NOTICE: A Village is My World

Anyone who hopes to do any good for this nation, and has not lived in- I mean, really lived as opposed to merely visited- villages, is a hypocrite: I too am one. How dare could I presume to speak of things I have not myself experienced; for a people whose pain I have not myself felt? All my notions of rural empowerment are, therefore, hollow: in the end, they amount to nothing. Indeed, not having lived in a village is my single biggest handicap.

The Mahatma is right even today: India does live in her villages; but more to the point, she also dies in them. Everyday. The reason, in my opinion, is this: the world occupied by India’s decision-makers isn’t quite the same as the one in which those they decide for live. Even worse, there is absolutely no 'dialogue' between these two worlds; it seems the one doesn't know of- or atleast, is quite content to ignore- the other's existence.

I saw this other world- the world that lies beyond conference halls and powerpoint presentations- during the one year I was jailed; I lived in it, and witnessed life, naked and raw, bereft of color, in black & white. But that is not enough. It can never be.

For the next thirty days, I intend, therefore, to live in a village. Not as an Observer, mind you, but as a full and active Participant of village-life: much like my forefathers. Hopefully, I will begin to learn something about who I am; about the lifeblood that runs in my veins and connects me- binds me- not only to my venerable ancestors but also to the more than twenty-million people who dwell in Chhattisgarh.

It’s sowing season now. A time, aptly, for new beginnings.



AJ Read More (आगे और पढ़ें)......

Politics of Presidency (A): THE IDENTITY GAME

LADY LUCK

It would seem that two of the world’s biggest democracies, India and the United States of America, are destined to be led by Ladies. There are, however, certain differences. While Mrs. Hillary Clinton’s carefully premeditated and concerted efforts ‘to seize power’ have been underway atleast since the time her husband left the White House after eight eventful years (if not before, as a recent biography by Mr. Carl Bernstein would have us believe), her likely Indian counterpart, Mrs. Pratibha Patil, the incumbent Governor of Rajasthan, was caught blissfully unawares, holidaying in her gubernatorial summer retreat at the picturesque colonial hill resort of Mount Abu, just days before her name was officially announced as the UPA candidate by its leader (also, another Lady), Mrs. Sonia Gandhi. Also, unlike Mrs. Clinton, Mrs. Patil has very little national, let alone international, exposure: apart from a brief stint as Deputy Chairperson of the Council of States (Rajya Sabha), her political career was confined to Maharashtra, where she had the distinction of having uninterruptedly served in the state assembly for a quarter of a century.



STERNER STUFF

My own recollection of Mrs. Patil is that of a down-to-earth person. When my father was convalescing at the Bombay Hospital after his injury in the summer of 2004, she made it a point to visit us as often as she could. “Khana kahan khaté ho, béta?” (where do you eat, son?) she inquired. I told her that the canteen downstairs served an excellent Gujarati thali at a fairly reasonable rate. She smiled sympathetically. On the very next day, a Tiffin of delicious home-cooked food arrived at lunchtime.



To me, this particular incident speaks volumes of the kind of person who would soon be sworn-in to ‘Defend the Constitution of India’ really is, especially at a time when its three principal institutions- the legislature, judiciary and the executive- are virtually at war with each other, frequently stepping on each other’s toes. Her refusal to sign an anti-conversion bill, passed by the Rajasthan legislature last year, shows her unquestionable- or as the Left said, ‘steadfast’- commitment to defend the Secular Ideal- the freedom extended to every citizen to freely practice and preach the religion of his or her choice by the nation’s Constitution- even at the cost of annoying her own government and its chief minister, Ms. Vasundhara Rajé Scindia, with whom she reportedly enjoys an excellent rapport. For those in doubt about her ability to do the correct thing under extenuating circumstances, this incontrovertible illustration is an assurance that the lady is made of sterner stuff.



THREE IN ONE

What then are Mrs. Patil’s chances at the Presidency? A BJP leader, ‘on condition of anonymity’, told the press that the UPA’s propping of a ‘weak woman candidate’ as opposed to a ‘heavyweight’ like the home minister, Mr. Shivraj Patil, is a tacit acceptance of defeat. Most political commentators in Delhi (where this blogger is presently stationed), however, feel otherwise. There is a widespread belief that her election is, more or less, a fiat accompli. This is principally due to three factors.



First, the fact that she is positioned to take over as India’s First Lady President makes it difficult for political parties- not only the perpetually hard-to-please Left (note their resistance to Mrs. Gandhi’s first choice, Mr. Shivraj Patil) but also those who might have been tempted to support the rival NDA candidate- to oppose her candidature. 



Secondly, the fact of her being a Maharashtrian makes it near-impossible for the UPA’s ‘weakest link’, the NCP leader, Mr. Sharad Pawar, to do a last-minute volte face (about-turn)- something he has done on atleast three previous occasions (the Maharasthtra Assembly elections, Mumbai Mayor elections and the Rajya Sabha elections)- and back his old friend, the incumbent Vice President, Mr. Bhairon Singh Shekhawat. Indeed he may do so now only at his own peril: the charge of wounding ‘Maratha Pride’ by stifling a Maharasthrian lady’s chances of being elected to the nation’s highest office would most certainly be fatal to the politics of the Maratha strongman, even if that lady’s politics has largely been defined by her opposition to the latter. To put it differently, it is a pill Mr. Pawar would do good to swallow, whether he likes it or not. 



