Returning home after an 18-day hunger strike, 82-year old Daya Bai is still committed to fight for justice for the helpless. Her body may look feeble but strong will is what drives her at this age. 

“This is just a temporary halt for the strike, I will continue the fight till the Endosulfan victims get justice,” Bai said. Talking about her involvement in the fight that started in 2018, the social activist said that she first met the victims on her visit to Ambalathara in Kasargod. “The faces of those children hurt me to the core and I teared up,” she said, adding that she had witnessed such a scene once earlier, while visiting Ann Frank’s home in Germany.

“Currently, that house is a museum, which carries all the burdens of the Nazi era. I asked the authorities why people were being made to go through the cruelties of that era to which their reply was, ‘so that others wouldn’t follow the path’,” Bai said.

“The Endosulfan victims of Kasargod are also living in concentration camps build for them. Their freedom lies in the hands of the government. They deserve the rights prescribed in our constitution,” she added.

About the government’s responsibility, she said that they cannot be allowed to ignore the victims. Bai expressed confidence that the government will take the necessary steps promised to her. “I hope they will take the steps to build an AIIMS in Kasargod,” she said. 

The social activist further said that the victims haven’t received the monthly allowance of Rs 2,000 in the past five months.

Criticising the government she said that even though the hunger strike was in front of the State Secretariat in Thiruvananthapuram, no officials came to visit her. 

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