'His Last Wish Was...': GN Saibaba's Wife On How State Injustice Took His Life

"Years of Jail worsened GN Saibaba's health in so many ways, still there was a lot he wanted to do," said Vasantha.

We sat down with Vasantha, activist and professor GN Saibaba's wife. Sai died on 12 October, 7 months after being acquitted.

(Photo: Vibhushita Singh/The Quint)

An activist for others, but a loving partner for one and Vasantha Kumari, 58, is now grieving the loss of the latter. Dressed in a somber golden blouse and white floral saree, she sat with a family photo in her hands — one that had a smiling GN Saibaba and their daughter, Manjeera.

Teary-eyed, she looked at it with a meek smile. “I thought after the surgery he would be fine and for Manjeera and I, he would come back for us because 10 years of his life were in jail,” said Vasantha.

Activist and professor Gokarakonda Naga Saibaba (GN Saibaba) or ‘Sai’ as Vasantha lovingly calls him died almost a month ago, barely 7 months after being released from Nagpur Central jail. When The Quint met Vasantha at their Delhi residence, she was holding on to Sai’s book in her hands, like a default, natural placement she was used to.

As she welcomed us into their home, the overflowing bookcases and a hand-sketched portrait of Vasantha and Sai on the wall towering above us caught our eyes.

Vasantha held Sai's last published book, "Why Do You Fear My Way So Much? Poems and Letters From Prison," and rummaged through it to find the poem he wrote for her while he was in jail. Once she found it, she smiled and read it out to us.

His last published work that was released when he was still in jail in 2022.

(Photo: Athar Rather/The Quint)

“The sad thing is that they don't know how to make me die. Because I love so much the sounds of growing grass,” read the last lines. This encapsulates the man Sai was for Vasantha beyond the activist, writer and professor that he was.

Then time stood still for the family on 12 October, 57-year-old GN Saibaba passed away due to complications post-surgery for gallbladder stones.

Vasantha Kumari, GN Saibaba's wife at her Delhi residence.

(Photo: Screenshot from TQ Interview)

Sai rose to prominence in academia despite being wheelchair-bound from the age of 5 due to polio. He was arrested in 2014 and sentenced to life imprisonment in 2017 for alleged Maoist links and UAPA was invoked in his case.

Interestingly enough, he was acquitted twice before. Once in October 2022 but the Supreme Court suspended the order. Then again in March 2024 by Bombay High Court as "prosecution could not prove the case beyond reasonable doubt.”

Vasantha dug through their old family photographs.

(Photo: Screenshot from TQ Interview)

How The Incarceration Worsened Sai’s Health

Vasantha recalled how ever since he returned from Nagpur Central jail, Sai was dealing with a lot of health issues, most of them attributed to his time in jail. Among them was Cardiomyopathy which he got while being in jail. Because of Sai’s condition, he was not supposed to be kept in enclosed spaces and get some open air and physiotherapy.

“He got Covid-19 twice in jail, he still fought Covid-19 somehow. Everybody said that it's just a gallbladder stone surgery and nothing would happen, that's why we went for it,” Vasantha said, choking up and then breaking down. 

She paused, drank water and held herself together before she continued again.

He said he never faced such pain before, 'Doctor, I'm dying, this pain, do something, (sic)' he kept saying this. Because of the incarceration, his left hand was paralysed at the time of arrest. He was dragged by his left hand so his nerves were damaged internally.

Vasantha Kumari, GN Saibaba's Wife

She also alleged that even if they applied for bail or parole so he could get his medical check ups, it was only done on paper. The doctor’s recommendations were also not implemented in jail.

The late activist and professor, GN Saibaba.

(Photo: X/Twitter)

What GN Saibaba Wished But Couldn’t Do

Selfless. This is the word Vasantha used for Sai’s and his lifetime of work that he has left behind. Despite his health complications, after he was released, Sai wanted to continue working for the marginalised as he did before he went to jail. 

“He spent his whole life for people, he was vocal for Adivasis, Dalits, minority and human rights. The fundamental rights in our Constitution being violated by the state, Sai spoke up against it. He became the voice for the voiceless always," she said.

Moreover, Sai had also been vocal about the caste-based violations in the jail and he was sure of one thing - that once he’s released, he wants to do something for people falsely implicated and languishing in jail.

Vasantha said, “It is not only mine and Manjeera's responsibility, this is the entire public's responsibility to forward his wishes, ideas and ideology."

Vasantha reminisced and talked about the little time they had together.

(Photo: Screenshot from TQ Interview)

She narrated how even a day before his surgery, he had called Manjeera and told her to read a certain book and come the next day so they could discuss the same.

There was another noted side to Sai, that of being a professor at Delhi University.

Vasantha remarked that teaching was an integral part of his life that he never saw in a vacuum.

“He used to say it all the time,’ We have to learn and to spread what we have learnt and give chance to everyone to learn.’”

Unfortunately, as fate would have it, Sai was terminated from his job as an assistant professor at the college in March 2021. He had taught there since 2003.

In fact, she said that his last wish was also these lines. “His last wish is also this, he wrote a letter to some teachers and students. Through a poem, he expressed that he dreams of being in a classroom and teaching the students again.”

From Sai's professor days at Delhi University.

(Photo: Athar Rather/The Quint)

Vasantha questioned how he should have been reinstated after he was acquitted and proven innocent. Even though she wrote to DU, she hasn’t received any response on this matter yet.

The job that was taken away from him was also a reaction to how he was labelled an ‘urban naxal’ — a word which gained currency from 2017-18.

Sai & Vasantha: A Love Story

GN Saibaba and Vasantha in a framed portrait in their Delhi house.

(Photo: Athar Rather/The Quint)

Vasantha met Sai decades ago in tuition when she was in class 10. She needed help in English and Sai had some doubts in Mathematics. Their tuition teacher instructed Vasantha to teach Maths to Sai, while Sai taught her grammar.

We read literature a lot. So through literature, our friendship deepened, and then after the degree got over, we got registered marriage in 1991. Our thinking used to be the same, often, when he used to say something, I used to already complete his sentences. Even if there is a discussion of any books, our opinions used to be the same.

Vasantha Kumari, GN Saibaba's Wife

Sai also wrote a poem dedicated to Vasantha from jail. 

(Photo: Athar Rather/The Quint)

Sai’s dream to continue teaching has in a way been fulfilled in an unexpected manner. His body has been donated to a medical college in Hyderabad.

“It was a dream for him to always teach students. Now his body has gone to students as another lesson to be taught.”