Book: INDIA'S FORGOTTEN COUNTRY
Author: Bela Bhatia
Published by: Viking
Price: Rs 1299
Democracy can be imagined as a gated society that has let in a few people while others wait outside for the gates to open for them. Bela Bhatia’s book revisits more than three decades of her life in activism and pushes narratives from the margin to the centre, thereby opening democracy’s metaphorical gates for all.
The book consists of pieces written by her at different points of her life. Each of them focuses on a specific issue, ranging from bonded labour in Rajasthan to student protests in Meghalaya. The book has been divided into five parts that talk about a certain frame under which varied conflicts exist.
She starts with her visit to Sabarkantha in Gujarat after it survived the brutal communal riots of 2002. Through her conversations with the victims, she shows the systemic way in which Muslim houses and shops were targeted, looted and torched to ashes. There were instances of solidarity too. But, unfortunately, they were too few in front of the sea of destruction. The police remained a mute spectator, allowing the rioters to wreak havoc.
Such a breakdown of the State machinery is not limited to only riots. In another chapter, Bhatia — she lives in Bastar — talks about the Salwa Judum and how it upended the lives of Adivasis. She reveals how people were uprooted from their villages and forcefully kept in encampments in the belief that keeping them under observation would automatically dilute their connections with Maoists. The writer presents the various perspectives that exist within the microcosm of lives around Naxalism and doesn’t shy away from revealing the bitter truth.
India’s Forgotten Country is an ode to those who have been left behind to fend for themselves and are expected to lie down as others stomp over their bodies. They are considered nationalists as long as they stay silent while their rights are stripped away, their homes destroyed, and their histories erased. Bhatia is a writer who belongs to that rare breed whose works bring to light the lived experiences of those who are purposefully ignored by the mainstream. Some of these chapters might seem dated as much has happened in these specific geographies since the author wrote about them. Yet, the narrative can actually help build a base for us to understand the issues that have afflicted these lives. At a time when the perpetration of falsehoods has its own perks, this book speaks truth to power.
