Slain RTI activist’s aides take his fight to political battlefield

TheIndianExpress 18 oct 2010

Kodinar, where slain activist Amit Jethava led a campaign to create awareness about the Right to Information (RTI), this powerful democratic tool and its use has become an agenda against the BJP in the local body elections slated for October 21.

Jethava’s two close aides, who say they also had to face the wrath of the rich and powerful for exposing corruption in the system, are in the fray for the Kodinar taluka panchayat elections on Congress tickets. And their main election issue: fight for your rights.

If Jethava had used the RTI Act to unearth illegal mining under alleged patronage of BJP MP Dinu Solanki, activists Bhika Gohil and Dipu Wala blew the lid off a scam in a housing scheme for poor and how local authorities of Pashcim Gujarat Vij Limited turned a blind eye to alleged misuse of its infrastructure by the kin of the MP in Kodinar.

According to Gohil, Solanki’s nephew Pratap alias Shiva Solanki — who is presently in judicial custody in connection with the Jethava murder case — had attacked and abducted him when an RTI application by the former proved that towers for cellphone networks installed by the latter were illegal.

Gohil said he was was hospitalised for two months in 2004 following an attack allegedly by Shiva and his supporters, adding that the near-fatal attack on him and the murder of Jethava has only strengthened his will to contest a political battle. “Either we suffer or we fight. That’s the only two options available with us,” said Gohil, who will be contesting from the Mul Dwarka seat.

He has been a Congress worker for over five years now and this will be his maiden election. “I tell voters (while campaigning) that if they will not fight for their rights, nobody will and that they will remain at the receiving end of the corrupt system,” said Gohil, whose wife Hansa is sarpanch of their village Gohil Ni Khan.

The voters might believe the words of this 32-year-old as recently — after he exposed corruption in the Indira and Sardar Aawas Yojana — the directorate of Jilla Gam Vikas Niyamak issued notices against 264 people, including Kodinar taluka development officer M C Makwana.

Dipu Vala (45), a teacher by profession, has also jumped into the fray for the Pipavan panchayat seat. Locals know him as the one who exposed Shiva for allegedly using PGVCL poles for his private cable network.

Little wonder that Jethava has been featuring extensively in the campaigns of Gohil and Vala. “People knew Jethava. And, after his murder, he has become a martyr. We want voters not to let his deeds go in vain,” said Gohil.

A BJP stronghold, winds of change in Kodinar were observed first in 2009 when Congress candidate Dhirsinh Barad won a by-election.