Mahavir Narwal, the father of Pinjra Tod activist Natasha Narwal passed away on Sunday, days after he had tested positive for COVID-19 and admitted to an ICU in a critical condition in Rohtak. Seventy-one years old Dr. Narwal was a noted scientist and a senior member of the Communist Party of India (Marxist). It has been reported that her brother, Aakash has also been tested positive for COVID-19 and is isolating at home.
Meanwhile, his daughter Natasha, a JNU Ph.D. scholar, continues to be incarcerated under the draconian Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) in Tihar jail. Her bail petition to be able to visit her father who was admitted to a hospital will be heard on Monday, May 10. Hours before his demise, Pinjra Tod, a women’s group had called for a Twitter storm demanding the release of Natasha Narwal to visit her sick father.
Pinjra Tod through a statement informed about Dr. Narwal’s demise and said that “he was a rock for many of us, a voice of sanity in the din, calmly and cooly raising his firm voice.”
We have lost Mahavir Narwal- comrade, father, friend, fellow traveller. He passed away 2 hrs back due to covid-related complications. This is an immense loss for us and the larger community as for Natasha. He was a rock for many, a voice of sanity in the din.. pic.twitter.com/GO7M6iVZUT
— Pinjra Tod (@PinjraTod) May 9, 2021
A Progressive Father and Comrade
Associated with the People’s Science Movement and the Gyan-Vigyan Andolan from its initial days, he was actively engaged in progressive politics. During the Emergency period in the country, he had been imprisoned for his engagement in political protests.
In a heart-rending video shot by Karwan-e-Mohabbat (Caravan of Love), a people’s campaign, Mahavir Narwal can be seen discussing Natasha’s politics and his warm relationship to her fondly, just like how a comrade would and most middle-class Hindu fathers would not. He talks fondly and proudly about Natasha always being an ally to those who were suffering indignities fearlessly. At one point he even expresses his anxiety around the possibility of now being able to meet his beloved daughter one last time, given his growing age and the tendency of UAPA cases to be dragged on for years with no certainty of release.
In sharp contrast to the hegemonic masculine imagination of the political space, during the course of the entire video, we find him completely at ease with her daughter’s engagement in progressive politics to resist patriarchy and racism. Not even once do we find him asking his daughter or anyone else to stop their resistance.
3. UAPA: A Weapon of Repression and Uncertainty
It has been over a year since Natasha and several other activists associated with the country-wide Anti-Citizenship (Amendment) Act have been put in jail under UAPA. They are accused of a planned conspiracy related to the communal violence that took place in East Delhi in February 2020. Natasha as we know has been acquitted by the courts in most of the charges put up against her by the Delhi Police but the state’s employment of UAPA against her renders her case just like numerous other cases, without a fair trial― or even a trial.
REMEBER SADIST HINDUTVA RULERS!
PEOPLE OF INDIA WILL SURELY CONFRONT YOU FOR YOUR CRIMES COMMITTED AGAINST PEOPLE OF INDIA, HUMANITY & DEMOCRATIC VALUES!!
[…] in Tihar Jail for her alleged involvement in the Delhi Riots of 2020. The scholar and activist who lost her dad yesterday night to Covid-19 has been granted interim bail for a period of three weeks. Her lawyers […]
[…] Natasha Narwal’s interim bail of three weeks came a day after her father Dr. Mahavir Narwal passed away of COVID-19 in a hospital— too late to be provided any […]
[…] added that when she informed him about the death of Dr. Narwal, he became upset and extremely anxious thinking of his own seven years old daughter who has been […]
[…] care of her father who had contracted COVID19 but days later it was only in the wake of her father Mahavir Narwal‘s death that she was given a three-week interim bail on May […]