By Nakul Singh Sawhney
I woke up this morning to the sad and tragic news of the sudden demise of my friend, brother, comrade Shandar Gufran.
For those who have watched my film, ‘Muzaffarnagar Baaqi Hai- Muzaffarnagar Eventually’ you may recall how Shandar bhai spoke candidly and eloquently about the sense of marginalisation that he and the Muslim community, on the whole, were faced with in India today. He recounted, how earlier on Eid the family would prepare 20 kgs of Sheer since the house would be flooded with guests, both Hindu and Muslims. But now, since the 1990’s, Hindu friends had stopped coming over on Eid. They’d prepare 2 kgs of sheer, only for the family. He rued how the friends he had grown up with now roam around with tridents in their hands during elections. Earlier, the same friends would greet him by saying ‘Salaam’ and shake hands. Now, they insisted on ‘Jai Sri Ram’.
In fact, the sense of bereavement only grew since he felt the sense of alienation on ‘both sides’. Muslims felt he wasn’t ‘Muslim enough’, Hindus felt he wasn’t ‘Indian enough’. Shandar bhai came from a family of photographers. His father had set up the first photo studio in Muzaffarnagar, ‘Gufran Studios’. His father, a staunch nationalist, had refused to go to Pakistan after partition even though all siblings and close relatives did. After the Muzaffarnagar-Shamli massacre in 2013, Shandar bhai couldn’t but help question his father’s decision. ‘Kahe ki deshbhakti?’ (What’s the point of this nationalism?) he would wonder looking at deceased father’s photograph. His shop had been attacked during the 2013 massacre.
Fortunately, the damages were minimal.
But Shandar bhai wasn’t one to quietly surrender to adversities or wallow in self pity.
Seeing the deprivation his community was pushed into, Shandar began a minority institution school for Muslim girls, ‘M.G Girls School’ in the early 2000’s. The school charges a nominal fees (and many are even studying for free). The bulk of the students are Muslim girls from Pasmanda Muslim and working class Muslim families. But running a school wasn’t a sheer formality. Every Saturday, he would spend hours with the parents, often illiterate, tirelessly discussing the children and their progress.
Shandar had become an important voice in Muzaffarngar on minority rights. He often confronted the police during the many instances when young Muslims in the area were harassed and arrested on flimsy grounds. After the 2013 massacre, his disillusionment with supposedly ‘secular’ parties like Congress and Samajwadi Party was complete. Though still sympathetic to BSP’s social justice agenda, he couldn’t hide his dismay at the party fielding Qadir Rana as its candidate in Muzaffarnagar district for the 2014 Lok Sabha elections. An FIR was filed against Qadir Rana for making an inflammatory speech just before the riots broke out. Shandar bhai went on to contest the 2014 General Elections as an independent candidate from the Muzaffarngar Lok Sabha constituency. Though he knew that victory was near impossible, he felt the election campaign would serve as an important platform to push for and raise questions that confronted marginalised communities like Dalits and Muslims.
He floated his own political party, Marxwadi Janata Party. Though always politically on the left, Shandar bhai was deeply disillusioned with traditional Communist parties in India for not addressing and foregrounding the struggle for social justice. He was of the firm belief that questions confronting marginalised communities like Dalits and Muslims had to be deeply wedded to the class struggle. That such an approach would enrich the left movement in India.
As I write this, I am reminded of the endless conversations we would have about the same. As we exchanged ideas and cigarettes, our conversations would often go on till late into the night. In today’s times, he was among the many who took forward the struggle, on the ground and theoretically, in search for a new left in India. A Left that can analyze and comprehend society in its many complexities, not one that restricts itself to viewing the world only through the prism of class.
Hard working and always roughing it out but a smile would never betray his ever pleasant persona.
He had a cerebral stroke roughly 10 days ago. He had been admitted to AIIMS as he lay unconscious there since the stroke. After the Bihar election results, I would often imagine breaking the news of BJP’s drubbing when he would regain consciousness. I could already foresee how that would lead to endless discussions about the upcoming UP elections. What would be BJP’s strategy? Would Behenji be able to counter them? What could be Marxwadi Janta Party’s role? Alas, that was never to be.
In the difficult times that confront us today, Shandar bhai will always serve as an inspiration. Always brimming with ideas, he was already planning to open another school in another part of Muzaffarnagar district and had even identified the land. Leaving us at such a young age, his many ideas, tasks and missions remain incomplete. But that also perhaps strengthens our resolve to take them further.
Shandar bhai was 41 and is survived by his wife and three sons.
In his death, Muzaffarnagar has lost one of its brightest minds. As Muzaffarngar limps back to normalcy with many arduous years ahead before some kind of long-lasting peace and justice can be attained in the district, Shandar bhai’s absence will always be felt.
Nakul Sawhney is the director of documentary film: Muzaffarnagar Baaqi Hai (https://www.facebook.com/MuzaffarnagarBaaqiHai/)