Gravest Displacement ...... Bravest Resistance ...... The Struggle of Adivasis of Bastar, Chhattisgarh Against Imperialist Corporate Landgrab
Item
- Title
- Gravest Displacement ...... Bravest Resistance ...... The Struggle of Adivasis of Bastar, Chhattisgarh Against Imperialist Corporate Landgrab
- Creator
- Sudha Bahardwaj
- Date
- 2009
- extracted text
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GRAVEST DISPLACEMENT
BRAVEST RESISTANCE
The Struggle of Adivasis of Bastar, Chhattisgarh
Against Imperialist Corporate Landgrab.
Sudha Bharadwaj
“The rule of law does not do away with the unequal distribution of wealth and
power but reinforces that inequality with the authority of law. It allocates wealth
and poverty in such complicated and indirect ways as to leave the victim
bewildered.”
Howard Zinn
<Decfi.ca.ted to the memory of
tfapasi Mafif^, <DuCa MandaC,
Lahfiiram tfuddu, Satyahhama
.
Whose names we kyiow,
find the hundreds ofadivasis of<Bastar
Whose names wifi remain unknown tifiwe chaim them.
Why this essay?
I don’t live in Bastar, and I am not an adivasi.
But I have been active in the working class movement of Chhattisgarh for the
past 22 years, a movement which became legendary under the charismatic leadership of
-Comrade Shankar Guha Niyogi. And I strongly feel that understanding what is
happening in Bastar today is of the greatest significance not only to us in Chhattisgarh,
but to all those who want to understand imperialist onslaught and corporate land grab,
particularly in the resource-rich adivasi areas; for all of us involved nationwide in the anti
displacement movement which is day on day becoming a fierce life-and-death struggle
against all odds; and in fact for all of us in the peoples’ movements who are faced with
the abysmally criminal failure of democratic institutions and shrinking democratic spaces
on the one hand, and growing repression on the other.
Justice Krishna Iyer, in a speech delivered in the memory of Com. Niyogi said that “he
tried boldly and bravely to bring the Constitution to life for lakhs of miners and contract
labourers”. Com Niyogi was murdered on 28th September 1991 within a fortnight of his
petitioning the highest authority of this land - the President of India. The industrialists
convicted for his murder by the Sessions Court of Durg were acquitted by the High Court
and Supreme Court. The thousands of workers of Bhilai, for whose cause he laid down
his life, are still out of work, their cases pending in the High Court. The last essay he
wrote, with an uncharacteristic urgency, was “Rajeev Gandhi Ki Hatya Kyon?" (“Why
was Rajiv Gandhi murdered?”) in which he forcefully argued that Rajiv Gandhi, though
himself of the “liberalization" paradigm, was considered to be moving too slowly and was
eliminated to allow “those who wanted the dollar to move in fast" to have their way. Com.
Niyogi predicted that unless there was a widespread debate and churning among the
patriotic and democratic sections of the people, our country would become the “grazing
ground of the multinationals”, for now “only those persons will occupy the seats of
power, whom the multinationals favour”. At that time, in May 1991, his article seemed to
many, to be exaggerated or the usual leftist conspiracy theory. Now we know, it was
prophetic.
Tbjis essay is part of that debate.
The working class of Chhattisgarh have tried to demonstrate through their organized
efforts that they are not victims, they are creators - creators of the wealth of today, and
creators of the socialist society of tomorrow. Their struggle is not for economic gains
alone, but to enrich every aspect of life - cultural, social and political, hence their union
is a “24 hour union”, not an “8 hour union”. A union which struggles to reclaim the anti
colonial history of the adivasi hero Veer Narayan Singh; and which makes the anti
alcoholism movement, not a moral, but a political fight led by women. They have
asserted that it is real live democracy - of mass participation, vigorous debate and
collective discipline - and not the passive “raising of hands” type formal democracy, that
is the spirit of their organization. But above all, they have demonstrated that the working
class cannot rest while any other toiling people are suffering injustice and exploitation.
And so, the workers of Chhattisgarh have marched in Harsud in the Narmada valley, and
served the gas-affected in Bhopal and the earthquake victims at Latur; they sent rice to
Bailadila after the massacre of 1978 and to Balco after the anti-privatisation strike of
2001; they struck work to release water for the peasants of Balod, and in solidarity
against the repression of Honda workers at Gurgaon. A declared Marxist-Leninist,-Com.
Niyogi often quoted the famous Leninist dictum that trade union struggles are the
primary school that prepares the working class to shoulder its historic responsibility. And
1
$
the most immediate, the most urgent question today is our response to the enormous
human sufferings brought about by imperialist exploitation and the ruthless cruelties
committed to enforce it even in the face of popular opposition.
In the numerous industrial areas across Chhattisgarh today, the very blood of young
contract labourers is being sucked as they labour for 12-14 hours, for far less than
minimum wages, without weekly holidays, and without safety or medical facility to
generate the enormous wealth of “Chhattisgarh Shining!” Unionizing them today doesn't
only mean facing the goondas of the industrialists, risking the loss of precarious jobs,
sustaining an uncompromising struggle against great odds, and developing a mature
and bold leadership that can withstand both carrot and stick - though this is a tall enough
order. It also means struggling against the serious imperialist onslaught against the
people of Chhattisgarh.
An onslaught where gigantic corporations like Holcim and Lafarge are gobbling up the
cement sector, they have already acquired ACC, Ambuja, and Raymond Cements
Taking advantage of rich limestone deposits, they are manufacturing the cheapest
"cement in the world, earning superprofits and planning to set up new capacities.
Between them and the big cement manufacturers like Aditya Birla they have formed the
“Chhattisgarh Cement Manufacturers Association" a cartel that has its office at a stones
throw from Chief Minister Raman Singh’s residence - a proximity symbolic of their
stranglehold influence over the state administration. These companies are blatantly
violating well established Indian labour standards which prohibit the use of contract
labour in cement manufacture, and mandate that contract labour be paid at par with
regular workers, i.e at the rate of the Cement Wage Board. (Holcim, for instance, has
appealed against an Award obtained by our union to regularize 573 contract workers
whose contracts have been held to be sham and bogus.)They are refusing to abide by
the State Rehabilitation Policy which prescribes permanent jobs for those displaced by
their plants, and they are in fact creating an explosive situation in the rural areas by
employing outsiders in preference to the affected peasants. Under the leadership of the
Pragatisheel Cement Shramik Sangh and the Chhattisgarh Mukti Morcha (Mazdoor
Karyakarta Committee) - workers, peasants and particularly women - have been
militantly struggling and have had some success in enforcing minimum wages and
getting some affected peasants employed in these factories. But we still need to forge a
unity of all cement workers in Chhattisgarh, across union lines, to wage a serious
struggle demanding that multinationals implement the law of the land.
On the other hand, the local small and medium steel industry of Chhattisgarh is facing a
severe crisis and hundreds of units - mini steel plants, sponge iron units, rolling mills are closing down, thousands of workers are facing the threat of retrenchment. This crisis
is another facet of the imperialist onslaught. The best quality iron ore of Chhattisgarh is
literally flowing out as slurry, day after day, to be shipped out to Japan at a mere Rs. 400
a tonne. The State government is only too keen to sign MOUs with the big corporate
houses - Tata, Essar, Mittal, Jindal.... and to practically gift away the best deposits of
iron ore as captive mines at a measly royalty of Rs. 500 a tonne. But the local industry is
having to purchase iron ore at open market rates, which had touched upto Rs. 5800 per
tonne recently. Along with our union the Jan Adharit Engineering Mazdoor Union, the
CMM has been continuously protesting against these pro-imperialist policies in order to
save local industry and jobs, and exhorting the local industrialists not to be “penny wise
and pound foolish" in trying to make up the lakhs of losses on raw material costs by
squeezing a few thousands out of the workers legal wages.
4
But, increasingly it is becoming more clear to us that the factories are not the only
battleground against imperialist and monopoly capital, the hardest struggles are in the
countryside where these companies are zeroing in on mineral resources, and are
engaged in a land grab on an unbelievable scale. Whether for coal blocks in Raigarh, or
a power plant in Premnagar, cement plants in Tilda, or a large industrial area in
Rajnandgaon, bauxite mining in Sarguja and Jashpur, sponge iron plants in Raipur or
diamond mining in Devbhog, peasants everywhere - particularly adivasis and dalits - are
facing and resisting displacement - weakly compromising at some places, facing
repression determinedly at others. 41 and now 65 more villages near Raipur are to be
displaced for a glittering new capital region of Corporate Chhattisgarh; 9 villages for an
army camp for a revamped High Court premises close to Bilaspur; 7 villages for an air
force base in Rajnandgaon. Not to mention the displacement for the Tiger Reserve,
Elephant Reserve, Wild life Sanctuaries etc. in Bilaspur, Jashpur and Dhamtari
districts... The list is endless.
