A site dedicated to the memory of human rights activist Balagopal who passed away recently.
Anand Teltumbde recalls his association with his ‘dearest friend and comrade’:
I knew Balagopal since 1980s and admired him for his sharp intellect and deep commitment to human rights. Not many in the movement knew that he was a brilliant mathematician and could have easily shone himself in the galaxy of great mathematicians of the country. However, he easily gave it up and threw himself into the movement to expose the spate of human rights violations by the state to crush the then CPI (ML) PWG movement. He rather studied law in order to equip himself to fight cases of human rights violations more effectively.
Most times he acted as a one-man army against the state and rushed to the spot of such a state crime by whatever means. We used to be always worried for his safety for he could be individually marked to be most responsible for causing embarrassment to the state in its diabolic mission. Many a time, he did face such moments of danger but nothing deterred him from his resolve.
Jayati Ghosh says:
It is rare nowadays to come across people of unflinching and unquestionable integrity. It is even rarer to find in such people a strong sense of personal and intellectual honesty that demands that they interrogate their own actions and arguments with as much sincerity as they turn on others. And it is rarest of all to find such people engaged in public life, where they would constantly have to face the possibly unhappy consequences of such honesty.
Dr K. Balagopal, the eminent human rights activist whose untimely death has shocked a very wide range of people across India, was one such extremely rare person. While there is much else that can be said to praise him (such as his extraordinary commitment, his patient persistence, his personal courage, his completely selfless attitude to the causes he believed in and the simplicity of his manner of living) it may be that this special kind of honesty was at once his finest and most inconvenient attribute.
There are other tributes from activists and organizations.
Linked by kuffir. Join Blogbharti facebook group.
K.Balagopal belonged to that fast dwindling tribe which lived and fought for a just cause consistently.Not many intellectual-activists possess the courage and undying desire to protect the weak from oppression as Balagopal did. He inspired hundreds of young men and women in developing a people-oriented perspective. Unlike the typical Marxist scholars he was quick enough to realize that caste constitutes the base of the Indian society as well as state and sought to address the caste issue.It is a different matter that it would have augured well for the society had he rested his idiom and argument on Ambedkar and Lohia a decade earlier.What surprises his many admirers is why did it take so long for him to condemn the Maoist (PWG)violence? Ideological obstinacy-a strong trait of Marxist scholars is the answer. Notwithstanding such shortcomings Balagopal was a great human being.A symbol of austere living he never carved for celebrity status or foreign trips.His passing away is a great loss to the excluded and the oppressed.He left the world too early leaving his mission incomplete.
Federation for People’s Rights (FPR), Puducherry express deep heartfelt condolence for the sudden death of Dr. K. Balagopal, a prominent Human Rights Activist of India and it is a great loss to Human Rights Movement.
Dr. K. Balagopal, was born in Anantapur District in Andhrapradesh, obtained Doctorate in Mathematics and worked as a lecturer in Kakadia University at warrangal. After leaving his job he dedicated to Human Rights as full time activist.
On 8th October 2009, due to chest pain, he was taken to a private hospital at Hyderabad and the Doctors there told that he was already dead.
As General Secretary of “Andhrapradesh Civil Liberties Committee (APCLC)”, he struggled against the state oppression on Naxalite movement. He also concentrated in fighting against the Custodial Violence, Fake Encounter killings and Abolition of Death Penalty.
Since, he had confident opinion against any form of violence; he developed difference with naxalite movement and quitted APCLC. Then founded “Human Rights Forum (HRF)” and continued his service on Human Rights.
He worked for more than 10 years as lawyer at Andhrapradesh High Court at Hyderabad and argued to get a historical Judgment on fake encounter that if an encounter occurs, a case should filed under Section 302 IPC against the police personals who involved.
He was a left intellectual and his uncompromised and honest writings were well recognized by the intellectual community around the world.
I am closely associated with him from 1993 and in 1996 I was a member in an All India Fact Finding Committee and facing high risk from Police toured with him in naxalite prone four districts of Andhra to probe fake encounter killings.
In 1998, his voice is the first against the Death Penalty, while 26 persons were awarded Death Sentence in Rajiv Gandhi murder case. Consulting with him, we organised a two day All India Conference in Puducherry for abolition of death penalty in India.
I also participated in an All India Fact Finding Committee with him to probe the violence against Christians in Orissa and Karnataka. This is the last moment I met him. He concentrated and fought for the poor Tribal people, who were affected by the projects of Special Economic Zones (SEZ) in his last period.
The people of different walks of life of Andhra including the political leaders of Congress and Marxist – Leninist Parties condoled for his death. I deeply convey my heartfelt condolence to the family members and associates of Dr. K. Balagopal.
Dear Friend,
It is really shocking to know about the untimely demise of Dr. K. Balagopal.I had the opportunity to be with him at two occasions when he visited Kerala to attend the programme organised by Peoples’ Art and Literary Forum (JKSV).While I had to collect details of a prisoner in Rajamundhry jail who was sentenced for lifetime imprisonment on false charges, it was Dr. Balagopal ho helped me to get in contact wth him and the advocate who appeared for him. Even though there was no regular correspondence or contact with him, he was considered as a friend and comrade among us. He was a towering personality in the struggles for democratic rights and it was the struggles waged by him and those under his leadership that compelled the state to admit at least partially that the revolutionaries are also having human rights.
Death of Dr. Balagopal creates a vacuum and it will take time to get it filled.
P. K. Venugopalan, Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala.
I am from Hyderabad and I don’t know this person all his life. But I am surprised to see the sudden response from all over India on his sudden demise.
I tried to know who he is personally and by reading articles. I am shocked to know that he is a silent mountain of humanity in the backyard.
We know about goons, stupid movie stars and useless poliicians, but not about such people. I feeling shame that I don’t know such a great personality who was just around me. I wish media could concentrate on such people rather than the affairs of the film starts and filthy comments of politicians.
His demise is Loss to ‘Humanity’. He lives for ever…
Shankar