Pause for a moment!

Who is Binayak Sen? A human right activist, Gandhian, philosopher and a pediatrician? Or a criminal, anti-national, anti-social element, and a naxalite? The former is the perception of his alma-mater and many of his colleagues at CMC, Vellore that conferred its highest award to its alumnus, the Paul Harrison Award in 2004 in recognition of his exceptional path-breaking work. And the latter is, of course, the version of the establishment, determined to crush his extraordinary resolve and commitment to serve that section of the society that needs his help the most and coined yet another sobriquet for him, “the naxalite”.

I had never heard about Binayak Sen till I read an article about his tribulation in a news-item in BMJ. Though I may not belong to his league but having gone through a similar ordeal at the hands of local administration few years back, I can easily sense the hurt, the disgust and the despair the man must be undergoing at this point of time. I appreciate the guts and courage shown by him to take on the might of establishment. And at the same time, condemn and deplore the ‘blanket application’ bordering on misuse of some draconian laws of the land. I came to know that charges against him are quite unsubstantiated and based on certain assumption of his conniving with the banned militant outfit, the Communist Party of India (Maoist). They had been portraying Binayak Sen as a postman of the Naxalites in the days preceding his arrest. The authorities have a long hand and it is their perception of any personality that ultimately decides their action, howsoever wrong it may be. Once decided, they know how to frame a person. This is probably what had happened in case of him. Nevertheless, it is the duty of every intellectual, free-thinking, sincere, and honest citizen to protect and support the individual existence of a fellow who is not fighting for his own cause but of those who do not have any means to get their voice listened and registered - the most downtrodden, marginalized section of the society who hardly know the value of their existence-leave aside knowing their rights! Being a doctor, and that too a pediatrician, our duty becomes double fold to come out in open and protest in every possible way the treatment meted out to Binayak Sen. He may not belong to our association, he may not be involved in performing the job most of us are familiar with performing day-in and day-out, but essentially he is busy doing something more substantial, more risky and more consequential that involves (providing) looking after the health of the target population in toto, not merely treating the medical ailment. This is exactly the motto of most of the medical and non-medical organizations associated with health; however the indifference shown by the many such organizations particularly the non-government health agencies who swear by their concern to the well-being of poor and downtrodden is quite appalling. These agencies work as an organ of the State and never ever dare to question the state policies, howsoever adverse they may be for well being of the society. Indian academy of Pediatrics (IAP) must be complimented for having taken a broad view of the situation and deciding to support one of their colleagues who is not even primary member of the association.

Many of us would treat the above account with certain amount of indifference and skepticism because these things usually do not affect our daily chores and do happen occasionally. Many of us would ask, “Why did a pediatrician involve in such political issues? Why didn’t he settle to perform certain less hazardous jobs like most of us do? What is the ultimate motive of the man?” These are the few spontaneous initial thoughts one would like to glean over without going deep in to the psyche and the attitude of the personality involved. However, his deeds may act as a catalyst for all of us to emulate in our day-to-day acts and force us to do a dispassionate self-introspection. We can attempt inculcating certain values like work ethics, honesty, transparency, sincerity, commitment to fellow country man, social and community obligation, etc in our respective fields, the purpose of this ‘sketch’ will be served. We all believe in crash commercialism, cut-throat competition, comfort, materialism, compromise, corruption, short-cut methods without sparing any moments for the virtues enumerated above. Let’s call a halt from the breakneck pace of life, pause a while, and think for a moment –does suffering of people like Binayak Sen still not shatter us? Does his existence make some sense to us?

Bottomline……….

The medical community must be vigilant and outspoken in defending our members who have taken on these awesome responsibilities. - Mary Ganguli, Professor, University of Pittsburgh, 15213 in eBMJ