Update from the Dharna in Mehendiganj
Minutes of conversation with Nandlal on 4/11/2006 by Gaurav.
The campaign is coming along well. Now there are a good number of people from outside who are dropping in. There was this team from Germany who spent four days in and around Mehdiganj. I took them to villages around Mehdiganj and they had a chance to meet the farmers and villagers who had been affected and to also look at the land which had been polluted. They also met the laborers who had lost their jobs. They were talking of how things are in Germany. Coca-Cola signs a ten year lease, sets up a plant and then it suddenly closes the plant, leaving large number of people jobless. This group has made a video about how Coca-cola and its practices but no channel was ready to screen it. Recently Coca-cola is sponsoring the Soccer World Cup and it wants that only coke products be sold in a radius of 1 mile from the stadium. This got the people in a huge protest and the video made by them has now been seen by a large number of people.
Prof Varman from IIT is also visiting Mehdiganj and he was allowed inside the Coke plant for a visit. Another group from America was supposed to arrive today but they are delayed because they did not get a visa. I expect them to be able to come after 20 April.
Another group of 6-8 people came from Ghazipur. I have heard from other groups of people who want to join us and show their solidarity but currently I have asked them to wait till April 20th. This is because the local farmers are busy with the wheat crop and some of the youth are busy with exams. There is no point in having the dharna with so many people from outside but very few local people. I think it is proper that there be lots of local people at the dharna.
With the team from Germany, we went to the Coke factory. There is this huge banner outside the Coke factory inviting people to come and visit the plant. The team from Germany wanted to visit the plant but they were not allowed inside as the guard said that outside people could not be allowed. This was probably because in the video they had screened in Germany there was a snippet about the lathi-charge in Mehdiganj on November 24th 2004. Even then there was probably a team from Germany here which captured the video.
I decided to take up the offer by Coca-cola and go visit the plant. But the guard said that they we could not bring in any camera or cell-phone and I come into the plant along with 4 people. I saw no reason why they would not allow a camera inside their plant. I call this invitation by them a big farce. The guard said that this was private property and that was why they were not allowed with a camera. But these people come and take a video of our protest. They can then identify people taking part in the protest and try to dissuade them. The team from Germany then took an interview of a former worker of Coca-cola. The guard from the company told them that this was not allowed too, but I said that this was government land and that Coca-cola could not dictate terms to us. They finally went ahead and took the video.
Coca-cola was been pressurizing the people who have been supporting our struggle. They have asked the neighbors from whom we were taking electricity to stop helping us. The protest is happening on a private piece of land and they have even asked the owners to throw us out and end the dharna. The land is owned by three brothers and two of them have expressed support for our struggle. These brothers actually run a 'dhaba' which is quite close to the plant, and thus there get a good amount of business because of them and for this reason they don't want to go against coca-cola directly. They have told us that coca-cola may or may not exist tomorrow but you all are going to be living here. We have told Coca-cola that we will leave the land if the police ask us to, but not so at your request.
Two days back we had a protest at the district headquarters in Varanasi. There were professors, farmers, and other people to protest against Coca-cola. In the last 3-4 days things have been improving.
Last night a weird incident took place. We were all sleeping and suddenly a couple of us wake up to see a woman standing by us. Her hair was all messed up and her sari was torn. We were really shocked to see this woman. She said that she wanted to have Pepsi and I told her that there was a Coke factory nearby where she may be able to get Coke. We were afraid that this was part of some plan to get us framed and we tried to get the woman to leave, but the woman just refused to leave. There was not much we could do to get the woman to go away. Luckily there were five women from another district who were also there with us, and we woke them up. When they tried to get her out, she lay down on the floor and said that she would not leave. She demanded money to leave and I said that we did not have any. We did not want to encourage her to come here again in the future. She finally decided that she wanted food, and luckily there was some food. After taking the food, the women from our group managed to take her about hundred metres away and asked her to leave. It was really dark last night as out solar lantern also went out by 10 o'clock, we had no candle and we had to manage by the light from Suresh's mobile. I tried calling the local inspectors mobile phone but it was switched off and his landline is usually not working well. I will pursue the matter today to find out who the woman was and what she was doing at the site of the protest in the middle of the night.
Coca-cola says that the whole protest is a farce and it is driven by a few people for their political gains. They also say that the local people are quite happy with the company and in fact support the company. They allege that the whole dharna is being done with children. I have received calls from people who have asked me these questions. I want to challenge Coca-cola to do a house to house survey and ask what the people want. If more than half the people say that they want Coca-cola then I will stop this dharna immediately. But if more than half say that coca-cola should leave, then the company must leave. This they must give us in writing. Like they have a banner asking us to visit the plant, I am thinking that we should have a banner inviting them to get a vote from the local people.
A lady from Corporate Accountability International (CAI) called up yesterday. She said that on 29th April there was going to be a shareholders meeting and they were planning a protest at the venue.
Madhuji was here for two days and she helped to translate while the team from Germany was visiting. I showed her all the documents we have about the struggle. Did she get a chance to send you the report?
We have a computer here but no internet connection. It would take 5000-7000 rupees to get the connection but I am inclined towards getting it. This way you can get more regular updates and you can help spread awareness about the campaign.