By Sujnan Nayak

On Twitter @SujnanNayak

(Edited only for Hyperlinking and formatting – Else retained verbatim)

It has become a fashion nowadays to criticize Gujarat & “Only GUJARAT” to get in the limelight. It is just like a cheap publicity stunts played by heroines of our film industry when their stars are fading and Sitaram Yechury is no different. Now that the puerile debate of Temple vs Toilets is in vague Mr Sitaram wrote another op-ed taking about “Dirt” in Gujarat Development Model. You can read that here

Sitaram’s obsession & hate for RSS/BJP is visible from the fact that couple of more recent articles start with “The RSS/BJP ….

1) “The RSS/BJP had perfected the art of double speak” here

2) “The RSS/BJP is already sounding the victory bugle” here

Mr Sitaram usually start with RSS/BJP and ends with communalism or Narendra Modi and it doesn’t matter whether he is talking about Economic Policies, Social issues or Foreign policy he has his fixed agenda of bashing BJP/RSS as if there are less people on TV channels to do this job.

So like Mr Sitaram I won’t go round in circle and come straight to the point. In the article “The dirt on Gujarat development model”

Mr Sitaram talks about manual scavenging in Gujarat apart from the usual rhetoric and compares it with Kerala. (A Model based on foreign remittances) He says “In a recent survey, a community-based organisation fighting for the rights of the scavenging community, Manav Garima, found that there are 126 spots where manual scavenging is practised under the aegis of the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation.”

So Mr Yechury here are some of the statistics that may help you understand better about your “Development Model” in West Bengal which your party ruled for more than three decades and Kerala.

According to the report   Manual Scavengers: Welfare and Rehabilitation No. 18 /RN/Ref./August /2013

West Bengal has 1,30,330, Kerala 3011 & Gujarat has 2566 manually serviced insanitary latrines. WOW!! How come a state ruled by progressive, socialist & secular party (CPM) for so long have such social indicators? May be toilets aren’t that secular to be taken care of.

Here’s another

By the talks of Mr Yechury Manual Scavenging must be only existing in books in West Bengal & Kerala but here are the facts

In West Bengal there are 6465 households where manual scavenging is done whereas it’s 1119 in Gujarat & 843 in Kerala not far behind.  Uttar Pradesh tops with 100634.

Hope these statistics are enough to prove to the reader who is the hypocrite.

Finally, Mr Sitaram your obsession can be understood by the fact that your political ground is shrinking day by day but attacking BJP/RSS without a valid point will not help.

Manual Scavenging is a black spot on India’s society which needs to be eradicated. Even after passing of Employment of Manual Scavengers and Construction of Dry Latrines (Prohibition) Act, 1993 we still see manual scavengers in our cities and rural areas. Manual Scavenging is against the people’s right of dignity of life but we have long turned a blind eye towards these people who make a living out of someone else dirt. Hope we see a real change in India rather than empty promises which are served as sanjeevani during elections.

Manual Scavenging should be prohibited from India forever and not only from Gujarat. As far as people who blindly support or hate Narendra Modi are advised to look at the statistics and ask questions to the rulers and bring about a real social change.