Dear
Mr. Dube,
Your
brave expose of personal journey in life in your book, ‘No One Else’ has few
aberrations pertaining to AIDS Bhedbhav Virodhi Andolan (ABVA). In chapter 12,
page 192 there is a reference to the undersigned as being the force behind the ABVA.
Again on page 207 in the same chapter Siddhartha Gautam has been referred to as
the driving force. Other references made in your book include page 266 “… ABVA,
the activist group in which my friend Siddhartha had been a driving force, …”
Once again page 207 “The power of what Siddhartha had set in motion through Less Than Gay soon became potently
evident.” Yet again page 190 “…by the astounding scope of what he (Siddhartha)
eventually set into motion”. And so on.
The
ABVA collective sees each and every member of the collective, each and every
person in the ‘high-risk group’ amongst whom we work and every one who
supported the collective’s movement as the driving force. Referring to one or
two persons as the driving force is unfair to ABVA members, some of whom are
dead and who have contributed up to two and a half decades of their life in
this work and continue to do so.
In
the Author’s Notes, chapter 12 you have rightly observed:
“ABVA has made the full text of Less Than Gay
available freely online to the public, as befits a ‘citizens’ report’.”
ABVA
wishes that you had treated the citizens’ report authored by seven people in a
similar spirit rather than personalized a political document. Your recurrent
references to the authors of the report in chapter 12 as ‘Siddhartha and his
colleagues/co-authors’ belittles the efforts of the co-authors some of whom are
long since dead. Siddhartha himself would never have approved of over-emphasis
on a person or two in the work of a collective. You have yourself alluded to
this on page 194 mentioning a full page of a personal letter sent by Siddhartha
to you focused on the efforts of the ABVA activists’ collective. You have added
that the bulk of the letter was about causes rather than personal matters. The
recurrent references include:
“…
his ABVA colleagues and he were actually planning to write one (report) on the
situation of gay men and women.” (pages 192-193)
“Siddhartha
and his colleagues had been pressing the (World) Bank …” (page 195)
“…
Siddhartha and his co-authors wrote.” (page 196)
“…said
Siddhartha and his colleagues.” (page 197)
“Siddhartha
and his co-authors maintained…” (page 198)
“…said
Siddhartha and his co-authors.” (page 198)
“…Siddhartha
and his colleagues wrote,…” (page 199)
“Siddhartha
and his co-authors began the report …” (page 200)
“…
Siddhartha and his co-authors noted.” (page 201)
“…
Siddhartha and his colleagues in ABVA group asked…” (page 204)
“…
Siddhartha and his ABVA colleagues presented …” (page 205-206)
“…
Siddhartha and his colleagues wrote …” (page 206)
“…
Siddhartha and his ABVA colleagues in Less
than Gay,…” (page 219)
Just
to make the point obvious it would be considered a sacrilege if a World Bank
report were to be repeatedly referred to as being authored by say Siddharth Dube
and his colleagues at World Bank; and this repeated ad-infinitum in a
book or public document!
