Adieu, Sanjay bhai

It is with great sorrow that we inform you about the sad demise of Sanjay Sangvai, a great visionary, committed activist and a wonderful human being. Sanjay dedicated his life to the various struggles of the marginalized people especially Narmada Bachao Aandolan. He passed away at 7.00 am (29th May 2007 ) this morning at the Nature Life Hospital at Kochi run by Dr. Jacob Vadakkanchery.

For a while Sanjay has been under treatment for his heart and respiratory problem. In spite of being very ill, he continued to contribute to various people’s struggles with passion. He rarely expressed the toll his ill health was taking on him and continued with his engagements in the usual manner. However, he was very sick of late and the family had decided to take him to Kochi to be at Dr. Jacob's place for treatment.

Sanjay was a journalist and activist throughout his life. He had been writing, in English, Hindi and Marathi, about the issues of the displaced people and the struggles of NBA and other such people's movements. For the past couple of years, he has been closely involved with issues of SEZs, land acquisition and displacement. Before joining as a full-time activist of NBA in 1989, he worked as a lecturer in departmen of journalism of Pune University. Besides NBA he was involved in various initiatives like “Pakistan, India People’s Forum for Peace and Democracy”.

Sanjay was closely associated with National Centre for Advocacy Studies, Pune. Being a part of the Media Unit, he was always there to motivate and inspire us to take up action on various fronts. Sanjay through his life and writings has been a source of inspiration to youth to get involved in the struggles for a just society. He may no longer be amongst us today - but his spirit will inspire all of us forever.

Zindabad. In Solidarity
NCAS team