The memorial meeting for Balagopal at the Sundarayya Vigyan kendra in Hyderabad on Oct 12 started at 4 00 PM sharp and closed at 9 10.
Well over a thousand attended. The main auditorium was jam packed, many sat on the floor and many more stood on the stairs and in the street. The entire meeting was telecast live by the HMTV. About 30 got the opportunity to speak. Among the speakers were K G kannabiran, Vara Vara Rao, Mrinalini (Balagopal's sister). The speakers shared with their personal memories of Balagopal as a student, teacher, friend, philosopher and guide and most of all as a moral force. Quite a few were overcome by emotion even as they spoke. The following condolence message was read out in the meeting. [Based on a report received.] *The Coalition for Nuclear Disarmament and Peace (CNDP), pays its heartfelt condolence at the sudden and untimely passing away of K. Balagopal who breathed his last on last Thursday night.* Sri Balagopal was known across the country for his profound scholarship and, more than that, fearless activism in the arena of human rights covering a wide range of issues. Thus he came to be personally associated with the process of formation of the CNDP in the year 2000. He would later become an inspiration and a great support for the Movement Against Uranium Project (AP) - a constituent of the CNDP - spearheading successful popular resistance against the proposed uranium mining/milling project in Nalgonda. The CNDP pays its richest tribute to his memory and conveys deepest sympathies to the members of his family and immediate friends. *Satya Lakshmi Channa Vasavaiah Mazher Hussain Saraswati Kavula Sukla Sen Achin Vanaik* for Coalition for Nuclear Disarmament and Peace 12 10 2009 A write up by M. Channa Basavaiah, Hyderabad The sudden death of Human Rights Forum (HRF) leader Dr. K. Balagoal (57), on the night of 8th October the Thursday, is a great loss to the human rights movements in the country in general and Andhra Pradesh in particular. He was a relentless activist who devoted his life for the cause of the people in the A.P. The HRF is one of the member organizations of the CNDP. He participated in preparatory meeting at Nagpur before launching of the CNDP. He was instrumental in forming “A.P. Forum Against Nuclear Weapons” and writing a booklet on the dangers of nuclear weapons and disseminating it at the grassroots level in A.P. He was also instrumental in organizing combined meetings of the HRF and the CNDP in Hyderabad and several other parts of the state in opposing American War on Afghanistan, Iraq and opposing the Indo-US Nuclear Agreement etc. Dr.K. Balagopal obtained his Ph.D. in Mathematics from the National Institute of Technology (NIT), Warangal and joined as a Professor in the Dept. of Mathematics, Kakatiya University, Warangal, A.P. Attracted towards Marxist Leninist Politics from the student days Dr. K. Balagopal quit his teaching career joined as a whole time activist of Civil Liberties. From 1980s onwards he worked with Andhra Pradesh Civil Liberties Committee (APCLC). Even as the APCLC was highlighting the fake encounters and the killing of Naxalites by the police, debate on the human rights took a new turn with a section of people also questioning the violence by the Naxalites. Several people were killed by the naxal groups in the name of informers and several innocent tribals were killed in the landmine blasts. Interestingly, Dr Balagopal opposed the indiscriminate killing of people by the naxals and he started questioning the violence by the private groups and people, including the naxals. This led to a split in the APCLC and he walked out of the outfit and floated the Human Rights Forum (HRF) in the early 1990s. Till recently he was the President of the HRF. As a practicing lawyer at the A.P. High Court from the last decade he had argued dozens of cases pertaining to encounter killings by the police and civil rights. His voice was heard strongly for the cause of the Dalits in Karamchedu, Kollipara, Kanchikacharla, Pippara, Dontali, Tsundur and many more places where Dalits were killed, butchered and victimized by the caste people. He received threats to his life during his fight against violence, but he never cared for such threats. He dedicated his life for the cause of the poor and their rights. He fought against the any form of exploitation by the State and also the private groups. --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Green Youth Movement" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/greenyouth?hl=en-GB -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