In
your book while referring to organizations other than ABVA you have used an
ethical, fair and objective approach. Consider your approach towards the report
by the National Commission for Women (NCW) on sex work:
“The
opening page (of the Commission’s report) began by saying…” (page 239)
“Indeed,
the report – in essence – was a catalogue of the grievous wrongs done to sex
workers…” (page 239)
“…said
the report” (page 239)
“The
Commission’s most scathing criticism…” (page 239)
“…the
Commission noted.” (page 240)
“The Commission also lambasted…” (page 240)
“…the
Commission noted.” (page 240)
“The
Commission wrote...” (page 240)
“The
Commission asked…”(page 240)
“…the
Commission made reams of recommendations,...” (page 240)
“…the
Commission’s recommendations...” (page 241)
“…the
Commission even had to urge...” (page 241)
“…
to see the Commission push for the removal...” (page 241)
“…the
Commission’s report that impressed and moved me.” (page 242)
Take
another example from your book pertaining to the International Guidelines on HIV/AIDS and Human Rights developed
jointly by UNAIDS and the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights
in 1998. Recall the principle adopted in your book while referring to this
document:
“This
compendium had been formulated by human rights experts from academia and civil
society, and representatives of organizations of people living with HIV.” (page
256)
“The
guidelines general position …”(page 256)
“…the
guidelines emphasized, ….” (page 256)
“…the
international experts writing these guidelines ….” (page 256)
Let
us take a third example from your book pertaining to a detailed
five-hundred-page handbook to guide governments and legislatures published by
UNAIDS and the Inter-Parliamentary Union. You have referred to it thus:
“The
handbook commented …” (page 257)
“…the
handbook also advised governments…(page 257)
“…
it emphasized…” (page 257)
If
you go through any of the published references of any citizens’ report prepared
by say People’s Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL), Peoples Union for Democratic
Rights (PUDR), Citizens for Democracy (CFD; or any report prepared by Human
Rights Watch, Amnesty International you would find an ethical portrayal of the authors
or as is more frequently seen, the organization’s name itself is given along
with the report.
Even
in well researched papers, books, journals, the protocol/tradition is to use
the very first name from the list of co-authors and add et al while referring to the authors. In Less Than Gay the names of all seven co-authors have been given
alphabetically in the report (this principle was followed in all ABVA reports).
The first name is of Arun Bhandari. If you had followed this methodology viz
Arun Bhandari et al it would have
been acceptable. Picking one name out of the list of co-authors and hammering
that name (and appending the rest) is discriminatory, unfair; it smacks of
inequality; there is no equity. Such an approach adopted by you is undemocratic
and anti-collectivism. This tends to disrupt a collective. Siddhartha himself
would have been violently outraged by this.
Why
is it that in relation to the ABVA’s Less
than Gay your references could not have been made in a more sensitive,
fair, ethical and objective manner? Your close friendship with Siddhartha comes
through your book* viz that “Siddhartha was
your beloved friend”; that “there was a palpable intensity to your friendship
evident in the amount of time you spent alone with each other”; that “you
constantly touched and embraced” but it would still not give you a license to
refer to a citizens’ report – authored by seven persons whose names have been
given in the report – as having been written by one person by name and the
other co-authors being just appended repeatedly and continuously. ABVA’s
position has been to give no names or all names. In fact in one of the ABVA
reports ‘Endless and Sickening Therapies for AIDS’ the names of the
authors have not even been mentioned precisely to preempt any such misappropriation
as emerges from your book ‘No One Else’.
Your
close friendship with Siddhartha creates a conflict of interest as you author
‘No One Else’; your objectivity gets comprised in writing about ABVA. It is all
the members of ABVA; and not just one – who are the driving force; the
astounding scope of what got eventually set in motion was courtesy all ABVA
members. It is the power of all members of ABVA that had set this in motion and
continue to do so till date and will continue to do so in future. It is the
brave voice of all ABVA members – living or dead – that a sensitive, perceptive
reader sees everywhere in Less Than Gay.
The beautiful work of a collective should be preserved and not destroyed. One
does not have to be linguistic expert of Noam Chomsky’s caliber to see through the
game plan.
Your
reference to:
“The power of what Siddhartha had set in motion
through Less Than Gay soon became potently evident. In early 1994, two
years after Siddhartha’s death, ABVA filed a public interest case in the Delhi
High Court asking that Section 377 be declared unconstitutional…” (page 207)
“…by the astounding scope of what he (Siddhartha)
eventually set into motion.” (page 190)
again
is based on a misconception. ABVA’s activities till date have all been set in
motion through the power of the collective and not through any one person. This
is not to belittle anyone’s contribution but constant reference to one person
as being the driving force belittles the political nature of work of the person
being so overrated as also that of the collective’s.
