Santosh koli is unforgettable. Her face and her name remain with you long after the reason for meeting her is behind you. Maybe the reason for meeting her was as lasting as her memory.
Santosh died today morning after battling for life for more than a month. She was fatally injured after the bike she was travelling in was hit by a vehicle in an incident which is being regarded not a mere accident by the Aam Aadmi Party which she represented.
But I met her the first time long before Aam Aadmi party or any of the anti-corruption campaigns began in a formal way. And that was not so long ago.
My purpose in meeting her was to get details of a survey Arvind Kejriwal's NGO Parivartan had done in Raghuvir Nagar in Delhi. This was the place where Delhi Government had piloted a cash-for-food scheme with a view to closing down the ration system in Delhi in phases. The survey found majority of householders unhappy about food being replaced by cash.
I was asked to get in touch with Santosh. Her spirited voice still rings in my ears when I recall our conversation. She asked questions like what was the guarantee that cash would end leakages? And if Delhi Government has already decided to shut down food distribution all over Delhi then why do a pilot? She told me how majority of people she met were against cash transfer and those who supported it did so only because the ration shops were totally dysfunctional.
I wanted to meet some of these beneficiaries myself to find out what they felt about cash replacing food.
So I went to meet her to collect addresses of families who were included in the pilot. It was easier than getting data from the government.
I saw her somewhere near Connaught place where she and a lot of activists were gathered for a workshop.
When I saw her tiny figure I was surprised. For she looked almost like a school girl and I had been getting so much gyan on cash transfer from her?
But her appearance was deceptive as Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit herself found out.
Her persistent questions and objections at a meeting of NGOs called by Dikshit forced the latter to lose her cool and send Santosh out.
But Santosh could only be driven out of a room. She could not be driven out of an issue she has seized. In this case it was cash transfer.
Whether the Government admits or not, Santosh did have her say. The cash transfer project ended with the pilot and the ration shops continue to function. The last question she put to me before we parted rings in my ears. and it coincided with the question many cash beneficiaries in raghuvir nagar raised to me: what is the guarantee that people would get the money when the scheme is scaled up beyond 100 families?
The only tribute the Government can pay to that feisty activist is by making the ration system a model one which will automatically serve the poor and needy and the migrants. This would be apt because Santosh who worked with Kejriwal to expose leakages in the ration system was from one of the backward areas of Delhi called Sundar Nagri and belonged to one of the poor families whose causes she upheld. It was a coincidence that kejriwal held his fast a few months ago staying at her humble residence rather than in Jantar Mantar.
Her memory today gives hopes to the downtrodden of a better tomorrow, of success following a sincere struggle and it underlines the glory of a life of single pointed service.
