Excerpt from Gyan Prakash’s Mumbai fables
"According to his family members, the (Shiv) Sena had
physically attacked (Krishna) Desai during the 1967 election campaign. He
escaped with his life by using his briefcase as a shield. Apparently, Desai
knew he was a target. A feared trade unionist and a political leader with deep
roots in the neighbourhood, Desai stood between the Sena and the Girgangaon.
Anticipating an attack, he decided to send his family away to safety to his
village in Ratnagiri. As for himself, he planned to go underground and take the
fight to the Sena.
On June 5, 1970, Desai, as usual surrounded by Anil Karnik
and others, was winding down for the day in his one-room hutment. His wife had
laid out the dinner. Desai took off his shirt and was about to sit down to eat
when he was summoned. His party associates wanted to discuss the next day’s
planned Lok Seva Dal camping trip. Telling his wife and Karnik that he would be
back shortly, Desai walked a few hundred yards down the winding lane to the
office of a rice mill.
A mentally challenged man from his neighbourhood interrupted
Desai’s conversation with his comrades in the office, informing him that some
workers wanted to meet him. The assembled group looked out towards the open
field that face the rice mill office. The power was off, and it was raining
lightly. At the head of the narrow lane that led out from the field, the silhouettes
of a few men were visible. Desai called out to ask who they were. A voice
shouted “Jai Bharat” (Hail to India) in response. Desai’s young comrade Prakash
Patkar walked towards them. As he neared the group, Patkar saw a few men
standing by a car. One of the assembled men had a gupti, a long-bladed weapon
tucked under his shirt. Patkar shouted out a warning to Desai, who rushed
instantly to his side. Patkar was stabbed. Within seconds, Desai was surrounded
and stabbed in the back, with his liver slashed. Having achieved their purpose,
the attackers vanished into the darkness. Miraculously, Desai walked to the
nearby house of a friend, who rushed him to the hospital, but he succumbed to
the fatal wound.”
No comments:
Post a Comment