Mahasweta Devi. File photoMahasweta Devi was as much a social activist as a writer. She was admired for the clarity of her positions with regard to various issues across India. Her speeches and writings have been a beacon for humanism and human rights activists. She always stood for the oppressed and the silenced. She stood for nature.
When Mahasweta Devi came to visit Kadamakkudi near Kochi four years ago to declare solidarity with the struggle for the rehabilitation of the dispossessed people, she was already wheel-chair bound. The old age and diseases, however, were no hindrance to her conviction to fight for the people. At 86 years of age, she thought it her duty to back up the struggle for the people dispossessed by development.
She was often branded as anti-communist. She antagonized the CPM by criticizing Pinarayi Vijayan and called for a protest against the murder of T. P. Chandrasekharan. She even exhorted the people to wipe off the party from Kerala and West Bengal.
"I do not think that the Left has lost its relevance. My father and uncle were the party’s fellow travelers. My husband Bijon Bhattacharya was also a communist. But today's communists in West Bengal have distanced themselves from people’s problems. They are not serious about common man’s problems," she had said.
Mahasweta Devi's involvement in Kerala's political scene was not limited to Onchiam and Kadamakkudy. She inaugurated the people’s protest against the high-speed rail corridor. She came to the state to back the struggle against the Nitta Gelatin company's pollution at Kathikkudam near Koratty in Thrissur. She came to Mala to underscore the demand to protect the heritage Jewish cemetery.
Read: Eminent writer Mahasweta Devi passes away at 90
India listened when the firebrand writer spoke up about the atrocities at Singur and Nandigram in West Bengal. The words carried much weight, coming from a Left sympathizer who had written volumes on the Naxalite movement.
"I still remember the day when the CPM came to power in West Bengal. We were all very happy. Later we were shocked to see a party which did not even provide the basic facilities for the people in the 35 years of its rule. I stopped writing in favor of the CPM. I am their biggest critic now. The party is far removed from people’s basic needs. That is why their rule came to an end in Bengal. Do you know, there are so many areas in Bengal which lack a proper road. Most of the areas do not have electricity connection, access to drinking water, hospitals or schools," Mahasweta Devi had said.
Mahasweta Devi was weak in her recent visits to Kerala. She gobbled up medicines in the intervals between speeches and protests. She always needed an aide to take care of her. Still no doctor could prevent her from traveling miles to wherever struggling people sought her presence.
Mahasweta Devi had said she would write again against the Left in West Bengal. "I will write against the politics of violence and the leaders who made people kill each other. That is the only thing I know. I have always reacted through my writing. I will continue to do so," she had said.