Last but not the least, the fact of her being the bahu (daughter-in-law) of the Shekhawati- Rajput clan has no doubt put her rival, Vice President Shekhawat, in a political, if not moral, dilemma: as the doyen of this clan, Mr. Shekhawat would find it extremely difficult to justify his contesting against the clan’s bahu. This is especially so given the 53:47 ratio of the electoral college in UPA’s favor: in light of this, Mr. Shekhawat’s winning this election has to be necessarily dependent on the NDA’s combined ability to engineer cross-voting in favor of their candidate, something that is not only unethical but also, unlawful under the present Anti-Defection Act. Here, it is worth mentioning that the Team NDA’s presidential strategy largely comprised of ‘targeting’ Rajput votes within the UPA (to this end, a List of all Rajput electors has already been compiled). With Mrs. Patil’s nomination, who is also a Rajput, this has become all the more difficult.



MASTERSTROKE

In a nation where politics is predominantly determined by the power of symbolisms (remember Churchill’s ‘half-clad naked fakeer’- Gandhi), the declaration of Mrs. Patil’s candidature last evening is seen as nothing short of ‘a political masterstroke’: her triple-identification- as a lady, a Maratha and a Rajput- has in one masterly move, resolved all outstanding issues with the Left and the NCP, and put paid to the NDA’s aspirations of sneaking their man into Rashtrapati Bhavan. The ultimate credit for this, ofcourse, belongs to Mrs. Sonia Gandhi. More than anything else, this decision shows her astute understanding, and total mastery, of coalitional politics. After the debacle at UP, this is perhaps just what the Congress- and the Country- needed.


BEING THERE
Yet Mrs. Patil’s candidature also raises an important, if somewhat disturbing, question: should the Presidency of India really be about the curriculum vitae of the person- his or her stature, character, personal achievement, service record- who aspires to that office; or is it about the various politically expedient ‘symbolisms’ associated with that person’s elevation? Put differently, is Mrs. Patil our likely President because of who she is- and what she has done- as a person, or because of the various identities she evokes- of a woman, a Maratha and a Rajput? I believe it has to do with a bit of both. Frankly, I don’t see anything wrong with that. To paraphrase Henry Kissinger’s comment on Nelson Rockefeller, another presidential aspirant, “in high public office, it doesn’t matter how a person gets there but what he (or she) did after they got there.”

It is true that Mrs. Patil has found her way into our history books, largely because of what the British novelist, Somerset Maugham labeled ‘the force of circumstance’; how History will remember her, however, will depend entirely on how she discharges ‘the burden and the glory’ of the highest political office of the nation.

AJ
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NOTICE: The Week's story on my "Life in Jail"

This week's THE WEEK magazine has done a feature on my "Life in Jail". There is only one clarification I wish to make to what Mr. Murali Eadezhath, the state correspondent, has written: I was not acquitted due to 'benefit of doubt'; for the record, there was no doubt whatsoever about my non-complicity, and the acquittal was honorable.
AJ
*

Life in jail
- Murali Eadezhath
Chhattisgarh


Amit Jogi managed elections, wrote play
The acquittal of former Chhattisgarh chief minister Ajit Jogi's son Amit Jogi in a murder case has come as a big relief for the Jogi family and the state unit of the Congress, especially the Jogi camp.

"The judgment was keenly awaited. For four years this case has been the central point of my life, to prove my innocence," Amit told THE WEEK, after a special court [gave him the benefit of the doubt- see above] and acquitted him on May 31.

The CBI arrested Amit in June 2005 for allegedly masterminding the murder of former Nationalist Congress Party treasurer Ramavatar Jaggi in June 2003. He spent around a year in Raipur Central Jail. Though the Bilaspur-based Chhattisgarh High Court granted him bail earlier this year, he was re-arrested on May 2 after the Supreme Court overruled the decision.

Ajit relied on his son's political abilities even while in jail. Amit is believed to be the key strategist in the Congress victory in the Assembly by-election from Kota last December and the Lok Sabha by-election from Rajnandgaon this year. A Congress worker said Amit was significantly involved in assigning work to each party worker during the elections.

So what are Amit's plans post-acquittal? "I like to meet people and want to help them. But that doesn't mean I have immediate plans to enter politics," he said. Apparently, life in jail has brought Amit closer to God, and the poor. "I came face to face with the sad and dark side of life while in jail. Now I yearn to be with the poor and the needy to give them as much as I can," he said. Amit said he met people in jail whose biggest crime was their poverty and he learned from the inmates lessons of life that he did not get from his public school education.

The incarceration brought the Jogis closer to each other. Amit said that while his father suffered the most in his absence, his mother, Renu Jogi, remained strong. She kept reminding her son that he need not worry as long as his conscience was clear, and that justice could be delayed but not denied. "My parents, well-wishers and friends knew I was innocent and that truth would prevail. This gave me the strength to face the sufferings," Amit said.

