Medha Patkar and the Dam

Who has the luxury to fight against big dams, nuclear weapons, thermal plants, chemical industries, and other ‘development’ activities?

Filthy rich and highly developed countries like US, Norway, France, Japan, etc.

They made their dams when they had to- by bulldozing forests, creating a new landscape, in the process killing some species, and moving people far far away from their homes, all in the name of 'progress and development'. That’s why they now have the luxury to relax, smoke a pipe and discuss the ills of such projects.

Arundhati Roy is a fake. She thinks all this ‘drama’ of supporting NBA (Narmada Bachao Andolan) will sell more of her books. And our poster boy Amir Khan, who thinks that this is real-life ‘Rang De Basanti’ pitched in to say his ‘two-cent’ worth opinion on the topic. He thinks he needs to emulate Richard Gere and U2 Bono. You know what’s wrong with all these celebrities and pseudo-intellectuals? They are also filthy rich, and are now smoking a pipe, and pondering over the purpose of their life. They suddenly realize they need to be part of a movement or a revolution otherwise their wasted life would have no meaning.

Do you know why so many ‘women organizations’ support NBA? It’s because they are all filled with these bored middle class women who are also looking for a meaning to their life- other than working at a monotonous job and serving their husband & children with food everyday. Most of them are always rebelling- first against dad and mom, then against the school and college, and then against the husband and society, and so on. They need to vent out their frustration, and they seek that avenue in these movements by sympathizing with such activists. I bet these organizations would not support NBA if it was not led by a woman. All these people- rich celebrities, attention-seeking authors, and bored wives, need to choose the right kind of struggle to attach themselves to.
If you choose Kashmir issue, its too political, if you choose Babri Masjid issue, its too religious, if you try rehabilitating begging children, its too tough- can’t see results in one’s life time. Therefore, you choose a movement which can get its rewards within one’s life time, shorter the better, and if it is a noble cause led by a woman, like rehabilitation of tribals, then its even better.

NBA (Narmada Bachao Andolan) fits the bill. It is led by a strong woman, dressed as clumsily and shabbily as possible, who reminds many of the leaders from Independence Movement. They see in her something they do not have in them. And they all extend their support with gusto to a cause they have no clue or idea about.

Most of them have no idea what is going on.

Medha Patkar, with all due respects to her will and determination, has directly contributed to poverty, famine, drought and hunger in a population bigger than that of France for the last 20 years with her obstinate obstruction of building Sardar Sarovar Dam on Narmada River. First, she was completely opposed to the dam citing movement of the tribal people. She didn’t want them to be displaced in the first place, reasoning that their lifestyle would be impacted. Here is one rattlebrained lady who thinks that India should not provide water and electricity to its millions so that few thousand tribals can continue to live in wretched poverty practicing their stone-age life style. In all other parts of India, we are doing exactly the opposite- moving such people to civilized world, giving them potty training, stopping child marriages, prohibiting sati (suttee), etc.

Only recently did she change her stance from ‘no-dam’ to ‘dam-OK-if-rehab-OK’. For all these previous years, she was just opposed to all kinds of concessions.

When India goes for nuclear tests at Pokhran, they move villages away from it, and when it goes mining for aluminum, they move towns away from it, and when it tests missiles, it asks all the villagers nearby to move. When Kashmiri Pandits move, they move forever, losing their land and lifestyle, to live in refugee camps. How come I don’t see Arundhati Roy and Amir Khan there?

[I know I am gonna get really rammed for this article]