On October 12th, G N Saibaba, a revolutionary intellectual, breathed his last. He was a beloved professor, fierce comrade, and a loving partner. Arrested and put in jail under harsh conditions of confinement for almost ten years, Saibaba’s death is what amounts to a murder by the Indian state. With a 90% disabled body, his ideas were more than enough to scare the State, who, as always, found ways to silence those who come in the way of their ruthless and reckless “governance”.
Comrade Sai was jailed under the vile UAPA (Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act), a law conveniently put in place to silence dissent. The only “crime” he did was that he exposed the close connection between the ruling government and corporations, whose interests lay in the looting of adivasi land and resources. He was arrested in March 2014, for alleged links with Maoist organisations. He was acquitted and released in March 2024, but his health was forced into such a pathetic state that in less than 7 months of his release, he succumbed to his illness. He was confined to a solitary ‘anda’ cell in Nagpur Central Jail. He said that he came out of jail alive “only by chance”.
Comrade Sai was born in 1967 in Amalapuram, Andhra Pradesh, to a struggling family. He contracted polio at the age of five, leaving him over 90% disabled. For more than three decades, he could not access a wheelchair; he could only move by crawling or with others’ support. Despite so many hardships, his determination to pursue education was remarkable. He finished his Bachelor’s degree in Amalapuram, his Master’s in English from University of Hyderabad, where he began spending time on understanding and organising for socio-political issues. Here he realised his dream was to become a teacher and an activist. He completed his PhD in 2013, from Delhi University. He then became a professor of English at Ram Lal Anand College, Delhi. The college sacked him after he was sentenced with life imprisonment. He was not reinstated even after acquittal.
To further the cause of Adivasi and Dalit resistance, he began taking part in the activities of All India People’s Resistance Forum in the early 2000s. Up until 2008, he travelled across India to various villages, with the support of fellow activists and villagers, where he participated in multiple movements of the peasants, adivasis, and workers. He emphasised on how Indian independence meant nothing but a “mere transfer of power”. He then joined Revolutionary Democratic Front (RDF), now banned, to organise and resist the state-sponsored violence in Chhattisgarh, Bihar, and Andhra Pradesh. He was vocal against Chidambaram’s Operation Green Hunt, a paramilitary offensive, a precursor to the current Operation Samadhan-Prahar-Kagaar. The Operation gave extensive impunity to the military, at the cost of the lives of thousands of Adivasi people who were resisting the loot of their Jal-Jangal-Jameen. He was very vocal against the corporate interests who, with the state support, repeatedly attempted to take over tribal land for mining. “I gathered enough evidence that suggested that the ruling class wanted access to [Adivasi] resources, no matter what. Operation Green Hunt was launched to kill, maim, and dislodge them,” Saibaba told The Hindu in 2012.
In May 2014, he was picked up by Maharashtra police in Delhi, and jailed under UAPA. The electronic documents seized from Saibaba’s house, supposed proof of “unlawful” activities, were never produced during the trial. He was given bail in 2015 on medical grounds, only to immediately be jailed again. In 2016, the Supreme Court released him on bail, but in 2017, he was slapped with multiple sections of the UAPA, and sentenced to life imprisonment. While this was challenged by multiple lawyers, activists, and even global organisations, the stringent measures of UAPA ensured that he could not get bail. In 2020, during COVID-19, a plea for a 45-day medical bail was raised, urging the authorities to release Saibaba, given his seriously deteriorating health. The pleas were rejected on the grounds that the charges against him are serious and that the court cannot afford to take risks. His health condition worsened. In August 2022, he was infected by swine flu. His co-accused, Pandu Narote, also lodged in Nagpur, succumbed to swine flu in August, 2022. Earlier that year, Com. Sai had protested for three weeks, including a four day hunger-strike to get a plastic water bottle, and against a wide-angle CCTV camera capturing the toilet area. In 2020, he was denied bail to visit his ailing mother, and again denied bail to attend her funeral! In October 2022, Saibaba and five others, including the martyred Pandu Narote, were acquitted, only for it to be suspended almost immediately. Finally, in March 2024, they were released, citing ‘lack of technical regularity during the prosecution’. Of course, Pandu Narote never got to experience freedom!
Saibaba’s partner, Vasantha, has spoken at length about the torture he had to go through during incarceration. The crucial medical intervention that he was denied over and over again while he was confined to the anda cell, resulted in his internal organs, and upper body failing. His left arm was severely injured when he was manhandled by the police during his arrest, which affected his nervous system.
G N Saibaba was not the first person to face such intense suffering under this state. Fr. Stan Swamy, Pandu Narote, and countless others, have been killed wilfully by the state. This has exposed the simple fact that when a person who raises his voice for the oppressed is called a criminal and allowed to die, this ‘democracy’ is a farce.
Comrade G N Saibaba sought to free India from the clutches of imperialist exploitation and violence. For this he had to die. He wrote and spoke.
For this the state killed him. He stood for the resistance by the Adivasis in their struggle for their jal-jangal-jameen, with the Dalits against Brahminical oppression, with the workers against capitalist exploitation, and with the students who saw through the theatrics of our state. For this he was murdered.
His death is not in vain. He remains a pillar of strength to all those who raise their fists against the murderous state! His words and deeds will always be remembered by those who fight to end all oppression, and by those who fight for a new dawn of freedom and love!
Long Live G N Saibaba!
Red Salute to all the martyrs!
Down with UAPA!
Release all political prisoners!
Down with Operation Samadhan-Prahar-Kagaar!
Down with the fascist state and its machinery!
People’s resistance Long Live!