His jail diary features poems and a play, titled Chal Be Kapada Uthar (Hey You, Remove Your Clothes), which speaks of the plight of jail inmates who get stripped by the guard at the gate upon entering jail. According to Amit, as long as a convict stays in jail, he is under surveillance, and his soul remains naked.

Now, for the next few months, Amit will be working on the poems in the diary and get them ready for publishing.
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LESSONS FROM KHAIRAGARH-MALKHARODA: What's Wrong with the Congress?

DOCTOR'S COMEBACK
“Doctor saheb is a very simple man,” the chief minister’s wife declared to a confidante. “He isn’t cut out for politics…”

This was shortly after the BJP’s defeat in Rajnandgaon. Like so many others, I’m sure she now feels differently about her husband. Fortune, it seems, is once again smiling on him. Dr. Raman Singh is back with not one but two bangs: Khairagarh and Malkharoda.

The BJP cadre, which had lost all hope of coming back to power after their party’s shameful defeats at Kota and Rajnandgaon, is understandably ecstatic.

Meanwhile, the state Congress president is “shocked.” He was sure his candidate from Malkharoda would “win by 25000 votes.” Instead he lost by that margin. The result at Khairagarh, where Congress had won only two months ago (by 16000 votes), took most political commentators by surprise. The theme of “People taking on the Palace” worked like a charm for a sinking BJP.

In light of this, my father has called for “introspection at all levels of the party.”


BLAME GAME
“If only Devwrat (the Lok Sabha member from Rajnandgaon) had listened to my advise,” a senior Congress leader told a journalist at Delhi, “and given the (Khairagarh assembly) ticket to an OBC candidate.”

Other ‘explanations’ too have been doing the rounds. One: Ajit Jogi didn’t really want Devwrat’s wife to win since this would have made him very powerful in Delhi. [Incidentally, victory has nothing to do with power, atleast not in the GOP.] Two: the Lodhis, numbering over 30000, voted en block for the BJP candidate who was from their community. Three: unlike the previous two times, the BJP’s campaign was not high-profile but grassroot. Four: the state government had ‘managed’ the Naxalites through a local liquor baron and a Congress Mandi adhyaksha, resulting in their victory from Salhebara, the Naxalite/tribal belt of the constituency. Five: this election was a matter of life and death for the CM. Six: the people were disappointed with Devwrat’s ‘princely’ style of functioning and lack of availability as an MP.

Perhaps, there is some substance to all of this. I, however, will restrict my observation to Explanation No. 1 (above). Certain points need to be noted. Unlike Kota and Rajnandgaon, where Papa had been specifically mandated to take total charge of the campaigns, this time he wasn’t even consulted for either the Khairagarh or the Malkharoda tickets. Even if he would have been asked, I believe his position would have been this: the local MP should decide the Khairagarh candidate, especially because this constituency had been represented by his family since Independence; likewise, the state Congress president ought to decide who contests- and wins- from Malkharoda, which is part of his home district. Further, he decided he would not campaign in Malkharoda for the following reasons: one, the candidate didn’t ask him to; two, he had no clue who the candidate was; three, his health doesn’t permit him to undertake a hectic tour program; four, his son- I- was fighting the biggest battle of our lives, a battle of life and death; five, he didn’t want it to be said- as it most certainly would be- that he ‘sabotaged’ the Congress campaign in his rival’s home-turf. The only reason he went to Khairagarh for the last three days of the campaign, was because he was asked to do so by the candidate- and he needed a reason to be nearer to me. Even so, given my Case, his ‘heart wasn’t into it.’ I mean what father would put his heart into asking for votes when his son is on trial for a capital offense?

The question, therefore, is not whether Papa wanted ‘Devwrat’s wife’ to win Khairagarh- but whether, under the circumstances cited above, he was in a position- political, physical and mental- to really make a difference?

ANTIDOTE, ANYONE?
For me, the two most worrying outcomes of these two bye-elections are as follows. First: this state government’s continuing ability to influence voting in the Naxalite belt (as seen in Salhebara). More than anything else, this factor had contributed to the ouster of the previous Congress government from the state. Secondly, the polling of the Satnami community (in Malkharoda) in BJP’s favor, as opposed to the BSP.

The need of the hour, therefore, is to reorient the Congress party’s priorities to ensure that: (a) we win in the Naxalite-dominated areas (which contains over 30 mostly tribal constituencies); and (b) the Satnamis don’t leave the Congress fold (as they did in Malkharoda).

Only a decisive change of leadership at the state level will, in my opinion, salvage the sinking morale of the Congress workers.

Fortune, afterall, cannot be allowed to smile perpetually on one man, especially one hell-bent on turning Chhattisgarh into a perpetual war-zone.

AJ
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I, AMIT JOGI, ACQUITTED-ACCUSED !

Note: This post has been published by Blogbharti, which features "voices from the Indian blogosphere". The rider, however, continues: no part of this text may be published or reproduced, wholly or in part, without prior consent of the author.



