The Red Revolution Chapter 2

Note: This story is a direct continuation to my previous story "The Red Revolution Chapter 1" dealing with the aftermath of the Bhopal Gas tragedy. And I am publishing this as a gifted story for my birthday on November 5, 2021. Additionally, as Diwali is awaiting I have planned to publish this earlier, due to the eagerness of the readers.

BHOPAL:

"What happened, sir? How did you become a reason for the death of Vikram Singh? I am unable to understand anything. Tell me clearly" said VJ Arjun in a confused state. Even the people around him all look confused.

Henceforth, Raghavendran clears his throat to speak and tells, "I told something about Japan place right! What was that? Do you remember?"

After thinking for a while, guessing about that place, Arjun replied stating, "Haa! Yes sir. I remembered. You told about Hiroshima-Nagasakhi bombings incident."

Remaining mute for a second, Raghavendran continued stating, "In Hiroshima-Nagasakhi bombings, people died due to the nuclear bombings. The impact is still more viable and people are suffering indirectly as well as directly due to the radiations, being emitted. Likewise, this Bhopal disaster didn't stop as such. It continued to prolong, leading to a widespread revolution in the country."

(I am using First Person Narration style to move the story forward and this would be narrated by Raghavendran.)

BHOPAL:

1984-1986:

Vikram killed the people responsible for the disaster that including Central Minister, Chief Minister, and industrialists. In the aftermath of this, there was widespread state protest, riots, and violence all over Madhya Pradesh. Politicians and leaders were anger against the death of the political leaders.

However, as people were all supporting the brave act of Vikram, he was eventually released from jail without any warnings and charges. He retained his duties for the country along with the students, whom he brought in for the mission of "Red Revolution."

27 NOVEMBER 1985:

On 27 November 1985, Amritha became pregnant with Vikram's child. She didn't give up her aspirations and motivated Vikram to concentrate on the mission saying to him, "Vikram. When, consciously or unconsciously, we use something to escape from ourselves, we become addicted to it. To depend on a person, a poem, or what you will, as a means of release from our worries and anxieties, though no-momentarily enchanting, only creates further conflict and contradiction in our lives. So, you do what you have planned. Don't ever give up."

We think that we shall be able to live happily, creatively, if we learn a method, a technique, a style; but creative happiness comes only when there is inward richness, it can never be attained through any system. The same happened in the Bhopal Gas tragedy.

1988:

Vikram and his students got to learn from some people, "The New government has not even taken any measures for the gas tragedy." This news reached them after two long years. Unable to do anything for the people, he sat dejected in my house, where Amritha and he himself were living, following the death of his father and the family in a road accident, a few years back.

I said to Vikram, "What happened da? Why are you so angry? Now only you have to be bold and daring."

He angrily looked at me and said, "What's the use in it da? Why have we resigned from this job? All for the sake of our people only right? But, the government is still more trying to exploit the innocence of our people da. The Bhopal disaster still more prolonged."

That time, he asked Amritha to take his three-year-old child inside the room and she does as per his instructions. Then, he fast-forwarded came to me, and stated, "Raghav. We have to form an organization to support our people da. There's left with no way other than this." I was initially shocked at this. But later agreed to his words and formed a group along with the students naming it as, "The Bhopal Mandir Yojana."

13 NOVEMBER 1997:

In the organization, we took the oath stating: "Great artists and great writers may be creators, but we are not, we are mere spectators. We read vast numbers of books, listen to magnificent music, look at works of art, but we never directly experience the sublime; our experience is always through a poem, through a picture, through the personality of a saint. To sing we must have a song in our hearts; but having lost the song, we pursue the singer. Without an intermediary, we feel lost, but we must be lost before we can discover anything. Revolution is the beginning to bring back the path of happiness and peace in the society."

As told, they all indulged in widespread protests along with the victims of the Bhopal Gas tragedy. Vikram refused to eat and drink even a single glass of water, forming a tent along with the affected people.

