Talk:Harsh Mander
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What follows was formerly on the main page. Someone should extract the nuggets of gold in there, if any. Certainly, inspiring Riot is interesting if true. Hornplease 20:41, 3 June 2006 (UTC)
Harsh Mander has always been described by his peers as frank, fearless and committed. He wrote honestly about the state sponsored pogram in leading world newspapers, thoroughly embarrassing the then NDA-government. People were shattered after going through this account which came from no less than a serving civil servant of no less stature than the director of IAS Academy, Mussoorie. Harsh Mander put in his papers after visiting Gujarat state when he saw the complicity of bureaucrats and senior police officers during the carnage. Mander famously compared Gujarat pogrom to the situation in Nazi Germany and says that what happened in Gujarat is the culmination of the conspiracy of silence.
About his high-profile resignation Mander says, ‘I have always believed that you should do whatever you feel is right. I don’t think that one needs to be a hero to speak the truth or point out injustice. If this is the case then these are the times when we have to ask the question: why does one need to be daring to speak the truth?'
Suresh Moha a serving IPS officer who was trained under Mander in IAS Academy says, ‘his impeccable integrity, remarkable humility and simplicity, indomitable courage when it came to defending the oppressed and weaker sections of the society and missionary zeal in rendering service to the needy will ever remain etched in my mind.’
In fact, Mander has always tried to improve the lot of the oppressed and the weak. He joined social movements right after he joined the service in 1980. He has always been very popular wherever he has been posted. In 1984 Harsh was posted as addl. collector of Indore where the collector was Ajit Jogi who later became the chief minister of Chattisgarh. It was the time when anti-Sikh riots broke out. Harsh spent most of his time with affected people and was so stressed that he went sleepless for three nights. Later during his posting in Khargone as district magistrate, he effectively controlled the riots. It was his handling of the situation there that inspired Shashi Tharoor’s novel Riot.
His works capture the stark human face of poverty, to give it a voice. Harsh Mander brilliantly essayed the spirit in his book Unheard Voices:Stories Of Forgotten Lives.
Harsh Mander, who resigned in protest against the attitude of the administration in dealing with the communal riots, was awarded the prestigious Thomas National Human Rights Award for the year 2002.
"I have known Harsh Mander for over three decades. He is one of the kindest, most compassionate human beings I have ever met, a man of utter integrity and uncompromising principle -- a man who reaffirms your faith in humanity." - Shashi Tharoor Under-Secretary-General for Communications and Public Information of the United Nations
[edit] Meeting Harsh Mander
The name Harsh Mander got into my consciousness after reading Karan Thapar’s "Sunday Sentiments" (HT Sunday) on him sometime in mid 2003. It was then that I paid attention to this extraordinary man with extraordinary guts who could go against the ‘establishment’ and sacrifice his much coveted post of an IAS. He had joined ‘Action Aid India’ (AAI) as its Country Director and which was, of course, also not acceptable to the NDA government as it made sure that he relinquish this post too in March 2004, and Karan had written against this decision and in support of Harsh.
It was during the same period that I was looking for an NGO to donate large quantities of chocolates, sweets, pens and note pads, which were to go waste as the product for which they had been procured as brand reminders for customers was being taken off the shelf. AAI’s name came to my mind and I went to my senior to take his permission to which he said, ‘You haven’t talked to me about it officially, but because the cause is good, you can hand over these things to that NGO at your own risk.’ (I wondered why he was afraid to give an official nod for the perishables?)
Anyway, I called up Harsh’s office but couldn’t speak to him as he was out on tour. I was put through to Paramjeet Kaur, a director for one of their projects for homeless. She gladly accepted my offer and in fact came herself along with a colleague to collect those things from my office. They distributed the sweets etc. on 25th Dec to hundreds of homeless children by donning the dress of Santa Claus! Though I wasn’t present myself, but I could feel that it was my best Christmas ever! I also gained two very good friends – Param and Sanjay.
To cut the long story short, I got the opportunity to meet Harsh on 31st March 2004, the day of his farewell. I was invited by my friends for the occasion by virtue of being a volunteer with AAI by then.
My first impression of seeing Harsh was that ‘My God, he resembles Gandhiji!’ I could speak to him and his wife and daughter for a while. I was moved to see those homeless people cry for him genuinely. I don’t think many people can ever command that kind of respect. I felt sad at his departure, acutely aware of the loss of those associated with AAI.
I have kept in touch with Harsh through email, writing to him occasionally on his newspaper articles, and Harsh has been kind to respond every time for which I remain eternally grateful to him.
The next time I could meet Harsh was in May this year at the NDTV studios where he was one of the panelists on "The Big Fight" on the recent Baroda violence post court’s rulings on removal of ‘unauthorized’ religious structures from the cities’ limits in Gujarat. I was in the audience. I sprinted across to Harsh post shoot but our conversation got mercilessly interrupted by an irritating elderly equally eager to meet him. :-(
It was recently while reading RIOT that I realized that it was Harsh who had inspired Shashi Tharoor to write a tragic tale of romance in the time of impending riot. RIOT is not merely a story of a riot, but it rightly reflects the darker side of our cultured country in all its ugliness – confused, coward, cruel and communal India, and Shashi’s recounting is simply superb.
Reading RIOT I also realized that I hadn’t yet read Harsh’s ‘Unheard Voices’ which, of course, I intend to do as soon as I am through with the books I am currently reading. And, of course, I would for sure send my feedback to Harsh.
Anju Chandel
