Friends, Indians and thara countrymen,
lend me your ears.
I come to ban Endosulfan, not to spray it.
The evil insecticides do lives after them,
For their components enter men’s bones.
So let it be with Endosulfan.
The noble Achuthanandan hath told you
Endosulfan is dangerous
If it were so, it is a grievous fault,
And grievously will Endosulfan answer it
when it is banned.
Here, under leave of Achuthanandan
and the rest and his fast—
So are they all, all honourable men—
V M Sudheeran included
Come I to speak in Endosulfan’s funeral.
It was not my friend, though it killed insects:
But Achuthanandan says it was dangerous;
And Achuthanandan is an honourable man.
Achuthanandan wants to ban it all over India
For it has killed and maimed people.
Very good. But isn’t the tragedy limited to
Kasaragod where it was sprayed aerially?
Is there a report from anywhere else
Where it was not sprayed so?
But Achuthanandan says it is dangerous;
And Achuthanandan is an honourable man.
And he is on a fast.
Why did the CIB permit its aerial spray,
For a long, from 1978 to 1992?
Didn’t they know it would kill people,
poison air, pollute water and degrade soil?
Who was the culprit, endosulfan or
those who cleared it for aerial spraying?
Is Achuthanandan planning to prosecute them all?
But Achuthanandan says it is dangerous;
And Achuthanandan is an honourable man.
Isn’t Plantation Corporation,
which sprayed it on people,
a government company?
How come it sprayed endosulfan
from 1992 till 2001
without CIB permission?
Who is more dangerous, endosulfan, or
Those who sprayed it on people?
Is he planning to prosecute them all?
But Achuthanandan is on a fast.
And he is an honourable man.
Hasn’t the Kerala Assembly pass a bill
to set up a tribunal for
compensating Plachimada people?
Isn’t Coca-Cola being held accountable?
Why not a tribunal for Enmakaje victims?
or is it that only MNCs need to be answerable?
But Achutanandan is on a fast for the people of India.
And he is an honourable man.
Isn’t he shooting the messenger?
Isn’t he playing a cruel joke on people?
Isn’t the media playing along, stupidly?
O judgment! Thou art fled to brutish beasts,
And men have lost their reason.
Bear with me.