When I saw the people from the Bhopal disaster, it was really horrible. After this disaster, trees frame a rusting building at the abandoned former Union Carbide pesticide plant in Bhopal.

Thousands of animals perished in the disaster as well, poisoned by the huge gas leak. We both saw the people, being blind. Children born handicapped and had birth defects. People were partially mute, deaf, and blinded. It was such horrible aftermath.

PRESENT:

"Sir sir. Stop. You have gone forward in this story" said VJ Vikram.

"How much have I gone forward?" asked Raghavendran to which, Vikram replied: "You have gone too forward, sir."

After remaining silent for a while, Raghavendran continued saying, "People's anger and voices raised up against the carelessness and casual approach of the government for their problems aftermath of Bhopal Disaster. Many started to support Vikram and indulged in widespread protests to get their rights back during the phase of 1999 when Vikram was 36 years old. Since the disaster, India has experienced rapid industrialization. While some positive changes in government policy and behavior of a few industries have taken place, major threats to the environment from rapid and poorly regulated industrial growth remain. Widespread environmental degradation with significant adverse human health consequences continues to occur throughout India. This worried several environmentalists and welfare organisations."

DECEMBER 25, 1999:

December 25, 1999. This is one of the most important phases in our Bhopal people's life. Since the disaster, people wished not to live a life. Hence, I and Vikram went along with our groups and Amritha to have a visit to the place.

"It would be better if there was another gas leak which could kill us all and put us all out of this misery," said Omwati Yadav, one of the aged old women, who was staying in a hut in the place, with several people there.

An emotional Vikram held her hands and said, "Grandma. We are able to understand your pains. May I say you a famous quote told in Bhagavad Gita?"

The half-blinded old said, "Previously I would be able to see, my dear son. Now, I am unable to see. But, I could hear."

"Human Life is full of battles. Fight your way, stand your ground. Because everyone is a masterpiece. These are very much famous quotes, grandpa. An inspiration for all of us." Vikram said. This really surprised me and Amritha. While their son was unable to guess what's happening around him. Since he was just 14 years old and we didn't take him with us.

DECEMBER 2004:

December 2004 marked the twentieth anniversary of the massive toxic gas leak from Union Carbide Corporation's chemical plant in Bhopal in the state of Madhya Pradesh, India that killed more than 3,800 people.

SINCE 1984:

Following the events of December 3, 1984, environmental awareness and activism in India increased significantly. The Environment Protection Act was passed in 1986, creating the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) and strengthening India's commitment to the environment. Under the new act, the MoEF was given overall responsibility for administering and enforcing environmental laws and policies. It established the importance of integrating environmental strategies into all industrial development plans for the country. However, despite greater government commitment to protect public health, forests, and wildlife, policies geared to developing the country's economy have taken precedence in the last 20 years.

India has undergone tremendous economic growth in the two decades since the Bhopal disaster. Gross domestic product (GDP) per capita has increased from $1,000 in 1984 to $2,900 in 2004 and it continues to grow at a rate of over 8% per year [20]. Rapid industrial development has contributed greatly to economic growth but there has been a significant cost in environmental degradation and increased public health risks. Since abatement efforts consume a large portion of India's GDP, MoEF faces an uphill battle as it tries to fulfill its mandate of reducing industrial pollution. Heavy reliance on coal-fired power plants and poor enforcement of vehicle emission laws have resulted from economic concerns taking precedence over environmental protection.

The Bhopal disaster could have changed the nature of the chemical industry and caused a reexamination of the necessity to produce such potentially harmful products in the first place. However, the lessons of acute and chronic effects of exposure to pesticides and their precursors in Bhopal have not changed agricultural practice patterns. An estimated 3 million people per year suffer the consequences of pesticide poisoning with most exposure occurring in the agricultural developing world. It is reported to be the cause of at least 22,000 deaths in India each year. In the state of Kerala, significant mortality and morbidity have been reported following exposure to Endosulfan, a toxic pesticide whose use continued for 15 years after the events of Bhopal.

PRESENT:

"Sir. The story is going forward. Rewind back. It's confusing" said VJ Arjun.