And
what has been the evidence adduced by you to single out one person as being the
‘lead’ author of the report? That one of the authors wrote to you about
spending eighteen hours a day on the computer for two weeks! Siddhartha himself
had apprised ABVA of the efforts of people who worked on the computer and help
of these people was duly acknowledged in the report Less Than Gay on page 3. But, Mr. Dube, are you aware of the efforts
of all the ABVA members – at least the six other co-authors who struggled for
months and wrote different chapters or parts of chapters? Forget even this process
for a while. Let us give you a glimpse of the process. Jagdish Bhardwaje, a
professional blood donor, and now since dead who was given the computer floppy
(containing the draft report) with over four hundred mistakes had to sell blood
there and then, get money which was then used to get a print-out of the report
to have it sub-edited by another ABVA member and co-author at central park in
New Delhi’s Connaught Place! At that time Jagdish Bhardwaje was staying on a
footpath and selling his blood for a living. His meals – for a decade – were
provided for at Gurudwaras in the vicinity. It is base for us to have to point
out these small little things to get you to appreciate how much anguish your
book has brought to the collective. One of the co-authors of Less Than Gay Shalini SCN, a former nun
(now since dead), struggled to get the views of Paul G (sj), then Acting
Director of Indian Social Institute, New Delhi; thus she got his valuable one
and a half page comment on pages 65-66 of the report. Another co-author Dr.
J.P. Jain had to visit several libraries to get a copy of the original Kamasutra
which has a chapter on homosexuality and was discovered to be loaned out for
the last four years by the Delhi Public Library to none other than the Union
Health Ministry. Less Than Gay has two pages devoted to the material from Kamasutra.
The reference to Shikhandi (page 54) was culled out by Lalitha S.A., another
co-author. The available material in Hindi had to be translated into English.
To
recapitulate, Siddhartha Gautam was out of India when a seven-page hand written
blue print of the report was drafted by an ABVA member who walked from his
residence – out of sheer excitement and to save money – to discuss it with
Lalitha S.A. at her office at Jangpura! This contained outline of the chapters
to be included as also the part ‘Why the Report’. The protocol followed was
adopted from our earlier citizens’ reports/ fact finding reports published
prior to 1988. Since many of ABVA members had been working in Delhi on issues
of public importance since 1980s those members had gone through the process of
writing citizens’ reports. The issues included the genocide of Sikhs in 1984 in
Delhi, the constant eviction of slum dwellers after demolition of their huts;
the 1988 cholera epidemic in Delhi which resulted in the loss of 1500 lives;
women’s issues involving dowry deaths and assaults. These activists were well
versed in the parliamentary techniques as also of filing writ petitions in the
courts; they were ‘old hands’ at protest actions. Siddhartha Gautam came to
join such activists in 1988-89. Siddhartha must have learnt a lot from their
experiences. Regarding the writing of ten odd chapters in Less Than Gay here is a glimpse. Mention has already been made
about chapter one ‘Why This Report’ having been primarily drafted by one
author. In the chapter on ‘Gay Life in India’ material was culled out from
published gay magazines as also stories related to different ABVA members by
gays/lesbians. The chapter on Definition and Myths was compiled from
acknowledged references (given at the end of the chapter). The chapter on Culture,
Heritage and Homosexuality was drafted by three ABVA members with additions
from others. The chapter on Social Attitudes was a compilation of replies (with
comments of ABVA members) in response to a questionnaire sent by ABVA to eighty
odd citizens/organizations. The chapter on AIDS and Homosexuality contains
basic facts about AIDS which runs through all ABVA reports starting from the
very first one. The Charter of Demands was outlined by one author; additions
and subtractions were done by other authors. Similar approach was followed in
the remaining chapters.
