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Life under threat, he teaches poor farmers journalism
Hindol Sengupta
Belaganj (Bihar) (IANS) Maoist guerrillas have threatened to kill him, the private militia of landlords have vowed to "hurt him bad", political parties think he is meddlesome, and the big newspapers ignore his work.
But Shiv Bachan Sharma continues his crusading journalism through his 12-page newspaper, even teaching poor farmers to become sharp-nosed reporters.
"The powerful people think I’m doing what I’m not supposed to do," Sharma, smiling through toothless gums, told IANS.
His Hindi paper "Magadh" is distributed by hand, mainly by him and printed through its meagre earnings selling ad-space (a half-page ad is sold between Rs.500-1,000 depending on how bad the cash flow is). It is sold at Rs.2 per copy, which brings some more revenue.
And Sharma, a 54-year-old bachelor who once was an activist of the Communist Party of India (CPI), used to be its only reporter-editor until he got together his neighbours - mainly poor paddy farmers.
"They have become my source of news," said Sharma, who prides in printing the grassroot production, no matter how grave the threat.
"I told them, ’Why should you only read the paper? I’m writing about you and me, our problems, and no one knows more about our problems than us. So tell me what is happening and how you feel, that way our voice will be heard’."
From his house in Belaganj, around 60 km from capital Patna, Sharma gathers news from all sources and prepares copy by hand.
"Often enough, the big newspapers have no idea about what is happening in the rural areas.
"They just sit in their city offices, talk to city people and write what they want. Then their stuff is read by mostly city people who believe what they read. It’s nowhere close to what the ground situation is."
With his unique network, Sharma does much more. His views are those of the villagers and in the districts his widely read paper can make serious damage - no wonder the threats.
He is being threatened because he writes the truth," said Gopal Kumar, a farmer who’s now learning the ropes of journalism from Sharma.
"Everyone here reads his paper. Its contents are discussed every evening. People react to what he is writing - and if he is writing that the political parties are doing nothing for us or the rebels are exploiting us - then that’s bad news for them."
Without rural support, no political party has any hope in the polls and without tacit protection, the Maoists or Ranvir Sena, their arch foes, cannot survive.
"Everything in a village is about community," said Sharma, who wrote that the Maoists idea of boycotting polls would hurt the villagers. Naturally, this angered the rebels.
"I got anonymous notes saying this is the end for me and my paper. That I’m doing too much harm."
That’s not what his readers think, though.
"He was right," said Sundar Lal, a local sweetshop owner. "We should be more part of the political process, not outside it. That’s the only way we can exercise some control on what these leaders do. "If we don’t vote, who will care about us?"
This is just the sort of reaction that keeps Sharma going, who swears by his objectivity and says he quit as a member of CPI after starting the paper.
"The party was my life but when the paper came, I left," said Sharma, who has written that Ranvir Sena tortures villagers. "No one should be able to colour my view."
And the man, whose only regret is that big newspapers don’t notice that he is able to predict poll winners in district after district in every Bihar poll, is trying to teach his students the first lesson of good journalism - report only the truth.
"The truth is everything, if we have that, we have everything," said Sharma. "One day, I’ll go to a big newspaper office and show them my poll predictions over many years - then they’ll have to take notice of me."