Preface

AT LONG LAST: DINNER AT HOME, 31.05.07 (Courtesy: Amit Tiwari)

This is my last entry as an Undertrial: in the twilight hours of the last day of May 2007, a trial judge at Raipur acquitted me of the charge of conspiracy to commit murder; the more than four year long ‘winter of discontent’, which was heralded by the ouster of my father’s government in early December 2003 and rapidly followed by a series of even more unfortunate events- Papa’s suspension from the party, a near-fatal accident that has left him confined to a wheelchair, the Medusa-like multi-headed Inquisition presided over by the Central Bureau of Investigation, my arrest and trial, to mention a few- came to a bitter-sweet end; and I was suddenly, magically Free. The feeling, even after the passage of ten days, is yet to sink in.



During this period, I had come to think of myself as- and also, think like- the protagonist of Franz Kafka’s novel Der Prozess (The Trial), Josef K.: like him, I too hadn’t the faintest idea of the crime I was being tried for; not only had I not previously known of the existence of the gentleman I was charged with ‘conspiring to murder’, but the presumption implicit in this charge, that I would risk my life- more importantly, my Family’s hard-earned Goodwill- to kill a political nobody in such a reckless & foolhardy manner, not only projected me as a morally-depraved monster but also, more than anything else, insulted my intelligence. Unlike the perpetually doomed K., however, I didn’t end up at the guillotine, murmuring to myself, “Like a Dog.”



Life, it seems, has something else in mind for me. What precisely, I cannot say. It will be some time yet before I can fully embrace my new-found Freedom.



Before I part, I reproduce here excerpts from the last days of my Jail Diary.



Regards,



AJ

*

THE LAST DAYS

May 28, 2007

‘INTERESTING TIMES’


The Heat makes it impossible for me to leave the relatively-temperate sanctuary of my cell. At times, I feel like I’ve always belonged here: (with due respect to the psychedelic band, Pink Floyd) another brick in these endlessly whitewashed walls. Yet: by what dark & artful sorcery, my existence came to be organic to- indistinguishable from- this panoptic space, I cannot say. Was it Fate; or a force much more sinister, more deceptive?


Looking back on events- blessed as I am now with an anachronistic & altogether futile benefit of hindsight- I can pinpoint the precise moment when things began to change, and life went into ‘the soap-operatic mode’. It happened seven years ago, at the fin-de-siecle. Not too long after the publication of Ms. Arundhati Roy’s solitary literary masterpiece, our lives were enchanted- duped?- into imitating her art: ‘the arrival of Sophie Mol,’ which dominoed into a series of cathartic events that constitute the plot of her novel, mirrored the suicide of Anu, my only sibling. However, unlike Ms. Roy, I can offer no explanation- no image, no metaphor, no psychoanalysis- for what she did. For apart from her magical (albeit increasingly incomprehensible) poems (perhaps, in the end, she was compelled to invent a language of her own, realizing the insurmountable ‘structural constraints’ of the existing ones to describe what she felt?)- spirally-bound into a collection cryptically titled ‘Aitia’- she has left behind little else.


Prior to Anu’s sudden & inexplicable death, I envied people with ‘the interesting lives’. In those truly wonderful Days of Innocence, I hadn’t quite realized the full import of an ancient Chinese euphemism: in the carefully ordered Confucian-ethic, “may you live in interesting times” was the worst way of slighting one’s enemy without sounding rude. Not so anymore: this life, I wouldn’t wish for my bitterest nemesis. O, what wouldn’t I give for things to be boring, mundane and uneventful once again?


But perhaps I am getting ahead of myself? The judgment is still three days away (if somebody doesn’t throw a spanner in the interregnum, for instance getting a Stay from the High Court). There are, as I see it, only two possible outcomes: one, I am acquitted of all charges; or two, I get locked in for life. In the latter instance, there isn’t much one can do- except hope against hope that justice, though delayed, will not be ad infinitum denied. Quite frankly, I haven’t thought about what I would do in case of the first, more happier, outcome. Life without this Trial is something that will take getting used to…The past four years have been nothing else. To have looked beyond it, and imagined an alternative existence sans the Case- would be tantamount to blasphemy.


ON FRIENDSHIP

This afternoon, Mummy complained that I’ve always prioritized friends over family. [Typical of her to have cited this as Bai’s ‘observation’ as opposed to her own.] While this isn’t entirely correct, the fact is that I do tend to place an asymmetrical degree of trust in them. It is innate to my nature, part of who I am.


More than anything else, this Case has demonstrated that this tendency isn’t in my best interest: all the principal prosecution witnesses called to testify against me- Rohit, Reginald, Raj Singh, Siddharth- were after all ‘mon amis’. In the past one year of my half-freedoms- the twilight existence of a bailed-out undertrial- I remedied this the only way I could: replaced my former set of friends with a new, smaller and more mutable set; also, the level of intimacy reduced considerably.


