: "Sir! How're you? Glad to know you're alive and fine. Where are you and what's been happening?"

The moment Abhi says this; both the guys get shocked sensing that this could be a call from Mr. Naik. They get up with expectant eyes and run towards the phone. Abhishek asks them to be quiet and continues talking.

Abhishek: Sure sir! I will do that. Shirke and Abhi will surely join me. We can loop others after spending a few weeks there. We will have a better bait to lure them.

Abhishek: Sure sir. Consider it done. We will be there in the next 3 days.

3 days later in Gadhchiroli

Abhi, Shirke and Vinayak are blindfolded and picked up by a Maruti Van. They are led into a small village in the interiors of Gadhchiroli. After a few hours drive, they reach a village and they are dragged out of the van. Their eyes are opened and they look at the condition of apathy around them. Civic amenities and basic ingredients for human survival are conspicuous by their absence.

They see their professor coming towards them with the leader. The prof and the students hug each other and then they shake hands with the leader.

All the men walk in to the room where Naik was held captive all these days. The men sit, switch on the lights and pull out a chart and start talking.

After a few hours of meeting and discussion, Naik tells the leader of the tribals that he wants to join their party as an advisor and these guys will also be working as advisors.

The blueprint for the plan of action is chalked out.

Next morning

Ratnakar takes a class on basic law and order for the tribals and their families; while Abhishek teaches some of them basic education. Vinayak takes the classes for them on martial arts.

-------------The End-------------