Charles Wesley Meesa
It is extremely shocking to hear the sudden demise of dear friend and Ambedkarite activist Charles Wesley Meesa yesterday due to Covid 19 on October 2. He was one of the very few Ambedkarites who could speak for hours on economic policies and land reforms, Charles was based in Hyderabad and was a proud Telanganite. I know his tremendous passion for Telangana and the issue of Dalits-Adivasis in the state.
Covid 19 continues to snatch friends from us and this is really becoming extremely painful. We don’t know what is happening and how long will this go on. Each one of us is actually in a potential threat zone. At the time when there is deep depression everywhere, Covid has aggravated the situation further. It has isolated people and can create a lot of psychological issues if things don’t get resolved in near future.
For me it is a personal loss as I had the time and opportunity to be with him, stayed at his place in Tarnaka and addressed many gatherings together and participated in so many programmes. Our relationship was over 15 years old and I got introduced to him through my dear friend Sujatha Surepally who has been persistently and passionately working on people’s issues in Telangana.
He got associated with a numerous like-minded people speaking about economic issues too and was pragmatic to the core which resulted in his association with like minded people not necessarily Ambedkarites but also of Marxists and Gandhians too because for the cause of economic justice he was ready to walk along with the like minded people. Charles was basically an activist whose first love was people. Among the activists, he was a reader who would acquaint himself with the latest on the issue of globalisation and agrarian question.
What more can one write except that these are extremely painful moments. Covid has really made us look vulnerable and attacking people who might be living alone. I know these are difficult times but I can only request friends to protect themselves. Please don’t compete as this is not the season of showing ‘bravery’. Important for each one of us to get in touch. The crisis of social activists or those who work on public life and most of them are highly alone, absolutely isolated in their family locations. Because of their ideological positions, we remain cut off from rest of the so called relatives and friends and Covid is attacking that and making people more vulnerable.
My dear friends, please do take care of yourself. Your life is precious and at the time when good people are in short supply, it is important that you take care of yourself at least those who have issues of hypertension or other serious ailments. The current situation is not going to resolve in the near future and it is important for all of us to strengthen each other and share our ideas not merely through social media but also through phone calls.
Don’t hesitate to speak to friends and definitely can discuss issues other than ‘national’ and ‘international issues’. We can’t afford to lose such friends like Charles who was an important pillar of Ambedkarite movement in Telangana and had enormous wealth of knowledge and understanding of people’s issues, which is rare these days. The passing away of Charles is a big loss for the social movements particularly those Ambedkarites who are working on land rights issues. My sincere condolences.
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