Woman claiming to be Sanjay daughter is battling to get her adoption papers
‘I DO NOT HAVE ANY MATERIALISTIC OR POLITICAL AMBITIONS. THIS IS ABOUT JUSTICE. I ALREADY KNOW WHAT THE TRUTH IS,’ SAID PRIYA SINGH PAUL.
Bhopal’s “langar-e-aam”, as its 52-year- old organiser Maqbool Ahmed calls it, has come as a blessing to the city’s beggars—nearly 300 of them every day—who have been assembling at night at the Nadara bus stand for the last four and a half years, waiting to be served dinner by the Good Samaritan.
Maqbool, who worked as a journalist in the early 1990s, started running restaurants, which he opened near the Nadara bus stand, once the heart of the nawabi town of Bhopal that had not yet expanded. “People from all over Madhya Pradesh and other states, mostly the poor, converge at the bus stand. Since I went there every day, I would see people sleeping on the roadside, searching for food from the garbage, seeking food from eateries and ultimately going to sleep on an empty stomach. Some of them would die because of hunger. I decided in May 2013 that I cannot let this happen and since then I have been organising this ‘langar’. I deliberately called it a langar so that people from all religion would feel comfortable to come here and have food. On an average, 300 people come here every day and eat,” Maqbool told The Sunday Guardian. The food is prepared in the restaurant that is run by Maqbool. “We try to give dal, chawal, rice and vegetables. Non-vegetarian food is not served as many of the people who come here to eat are vegetarian. I have read the Gita and the Quran and the one thing that I have learnt from them is that the greatest thing in this world is to feed the hungry. I try to make sure that no one, who is around my shop at night, sleeps with an empty stom- ach. Sometimes we go to footpaths and roadside and feed people since they are too ashamed to beg or stand in a queue,” he said. Maqbool plans to turn the langar into a “roti bank”, where the privileged can drop rotis or money in lieu of rotis which will be used to feed the poor. “We plan to open these roti banks initially at four places in Bhopal and these banks will function 24x7,” he said. Surrounded by controversies, Priya Singh Paul, the alleged daughter of the late Sanjay Gandhi, has gone public about her legal battle to get her adoption papers and birth certificate. While the mystery about her biological mother continues, in a conversation with The Sunday Guardian, Paul revealed that she has had no contact with any known member of the Gandhi family, nor will she change her name even if it is officially proven that she is a descendant of the Gandhi family.
In a terse reply, Paul said, “I am a proud Singh Paul. I am fighting for my adoption papers not because I have any materialistic or political ambitions. This is about justice. I already know what the truth is.”
Speaking about why she chose to oppose Indu Sarkar, an upcoming movie based on the 1975 Emergency period which was imposed by then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, Paul said, “I have a very strong belief in scriptures and scriptures teach us about ‘Pitrapaksh’. I am opposing the unfair portrayal of my family members because as a daughter, it is my obligation to stand against the misinformation that threatens the legacy of my father and my grand- mother. I have to register my protest against this film because I know that they are my family members. If I wait for the court to confirm my lineage and then criticise this film, then it puts my conviction in question. ”
Paul’s lawyer Tanveer Nizam said, “We had only sent a letter requesting director Madhur Bhandarkar to let us see the film. A week later, we find that the letter is in the media. Our legal battle was going on for Ms Paul’s adoption papers and birth certificate. The issue of the movie came in between, but she chose to oppose it. ”
Commenting on the dialogue that has also been criticised by several Congress leaders—“Sarkarein chabuk se chalti hai….”— that has come out in the trailer of the movie, Paul said, “In the trailer we see that the actor playing the role of Sanjay Gandhi says this dialogue and then we see a woman getting whipped. This is wrong. I know he could never have said it. He was not this kind of a leader.”
Questioned about her personal views on the Emergency, Paul said, “I think Indira Gandhi knew what she was doing. She was the leader of the nation and did what she deemed necessary. Today, Narendra Modi is our Prime Minister and whatever decisions he is taking for the people, we should trust them. I support Modi’s policies and his government.”
Sharing the series of events around the legal battle to get her adoption papers and birth certificate, Nizam, said, “We have not been able to get her papers yet. Two investigation officers have been changed in the process. The court had to send directives to the DCP to look into the matter. We had to go through all this because two adoption agencies told us two different stories about Ms Paul’s adoption.”
Clarifying about the identity of Paul’s biological mother, Nizam said, “We have no definite information about the mother. We are hopeful that people will come forward and contribute some information on this.”
Priya Singh Paul was the former Additional Director General during the 2010 Commonwealth Games held in New Delhi and has also worked as Head Consultant Business and Programming in Zee Entertainment Enterprises.
She had graduated from Miranda House in 1990 and did her masters in media studies from the Jamia Millia Islamia University, New Delhi.
She has also been part of the Emerging Leaders and Governance programme at the Harvard Kennedy School.
Paul identifies herself as a political analyst and a writer, and has a 13-yearold son. Her family is based here, while her husband’s business is based abroad.
Clarifying about the identity of Paul’s BIOLOGICAL MOTHER, TANVEER NIZAM, PAUL’S LAWYER, SAID, “WE HAVE NO DEfiNITE INFORMATION ABOUT THE MOTHER. WE ARE HOPEFUL THAT PEOPLE WILL COME FORWARD AND CONTRIBUTE SOME INFORMATION ON THIS.”