CMM has also been active in the anti-displacement movement - in opposing the
demolition of urban bastis, particularly in the industrial areas where the lowly paid
contract workers live; in organising the already displaced peasants around industrial
establishments to demand jobs and compensation; and in playing a prominent role along
with the Sanyukta Kisan Morcha in stalling the acquisition of 7 villages at Rajnandgaon
for a Special Industrial Zone. It has expressed solidarity with the Raigarh Bachao
Sangharsh Samiti which has been fighting the total domination of the Jindal group and
its ‘private army’ notorious for its land grabbing, brokering of material inputs for local
small industry, rampant exploitation of workers and the pollution of the air, soil and water
of Raigarh district. A peasant woman Satyabhama lost her life, ironically on the 26th of
January, when being force-fed to break the indefinite fast she had undertaken to save
the waters of the Kelo river from pollution by Jindal (In yet another example of the
obscene hypocrisies that we now take for granted, the Jindal Steel and Power Limited
recently received the “Srishti Green Cube Award 2007 for Good G:v:^r
- .»n.
from Sheela Dikshit, the Chief Minister of Delhi1) The '
been an active
participant in the anti-displacement front Visthapan Virodhi Jan Vikas Andolan, which
was launched at Ranchi on 23rd March 2007, and which has been attempting to unite the
people's resistance to displacement countrywide.
The struggle to bring into the public domain the MOUs of Tata and Essar in Bastar and
Dantewada; the fake gramsabhas in Lohandiguda and Dhurli blocks conducted at
gunpoint to obtain consent for land acquisition, and presided over by the Salwa Judum
supremo and District Investment Promotion Board Chairman Mahendra Karma; the
arrests of vocal villagers including when they were on their way to keep a scheduled
appointment with the Governor; the slapping of cases under the National Security Act
on activists of the Adivasi Mahasabha; the Fl Rs that were finally lodged, after repeated
complaints, against sundry dalals of Tata for the "fake compensations" given to the
wrong persons and even in the name of the dead; these are events about which I and
the CMM have had personal knowledge, and about which we have continuously raised
our voice. CMM had organized torchlight processions in several industrial centres
protesting against the arrest of Manish Kunjam and other leaders of the Adivasi
Mahasabha on the eve of the alternative gram sabhas organized in Lohandiguda and
Bhansi.
Z'
;'i
But, increasingly it is becoming more clear to us that the factories are not the only
battleground against imperialist and monopoly capital, the hardest struggles are in the
countryside where these companies are zeroing in on mineral resources, and are
engaged in a land grab on an unbelievable scale. Whether for coal blocks in Raigarh, or
a power plant in Premnagar, cement plants in Tilda, or a large industrial area in
Rajnandgaon, bauxite mining in Sarguja and Jashpur, sponge iron plants in Raipur or
diamond mining in Devbhog, peasants everywhere - particularly adivasis and dalits - are
facing and resisting, displacement - weakly compromising at some places, facing
repression determinedly at others. 41 and now 65 more villages near Raipur are to be
displaced for a glittering new capital region of Corporate Chhattisgarh; 9 villages for an
army camp for a revamped High Court premises close to Bilaspur; 7 villages for an air
force base in Rajnandgaon. Not to mention the displacement for the Tiger Reserve,
Elephant Reserve, Wild life Sanctuaries etc in Bilaspur, Jashpur and Dhamtari
districts... The list is endless.
CMM has also been active in the anti-displacement movement - in opposing the
demolition of urban bastis, particularly in the industrial areas where the lowly paid
■ .• contract workers live; in organising the already displaced peasants around industrial
• establishments to demand jobs and compensation; and in playing a prominent role along
with the Sanyukta Kisan Morcha in stalling the acquisition of 7 villages at Rajnandgaon
for a Special Industrial Zone. It has expressed solidarity with the Raigarh Bachao
Sangharsh Samiti which has been fighting the total domination of the Jindal group and
its ‘private army’ notorious for its land grabbing, brokering of material inputs for local
small industry, rampant exploitation of workers and the pollution of the air, soil and water
of Raigarh district. A peasant woman Satyabhama lost her life, ironically on the 26lh of
January, when being force-fed to break the indefinite fast she had undertaken to save
the waters of the Kelo river from pollution by Jindal (in yet another example of the
obscene hypocrisies that we now take for granted, the Jindal Steel and Power Limited
recently received the “Srishti Green Cube Award 2007 for Good Greer
•
.uvfrom Sheela Dikshit. the Chief Minister of Delhi!) The CMM has been an active
participant in the anti-displacement front Visthapan Virodhi Jan Vikas Andolan, which
was launched at Ranchi on 23rd March 2007, and which has been attempting to unite the
people’s resistance to displacement countrywide.
The struggle to bring into the public domain the MOUs of Tata and Essar in Bastar and
Dantewada; the fake gramsabhas in Lohandiguda and Dhurli blocks conducted at
gunpoint to obtain consent for land acquisition, and presided over by the Salwa Judum
supremo and District Investment Promotion Board Chairman Mahendra Karma, the
arrests of vocal villagers including when they were on their way to keep a scheduled
appointment with the Governor; the slapping of cases under the National Security Act
on activists of the Adivasi Mahasabha; the FIRs that were finally lodged, after repeated
complaints, against sundry dalals of Tata for the “fake compensations" given to the
wrong persons and even in the name of the dead; these are events about which I and
the CMM have had personal knowledge, and about which we have continuously raised
our voice. CMM had organized torchlight processions in several industrial centres
protesting against the arrest of Manish Kunjam and other leaders of the Adivasi
Mahasabha on the eve of the alternative gram sabhas organized in Lohandiguda and
Bhansi.
I
■■
6
But I could only grasp the enormity of the information blackout - the silence, half truths
and sheer lies - call it the “wall of silence”, that exists between Bastar and the rest of
Chhattisgarh, when as an active membpr of the Chhattisgarh PUCL, I joined several fact
finding teams to investigate into fake encounters. When we found out that the shiksha
karmis and student killed in Gollapalli allegedly in “Naxalite cross fire” had actually been
murdered by the police and SAF even after they had repeatedly asserted their identity;
’when the “dreaded Naxalites encountered” in Nayapara turned out to be adivasis who
had returned to their ancestoral village in search of work; when the theory of “accidental
firing because of hidden Naxalites” in the Cherpal Salwa Judum camp was boldly
rubbished by the villagers in the camp who were furious at the killing of a woman and a
small baby by a trigger happy CRPF jawan. In the media we repeatedly saw a total
siience about.ordinary people on the one hand, and cymbal-clashing war-cries against
Maoists, always pictured as AK-47 toting with sinisterly covered faces, on the other.
Each time we uncovered the truth, which, mind you, was absolutely self-evident to the
local people, and tried to cross the “wall”, it was buried again under a heap of papers false statements, enquiries, and the inevitable conclusions justifying the atrocities. In
short, back to square one. This is another attempt to scale that wall.
“Rich Lands of Poor People”
Chandra Bhushan, a researcher on mineral policy writes:
‘India announced a new National Mineral Policy (for non-coal and non-fuel minerals) in e:j-I
after two-and-a-haif years of wrangling between mineral-rich states and the central government :
steel-makers, iron ore miners and exporters. The objective of this policy, NMP-2008. is clear it w romcte
privately-owned, large-scale, mechanized mines—if they happen to be controlled by multinalio;
st i:
better.. NMP-2008 ignores the fact that mining in India is not only about minerals and a simple Jig ai d
sell' proposition, it is about tribals and backward castes and their land and livelihood alienation I; s a&c- it
poverty, backwardness and Naxalism It is also about deforestation and biodiversity imnac; wale/
and pollution."
Ravi Tiwari, General Secretary Chhattisgarh Cement Manufacturers' Association
accidently blurts out the truth when he states in an article dated 25/9/2007 in the
"Jansatta". “This State is as rich under its soil, as those who dwell on it are economically
impoverished.” He tells us that Chhattisgarh has more than 28 precious mineral
resources including limestone, dolomite, coal, iron ore, diamond, gold, quartzite, tin ore,
tin metal, granite, soapstone, corrundum, marble, beryl, bauxite, uranium, alexandrite,
copper, flag stone, silica, fluorite, garnet etc. In September 2008, for instance, as a
consequence of a road blockade by hundreds of villagers of the “Jameen Bachao
Sangharsh Samiti”, a proposal for handing over an area of 105 square kilometers
situated in 30 villages of Kunkuri Tehsil of district Jashpur to the Jindal Power and Steel
Limited “to prospect for gold, diamond, platinum group of minerals, precious and
semiprecious gemstones" has been stalled.
The way companies are zeroing on mineral resources can be seen in the cement sector.
There are about 8225 million tones of limestone in Chhattisgarh, predominantly in the
Raipur, Durg, Janjgir, Bilaspur, Rajnandgaon, Kawardha and Bastar districts, a large
proportion of which is cement grade. Today more than 6% of the country’s cement is
produced here by 7 large and 4 small cement plants with a total capacity of nearly 10.5
million tones. In the past decade the plant of the public sector Cement Corporation of
India at Mandhar has closed down. While the well known brands of ACC and Ambuja
have been taken over by the Swiss multinational Holcim, indeed 12.5% of Holcim’s sales
are now from its 24 Indian plants. Lafarge has also taken over two cement plants. The
ST
Raman Singh government in its last term has signed MOUs with 11 companies, for
setting up new plants as well as expanding old ones. If these new capacities are
achieved, it would more than triple the cepent production to about 36 million tones.
•Seven percent of the country’s bauxite, about 198 million tones, is available in the
“Sarguja, Jashpur, Kawardha, Kanker and Bastar districts. It is being mined at present in
Sarguja by the now privatized Balco (Sterlite) company in Chhattisgarh and the Hindalco
company of Uttar Pradesh. More than 200 adivasi families have lost their lands to
Hindalco so far and the process is still continuing. Although there is theoretically a lease agreement, which states that the company would restore the land to its original condition
as far as is practicable, but in reaiity no rent whatsoever is paid,' and in the name of
employment one person from the affected family works as lowly paid contract labour.
