Why Do You Fear My Way So Much? Poems and Letters from Prison Paperback – March 15, 2022

DescriptionIn the afternoon of 9th May 2014, a posse of policemen stopped a car in Delhi and pulledout a wheelchair-bound man on his way home from work. He was then flown to Nagpur, where he was arrested under UAPA (Unlawful Activities Prevention Act), the draconiananti-terror law. His wheelchair was damaged as he was hauled up and thrown into thepolice vehicle and the nerves of his left hand were injured, an infection that later spreadand rendered both his hands virtually useless.This man was G.N. Saibaba, professor of English at Delhi University, scholar, writer andhuman rights activist. In the eyes of the Indian government, he was a dangerous threatto the State, accused of 'waging war against the nation'. In March 2017, the GadchiroliSessions Court sentenced him to life imprisonment for alleged links with a bannedorganisation, CPI-Maoist. Saibaba's appeal against the judgement, challenging the policeevidence and witnesses, has been pending in the Nagpur High Court for five years.Meanwhile, he is kept in solitary confinement, denied the medical care he needs.What would cause government agencies to take such an action against a man paralysedby polio from the age of five, suffering from 90 per cent disability as well as a cardiaccondition and chronic and severe spinal pain?Born into poverty in the town of Amalapuram in Andhra Pradesh, Saibaba overcame hisdisability to top his university and become a highly regarded professor. From his studentdays, he has also been engaged in activism on behalf of victims of poverty and stateviolence, and played a significant role in the campaign against Operation Green Hunt, thenotorious paramilitary offensive aimed at dispossessing Adivasi people of their habitat byforce.Is this what makes him a 'terrorist' in the eyes of the State?Even as human rights organisations across the globe demand an end to his detention, Saibaba continues to believe in the possibility of a better world. The poems and lettersin this book convey his innermost thoughts and feelings-anguish, hope, resistance, andresilience-and a vision of a just, equal and humane India that we all deserve and need. Read more