{"id":2502,"date":"2009-11-10T09:02:10","date_gmt":"2009-11-10T09:02:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nehadixit.in\/?p=2502"},"modified":"2023-09-08T09:13:01","modified_gmt":"2023-09-08T09:13:01","slug":"of-a-different-shade-sandeep-pandey","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nehadixit.in\/of-a-different-shade-sandeep-pandey\/","title":{"rendered":"Of a Different Shade: Sandeep Pandey"},"content":{"rendered":"
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He may have been labelled a Naxal. But activist\u00a0<\/em>Sandeep Pandey<\/strong>\u00a0is undeterred, says\u00a0<\/em>NEHA DIXIT<\/strong><\/div>\n
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TYPE SANDEEP Pandey + Naxal on the search engine Google and you will stumble upon several blogs and websites that claim the noted social activist is a hardcore Naxalite. In real life, though, the 44-year-old is a Magsaysay Award winner and co-founder of Asha, an organisation devoted to providing basic education to underprivileged people.<\/div>\n
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But in post-Binayak Sen \u2013 the renowned social activist who was jailed for over two years on unproven charges of having Maoists links \u2013 India, Pandey is the latest victim of the State\u2019s demonisation of the alternative voice. About 500 km from Delhi, sitting in his modest Lucknow house, his trepidation seems legitimate. \u201cI doubt if there is some scope for grey still left in this country,\u201d he says.<\/div>\n
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On September 26, news channel CNNIBN flashed Pandey\u2019s photos, describing him as a Naxal leader in its bulletin. Pandey believes it was the correspondent\u2019s ignorance and sees no motive behind it. As news of the howler spread, the channel soon apologised.<\/div>\n
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The episode may have been resolved, but what about the sustained campaign in blogosphere? The \u201cinadvertent misreporting\u201d by the channel has, in fact, highlighted how the process of exclusion is amplifying in a country plagued by terrorism; where activists are often perceived as irritants both by the State and separatist outfits.<\/div>\n
Pandey says there is a prelude to the incident (of him being called a Naxal). On November 14, 2002, he attended a ceremony organised by the Communist Party of India, Marxist Leninist Liberation (CPIML), to honour the kin of those Naxalites who were killed in the peasant struggle over three decades. A year earlier, Asha had distributed more than Rs 4 crore for children\u2019s education, charity they received from some organisations in the US. These charities were earlier funding the RSS and the Bajrang Dal. \u201cThe money that was earlier used for vandalism was now being utilised for children\u2019s education. This annoyed entrenched interests here. My presence at the ceremony was therefore a good opportunity to malign me. They conveniently stamped me as a Naxal.\u201d<\/div>\n
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Pandey co-founded Asha while working on his Ph.D at the University of California. After graduating in 1991, he returned to India to teach at the Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur. In 1992 he left the institute to devote himself full-time to Asha\u2019s larger purpose: to bring about socio-economic change through education. In recognition of this work, he was conferred the Ramon Magsaysay Award in 2002.<\/div>\n
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The activist admits that his ideology does, at times, side with the Communists. \u201cBut what is the choice?\u201d he asks. \u201cThe Congress is elitist and imperialistic. The BJP is communal, SP is opportunistic. Only the Left in this country, somewhat, has pro-poor policies. Hence, my allegiance towards the Left is obvious.\u201d Pandey has, for almost 20 years, been working on human rights issues, protesting against fake encounters and oppressive policies of the State. But what\u2019s commendable about the man is that there is not the slightest amount of pessimism against the State in him.<\/div>\n\n\n\n
\u2018I doubt if there is some scope for grey still left in this country,\u2019 says Pandey<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n
His views on Naxalism are paradoxical but transparent. He lauds Naxalism for bringing the peasants under one umbrella. Which is why he has even campaigned for CPI-ML candidates. But being a Gandhian, he is opposed to any form of violence. \u201cDuring a meeting in Hyderabad, I saw a young man distributing pamphlets which called me a Naxal. When I invited him for a discussion, he ran away. The problem is that it is convenient to believe what is in the air.\u201d There is also a tendency to exaggerate one\u2019s leanings and ideologies in order to stigmatise. \u201cPutting one in either black or white is a way to categorise,\u201d he says. \u201cBut that can never stop me from working for those on the margins.\u201d<\/div>\n

From Tehelka Magazine, Vol 6, Issue 40, Dated October 10, 2009<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 He may have been labelled a Naxal. But activist\u00a0Sandeep Pandey\u00a0is undeterred, says\u00a0NEHA DIXIT \u00a0 TYPE SANDEEP Pandey + Naxal on the search engine Google and you will stumble upon several blogs and websites that claim the noted social activist is a hardcore Naxalite. In real life, though, the 44-year-old is…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":3310,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[103],"tags":[],"thb-sponsors":[],"yoast_head":"\nOf a Different Shade: Sandeep Pandey - Neha Dixit<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/nehadixit.in\/of-a-different-shade-sandeep-pandey\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Of a Different Shade: Sandeep Pandey - Neha Dixit\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"    \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 He may have been labelled a Naxal. 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