Dancer and activist Mallika Sarabhai, in an open letter to superstar Amitabh Bachchan, has asked him what prompted his decision to endorse Brand Gujarat.
She begins, “My dear Bachchanji, Greetings from a Gujarati. You are indeed a fine actor. You are an intelligent man and a shrewd businessman. But should I believe in your endorsements?”
“Let’s take a brief look at what you proclaim you believe in (albeit for huge sums of money). BPL, ICICI, Parker and Luxor pens,Maruti Versa, Cadbury chocolates. Nerolac paints. Dabur, Emami, Eveready, Sahara City Homes, D’damas, Binani Cement and Reliance. And now Gujarat.”
She asks if his house is built with Binani Cement, whether he really likes Cadbury’s chocolates and Dabar’s hajmola, which pen he uses (the upmarket one or the ‘rather down’), and if he has ever been driven or been driven in a Versa outside the shoot, and finally, if is aware that the “Nerolac paint in your home (you do use it don’t you?) has lead in it that can poison you slowly as it does so many people?” She questions if those decisions were monetary.
Sarabhai also wonders what prompts his endorsements, particularly Gujarat, since there was reportedly no direct fees paid to the actor. She doubts Bachchan has been following up on the state’s progress. She writes, “So, with no monetary decision to guide you, how did you decide to say yes? Did you check on the state of the State? I doubt it, for the decision and the announcement came from one single meeting. And I somehow doubt that you have been following the news on Gujarat closely.”
“So, as a Gujarati, permit me to introduce my State to you. Everyone knows of our vibrancy, of the billions and trillions pouring into our State through the two yearly jamborees called Vibrant Gujarat. But did you know that by the government’s own admission no more than 23% of these have actually moved beyond the MOU stage? That while huge subsidies are being granted to our richest business houses, over 75000 small and medium businesses have shut down rendering one million more people jobless?”
“You know of Gujarat’s fast paced growth and the FDI pouring in, you have no doubt seen pictures of the Czars of the business world lining up to pour money to develop us. To develop whom? Did you know that our poor are getting poorer? That while the all India reduction in poverty between ’93 and 2005 is 8.5%, in Gujarat it is a mere 2.8%? That we have entire farmer families committing suicide, not just the male head of the household?”
She adds, “You have heard of how some mealy mouthed NGO types have been blocking the progress of the Narmada project, how the government has prevailed, and water is pouring down every thirsty mouth and every bit of thirsty land. But did you know that in the 49 years since it was started, and in spite of the Rs.29,000 crores spent on it, only 29% of the work is complete?”
“That the construction is so poor (lots of sand added to the you-know-which cement perhaps) that over the last 9 years there have been 308 breaches, ruining lakhs of farmers whose fields were flooded, ruining the poorest salt farmers whose salt was washed away? That whereas in 1999, 4743 of Gujarat’s villages were without drinking water, within two years that figure had gone up to 11,390 villages? (I cannot even begin to project those figures for today – but do know that the figure has gone up dramatically rather than down.)”
She adds scathingly, “With our CM, hailed as the CEO of Gujarat, we have once again achieved number one status – in indebtedness. In 2001, the State debt was Rs.14,000 crores. This was before the State became a multinational company. Today it stands at Rs.1,05,000 crores. And to service this debt we pay a whopping Rs 7,000 crores a year, 25% of our annual budget.”
“Meanwhile, our spending on education is down, no new public hospitals for the poor are being built, fishermen are going a begging as the seas turn turgid with effluents, more mothers die at birth per thousand than in the rest of India, and our general performance on the Human Development Index is nearly the first – from the bottom. One rape a day, 17 cases of violence against women, and, over the last 10 years, 8,802 suicides and 18,152 ‘accidental’ deaths of women are officially reported. You can imagine the real figures.”
Sarabhai reminds Bachchan that he said the Somnath temple and Gandhi inspired him to endorse Gujarat. But, she questions, “Somnath was built for people. Gandhiji was a man of the people. Do the people of this State matter to you? If they do, perhaps your decision will be different. I hope you will read this letter and decide.”