You
may like to go through the circumstances in which ABVA was formed at: http://aidsbhedbhavvirodhiandolan.blogspot.in/2015/02/about-aids-bhedbhav-virodhi-andolan-abva.html
As
a matter of fact Siddhartha was with ABVA (after its formal formation in early
1991) for about a year only from 1991-92. Prior to that he had joined those
already working in Delhi’s red-light area on issues revolving around AIDS. Even
during this period he was in and out of Delhi for social/medical reasons.
Hijacking
of ABVA’s work is the worst assault on the integrity, honesty and work of ABVA.
Siddhartha himself would be turning in his grave over these developments. The
sheer audacity, the intellectual sophistry in display in ‘No One Else’ is an
attack – nay a day light robbery – on the intellectual property rights of all
the authors of Less Than Gay as a
number of chapters have been co-written/finalized by different authors. It is a
lie, rather subterfuge to ‘see Siddhartha’s brave voice everywhere in Less Than Gay …’. It is every co-author’s,
in fact ABVA’s brave voice. Finally it is the brave voice of the LGBT persons.
Such an effort cannot be attributed to one single person. That would be a reductionist
approach. At ABVA, the policy was to be all inclusive in all its actions
including report writing.
Filing
a court case was not in ABVA’s plan in 1991 or later since it was pursuing the
Parliamentary petition process to get Section 377, IPC repealed. In 1994, ABVA
got involved in the court case for a very specific reason as media reports
indicated that prisoners in Tihar Jail were being denied condoms and were
facing atrocities. The events in Tihar Jail could not have been set in motion
through anyone’s efforts. ABVA members are not astrologers. ABVA joined the
court proceedings because the court had already taken cognizance of a petition
filed by Shri Janak Raj Jai who was advocating coercive methods against those
involved in homosexual activities in jail. ABVA opposed this plea asking for
striking down of Section 377, IPC and availability of condoms in Tihar Jail.
ABVA’s petition effectively neutralized Janak Raj Jai’s petition; from 1994 to
2001 ABVA was able to campaign on the issue of LGBT rights using the petition.
From
1994 to 2001 we sent several letters to all known LGBT groups/organizations to
file cases in different high courts of India for repeal of Section 377, IPC, so
that pressure would get built on the judiciary to act. We did not receive a
positive response from any source. Ironically till the year 2000 the three important
books on gay/lesbian issues in India were authored by women writers – Shakuntla
Devi, Giti Thadani and Ashwini Sukhthankar. Academicians in India were wary to
write books on this issue till the end of twentieth century! True, in 1994 it was the collective’s
wisdom to move the Delhi High Court but not one amongst the LGBT community would
agree to go public about his/her sexuality and join the petition as a victim in
ABVA’s case. The lawyer petitioner – again a woman, Shobha Aggarwal – in ABVA’s
case in the Delhi High Court undertook a research into PIL judgements of the last
two decades of the twentieth century; and brought out a report entitled “The
Public Interest Litigation Hoax – Truth Before the Nation”. It concluded that
PILs failed to provide justice to those who need it most. Two of ABVA members
are associated with PIL Watch Group formed in 2004. It was realized that it is
imperative that a victim himself/herself approach the court. After all, the
fundamental rights under the Constitution of India are guaranteed to the
citizens of India. Hence a victim – any LGBT person – will have to take a
courageous stand, go public and file a petition in his or her name.
To
update it may be mentioned that after the 2013 Koushal judgement by the Supreme Court of India, ABVA has again
been pursuing the parliamentary route to get Section 377, IPC repealed. See our
blog at http://aidsbhedbhavvirodhiandolan.blogspot.in/
You
may kindly take all necessary steps to undo the harm done through your book to
the credibility of the work done by the ABVA collective and its members both
living and dead.
Yours
sincerely,
Dr.
P.S. Sahni
*
The pact among all ABVA members was not to make each others sexuality public
during and after his/her life time. ABVA’s position remains unchanged.
Hopefully references made in your book about Siddhartha and you – no doubt your
conscious decision – were made keeping in mind the sensibilities and
sensitivities of his parents and others close to him.
