On August 15, Vimal Bhai, one of the most respected human rights activists of our times, breathed his last at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), New Delhi after a prolonged illness.
According to a press release issued by the National Alliance of People’s Movements (NAPM), he had first been admitted to Safdarjung Hospital on August 10, and then shifted to AIIMS the same day following “severe complications related to lungs, liver, kidney, due to long covid, amidst reduced immunity.” He passed away after suffering multiple organ failure.
Vimal Bhai is perhaps best known for his activism with respect to rivers – whether it was the Narmada in Gujarat or the Ganga in Uttarakhand’s Tehri-Garhwal region where he worked to oppose pollution, and supported people’s rights to be involved in the ‘developmental processes’ as part of Matu Jan Sangathan.
He had also made a documentary titled Ten Years of Injustice in 2016, showcasing the impact of the Tehri Dam project on the local fragile ecology. “Until now, the problems arising in the Uttarakhand region and the Ganga Valley – much of which is caused by the number of small and big dams built – has been overlooked by the unjust greed for electricity; we have to save ecology and people’s rights over the natural resources provided by the Himalaya,” Vimal Bhai had said at a screening of this documentary in New Delhi in April 2016. He had criticised the Namami Ganga initiative which only looked at river pollution and cleaning, but evaded the issue of dams on the Ganga. “We will not give up until our rivers and our people get their rights,” he had said.
“From being an active organizer in the anti-dam and ecological movements to supporting basti-dwellers of Khorigaon, to helping anti-mining struggles in Rajasthan, being at the forefront of campaigns against hate and communal violence via Aman ki Pehel, to standing up for trans and queer rights, to supporting release of political prisoners and asserting the right to self-determination of Kashmiris, he was always with people and nature,” recalled NAPM of which he was one of the national co-ordinators and convenors for many years. “He participated with Pride in many LGBTQIA+ Pride Marches and was a key bridge between queer and other movements,” said the group paying homage to the activist.
It is also noteworthy that even amidst the Covid-19 pandemic, Vimal Bhai “immersed himself in assisting thousands of families of Khorigaon who were brutally evicted by the Haryana Government and denied fair rehabilitation.”
In a letter dated July 25, 2022, to President Draupadi Mumru, Vimal Bhai had appealed to her to uphold and defend the rights of Adivasis and also to meet students of the Narmada Jeevanshalas, to understand the impact of the Narmada dam project on displaced indigenous communities.
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