The death of Prof GN Saibaba has left his friends and supporters in grief, as the rights warrior’s demise came as untimely. At a moment, when the 57-year-old Professor got acquitted after a decade long struggle and was looking forward for a peaceful retirement life ahead, fate took him away from his family and friends.

As late Prof Saibaba’s body was kept for public to pay respects at his residence in Moula Ali, activists and leaders from various political parties arrived to pay their last respects. Among all the politicians, one visit which made heads turned was of BRS working president KT Rama Rao.

Prof Saibaba supporters raised slogans ‘Go Back KTR’, while KTR came to pay respects. This spontaneous act of Saibaba supporters immediately made news. But if we review the life of Saibaba, the anger of his supporters towards KTR seems to be misdirected.

Prof Saibaba supporters had raised slogans against KTR alleging that KCR-led BRS Govt had not done anything during its rule to help jailed Professor. But if we study the timeline, Prof Saibaba was arrested by Maharashtra police in May, 2014, days before Prime Minister Narendra Modi took over. Technically he was arrested in Congress-led UPA rule.

Professor Saibaba was arrested under Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA), alleging links with Maoists. While the trial in the case took about 10 years, he got finally acquitted in March 2024.

The point to be noted here is UAPA was brought in by Congress-led UPA, with even BJP-led NDA supporting it. And all through Prof Saibaba’s struggles, barring Communist parties, all other mainstream political parties maintained a clear distance.What’s heart-rending is he was not even offered bail, to attend his mother’s funeral. No politician had raised voice even then. Thus, politicians from all political parties had maintained distance from the late Professor during his struggles. It’s ironic that now they are paying last respects.

Dnr