An open letter to the CM of Maharashtra.
 

Dear Sir,

There is an all time popular quote that describes a politician as a person who shakes your hand before elections and confidence thereafter and that? what you Mr. Deshmukh and your government have done by demolishing 84,000 houses in Mumbai in not less than 100 days of your being in power.

Not only this action demoralises our socialist democracy but it is an insult to citizens of this country to see your advertisements in sections of media commemorating your government?s 100 days in power as ?100 days -
a milestone along our path that leads from stability to empowerment and progress?

Mr. Deshmukh, what you and most politicians do not realize is that such actions, whether it be evictions of innocent Tribals by industrial sharks in Kashipur in Orissa in connivance with passive and corrupt government
officials, or evictions in the name of development in Narmada, or mass slum demolitions in Mumbai, all such measures of ?elitist development? within the country are soon going to give rise to revolution or Naxalism
(people?s war) and not progress and stability.

Mushrooming of slums in cities is because people are uprooted from rural homes, are exploited in the name of caste, denied access to resources and government schemes due to corruption, unemployment and rampant starvation, etc., which forces them to migrate to cities like Mumbai.  The very fact that people are ready to live in subhuman conditions in Mumbai with gutters overflowing into their houses (for instance in Govandi and
Bangalipura slums in Mumbai), is itself an indicator that the conditions in rural areas are worse than these.

Failure to realize this by you and groups such as ?save Mumbai committee? involved in ?operation cleanup? or the Shiv Sena government?s campaign of ?Me Mumbaikar? in ?operation control? are lopsided measures that aren?t going to in any way benefit Mumbai and citizens of this country.

As a short term measure what you need to do now is to rehabilitate all those evicted from slums, under the 52 flyovers in Mumbai in habitable 10x10 cubicles with common toilet and water connection for which a nominal
rent may be charged.  Throwing people on the streets overnight is not the answer. What you and many citizens who are supporting demolitions must realize is that rural development and the concept of self-sufficient
villages are the solution to mass migration and non-mushrooming of slums in cities like Mumbai. If you visit a model village called Hiwre Bazar in Ahmednagar district you will realize this point.  70% of those who had
migrated to the city a decade ago have returned to the village because it is economically, socially and politically developed.

Mr. Deshmukh, I don?t know if your motto is to out beat the record of the Israeli army in demolitions, evictions and human rights violations, as journalist P. Sainath has said.  You and your government need to work
towards rural development and self-sufficient villages first, then think of dreaming of Mumbai being made into another Shanghai.  Otherwise I apprehend that sooner or later Maharashtra is going to be a bimaru state
like Bihar and as a country we are soon heading towards a banana republic with revolution seething!

Yours frankly

Ronald L.  Rebello
Human Rights Activist