Discontent is rife among these landless adivasi miners. It is pertinent that Dheeraj
Jaiswal, a notorious SPO in erstwhile SP Kalluri’s retinue charged of many fake
encounters and rapes in the name of fighting Naxals, doubles up as a goonda for
Hindalco to keep its labour in order. Bauxite is processed into aluminium, an important
input in the aviation and defence industry. There is a global bottleneck in this mineral,
hence the corporate hawks are very much on the lookout for potential deposits.
Sixteen percent of the country’s coal, a whopping 39,545 million tones is to be found in
thfe Raigarh, Sarguja, Koriya and Korba districts of northern Chhattisgarh. On 5th
January 2007, the adivasis of Village Khamariya, Tehsil Tamnar were subjected to
vicious and brutal lathicharge when in a public hearing ostensibly arranged by the district
administration, but clearly dominated by the Jindal company, they raised objections to
giving up their lands to the Jindal Coal Mines. The public hearings for environmental
clearances for three more power projects including AES Chhattisgarh Power (a joint
venture with the. American energy giant) were recently stalled by villagers protesting that
they had not been notified and they apprehended widespread pollution. The Indian
Farmers Fertilizer Cooperative Ltd (IFFCO) had to withdraw its proposal of setting up a
1000 mw coal-based thermal power plant in Premnagar in Sarguja district in March after
strong protests. The villagers organized in the “Gram Sabha Parishad” had ar.ackeo
IFFCO officials conducting “secret surveys” and had protested the diversion of the Atem
river for the plant. When the company persisted and got their leader arrested, over 1.000
people marched to the police station to get him released. The new site subsequently
chosen by IFFCO, 10km away, also came into serious controversy recently, when
villagers who had passed a resolution against the project, found that their Sarpanch was
being whisked away secretly to a meeting in a police jeep, disguised as a policeman: All
this would have been amusing, had it not been so dead serious.
The very first notification issued by the BJP govt.' of Chhattisgarh after its recent
electoral victory was of the splitting up of the Chhattisgarh State Electricity Board into 5
’separate companies,.a move which had been consistently resisted by the workers’ and
engineers’ associations. This move is being seen clearly as a hidden privatization, for
which foreign, particularly American, companies are also reported to be in the running.
Chhattisgarh produces the cheapest electricity in the country and private players after
taking over the CSEB would use cut-throat competition to push other State Electricity
Boards out of the running. It would also mean neglect of rural electrification which entails
greater distribution costs. The workers of CSEB, particularly the independent “Vidyut ,
Karmachari Janta Union” are on strike, and ESMA has been invoked against them. Even '
for the proposed power plant of the CSEB at Bhaiyathan in Sarguja, a private developer
Indiabuils Power Generation Ltd would be the main player, the CSEB basically providing
the fig-leaf with a 26% stake, since the coal blocks have been allotted in its name.
- ---J
- -
■
- .'J
Even otherwise, in the coal sector, the presence of the coal mafia is so
overpowering that an MLA of Dhanbad has alleged that "SECL could earn only Rs 800
crore profit in the fiscal year 2006-07, whereas it could have been more than Rs 30,000
crore if the government could have reduced the pilferage." In particular it is an open
secret that in Chhattisgarh the Aryan Coal Beneficiaries (also associated with the daily
qewspaper Haribhoomi) has a monopoly over the washery business and therefore
makes a lot of money at SECL’s expense.
With the changes in mining policy permitting foreign companies, the Arrow
company has started drilling the first of thirteen wells at the Tatapani-Ramkola blocks
approximately 90 km south of Ambikapur in district Sarguja. The well is being drilled by
the Australian drilling company South West Pinnacle Drilling and coal is expected to be
touched at a depth of 500-900m.
One-fifth of the country’s iron ore - about 2336 million tones averaging 68% purity is
found in the Dantewada, Kanker, Rajnandgaon, Bastar and Durg districts. The Bhilai
Steel Plant is one of the world’s most efficient steel plants, yet it is being deliberately
tripped up by private players particularly Jindal Steel & Power. The scramble for the best .
deposits have started between the public sector NMDC and the Tata and Essar groups,
with litigation pending in the Delhi High Court. But this is not all. It is Claimed that Tata
has acquired Corus. And that Essar Steel is to buy the American steel firm Esmark Last
year, Essar bought Minnesota Steel for an undisclosed sum, only days after it also
agreed to acquire Canadian firm Algoma Steel for $1.6bn. The elite of India choose to
regard these events as a coming of age of India Inc. and a mark of our becoming a
global superpower. The Esmark chief executive James Bouchard, is more forthright and
says “Esmark needed a strategic partner as raw material and transport costs rose", in
other words, Essar and Tata are going to be the Indian face of the big foreign mining
companies who are facing a raw material crunch today.
On 17th May 2008, about 5,000 tribals from 25 villages took out a two-day
'padyatra' under the banner of 'Adivasi Mahasabha' from Bhansi, where the propose. 1
steel plant of Essar is to come up, to Faraspal of district Dantewada. to protest mining • i
iron ore from the Bailadila mountains. They claimed that the government has granted
mining leases to 96 industrial houses besides Tata and Essar in the Bailadila area and
demanded that the mountains, 40 km long and 10km wide, which contained iron ore
deposits to the tune of 300 crore tonnes should not be given on lease to private
companies for mining as it could pose a threat to the existence of the mountains as also
the culture of local tribals.
As regards the earnings of the state, Praveen Patel of the Tribal Welfare Society reveals
some startling details:
"There is nothing to take pride in the news that Chhattisgarh has earned Rs.7 billion in mineral royalty on
coal, bauxite and iron ores during the first nine months of the current fiscal 2007-08.
'
The government states that over 2 lakh tonnes of iron ore has been excavated in first nine month?
but what about the rate of Royalty earned.in iron ore only? Why that figures.are not shared with the public
Let me throw some idea to lift the veil. As per my information, the average royalty of iron ore which the
state has collected is about Rs. 27/- per metric tonne only where as the current international rates cf iron
ore are in the range of above US S 210. It would have been better, if the government would have stated
bluntly that they are allowing the daylight robbery of the iron ore, parallel of which is not seen anywhe'e
else in the world.’’
The Bastar region is one of the richest in mineral resources - not only in iron ore, but
also perhaps a host of other unexplored minerals including limestone, bauxite, and even
diamond and uranium. In 2005 it was not only with Tata and Essar and Texas Power
Generation that confidential MOUs were signed allotting iron ore deposits, coal blocks,
-
water reservoirs and hectares and hectares of land, but scores of companies were given
prospecting and mining licenses. Unfortunately for the powers that be, however, there
happened to be lakhs of adivasis - neglected, exploited and oppressed by the
“mainstream” - literally sitting on top of these most precious assets, and even more
unfortunately for them, since the early 80's the Naxal movement had dug deep roots
there. The estimate of the then Director General of Police DGP Rathore was that there
.were about 50,000 “Sangham" or members of the peasant committees and frontal
organizations (women and youth organizations) of the Maoists in the year 2005. And so
started the “Salwa Judum” a massive and brutal ground clearing operation which was to
affect about 3.5 lakhs of adivasis in 644 villages, the most widespread displacement
anywhere in the country. “Draining out the water and killing the fish” was the expression
used by Mahendra Karma.
“Jan Denge, Jameen Nahi Denge!” - A Fierce Resolve,
t
“Those who are going to become homeless and uprooted in this race of so-called development, they will
also be finally forced to accept the bitter truth that they cannot stop the loot of their lands and resources by
any democratic and non-violent means This is a dangerous situation. Even a combative organization like
“Narmada Bachao Andolan”, which included a large number of educated persons, has accepted the bitter
truth that is no administrative or legal means of preventing the loot of resources. Now it is only through
unity and by force that these plunderers can be stopped. That is the reason why' today, in Kalmgnagar,
Nandigram etc. there is a situation of “do or die". All these struggles are proving to be landmarks in
stopping the loot. The people of these areas have firmly resolved that come what may, they will not let any
government officer set foot on their land In these circumstances if the government uses force, violence
may erupt."
Prashant Bhushan, Senior Advocate, Supreme Court
"Stop Land Acquisition", Nai Azadi Udghosh, February 2007 (Translation ours)
All over the country the peasantry is up in arms against the policy of land acquisition
and Special Economic Zones. Jhajjar in Haryana, Dadri in Uttar Pradesh, Raigarh in
Maharashtra, the Chengara struggle of Kerala, the struggles in Polavaram and Kakmada
in>Andhra Pradesh, agitations against the acquisition for JP Cement in Rewa and for
Reliance, Essar and Hindaico in Singrauli, Madhya Pradesh.... Within a year of the
passage of the SEZ Act, 300 SEZs had been sanctioned giving 1,40,000 hectares of
land to private companies. The draconian provisions of the Land Acquisition Act, 1894
and the SEZ Act, 2005 do not give the peasant any remedy once the state rejects any
objections he/she may have, and declares that his/her land has to be acquired for public
purpose. The Judiciary of this country, led by the apex court, has been, if anything,
implementing the policies of imperialist globalization more consistently and harshly than
the Executive. It has refused to review what is considered “public purpose" by the
government in the name of not interfering with government policy. It has stated that the
directive principles which hold that the resources of the people held in trust by
governments must be used for the greatest common good, and that the concentration of
wealth in a few hands be avoided are not enforceable by a court of law. In other words,
"the “socialism” of the Preamble has no place in this era. Our Indian Judiciary has gone a
step ahead of the British colonial masters who at least distinguished between
“acquisition for companies” and "acquisition for public purpose” by providing for them in
two separate chapters of the Land Acquisition Act, 1894. In fact, earlier, when the
government acquired for companies, it was necessary to follow the rules framed in this
regard which mandated that the government ensure that other alternative nonagricultural land was not available, and that the company had made adequate efforts to
purchase the land itself before it stepped in. Under the euphemism of “public private
partnership”, development has been redefined to mean that public resources are to be
used for private profits! So much for the Constitution!