Apart from him, the two strongest- most unshakeable- persons implicated in this case along with me are: Abhay Goyal and… Not once have I seen them worried, such has been their faith in me: their only concern has been for me, to the extent that they don’t seem to care what happens to them[…]



THE CASE

In any event, the state of the evidence, as it now stands, is that the prosecution has failed to prove that these boys were ever in Raipur, let alone at the site of the murder, at the time of the incident; the only ‘worthwhile’ testimony is against me, that of Reginald- ‘the unkindest cut.’ By God’s Grace- what else could it possibly be?- his testimony stands discredited by the passports of Rohit, Michael and Arjun- all of who were aboard a flight to London when they were alleged to have participated in a meeting at the hotel Green Park on the night of May 21st 2003, convened to plot this wretched murder. How this obvious yet undeniable fact could have escaped the attention of the nation’s premier ‘implicative’ agency, the C-B-I, is beyond me: it is nothing short of an Act of God; a Miracle.

SKETCH: MY TRIAL (Self)

Given all this, there is very little- indeed, nothing- on record for the judge to pass a sentence of conviction against any of us. Infact, the only worrying thing effecting the outcome is the perverse ‘trial by media’ this Case has been subjected to, in which I was proclaimed guilty even before the matter came to court. As Mr. Surendra Singh, my Counsel, says, “if only […] would rise one inch and see beyond the media-hype, then there’s no Case at all.” […]



Be that as it may, as any trial lawyer knows only too well, it takes very little to pass a sentence of conviction, always the ‘safer’ option for any trial judge, who prefers to leave the tricky business of acquittals to the appellate courts. The best that can be said of the way we have faced the Trial is this: we have made it extremely difficult for the trial judge to pass a sentence of conviction. To claim anything more at this juncture would be overtly optimistic, even naïve.



THE LAWYERS

SNT: Surrogate

Two persons whose constancy I must acknowledge are: the meticulous SNT and the energetic Rahul Tyagi; in many ways, they’ve complemented each other, one’s careful circumspection tempering another’s daredevilry. In the six months from December 2005 to May 2006, when it was not possible for Papa and Mummy to be here, SNT played the role of a surrogate-parent, a proxy lawyer and an astute media manager, all rolled into one. In more ways than one, he held the act together. Rahul, meanwhile, was busy [being more than a lawyer, a friend]. I feel blessed to have persons such as them to be fighting my battles for me, more often than not, at the frontlines. Another achievement of sorts of my past year of half-freedoms, was to get these two opposite- and often opposing- poles to come together, atleast in the presentation of Abhay’s anniversary gift (!).



As far as the legal defense is concerned, I could not have hoped for a better, more qualified and dedicated ‘dream team’. Mr. Surendra Singh has gone way of his way to take full charge- and responsibility- of this Case, especially after Mr. SC Dutt’s indisposition (due to a predicament of the knee): there is no doubt in my mind that I’ve been his numero uno priority these past two years; and much more than a client, he has always treated me as family, ever ready to drop everything he’s doing to come to my rescue at the shortest notice. He is first person we- Papa and I- call whenever there is a crisis; and his word is final, even overriding Papa’s. The best possible acknowledgement of the manner in which Mr. Singh conducted the Trial came from his arch-rival, the temperamental but loving Mr. Dutt, when the latter told me that even he couldn’t have handled the case any better way. A talent like him belongs not in sleepy Jabalpur; but Delhi.



He has had superb assistance in the form of Mr. SK Farhan, who knows more about the Case than anyone else (including me). He is not only the finest litigator in town- possibly the state- but also, an elder brother to me. […]Mr. Hashim Khan [was] excellent when it came to cross-examining a particularly difficult prosecution witness [although we missed him when he went for forty-one days on Hajj. Ofcourse, last but not the least, notable mention must also be made of Pratul Shandilya, who has been thorough at maintaining records, supplying citations, and drafting- the perfect legal concierge, a man of all seasons. Indeed, there is very little that escapes him.



May 29, 2007



I am not as worried- anxious, tensed, nervous- as I had imagined myself to be in these circumstances. Infact, this morning, I was pleasantly surprised- indeed, gratified- to note that Dr. Vinayak Sen- a human rights activist, who is being unjustly incarcerated under the draconian ‘Chhattisgarh Public Safety Special Act’ for the sole crime of speaking against the state government’s slaughtering of innocent tribals on the pretext of ‘Salva Judum’- seemed far more concerned about my plight: in response to my incessant queries, he politely suggested that ‘it might be better to discuss things after the 31st.’



Contrary to expectation, SJ- the visible mask of my several unseen but powerful beté-noirs- hasn’t moved the High Court seeking a stay on the judgment; perhaps, he has access of ‘information’ I myself am not privy to, in which case there is every reason for me to be scared- Also, there’s a very distinct possibility that they might pull some trick of out of their hat at the very last instance- the formidable ‘element of surprise’- doing things when we least expect them to- like, when they got the Supreme Court to cancel my bail. But strangely enough, as I said earlier, I am not unduly worried. I just want the whole thing to be over and done with- pronto, double-quick. It’s the waiting that is killing me.