Raghavendran then sees the paper that he has brought and said to the people seeing them.

DECEMBER 2004:

I and Vikram met Omwati's husband Panna Lal Yadav. He was aged 74 when we went to meet him in the hut. He worked as a packer in the Union Carbide factory, pointing to the black marks and lumps all over his body. "The poison is still inside my body," he says. "Here you can see it coming out."

As of 2021, it's the 35th anniversary of the disaster yet the injustice suffered by the people of Bhopal remains stark and unrelenting. The official death toll is still disputed but an estimated 574,000 were poisoned that night and upwards of 20,000 people have died since from related conditions. No one from Union Carbide was ever tried for the gross negligence that led to the gas explosion, despite multiple criminal charges being brought against them in India. No cleanup operation of the chemical waste – which was already being dumped into the local community before the explosion – has ever been conducted.

The government was sooner threatened with the rising protests and revolutions against the disaster. As a henceforth left with no way, Chief Minister brought in a group of police officers and ordered them all to finish off Vikram and his group once and for all. Agreeing to it, Police officers went along with a few security and Gangsters to finish off Vikram and his students.

The students were brutally murdered by the police team, though they all manages to murder and subdue the officers using their smartness. While I too tried my best to bring the situation under the control. Amritha was brutally killed by a police officer.

I took Vikram's child for safety and during the phase of time, Vikram held my hands and said, "Buddy. I don't want to die in the hands of deceivers da. I know I can't survive. Rather than dying in the hands of traitors, it's better you could kill me with this gun da."

Initially, I was reluctant. But, as I saw too many groups of police teams coming, I tearfully took the guns and shot my beloved friend dead. The police team assumed that "I killed him due to ego clashes" and appreciated me.

Then, I took away Vikram's son and raised him up as my own son, without marrying and remained as a bachelor.

PRESENT:

Arjun now asked him, "Sir. At last, what has happened? Did our Bhopal people got their justice?"

"No. The justice has not prevailed still. The situation is getting worse, not better. We are seeing more and more second and third-generation children being born with disabilities such as prolonged pain, cancer, stillbirths, miscarriages, lung and heart disease, and the drawn-out deaths of everyone around them."

"What are you trying to say finally about this disaster sir?" asked Arjun to which he replied him saying: "Every day we are punished while the companies and the government have got away with doing nothing for 35 years. The tragedy of Bhopal continues to be a warning sign at once ignored and heeded. Bhopal and its aftermath were a warning that the path to industrialization, for developing countries in general and India in particular, is fraught with human, environmental and economic perils. Some moves by the Indian government, including the formation of the MoEF, have served to offer some protection of the public's health from the harmful practices of local and multinational heavy industry and grassroots organizations that have also played a part in opposing rampant development. The Indian economy is growing at a tremendous rate but at a significant cost in environmental health and public safety as large and small companies throughout the subcontinent continue to pollute. Far more remains to be done for public health in the context of industrialization to show that the lessons of the countless thousands dead in Bhopal have truly been heeded."

The VJ Arjun concluded saying that, "This show regarding the novel have finally come to an end. We have learnt the tragic disaster of Bhopal as a thought-provoking subject and it's a very harsh lesson for our people to wake up. Thank you guys and this is VJ Arjun. Thank you. Bye."

Then, Arjun personally asked to Raghavendran, "Sir. Only your novel was banned or any other author's novel been banned like this?"

Raghavendran replied him looking for a while telling, "When someone reveals the exact truth to the public, either people would be very keen to destroy them. Or to ban it. Because, we are not in the world, that consists of good. But, in the world, where evils are dominating us."

EPILOGUE:

"Efficiency in technique has given us a certain capacity to earn money, and that is why most of us are satisfied with the present social structure; but the true educator is concerned only with right living, the right education, and right means of livelihood. The more irresponsible we are in these matters, the more the state takes overall responsibility. We are confronted, not with a political or economic crisis, but with a crisis of human deterioration which no political party or economic system can avert."

-J. Krishnamurthy