Interestingly the Secretary of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation
came out with a report recently, expressing grave concern that rich countries and rich
companies were taking over vast tracts of lands in poor nations, seriously jeopardizing
food security. The report gave an instance of 10 lakh hectares of land being taken over
in Madagascar where conditions of starvation are prevailing among the rural masses. It
said this tendency could be described as "neo-colonialism”! Our country is indeed
faithfully following the path charted out for it.
The loot of precious mineral resources, pristine forests and abundant water resources in
particular, has further intensified in adivasi areas all over the country. And the adivasis,
with their sense of identity and dignity, their communal way of life in co-existence with
nature, and their strength of collectivity have been resisting it with all the strength at their
command. The eastern states of Jharkhand, Orissa and Chhattisgarh and the
contiguous parts of West Bengal and Madhya Pradesh have become the storm centre of
this resistance. In Jharkhand alone, 46 MOUs have been signed including with Arcelor
Mortal, but so far not even a single company has been able to set up its plant. Peoples’
movements have sprung up spontaneously and are holding out their own against
powerful companies. And no doubt the overarching presence of the Maoist movement in
the background has prevented the State from deploying overwhelming force to crush the
peoples’ movements.
■ I
ri~-. •
‘"We shall give up our lives but not land" The slogan is overwhelming across the state of Jharkhand
against displacement induced by the development projects It is not only a slogan for the Adivasis out it 'S
also their determination, pledge and hope to ensure their ownership rights over the natural resources i e
land, forest and water. They have already won the battle against the Field Firing Range in Netarhat and the
Power Project in Koel-Karo near Ranchi, which has inspired another ten thousand
Adivasis of Kathikund and Shikaripara blocks of Dumka district too They have called off a 'Jarte S.jrie,-/
in the areas against the police firing, which took place on December 6, where activist Lakhiram Trlriu losi
his life and 7 people were severely injured including 3 police men.
The incident took place, when 5 thousand people had gathered near Kathikund Poi-c.7 station
under "Jail Bharo Abhiyan” against the arrest of activists - Munm Hansada, Charan Kumar Hopna Baski
and Rajcharan Murmu and demanding for their immediate release ...The problem had started n the
region in 2005 when the RPG group power utility, CESC Ltd had signed Moll with Arjun Munda, the former
chief minister of Jharkhand on 15 of September 2005 for setting up a coal based mega power plant with the
capacity of 1000 mega watt with an estimated investment of Rs 4,000 crore. The company requires 1000
acres of land for the plant, where 6 villages would be ruined and 10 thousand people would be displaced.
But the fact is the company would provide merely 250 mega watts to the Jharkhand State Electricity Board
at regulated prices while rest 750 mega watts would be given to the national grid. In this case, how the
state government envisages of addressing the power crisis?
. ..Another big traditional meeting was held at Pokharia village of Kathikund in Dumka on May 3,
2008, where thousands of Adivasi men, women and children had gathered in the blazing sun The
agriculture minister Nalin Soren was socially boycotted for offering Rs. 13 lakh cash, one vehicle and Rs
20 thousand per ,month as honorarium to the village-head Fulo Marandi of Amgachi
of Dumka district for convincing the villagers to surrender their land for the proposed power plant The other
five villagers were found guilty as they had guided Basant Soren the son of Sibu Soren in approaching the
_ village head while he had visited to Amgachi village to convince the village head
for the project and the crime of the police officer Jai Prakash Toppo was for denying to hand over these five
middle men to the villagers therefore he was also socially boycotted. It was also declared in the "Dishum
-Baishi" that. the land would not be given for the company at any cost and every one.,
would be punished who would be found guilty in land alienation activities."
;
Gladson Dungdung, indigenous India Blogspot
“The war for land surfaced with a vicious intensity in’Jharkhand when angry villagers first thrashed
Bhushan Power and Steel Company's surveyors, then, blackened their faces and made them chew their
u
T
Ip
shoes before garlanding them with slippers and parading them at Sarmohuds village in East t-rmbnum
district.
The incident forced Bhushan Power and Steel Company Limited to announce suspension of its
acquisition drive for its Rs 12,000 crore greenfield steel plant in Potka block of the district Apart from the
three million tonne Greenfield steel plant, Bhushan also proposes to set up a 900 mw power plant
The three land surveyors, Yusuf Ahmed, Sahdeo Singh and Sheetal Kumar were stopped by
’ villagers who had gathered under the banner of Gram Ganraj Parishad and Bhoomi Sudhar Andoian. and
after the thrashing, bound and dragged them to the police station, a Bhushan Steel spokesman said
Bhoomi Sudhar Andoian Convenor Ramesh Hansda alleged that the company was conducting the
lartd survey without permission from the district administration, a charge denied by Bhushan Steel.
“Step into Jharkahnd's Tentoposi village in Seraikela district and you will be greeted with hostile glances.
Sitting on rich mineral reserves of iron ore, residents of this village are constantly under the fear of
displacement and loss of live.lihood sources. Tata Steel has already announcedjhat it will set up a 12million tonne integrated steel plant in the area at an investment of Rs 42,000 cr.pre and
has signed MOU with the state government. The villagers suspect that there are people lurking around the
village to usurp their land. Hence, they are on alert They have created a security cordon around
fhe village. Volunteers! wielding bows and arrows, guard the barricaded village at all hours. No government
official or a media person is allowed in.
There are several other companies eying the rich mineral deposits of this tribal-dominated state
Since the state was carved out of Bihar in 2000. the state government has signed 44 MOUs with
companies like Arcelor Mittal, Tata and Jindal for mega industrial ventures worth Rs 198.362 26,crore
These prospective investors will acquire over 45,000 hectares and eventually displace more than
1.000.000 people, mostly from the east and west Singhbhum and Seraikela-Kharswan region, says Xaviar
Dias, coordinator of Bmdrai Institute of Research Study and Action (birsa), a Jharkhand-based tribal rich:;
group.
Recent incidents at Singur (in West Bengal) and Kalinganagar (in Orissa) have incensed the tnbais
more. They have vowed-to sacrifice their lives to protect their land rather than vacate it for industrial
development. All villages where the industrial giants have announced to set up projects are
cufrently under the vigilance of more than 60 tribal organizations Under the banner of Jharkhand Mines
Area Coordination Committee (jmacc), these groups have announced a battle against mining and
displacement. "The minerals will be tainted with blood if any of these companies dare io
acquire even an inch of tribal land." says Puneet Minz, general secretary of jmacc. Minz refuses to divulge
names or any information about the tribal groups involved in the anti-displacement movement 'Pol es and
the state machinery are after us. Once we disclose the names, they wii' be - !'
picked up or tortured to quit the movement." says Minz.'
A K Gupta, Down to Earth
In Orissa, the Hirakud dam was in the news for two reasons recently One was that the
oustees of the dam received compensation after 4-5 decades. The other was that the
farmers-of the area were strongly protesting the diversion of the water from the Hirakud
dam to industry. This in a nutshell spells out the cruel apathy that development has been
for tribal people, and lays bare the sound reasoning behind what appears to be a
stubborn irrational resistance to acquisition and industrialization That is, that not only
the displaced but even the so-called beneficiaries are bound to be cheated when the
state’s singular concern is to aid the fattening of private capital (and incidentally the
fattening of its own representatives in the bargain.
“Farmers say they will not accept anything less than a complete ban on industrial use of the dam water On
March 23 Bhagat Singh's 76th martyrdom day the farmers renewed their pledge to continue their fight fo:
water. They gathered at ’Chasi Rekha', a border wall inside the reservoir beyond which industrial units are
not
allowed
to
draw
water.
Holding
the
dam
water
in
their
palms.
they
pledged: "We will not allow company raj on Hirakud water."On November 6. 2007, some 30 000 farmers
had gathered at the reservoir in Sambalpur district. Many were injured in police lathicharge (see
fGroundsweir, 'Down To-Earth*, December 31. 2007). Soon after the incident. Chief Minister Naveen
Patnaik announced a Rs 200-crore package for the repair and renovation of the Hirakud cana: system
Lingaraj, convenor of the Western Orissa Farmers Coordination Committee s?.-.< the package is aimed
diverting attention from the core issue of water diversion.
I
They want the government to cancel all post-2003 agreements 'with industrial units ar; J reacn
water to over 20,000 hectares in the command area. Another of their demand is that Patnaik should punish
companies illegally drawing water from the dam
Ranjan K Panda
Meanwhile the private violence by company goons of POSCO and the Tatas against the
adivasi communities has been intensifying. Abhay Sahoo, the popular leader of the
Posco Pratirodh Sangram Samiti was arrested on 12th October when he was undergoing
treatment at Bhutmundei, Paradeep and 23 false cases were foisted on him so as to
deny him bail.
