Despite vilification by politicians and bureaucrats, with the active involvement of religious leaders and obscurantist forces, the poet-turned-activist strongly defended the environmental cause in Kerala
Despite its progressive moorings and a long history of ideological politics, the society in Kerala has generally been intolerant towards environmentalists and the way they perceive development. That is why politicians across the spectrum still describe the famous Silent Valley Movement — the first-of-its-kind, successful environmental activism in India — a silly issue about a few monkeys and a small stream.
Environmentalists have been described as a bunch of unrealistic, romantic people who hallucinate without bothering much about realities. Developmental seminars and policy debates have targeted environmentalists as a minority group that wilfully scuttles the state’s overall growth.
Sugathakumari, a highly celebrated poet and a pioneer of environmental activism in Kerala — who breathed her last on Wednesday (December 23, 2020) morning — was always a target of the so-called development lobby; It went to the extent of labelling her an environmental terrorist.
Despite vilification by politicians and bureaucrats, with the active involvement of religious leaders and obscurantist forces, the poet-turned-activist was able to strongly defend the environmental cause in Kerala — a state nestled between the Western Ghats and the Arabian Sea with more than 40 rivers and a vast stretch of evergreen forests.
For Silent Valley and its highly endangered lion-tailed macaques, she was the guardian angel. Her league of minority environmental activists effectively halted the initiation of controversial hydroelectric power projects at Pathrakadavu and Athirappilly; else they could have turned environmental nightmares, inundating large tracts of forest land.
She also led a protracted war against the implementation of an atomic power project at Peringome in Kannur district in north Kerala.
For Sugathakumari, environmental activism was not a favourite pastime. Right from the beginning of the 1970s — since when environmental concerns came to debated worldwide — she emerged the champion of green cause in Kerala. And as far as environmentalism was concerned, the poet and activist in her were inseparable.
She told her followers to plant a banyan when they asked for her last wish. She wanted such a tree for her memorial. She did not anything written on or near it: “Do not keep even my ashes there. Let birds come and eat the fruits; that is all I want.”
Sugathakumari also suggested a spot to plant the tree — the backyard of Abhaya, the institution she established for the rehabilitation of destitute women and those differently abled.
A long-term critic of flawed governmental policies, she did not want any posthumous government honour. She also told her followers to not place any flower or wreath on her dead body. She was 86 when she died.
Sugathakumari could force some of her long-time critics to find merit in her passionate arguments for forests and the environment. The second daughter of late Gandhian activist Bodheswaran and Sanskrit scholar VK Karthiyayayani, she succeeded in laying a strong foundation for environmental activism in Kerala through direct interventions, poetry, speeches and protests.
An award-winning legendary poet, she used her poems as instruments to convey the message of conservation and protection. Her philanthropy and charity also contained the strong commitment she had with nature and the environment.
The first chairperson of the Kerala State Women’s Commission, Sugathakumari always maintained equal distance from all political formations through some of her stands and faced allegations of being closer to soft Hindutva. But she always described herself as a follower of Vivekananda and Gandhi with an inclusive approach.
Retired almost from a vigorous literary and public life for over two years, Sugathakumari died without fulfilling a long-cherished dream: Revisiting Silent Valley in Palakkad district of central Kerala to see the success of the campaign she led at the end of the 1970s for saving the rainforests from a hydroelectric project.
Campaigners for the protection of Silent Valley recited her famous poem Marathinu Sthuti (Hymn to a Tree) at every protest venue across the state.
When asked about the turning points in her life, she told this correspondent five years ago that her visits to Silent Valley and the Oolanpara mental hospital in state capital Thiruvananthapuram made all differences. She said those visits changed her life altogether; the realities of those places were a rude awakening from her deep immersion in romantic poetry. On many occasions, she said she felt her clothes were on fire after those visits.
It was then she devoted herself fully to green activism and rehabilitation of abandoned mentally challenged people, especially women. She was also in the forefront of agitations seeking justice for women and children, who were subject to serial sexual exploitations and harassments.
A strong and passionate advocate for the safe protection of environmentally fragile Western Ghats, she earned the wrath of lobbies representing encroachers and occupiers on several occasions.
When the Gadgil Committee recommendations for the protection of Western Ghats started inviting large-scale attacks from organised religions and encroachment lobbies supported by them, she evolved as a powerful defender of the report.
Despite the prevailing lethargy in Kerala against environmental activism, people always regarded her as the last word on conservation in the state. Despite being labelled as leader of a minuscule minority living in hallucination, governmental agencies and officials were forced to seek her version or stand before implementing projects with environmental implications.
Her passion and commitment to the cause were matchless. There is a living memorial for Sugathakumari in Attappady near Silent Valley. A re-forestation drive initiated by her during the early 1980s along with fellow poet and conservationist NV Krishna Warrier on a vast stretch of barren land had evolved over the years as a thick forest. A Krishna devotee, she affectionately named it Krishna Vanam.
As an activist, environmentalist, social worker and poet, Sugathakumari had her shortfalls as well. She evoked large-scale criticism on many occasions by taking soft Hindutva stands, forgetting even her own earlier stands for inclusive and plural social existence.
Her comments against women wearing modern dresses and using mobile phones also evoked strong protests. She was silent on environmental concerns raised during the Adani Group promoting the upcoming Vizhinjam Transshipment Terminal near Thiruvananthapuram.
Yet she was able to place environmental protection as one of the top priorities of the state even when the successive governments remained least concerned about it. Along with environmentalism, her works for the differently abled and destitute set the pace.
The poet who championed the cause of humanism and celebrated the need for coexistence would remain in public memory forever.
Views expressed are the author’s own and don’t necessarily reflect those of Down To Earth
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