Bhopal, MADHYA PRADESH :

Abdul Jabbar’s family members are very happy about him getting this honour.

Abdul Jabbar, who died on November 14 last year left behind a wife and 3 children

Abdul Jabbar of Bhopal, who fought a long battle for the victims of the Bhopal gas tragedy in 1984, has been awarded the Padma Shri. Abdul Jabbar is receiving this honour posthumously.

Abdul Jabbar’s family members are very happy about him getting this honour.

When India Today reached Abdul Jabbar’s house in the Chandbad area on the outskirts of Bhopal, we found that the condition of his house is very bad.

Abdul Jabbar, who died on November 14 last year left behind a wife and 3 children.

Abdul Jabbar’s wife Saira Banu said, “I am happy that the government is giving this honor to us but I am sad that my husband Abdul Jabbar is not with me in this moment of pride and happiness.”

Wife Saira Banu says that if Abdul Jabbar were alive, the joy of getting Padma Shri would have been doubled.

Jabbar’s wife said, Abdul Jabbar never thought about his own family. He made the gas victims his family. Abdul Jabbar’s wife expressed anguish that when her husband was ill, no one took care of him initially. At the last moment, the government approached the family but it was too late.

“He always kept thinking about the gas victims, and at the last moment he had told me not to let the gas victims fight end here but to take this fight further”, added Jabbar’s wife Saira Banu.

Speaking to India Today, Abdul Shamim, brother of Abdul Jabbar said, “When Abdul Jabbar was ill, no one from the government and gas-affected organisations took care of him. His treatment was also not taken seriously.”

Jabbar’s brother demanded a government job for Jabbar’s wife. ‘Financial condition of Jabbar’s family is very bad and sometimes children eat only once a day’, said Jabbar’s brother Shamim. According to Abdul Shamim, if his sister-in-law gets a job, she will be able to take care of her kids and her children will get a good education too’.

Abdul Jabbar’s eldest son Sahil said that he had learned to serve the poor from his father. Sahil said that ‘his father used to stay at home very rarely, he used to go out in the morning to help the gas victims and sometimes when there was no money in his pocket, he would borrow and help the gas victims. ‘I learned the same from my father’.

source:  http://www.indiatoday.in / India Today / Home> News> India / by Ravish Pal Singh, Bhopal / January 26th, 2020