The events of Orissa have forced the organizations and activists of the antititeplacement movements to think and debate how to resist state violence and private
corporate violence, and to assert the right of the people to resist under all circumstances
and by all means. We in CMM also experienced this when we visited the Boringpader
village in Lanjigarh (Niyamgiri). When a police jeep was seen in the distance the entire
village came out - women, men and children with whatever they could lay hands on axes, sickles and sticks. The jeep stopped at a distance and a policeman came out with
his hands raised in a gesture of surrender. When he came closer he told the leaders
apologetically that he had been sent from the police station to get the details of the
visitors. After taking those he left, and the people relaxed. Later the villagers explained
that the first time they had taken out a procession against Vedanta company the
company goons had attacked them ferociously, people had fled in fright and had been
chased away for several kilometres. Ever since then, they said, they always cany their
traditional weapons and no-one has dared to attack their processions and meetings'
Statesman News Service.
JAGATSINGHPUR, June 26. Lawlessness reigned supreme in Govindpur village as a:'.ti-Fu-.oc activists,
omthe rampage since last week following tne death of one of their activist Dula Mandal. today confined two
persons and claimed recovery of huge cache of weapons and bombs from Govindpur school premises
The Posco Pratirodh Sangram Samity (PPSS) activists claimed to have made a break ti ■ sue!’. to
the assault and murder of Dula Mandal. We confronted a pro-project activist Mr Narottam Mona
confined and interrogated him, they said
Some of the anti-Posco activists then assaulted schoolteacher Mr Jadumani Das to ascertain as to
who had attacked Mandal. Basing on the information provided by Mr Mohanty and Mr Das. they raided tr.e
school premises and claimed to have recovered six boxes containing country bombs 75 swords and ct‘v>r
weapons.
It may be noted here that Mandal and other anti-Posco activists had clashed near the Govindpur
primary schools premises on 20 June. Bombs were hurled and Dula Mandal died in the attack.
The PPSS which is observing a Black Week since 22 June, had alleged that it was a pre-planned
attack by goons who had been hiding at the school. The counter version was that a pro-project faction was
holding a meeting at the school when their rivals started pelting stones leading to the violence F ;-ce had
arrested 22 people in this connection with the clash even as PPSS activists aggressively held i. r.ett-ng
attended by CPI leader Mr AB Bardhan and leaders of all Opposition political parties 1
"Trouble started brewing in Kalinga Nagar when on Monday TATA people tried performing religious ntua-s
at the proposed site in Kalinga Nagar despite strong protests from locals. They were chased away by the
looal people but ultimately performed the ritual in a different place near Maithan steel
plant. On Tuesday they made yet another attempt to break the people's resistance with about 20C people
camping in two different locations near the proposed site supposedly for the construction of
;a y
wall which has stopped since 2nd Jan 06 when the police shot dead men, women and chilcirer
Kalinga Nagar Anti-displacement Forum activist (BBJM) Rabi Jarika claims tries- ••
.>t
construction workers but goons deployed to attack and harm the tribals protesting against TATA, h-t... e
that the plan is to surround them from all sides and attack like it has happened in similar situations
elsewhere be it proposed POSCO site at Dhinkia or Nandigram.
V
Seeing the heavy deployment of the goons the locals have now also assembled at the prcpci-rd
site and have braced themselves for yet another confrontation to save their land. The tension reached a
high point yesterday when almost two dozen people in 7-8 motorcycles tried entering the proposed site.
The locals claim some of them were the likes of goons from Jamsedhpur deployed by TATA in Kalmga
Nagar. The locals captured these motorcycle borne troublemakers who were not harmed, though the
motorcycles were set afire and broken "to make it loud and clear to the State and TATA company that they
would continue to resist the land grab and any such attempt to snatch their constitutional rights" said Janka
The motorcycle borne assailants are now hiding inside the Jindal steel plant premises.
Rabi Jarika alleges that the district administration and police are hand in glove with TATA goons
as they only could have allowed such a massive deployment of armed goons. According to the locals’the
TATA goons are well armed and have come in cars and motorcycles using the mam roads. BBJM activists
claim that such free movement of the goons can only be possible with the aid of the state. "Do they want
another massacre like 2nd Jan" asked Dabar Kalundia who had survived a murderous attack on him by
Arbind Sing, a TATA accomplice, on 1st May this year In that attack Amin Banara, another BBJM activist
had been killed by the bullets of the TATA goons. Previous to that Jogendra Jamuda-had been attacked by
armed men which he miraculously survived "While the goons are armed with guns and bombs to attack us
we are armed with our traditional weapons like arrows and axes to protect ourselves" said Kalundia Some
of the locals also allege that BJD minister Prafula Ghadei has a big role to play."
Surya posted on the Cgnet
In'West Bengal the Singur Krishi Jameen Raksha Committee had a victory with the
retreat of the Tatas. After this a huge media campaign was carried out by the influential
corporate group making this struggle out to be a conflict between Budhadeb
Bhattacharya and Mamta Bannerji, as if the people of Singur, their issues ano their
struggle did not exist. Ratan Tata even issued an Open Letter to the youth of West
Bengal exhorting them to side with Budhadeb to get development and jobs! The CPM
cadres too set up a Nano Bachao Committee! A CBI court convicted persons close to
the CPM in the murder of Tapasi Malik.
In Nandigram, after the notification for a chemical hub of the Indonesian Salem croup
had been cancelled owing to the militant movement, there were repeated efforts by ;i~e
government with the help of CPM cadres to “recapture" Nandigram, which were strongly
resisted by the Bhoomi Ucched Pratirodh Committee. The state's argument was that
after the notification was cancelled the people did not have a right to prevent the entry of
the police and government servants, that would amount to a setting up a ''parallel
governance” which could not be tolerated. In a sense, this captures a fundamental
feature of the radical resistance to acquisition - the assertion of the people's right ?: s<:f
rule - as opposed to a struggle only for better compensation and rehabilitation.
The embers of Singur and Nandigram had hardly died down, when Lalgarh in
district West Midnapore burst into flames:
Mass uprising of tribal people in West Bengal
By Partho Sarathi Ray, Sanhati. November 13, 2008
The events that have been happening during the last one week in the adivasi belt of West Midnapm c s!r
in West Bengal are so unprecedented that the authorities do not know how to respond to them,
and the media doesn't understand their significance. Even the political parties and civil society are a: a loss
trying to come to terms with what is happening
The entire chain of events started after the 2nd November land mine explosion targeting the
convoy of West Bengal chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee and union steel and mines minister Ram
Vilps Paswan as they were returning from the inauguration of the Jindal Steel Works special economic
zone (SEZ) in Salboni in West Midnapore district. Around 5000 acres of land have been acquired for this
I
- I
\5
project of which 4500 acres have been handed over by the government and 500 ■ • ..-s nave been
purchased directly by Jindal from landowners. Reportedly, a large portion of this land w.<. .■esied w.th trie
government for distribution amongst landless tribals as part of the land reforms program . ! also i; n-uded
tracts of forests.. Understandably, there were major grievances amongst the tribals agj
tn.s ?
the mainstream media had constantly portrayed a very rosy picture of the entire prak..•• fne
explosion was blamed as usual on the Maoist insurgents allegedly active for a long ■
:■ , :-■■■■
adjacent Lalgarh area. According to press reports, the Maoist movement is active ■■■:•
■ sty.,
areas in the three adjoining districts of West Midnapur, Bankura and Purulia Three jur.io.-level policemen
were suspended and show-cause notices were served on a few senior officers for negligence of duty
Usually, the police harass and arrest tribal villagers after every Maoist attack; this time in order to hide their
own failure in providing security to its political masters, and to save their skin from the wrath of the
government, the police went on a rampage in the tribal villages. Having no clue about the real perpetrators
of the land mine explosion, they started beating up and arresting people indiscriminately Among the first to
be arrested were three teenage students, Aben Murmu, Gautam Patra and Buddhadeb Patra, who were
returning from a village festival during the night. They were charged with sundry charges including waging
war against the state, conspiracy, attempt to murder, using dangerous weapons and obstructing justice.