Why am I not worried?, I ask myself. The reason has nothing to do with ‘the things of this world’; instead, it is because during the past thirty days that I’ve been in jail, I’ve found the only thing that matters: GOD. I know that He loves me; and that this Love forms the basis of His Plan for my life. All other things really don’t matter so much. Moreover: what can I possibly gain by worrying? It is precisely in this respect that my present ‘state of mind’ differs from Mummy’s: she tends to be optimistic, always wishing for the best; I am more inert, realizing the absolute futility of worrying about things one can’t do anything about.



Ah, there’s a power cut; and I must prepare to battle the menagerie of my nocturnal cellmates: bedbugs, mosquitoes and the sly Cat, who has taken to attacking my dinner every time I turn sides. And speaking of turns, the Diary will have to wait its-



May 30, 2007



I don’t want to think about tomorrow. Raipur is full of rumors of all sorts.



Instead, my thoughts are on Papa. It’s almost as if I can feel his anxiety, infinitely more terrifying than mine. I’ve requested Pradeep (Choubey) Uncle to go to him to Khairagarh, where he is campaigning for the bye-election. Mummy too should be with him. Both will be more ‘useful’ there than here-



I have spent much of the day talking to people- convicts, the jail superintendent and my lawyer, Mr. Farhan- who can help me discern the modus operandi of judgment-proceedings. From what I gather, we are to be taken out of jail only after 2 p.m., and presented before the Judge at 2:30. The police-administration too has been instructed to take ‘extra’ precaution to ‘ensure public peace and law & order’; consequently, about 200 armed personnel will be deployed all over the court premises, about 100 shall constantly guard us (equally, to prevent us from the possibilities of harm- an assassin, maybe?- as well as fleeing), and close-circuit surveillance cameras would be fitted at all entry-exit points. In addition, all roads leading to the court are to be barricaded. This reminds me of the time- two years ago- when I was first arrested and produced before a magistrate’s court at Raipur. Mr. Farhan says that should the Judge ask me “do you have to say anything?”- well, that means that I am to be sentenced. Now, these are words I’m hoping- Praying- not to hear tomorrow, atleast not from the learned Judge.



Also, somewhere at the back of my head: I have been trying, subconsciously perhaps, to elicit information about the first-day in the life of a convict: the other possibility that I should be prepared for; but which I’d rather not worry too much about.



Another thing that worries me is ‘the trial by media’: already, on the eve of the judgment, certain sections of the press- no doubt, prompted by the state government’s DPR- have begun posing the question, “Will Justice be Done to the Deceased’s Son?” More than anything else, it is the Raipur-based media which only too willingly fuelled the course of my investigation; transformed it into a self-fulfilling prophecy. When Mr. VC Shukla- and his then-emotionally charged ‘puppet’, Satish- named Papa and me in that so-called second FIR, the media had already pronounced its verdict: guilty as charged. The only thing the CBI- and Mr. Kaul- were expected to do- indeed, did- was to ‘manufacture’ evidence to prove that charge. And by no stretch of imagination, has this manufactured-evidence, running into thousands of pages, stood the test of the Trial; more than any other agency, I maintain that God, my Savior, has seen to that. As Mr. Surendra Singh noted during his argument, “the One who Saves is above the one who Implicates.” Indeed, after this four-year harrowing experience, the CBI, for me, stands for the Central Bureau of Implication.



A LITTLE NEMESIS?

As far as Satish, the deceased’s son, is concerned, I ‘empathize’ with him: the loss of one’s progeny is irreparable, and had I been in his place, I wouldn’t have done things differently. But only if I genuinely believed in the complicity of those named as accused. For some reason, I doubt that this is the case with him. All the lies he has said in court just to drag Papa’s name into this; twisting words, conjuring events that never happened. [Not surprisingly, neither of his late father’s closest friends and business partners- Mr. Rajendra Tiwari and Mr. Gauri Shankar Shukla- have supported his lies; the only corroboration to his wholly-absurd testimony comes from a Dr. Anil Verma, who is Mr. VC Shukla’s principal lackey and son-in-law.]



At times, I felt like telling him: “look, your father, much as I sympathize with him, wasn’t worth killing!” I mean how many people had heard of him before his post-mortem, posthumous celebrity, of which he- Satish- has been the single biggest beneficiary. At a Delhi party given by Mr. Sangma in honor of a visiting Nepalese royal, he went around introducing himself to some parliamentarian-friends of mine as the guy whose father was ‘killed by Amit Jogi’. Needless to say, they found it in extremely poor taste. Infact, the moment I got bail from the High Court in May last year, he went scampering to Delhi pleading that he be given some kind of ‘a post’ to protect him from me (!)- consequently, he has become something in the NCP’s youth wing.



