Rita Farhat Mukand

“I am a proud Indian nationalist deshbhakt by blood and DNA. I have devoted my life to the urban poor,” says R. Roshan Baig, a veteran leader from Karnataka, a seven-time MLA and former Home Minister of the southern State.

78th Independence day

“This 78 Independence Day, I send my blessings for our nation and it is with great pride and happiness that I can say I am the son of the soil of India, love my country, and have served my Motherland diligently. When I was 13 years old, I became a volunteer at Bowring Hospital, a famous government hospital, and felt a sense of joy and relief helping the people there. I have devoted my life to ease the pain of the urban poor."

At 72, Roshan Baig is an example of an individual's contribution to building India as a modern nation and an egalitarian society.

He began his public life as a student leader during his college days. He served in several Youth Organizations and Educational Institutions like the International Youth Festivals held between 1978 and 1985 in Havana, Belgrade, and Moscow.

In a special conversation with Awaz-the-Voice on the eve of the 78th Independence Day, he spoke of his advocacy of making cheaper generic drugs available to the common Indians and some other milestones in his journey as a leader.

Roshan Baig and his family after casting their votes

“As I turn the pages of our sacred Constitution, the words of liberty, freedom, and equality blaze my heart to aspire to bring that same equality in society and I have been working for this since my youth. Since my school days, I have been very involved in hospital work especially in a government hospital helping people, getting them admitted, and seeing to their needs, including my relatives.” 

In those days, there was a Hindi song, “Kisi Kisi ki muskurahaton pe ho nisaa (Fall for someone’s smile), Kisi ka dard mil sake toh le udhaar, (Share the pain of others), Kisi ke vaaste ho tere dil mein pyar, (Have love for someone in your heart), Jeena isi ka naam hai, (This is life).  This song inspired me to build deeper bonds with people and carry their pain and sorrow.”

He says he was especially drawn to the concept of equality. “Being a student leader gave me the privilege to be part of a convoy of our former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi and was greatly motivated by her life.  Some of the powerful endeavours she undertook for our nation such as the liberation of Bangladesh enabled me to see how important liberty is. I have been influenced by her socialist philosophy with the nationalization of the banks to remove the social controls over banks to get a better alignment of the banking system to the needs of economic policy. To remove an old hierarchical system, she cancelled the Maharajas' privy purses to bring equality into the society.”

He was also inspired by Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru’s slogan of unity in diversity.

A votary of good relations among communities, he constructed a guest house for pilgrims going to Tirupati Balaji temple.

“All along, I have been fighting radicals from both sides. I am committed to peace, harmony, and a composite diverse culture of tolerance.  I believe as an MLA, I had to do a service to humanity which in my eyes is equal to the worship of God. I concentrated on the urban poor, the pavement dwellers, and sweepers; I took up a big fight to raise their wages as well because the contractors used to eat up their money, Baig said.

Roshan Baig attending wedding of a friend's son

“When I became a home minister, I can proudly say that I built a school for the policemen’s children. I told my Chief Minister that while other children easily get into good schools, a constable can’t afford tuition for his children or find time to help him with his studies and they would never make it to the good schools. He agreed and I established a residential school for them,” he says with pride.

He says he desired to see his country grow, prosper, and blend in harmonious vibes. “We worked hard for the modernization of weapons and spent many months working on the national crime records in Delhi. With the police team, we went to Israel to connect with MOSSAD, (National Intelligence Agency of Israel) and to the Interpol headquarters in the city of Lyon in France. This was my commitment to my country.”

My greatest concern is that 7% of the Indian population is suffering from various degrees and stages of mental health. There is a massive shortage of psychiatrists, neurological doctors, shortage of nurses, and ward boys for the mental health departments of hospitals. Psychiatry is an entirely different field and one cannot transport a nurse or ward boy from a hospital to a mental hospital. I wish, in the future, we have more AIIMS hospitals and mental health hospitals specifically for the poor people to break down the mafia network of private hospitals which are robbing the people of affordable treatment.“

While citizens pay 30% taxes plus 18% GST, there is enough money to make healthcare affordable.

“I devoted four years to making generic drugs available at low costs. In India, many factories are making generic drugs but all are exported while nothing is available for Indians. I started a movement for four years and had far-reaching results. As a a result the Government of India orders that the medicine agencies should use their money to only buy generic drugs to supply to hospitals and pharmacies.  At that time Ghulam Nabi Azad was the health minister.  Generic drugs in the market brought a huge relief to the Indian public.

“My commitment to continue to keep generic drugs floating in the market continues. I can say I am a social activist, I keep working for my country, working for the deradicalization of extremist groups, to bring peace into the country.”

While the Government of India presently is doing an excellent job in deradicalizing extremism in India, there needs to be more work on deradicalization also in the prisons. 

Roshan Baig receiving greeting from the public on Eid

There is a song, “Us mulk ki sarhad ko koi chu nahi sakta jis mulk ki sarhad ki nigahon hai,” meaning we are all one, we have two eyes, one is Hindu, one is Muslim, Sikhs, Christians, and others and like different parts of the body, all Indians have contributed to our freedom fight and we should now do our duty to keep our Azadi, our freedom alive. 

“I am a secular-minded Muslim, I fight extremism from any side.  As a family man, we are a closely knit happy family with my wife, two daughters who live within ten minutes of our house, and my son and family with us. As I love reading, I have a house library and spend hours devouring everything from spirituality to comparative religion.

I want to say that while people generally think all politicians are badmaash (bad) and dacoits, this is not true, I have seen politicians who don’t even have money to pay for their children’s education.

On Independence Day, I want to tell Indians we are one, so stop all divisions, whether you are Hindus, Muslims, Sikhs, Christians, and other communities.  We all have the same blood flowing through our veins.  We need to work together to build a powerful harmonious society.  I believe in the wholeness and oneness of society, and ultimately, tolerance and love will enable us to defeat our enemies.

Rita Farhat Mukand is an independent writer and author