Then during the day on 4th November, an armed police party arrested Dipak Pratihar of Kantapahari village
while he was buying medicine from a chemist's shop in Lalgarh for his pregnant wife Laksnmi. in the
process the police brutally beat up Lakshmi and threw her to the ground. She had to be subsequently
hospitalized. Ten people were arrested during the police raids and beaten up. including a retired teacher
KhjSamananda Mahato and a civil contractor Shamsher Alam from Chotopeliya village, who was visiting the
area for a day for some construction work. Although these two people were subsequently releasee, as the
police could not formulate any charges against them, the rest were kept in police custody The police and
CRPF. led by the officer in charge of Lalgarh police station, Sandeep Sinha Roy and the superintendent of
police of West Midnapore district. Rajesh Singh, unleashed a reign of terror in 35 villages encompassing
the entire tribal belt of Lalgarh. In raids throughout the night of November 6th, women were brutally kicked
and beaten up with .lathis and butts of guns. Among the injured. Chitamam Murmu, one of whose eyes was
hit by a gun butt, and Panamani Hansda, who was kicked on her chest and suffered multiple fractures, had
to hospitalized. Chitamani's lost her eye because of the injury Eight other women were badly wounded
These police brutalities soon reached a point where the adivasis had no other option but to use up in revolt
On 6lh November they assembled near the Lalgarh police station and surrounded it. effectively
cutting it off, and the policemen inside, who had been rampaging in villages the previous night but had now
locked themselves inside the police station, did not dare to venture out. Electricity to the police station was
disconnected and all the lights were broken. What began as rumblings of. protest took the shape of a
spontaneous mass uprising the next day. On 7th November, when the ruling CPI(Marxist) was "observing"
the anniversaiy of the Bolshevik revolution throughout West Bengal, ten thousand Santhal
; and
women, armed with traditional weapons, came out and obstructed the roads leading to Laigam,
disconnecting it from Midnapur and Bankura. Roads were dug up and tree trunks were placed on the road
to obstruct the entry of police vehicles, in the same way as it had been done in Nandigram. The police jeep
and the CPI(M) motorcycle have long been> symbols of oppression and terror for villagers throughout West
-
'•T' "
g ....
Bengal, so this digging up of roads, besides actually inhibiting the movements of these agents of *
oppression, have become a symbol of defiance and liberation. Towards the night of 7th November, the
people also disconnected telephone and electricity lines, virtually converting a vast area into a liberated
zone. The apex social organization of the Santhals, the Bharat Jakat Majhi Madwa Juan Gaonta took up
the leadership of the struggle, although the leader of the organization, the "Disham Majhi" Nityananda
Hembram has himself admitted that the organization has no control over the movement; rather the
movement is controlling the organization. Smaller organizations of the tribais? such as the Kher.vjl Jumit
Gaonta that have been playing active roles in the struggle have openly called for armed resistance, stating
that there is no other way for the survival of the adivasis The demands of the adivasis were so "earthy" and
original that the administration did not know how to respond The demands were that trie superir-.t er.r-h-nt of
police Rajesh Singh should publicly apologize by holding his ears and doing sit-ups a trg-M
.?.
punishing errant youngsters, the guilty policemen should crawl on the streets of the
ige.,
tortured people, rubbing their noses on the ground, again another traditional way of hum.hating
wrongdoers and Rs 200,000 compensation for the injured and assaulted. The demands were ma'-.ed P-,
the total reliance of the adivasis on their traditional systems of dispensing justice, and not looking uo to the
formal judicial process which they have realized is by nature weighted against the poor and
marginalized . ..On 10th November, adivasis led by the tribal social organizations set up new roadblocks
in the Dahijuri area. When the police lathicharged the assembled people and arrested some of the leaders
of the Gaontas, the situation turned explosive. The tribals surrounded the police officials present and a
crowd of few thousand adivasis, armed with bows and arrows, axes and daggers, and led by women
wielding broomsticks, chased the police for four kilometers along the road leading to Jhargram. The police
were forced to retreat from the area and release all the leaders of the social organizations they had
arrested... The state has been helpless in front of this upsurge*and has been trying to "negotiate" with tire
tribals But what has been frustrating their efforts is the essentially democratic nature of this upsurge.
Although the administration has been holding multiple all-party meetings with the dominant political parties
CPI(M), Trinamool Congress, Congress and the Jharkhand Party, the leaders of these parties nave openiy
admitted to their inability to exert any influence on the adivasis. The adivasis are not letting any political
leaders access to the movement, including tribal leaders like Chunibala Hansda. the Jharkhand Pacy
(Naren faction) MLA from Binpur They are demanding that any negotiations be carried out in the open
rather than behind closed doors. Even traditional leaders like the "Disham Majhi" Nityananda Hembra -'
and other “majhis" are having to talk directly with the adivasis before talking to the administration Village- u
of*the ten villages in Lalgarh have formed ten village committees with one coordinating committee to
negotiate with the administration .. .The state and the CPI(M) have not dared to respond with overt
violence yet, although there are news that a motorbike-borne militia is being assembled nearby by
Sushanta Ghosh, the notorious CPI(M) minister and Dipak Sarkar, the CPI(M) district secretary
.It is
quite expected that radical political forces would have been active among the adivasis as the latter have
been the most downtrodden people in India and it is their land and resources which is being handed over
for corporate plunder.'However the presence and participation of the Maoists or similar forces in no way
delegitimizes this seemingly spontaneous, and democratic, expression of people's anger. This is amply
expressed by what Arati Murmu, a woman who had been assaulted by the police, and who had gone to
block the Lalgarh police station had to say: "Whenever there is a Maoist attack the police raid our villages
and torture our women and children. For how long will we suffer this oppression by the police0 All of us are
Maoists, let the policejarrest us. Today we have come out."
Global mining companies see Maoists as the greatest challenge to
their penetration.
■* T-jt**'!’.- . '
fj
:
*
In his article,” The State As Landlord: Naxalism feeds off genuine issues It calls for
policy- not police”, Prem Shankar Jha writes:-
* -i:' Lakshmi Mittal of Arcelor fame is finally about to deliver on his promise to invest in his home country. The
,. . plans he has unveiledj are mind-boggling: Rs 1,00,000 crore ($24 billion) to be invested in two steel plants
.
irnn ore
nra mines in
and iron
in .Jharkhand and Orissa that will produde 24 million tonnes of steel when they come on
stream. Planning for the project is going well: all that remains is to identify a source of iron ore for its Orissa
plant. Herein lies the rub. For, if the Maoist insurgency in central India continues to develop at its present
AS
i
speed,
he
may
never
find
the
iron
ore
he
needs
to
operate
his
plants
Twenty-nine months after the first 'swarm attack' by 500 Maoist cadres backed by local tribals on the jail,
police station and armoury in Jehanabad, 'Naxalism' is no longer considered a fringe phenomenon. Prime
Minister Manmohan Singh has candidly acknowledged that it is the most serious threat the country faces.
But there is a huge gap between this realisation and the efforts that the government has made so far to
meet it Literally, all that it has done so far is to meet'state governments' increasingly urgent demands for
modern weapons, additional CRPF battalions, and the training and despatch of counter-insurgency forces.
But New Delhi knows that repression alone is not the answer. The Approach Paper for the 11th Plan could
not have put this better or more explicitly: "Our practices regarding rehabilitation of those displaced from
their land because of development projects are seriously deficient and are responsible for a growing
perception of exclusion and marginalisation. The costs of displacement borne by our tribal population have
been unduly high, and compensation has been tardy and inadequate, leading to serious unrest in many
tribal regions. This discontent is likely to grow exponentially if the benefits from enforced land acquisition
are seen accruing to private interests, or even to the state, at the cost of those displaced. To prevent even
greater conflict...it is necessary to frame a transparent set of policy rules that address compensation, and
make the affected persons beneficiaries of the projects, and to give these rules a legal format."
Despite its clear perception of the problem, the Manmohan Singh government has done nothing to 'frame a
trapsparent set of policy rules' and give them a 'legal format'. A part of the problem is that the power to
acquire land for mines, in particular, was largely devolved to the state governments during the NDA regime,
through an amendment of the 1957 Mines and Minerals Act. The NDA government also allowed foreign
companies to enter this politically charged area of mineral development. These two enactments have given
Naxalite leaders all the moral justification they need to mobilise armed resistance. With only a few
exceptions, state leaders have used their powers of land acquisition to enrich themselves or fund their
parties. It is no coincidence that the Communist Party (Maoist) came into being only two years after these
amendments
While India Inc dreams of overtaking China, the Maoist insurgency has intensified. Since '04, there have
been more than 50 'swarm' attacks on jails, police stations and armouries. All have met with total success.
In two attacks in Orissa last month, the Maoists captured 1,600 weapons, including machine guns and AK47s.
In Orissa, 12,000 out of 30,000 posts in the police are vacant, and in three districts they have stopped
wearing their uniforms. But Orissa pales into insignificance before the intensity of the uprising in
Chhattisgarh, which recorded 531 incidents and 413 deaths in 2007 The Maoists have a single rallying cry
"Development projects are taking away our land and our traditional rights. We will not allow them to
proceed." They are succeeding."
Mlanjeet Kriplani echoes similar sentiments in his article, ”ln India, Death to Global
Business. How a violent - and spreading - Maoist insurgency threatens the country’s
runaway growth” in the American journal Businenessweek.
“On the night of April 24, a group of 300 men and women armed with bows and arrows and sickles and led
by gun-wielding commanders emerged swiftly and silently from the dense forest in India's Chhattisgarh
state. The guerillas descended on an iron ore processing plant owned by Essar Steel, one of India's
biggest companies. There the attackers torched the heavy machinery on the site, plus 53 buses and trucks
Press reports say they also left a note: Stop shipping local resources out of the state, or else!
India has lots of unmined iron ore and coal - the essential ingredients of steel and electric power.
Anxious to revive their moribund economies, the poor but resource rich states of eastern India have given
mining and land rights to Indian and multinational companies. Yet these deposits lie mostly in territory
where the Naxals operate. Chhattisgarh, a state in eastern India across from Mumbai and a hotbed of
activity, has 23% of India’s iron pre deposits and abundant coal. It has signed memoranda of
understanding and other agreements worth billions with Tata Steel and Arcelor Mittal, De Beers
Consolidated Mines, BHP Hilton and Rio Tinto. Other states have cut similar deals. And US companies like
Caterpillar want to sell mining equipment to the mining companies now digging in eastern India...."