Even more intriguing is the fact that this persistent litigation against me has become his principal source of revenue: indeed, I have reliable information that a large part of his ‘legal costs’ are reimbursed in part by a Maharasthra sugar-baron, and in part by ‘the CM House’ at Raipur…I’ve no doubt that should the Trial court decide to acquit me, Mr. Jaggi, Jr., would be only too happy to file a revision before the High Court- a not-so-implicit threat that his Delhi-based lawyer, Mr. Siddharth Luthra, made to the trial judge week before last- for the twin reasons of (a) keeping himself relevant politically; and (b) keeping the funds coming. Neither would his ‘battle’ be confined to the courts. In every election that my family has contested- and won- he- and his mother- have personally put up posters appealing to the electorate no not vote ‘for my husband’s/father’s killer’. They did so in Mahasamund (April 2004), long before the CBI implicated me in its chargesheet; and again in Rajnandgaon (March 2007), where his party- the NCP- had decided to support the Congress candidate. Needless to say, we haven’t seen fit to respond to such frivolous allegations- frivolous not only in our eyes, but as successive results showed, also in the eyes of the people of this state- for the simple reason, that they aren’t worth the paper they are printed on.



In short, Satish Jaggi has happily allowed his shoulder to be used by our several enemies, both within and outside the Congress party, to take potshots at us; that he has proved remarkably successful in the past- especially at Delhi- has merely emboldened them to redouble their efforts in this direction. A source very close to him has informed me, on the condition of anonymity ofcourse, that the hon’ble chief minister of this state has promised him [a large fortune] to continue his efforts.



Given all this, am I expected to sit quiet?[…] No: I know for a fact that I have been prosecuted maliciously by the CBI for murdering a person whose name I hadn’t heard of before, a political nobody: it has coerced witnesses into recording false testimony; it has tried to bribe persons in court to turn approvers, a tape-recording of which conversation forms the basis of an ongoing complaint case; and it has deliberately withheld vital information from the court, especially those pertaining to Rohit’s passport entries, and thus metamorphosed from ‘prosecutors’ to ‘persecutors’, no different from Mr. Jaggi, Jr.. I also have a more than fair estimation of the ‘people in high places’ who let all this happen. I wanted to get this all out in the open in my Defense but was advised against it: in any trial, it is for the prosecution to prove its evidence; not for the Defense to disprove it. Now that that stage has come and gone, can I forget the agony that I- and my parents- have been subjected to; this below-the-belt politics of the worst kind?



Frankly, I don’t know what I would do; but one thing is for certain, I will no longer be a passive recipient of my enemy’s onslaughts. Yes, I will wait for God to show me the way. He is Merciful precisely because He expects us to be merciful to others: ‘love thy enemy’; ‘turn the other cheek’. If that is His Wish, then so be it.



Once again, I’ve gotten ahead of myself. In any case, a decision may only be taken only if I am acquitted- and that is something no one- except God and the Judge- can now know. I, on the other hand, will have to wait fourteen more hours-

*

EPILOGUE- THE JUDGMENT



Session Trial No. 329/2005, Sheet No. 226, Page No. 451, Para-462:

"As soon as Satish Jaggi came to know about murder of Shri Ramavtar Jaggi by bullet shot, he gave this information to State President NCP Shri Vidya Charan Shukla who reached Mekahara [hospital] immediately. He (Shri Shukla) got good opportunity to take revenge. Hence he reached thana Maudhapara with his supporters and started demonstrating with the intention of taking revenge on his opponent and got lodged a report against Ajit Jogi & Amit Jogi through Satish Jaggi."

(Translation from the Hindi, courtesy SNT)

*

My Convicted Co-accused




The passage of a fortnight has done little to numb the memory of my acquittal: life, it seems, would never be the same again, marred always by a constant realization of its alternative. Of 29, why was I singled out for this privilege?



It is my considered opinion that the legal evidence, as it exists, cries out for an across the board discharge; it proves nothing. My case, then, is distinguishable from my other co-accused in only this aspect: while the evidence against them is not proven; the evidence against me stands undeniably disproved. It is, as I see it, a matter of degrees, which ought not to make a qualitative difference; under no circumstances, can it account for this unfortunate, but in my belief, altogether remediable speciation. Here, I should like to put on record, my rebuttal to an editorialist, which pontificated that any extending of moral support to the other convicted co-accused (beyond which, there is precious little I can do anyway), is proof of my complicity; in other words, its author wishes, apparently for my own sake, that I join him in condemning them. I find his advise wholly absurd, if not outrightly silly.



As the law now stands, the admission of a criminal appeal against a judgment of a subordinate court is in itself a continuation of the trial; and while the sentence itself may not be prima facie suspended, it obliges every civilized human, assuming ofcourse that the pontiff-editor qualifies as one, to accord paramountcy to a presumption of innocence until all successive avenues of appellate justice have been duly and fully exhausted. Surely, for instance, he ought to be aware of the staggeringly high proportion of trial court convictions, which are set aside by higher courts of appeal; and till the time that happens- or doesn’t- the benefit of doubt must, under civilized norm, be extended to all co-accused even- and especially- if their punishments have already commenced: for what if, after a goodly span of seven years, an appellate court holds that they were in fact, innocent? Not that this would in any way irk our blessed editor’s conscience (in any case, an oxymoronic notion), for by then, I’m certain that he, like most of us, would’ve moved onto another, equally if not more sensational, story.



