Dear Sri. Narendra Modiji,
On October 2nd this year, you will declare India an open-defecation free country. Your enthusiasm in making this proclamation is understandable. However, I am one among the millions who wonder if this declaration has anything to do with the ground realities of our country. My point is not to belittle the progress India has made in this direction. Yet, all the distance we have covered so far will place us way far from our destination. Each time I look out of the window in the morning while on our trains, I see several men and women defecating in the open. They do not do so by choice. They are driven to that lot because there just aren’t toilets in their houses. Should you wish to ascertain the truth of this, I urge you to undertake a morning train journey through any of the north Indian states. What good is a declaration when our reality is this? Why drag Mahatma Gandhi’s name to a campaign that is decidedly so distant from the truth, when he thought truth to be the God?
No one questions your caliber as an orator or yourparty’s mastery of propaganda. Those skills are integral to the ideology that you stand for. Even as I am keenly aware of this, I request you to inquire about Bablu Valmeeki[1] of Bhavkhedi village in Shivpuri District of Madhya Pradesh. He is the father of the 10 year old who was beaten to death for defecating in the open by a group of brutes. His sister, all 12 years old, was also beaten to death. These atrocities fail us and shame us even in the 72ndanniversary of our independence. Our system didn’t stop the accused from killing these Dalit children who were forced to defecate in the open because they didn’t have a toilet at home. These children, who were not allowed to share a seat with others in their school, or to draw water from the common well, have now been murdered. Father of our nation, Mahatma Gandhi hoped to wipe off the tears of these downtrodden communities. I wonder if Godse didn’t kill these goals too when he shot the Mahatma.
My request is only this: before you declare India an open defecation free country invoking the memory of Gandhiji on the 2nd of October, do enquire about the deaths of these two children. If you can fathom the depth of loss suffered by their family, do spare a few words for these two children at least at the fag-end of your speech, which I am sure will be yet another oratorical hallmark.