The gravest displacement of our time - an imperialist military strategy
I
The following excerpt of the letter written by a group of environmentalists, s'.holaFs and
activists to Chief Minister Raman Singh in early 2008 regarding the implem station of
the Forest Rights Act in the state describes the extent and gravity of ■
forced
displacement that was caused by Salwa Judum:
“However, we are particularly concerned about the rights of those villager •
.e vaua
and Bijapur districts who have been compelled to leave their villages due to rhe ongoing
Salwa Judum campaign against naxalites. The total population of abou: 1200 villages in me
two districts is 7.19 lakhs, of which 78 5% is tribal About 50% of these villages, with an
approximate population of 3.5 lakhs, is currently displaced from their villages While about
47,000 are living in roadside camps set up by the state government, another 40 000 or so
have fled to the forest areas of Andhra Pradesh to escape the ongoing violence between
Salwa Judum and naxalites. The whereabouts of the remaining 2,63,000 villagers from the
abandoned villages is unknown
In at least 644 abandoned villages in the two districts, no gram sabha meetings
required under the Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of
Forest Rights) Act for initiating the process of recognition of rights can be organised under
present circumstances. At a meeting organised by the Department of Tribal Welfare of
Andhra Pradesh, it was decided that the Gutti Koyas who have sought shelter in AP’s forests
from the naxal -Salwa Judam violence in Chhattisgarh will not be eligible for recognition of
land and forest rights in Andhra. However, due to being displaced from their own villages,
they will not be able to claim their rights even in their original villages in Chhattisgarh Their
be’ing deprived of rights in both Chhattisgarh and Andhra Pradesh will be a terrible
subversion of justice.
Consequently, we appeal to you to suspend implementation of the Act in the affected
areas while facilitating speedy return of the villagers to their own villages. In the meantime
no land should be allocated to outsiders and no leases or prospecting licenses for minor
minerals should be given in these villages as under PESA. These also require Gram Sabha
permission,
which
is
not
possible
under
present
circumstances
Yours sincerely,
Madhu Sarin, Environmentalist and Scholar; Nagaraj Adve, People’s Union for Democratic Rights
Rohit Jain. Society for Rural, Urban and Tribal Initiative; C R.Bijoy, People's Union for Civil Liberties (Tamil
Nadu & Pondicherry), Naga Peoples' Movement for Human Rights; Shankar Gopalakrishnan. Campaign for
Survival and Dignity, Gautam Kumar Bandyopadhyay, People's Alliance for Livelihood Right?
Chhattisgarh; Dr. Nandini Sundar, Delhi University; Xavier Manjooran, Adivasi Manasabha.
Sharachchandra Lele, Senior Fellow & Coordinator, Centre for Interdisciplinary Studies in Environment &
Development; V.S.Roy David, National Convener, National Adivasi Alliance, Kodagu 571234, Karnataka;
Tribal Association for Fifth Schedule Campaign (TAFSC), Tamil Nadu, Shubhranshu Choudhary,
Journalist: Professor Virginius Xaxa, Delhi University; Kundan Kumar, Phd Scholar' Dr Urmila Pingle,
Anthropologist; Soma KP, gender and women's rights activist, New Delhi; Erica Rustom; Ville-Veikko
Hiiivela; Rajesh R; James Pochury; Felix Padel; Manshi Asher, independent researcher, Himachal
Pradesh; Malini Kalyanivala; Rishu Garg, Rajesh, Nange Paon Satyagraha, Chhattisgarh. Renji George
Joseph? Alliance for Holistic and Sustainable Development of Communities."
•I
?1
it
j
T SjTT
The fact that about 644 villages, some estimates put it even higher at around 700
villages, were emptied out and a population .of about 3.5 lakhs had been displaced from
theiBijapur and Dantewada districts at the heyday of the Salwa Judum operations is
undisputed. The Government would like us to believe that this happened voluntarily
because all these adivasis fled from Naxalite violence. The Salwa Judum camps, 16-21
. In number were, according to them, set up to shelter those fleeing from such violence. .
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Time and again surveys of the camps have shown otherwise, that people were usually
brought to the camps forcibly or against their will and often brought back if they tried to
escape. Besides plain arithmetic shows that, even if we are to believe this, there were
47,000 in the government camps which accounts for only 13% of the displaced
population. 75% of that displaced population, or about 2.6 lakhs, chose not to go to the
igi
S'
II
|
“
camps, and preferred to live in and out of the jungle, even it meant being treated as
outlaws.
The theory that such a huge and absolute displacement could have occurred
spontaneously, is on the very face of it untenable. Let us look at the following facts
That ground clearing for mining and other companies was an important motive and in
fact provided the driving force is clear from the MOUs with Tata, Essar, Texas Power
Generation, Arcelor Mittal, BHP Biiton, DeBeers, Rio Tinto, Godavari Ispat, Prakash
Industries etc and the around 96 mining leases with various companies in the Bailadiia
area. A bare perusal of the MOUs show that they were being practically handed out high
quality iron ore deposits, coal blocks, water from the Indravati river etc Apart from this, a
large number of mining and prospecting licenses were handed out (s.old?), in case all
went well", which remain undisclosed. The corporate vested interest is also apparent
from the fact that it was the Essar company that provided funds for setting up of the first
Salwa Judum camps. It is reported that a company called “Crest" has been given a
contract to sun/ey mineral deposits in the South Bastar, Dantewada and Bijapur districts.
This company had said that it could undertake this mammoth survey only once the land
was cleared.
It is now an admitted fact that the ground clearing operation that was attempted to be
carried out through Salwa Judum is a military strategy referred to as “strategic
hamletting”. This involves clearing out villages and bringing them to roadside camps.
The strategy was used by the Americans in Vietnam and the Indian State in Mizoram n
the 6O’s._
In Bastar this strategy has been closely overseen by the Counter Terrorism arc;
Jungle Warfare College, Kanker headed by Retd Brigadier BK Ponwar Brigadier
Ponwar earlier headed the Warrangte Counter Insurgency and Jungle Warfare School of
the Indian Army at Mizoram.
In the year 2006 left political parties as also the Chhattisgarh Mukii Morcha had
protested against the statements of two officers of the American Consulate - ore
heading its Commerce Wing and the other a Regional Security Advisor who had visited
Kanker and Raipur and offered the Chief Minister American assistance in dealing with
the state’s insurgency problem - as undue interference in a sovereign nation A ftmonths ago I came to know that the current Chief of Economic, and Political Affairs ■
Michael Neville and a Regional Security Officer - William Inman had visited Kanker and
Raipur again. As an advocate familiar with Dr Binayak Sen’s case I had been requested
to brief these officers by a staff member of their Mumbai Consulate. I had declined
stating that I believed that human rights could not be separated from the policies of
globalization and militarization which their country was supporting. It is pertinent that
putting Indian Maoists on the American terror list, gives a handle to the Americans io
interfere in the internal affairs of our country ostensibly for protecting American interests
(read companies!).
The third factor is the heavy military deployment - 19 battalions of CRPFand 2 Naga
and Mizo IRB battalions - which were used with ruthlessness to commit all marme' • i
barbarities to cow the adivasi people into submission. The presence oi the SalvvS
Judum. who also no doubt used brutal force themselves, added a factor of
unaccountability and spontaneity. Their role was also as informers and guides.
In the past three years the incidents of such barbarism have appeared many
times in the press, only to be quickly covered up. Some brave journalists notably
Shubranshu Choudhary in his column “Basi Ma Uphan" in the evening daily paper
Vb
Chhattisgarh has reported scores of such cases We are giving here only a few
instances;On 13th March 2007 when the Naga Batallion and the Salwa Judum entered the
Nendra village of Gaganpali panchayat( everyone ran away. But the children of the
village were bathing at a hand pump. When the Naga jawans could not find anyone else
in the village they shot these 12 children between the ages of 2 and 20 dead. We are
giving their names not because it would make a difference to the reader but to remind
fhem that 12 is not is a statistic but represents human beings (their ages are in brackets)
- Soyam Raju (2), Madvi Ganga (5), Midium Nagaiyya (5), Podium Adma (7) Vetti Raju
(9), Vanjam Raja (11), Soyam Raju (12), Sodi Adma (12), Madkam Aite (13), Madkam
Budraiyya (14), Soyam Rama (16), Soyam Narya (20).
280 persons of Gangrajpadu village were taken by the Salwa Judum io the camp,
but 175 of them were murdered, filled in sacking and thrown in the river, because they
were protesting against going to the camp.
— A CRPF jawan of the 119 Batallion, G company told a journalist that they had
been given orders that if they saw anyone in those villages after 15 March 2007. he/she
would be a Naxalite and if he ran away we could them.
On 7th April 2007 a jawan of the Chhattisgarh Armed Force told a journalist that
he had been posted there since the 15th of January 2007 and since then his unit alone
had killed at least 60 persons. He said that as soon as they would reach a village with
the Salwa Judum, people would start running. “We cannot understand the language of
the adivasis here. Whoever we could catch, we would kill like a chicken or a goat, on the
say so of the Salwa Judum. All this is happening because of our orders from above, and
I am very unhappy about it.”