Like everybody else, I’ve seen the evidence; I’ve also come to understand the extenuating circumstances under which a lot of that evidence has been manufactured by my persecutors; in the past two years I’ve acquired, both as an undertrial as well as a student, a certain knowledge of the practical and theoretical dimensions of criminal law; as such, there is nothing in my mind- or for that matter, on record- that causes me to disbelieve the continued profession of innocence by my co-accused, allowing of course for all the above-mentioned possibilities that the Law of the Land affords them; and ultimately holding that, while justice may well be delayed, it will not, in the final analysis, be denied to anyone, however great or small.
AJ

*

Post-script:
On 21st July 2008, 25 of the 28 convicted-accused in the Jaggi Murder Case were granted bail; the High Court heard arguments on their bail-applications more than one year after they were convicted by the trial court, which is something of a record in itself. Not surprisingly, at least one Divisional Bench refused to hear the matter even though no case against me was brought before it.
AJ

A Second Post-script:

9th February 2010. The Hon'ble Supreme Court of India allowed the bail applications of Abhay Goel and Yahya Dhebar, two of the three remaining co-accused not yet enlarged on bail by the High Court, at 11 'o clock this morning. It is a most welcome decision- and a vindication of what has been stated herein above. During the time of their procrastinated incarceration, both have assumed the convoluted role of my bête noires- my self-ordained nemeses- their carceral minds holding me singularly responsible for their agonizing- and in my opinion, wholly unwarranted- almost three-year long imprisonment.

In the end, we're all- Abhay, Yahya and I- victims of the Forces of Circumstance. Time, I hope, shall make all things well. For my sake, I only wish them all the very best.

AJ

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Journey's End

the end back to its beginning
the beginning back to its end...

Anusha Jogi, Aitia


Dear Reader,

This will be my last post as an Undertrial: tomorrow, I return to judicial custody by an order of the Hon’ble Supreme Court, exactly one day short of my one year of ‘half-freedoms’, the twilight existence of a bailed-out undertrial; on the 7th of May, Final Arguments commence on my behalf; and judgement is due to be delivered by month’s end. The Order itself is an unanticipated setback: being behind bars at this critical juncture and thereby without access to legal counsel, I will not be able to effectively participate in my own defence. Under the circumstances, it is only natural to be disappointed, even sad.

Despite this, I continue to have full and unadulterated faith in our nation’s judicial process. It may well be that the cancelled-order of the hon’ble High Court had gone beyond the scope of section 439 of the Criminal Procedure Code (dealing with the Powers of the High Court to grant Bail) in commenting on the quality of the evidence- the principal consideration for their Lordships’ decision- but it is also true that certain submissions made by the Central Bureau of Investigation and the complainant’s counsels before the Apex Court were incorrect: for instance, it was insinuated that ‘27 prosecution witnesses (PWs) have turned hostile since I was enlarged on bail.’


The fact, however, is that of the fourteen PWs examined consequent to my coming out on bail, i.e., on 5th May 2006, two were Metropolitan Magistrates, another a scientific officer with the Central Forensic and Scientific Laboratory (CFSL) while the remainder were investigating officers of the C.B.I. To presume that any one of them can become hostile at my behest is not only improbable but also, outrightly laughable. This ‘defect’, I am informed, might be sufficient cause to file a review petition, but by the time it is disposed off, the Trial would have ended. I can only hope that this judgment of the hon'ble Apex court does not have an adverse impact on the Trial’s outcome. Incidentally, this exact apprehension, I'm told, has been specifically dealt with in a last-line rider of that Order.

The bottom-line, however, is that we were caught unawares: although the matter had been shown as listed, the Bench that had previously been hearing the case for the past 10 months was on vacation, and consequently the matter came up before another Bench. Consequently, my lawyers presumed that it would be adjourned. In fact, the senior counsel who had been appearing in the matter was on leave that day. As subsequent events revealed, it was a fatal mistake on our part; and one for which I now pay the penalty. Still, I prefer to see all this as Destiny's- God's- Plan for my Life.

I have always felt that this is as much a legal battle as it is a moral one. “You know that you haven’t done any wrong,” my mother never fails to comfort me, “so God will not let any wrong come to you.” I believe her. But I also worry about her- and about Papa. As an only son, I know only too well the pain of being separated from my parents, my lifeblood. And from my friends and wellwishers- those tens of thousands of people who have stood by my family through thick and thin.

Indeed, I am both gratified and strengthened by so much Love.

The last entry of my Jail Diary was dated 3rd May 2006. Its next entry will be exactly one year later: on 3rd May 2007. I can only hope- and pray- that this next section will be a short epilogue; and that we will meet again, soon.

Please pray for me.

Good bye.

AJ

Note: No part of this post shall be published, or quoted wholly or in part, without prior consent of the author and/or his representatives as directed by him. This is a personal message and as such, does not have any bearing or reflection whatsoever on the judicial proceedings related to the author's case. The views expressed herein are being published in absentia by his representatives, and the author can not be held in any manner liable for these.

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Papa's Birthday (a day before my bail was cancelled)

L-R: Gorakh (PSO), Anil Tah, Blogger, Papa, Surya (PSO), Dr. Naresh Kumar, Mummy Read More (आगे और पढ़ें)......