The other significant aspect of this strategy was the outlawing and cordoning off of those
adivasi people who refused to come to the camps, the total withdrawal of health
services, ration shops and local markets. In other words starving out or “sanctions Tins
is described in the following excerpts:
“Because of Judum the Haat markets were closed down.
'
In the Naxal strongehold areas of the Konta area after the start of Salwa Jude ■ fo?
weekly markets had closed down, then the Naxals had started holding a market at Gachanpa i'
for their so-called people.
After the attack of the force on this market, the Naxalites have changed the venue of the
market. The weekly markets are the most important part of a forest products based economy It
is from these markets that Naxalites also get the articles for their daily needs After the start :1
the Salwa Judum campaign in 2004 (sic) the villages around the main centers were depopulated.
The markets of these centers were also closed down and the economy of South Eastar
crumbled. In the interior areas where the Naxals had a stronger base, the villagers left their
villages and shifted to the mountains and jungles. Owing to this problem, the markets of
Jagargunda, Bhejji, Basaguda, Golapalli, Kankerlanka etc. were closed down Markets that weoperating in the interior like Bhejji were brought to the roadside. The villagers who did net jo.rSalwa Judum were debarred from coming to these market places on the roadsides . The villagers
who came to the markets carrying mahua, imli, tora and other forest products began io be
victimized as Naxals. Looking to this problem the Naxals started a new market in Gacmi
The traders of Cherla, Andhra Pradesh used to come in bullock carts with their ware::
Naxalites had directed that the essential items be provided at reasonable prices. But the news i
this reached the Salwa Judum supporters of Dornapal. So much forest produce used to come
info the market, that the traders couldn’t transport all of it back."
Nai Dunia, 3'd January. 20C9.
“The Story of the Other Side of the Indravati
\c(
Quite a few people were already sitting there (in Village Niram) when we arrived. The
people respectfully asked us to be seated. When we asked them about the facilities provided by
the government they told us that upto two years ago the school and anganwadi centres were
functioning here, though not regularly Similarly the heath workers also used co come sometimes
so at least we and our children would 'get some kind of relief. But as soon as Saiwa Judum
started all these facilities were stopped by the government. The villagers said they could' t
understand why all these facilities were stopped by the government. Whereas no one had eve.
objected to their functioning The villagers said that when Saiwa Judum started the entire
populations of the villages of Chinger, Ehkeli,Satwa Bangoli etc. were forcibly taken away by
the Saiwa Judum leaders and the (paramilitary} force. But we thought that if we go away, we
would neither be able to do our farming nor collect forest produce which is the basic source of
our livelihood. All of us will simply die of starvation there. The peasants also stated that there are
facing a shortage of grain, salt, oil, chillies, clothes etc, because if they cross the river and go to
the Geedam or Tumnar market, the Saiwa Judum and force catch them and beat them up badly
and take them and throw them in the camp or else murder them So they don't go to the market
at all. If they require these necessities of life they go walking to another market 80 km away, they
have to spend three days doing so."
Shubranshu Choudhari, 11.6.2007, 'Chhattisgarh'
Like everything else. “Counter-Insurgency’' has also become an industry in
Chhattisgarh. Crores of rupees come in for defence expenditure and security costs
Huge undisclosed budgets exist for this purpose. And there is heavy siphoning off. (Even
otherwise, out of the 1654 crores sanctioned for modernization of the police force by the
Centra! government for the 13 Naxal affected states, only 2 to 13% have been used for
improving weaponry. The lions share has gone into building bungalows and offices')
.Besides, running the Saiwa Judum camps itself is a lucrative proposition for the
contractors and Judum leaders, many of whom have built houses and purchased
vehicles in this period. From makeshift tents, tin roof structures have been constructed in
the camps. All government schemes have been transferred to the camps. Ration shops,
anganwadis, schools, hostels, literacy and health missions
all funds designated for
the villages now come to the camps. Foodstuffs, medicines, relief materials including
those sent by international agencies intended for lakhs of people are claimed to be
distributed to a few thousands. And even those are distributed on paper, for now the
majority of people, having neither employment nor food have run away. Mo wonder that
the journalists who were trying to expose this scam were beaten up by Saiwa Judum
goons in the police station. The following news item gives us an idea:
"Patwari suspended in rice case.
The administration has finally taken stern action in the case of blackmarketeering of rice brought
for distribution to the inmates of the Saiwa Judum Relief camps, and suspended the Patwari of
Dornapal....
On the one hand various kinds of questions are being raised against Saiwa Judum by
NGOs and political parties, on the other this kind of incident raises doubts about the functioning
of the administration.
On 15 December the police had raided and seized 100 sacks of rice intended for the
inmates of the Dornapal Relief Camp which had been kept for backmarketing in the house of Md
Ahmed at Nadi Road. He was found prima facie to be guilty.
There is consternation among the employees at this action taken for the first time since
the start of the Saiwa Judum. Complaints of this nature had been made several times earlier in
the Saiwa Judum camps. Such irregularities are not a new thing. There has been blackmarketing
of all materials which come here for the past two years
Most of the camp inmates have gone
back to their respective villages, but despite this the malerials are shown to be distributed on the
basis on the old figures. If the administration carries out an impartial enquiry, several startling
facts will be uncovered.”
■
Haribhoomi, 19/12/2003
■
This corruption has been acknowledged at the highest levels Once the m
Vishwaranjan was asked to comment on the statement made by the outgoing
advisor to the government of Chhattisgarh - KPS Gill that the police of Chnai’ :
•.
so corrupt that the police officers posted at Bastar extort bribes for trans--,
postings from jawans. He replied,” Had I been there i would have asked that h ■
in‘Punjab where you finished off terrorism so efficiently, that 3/4ths of the offn.
n;.v?
houses in England and America, though they have no relatives there? It might seem
that, by saying so, the DGP is exposing corruption very frankly. But on studying this
more closely we understand that its real meaning is that Gill Sahab, better not speak too
much about corruption, if you do, we can expose you as well! Thus the purpose was not
to expose, but to cover up corruption.
But the more grave concern is that the imperialists, particularly the American state have
had a powerful influence on the top echelons of the police. This is even more serious it
present for Chhattisgarh, from where police officers regularly go to America for training.
In the Punjab period, the officers did not make frequent trips abroad, as they are doing
today, yet many houses got built. How many houses are being built now is anybody s
guess'
In a statement of 6th May 2008 in Mr Vishwaranjan also admits, “In the BijapurDantewada areas, they (the Naxalites) started raking up the old discontent o' the
adivasis. Actually adivasis consider the jungle to be their own, they don't accept that it
belongs to the government. In 1910 a revolt took place against the local raja because he
tried to implement the Forest Act. He had to call in the British army for help. Ever since
then this discontent has taken root. Later on the National Forest Act was implemented
The adivasis could not emotionally accept this.”
Recently DGP Vishwaranjan stated that there are at present about 10,000 hard core
Maoists and 40,000 people’s militia in Dantewada out of which 15,000 are women. In
other words we are back to the magic figure of 50,000 given by DGP Rathore before
Salwa. Judum started. In that case, what has been achieved by the past 3 years of
forcible displacement, detention of thousands in camps, and hundreds of killings?
“The Story of a Village”
What has Salwa Judum meant for the adivasi people? The following is a narrative of the
speech given by an adivasi in a meeting organised at New Delhi by the "Citizens for
Peace and Justice in Chhattisgarh” which describes this poignantly.
■id
■
“After some hesitation he (Chamru) started speaking, ”lt was in the December of 2005. the
Sarpanch of Mirtur sent a letter to our village (Vechapal).ln that it was written that now in Bastar
some man-eating people are coming, so if we want to save ourselves from them we should go to
■ the Mirtur camp. .
•
The adivasi translating said that man-eating people meant Nagas. 1
' Chamru continued, "We got scared. We got together and decided that first all the men would go
■ and stay in the camp and then we would decide what to do afterwards.
In the Mirtur camp there were some old Sangham members who had now become
SPOs. Every morning they would first beat us. They used to say when we went to these penpies’
■A?: '
1-
■
village with the Naxalites, they had fed us food. After this they usee! to take us to other villa
and tell us to set fire to houses in those villages
After some days some people of our village ran away from ‘
. a■np
■’■■■■:•
the people used to stay in the camps in the night but mostly come ta.x nome in me day tin, :
To scare those people who had run away from the camp, after 8 days the Salwa Jud; and the police came to our village. The others ran away, but Joga Aayami fell into their na;..-,
and the Salwa Judum and police together killed him They took away the 17 yeai old os-.-im.
Rukni of Sannu Oyami. As far as we know Rukni is stili imprisoned in jagdalpur ;aii today
After staying in the camp for two or three months, all of us from our village ne :: i *.•
day that we should all run away In February-March we ran away from :ne camo and ,'i •
to our village.
After this Salwa Judum started coming to our village regularly. As soon as they came we
would run away to the jungle. After our running away they set fire to 60-70 houses in our village
and took our cattle away.
,
One day in April when I had gone to pick mahua, suddenly the Salwa Judum people
came there I hid behind a tree and they caught hold of 4 women who were picking mahua. They
raped the 16 year old daughter Kumari of Sannu Oyami and the 27 year old wife Kamlt of Bancie
Kadti in front of me. I kept watching from behind the tree They let two older ladies go. After that
they made the young girls wear Naxal uniforms which they had brought with them They cut their
hair, put a gun on their shoulder and took them away with them. These two girls are still m
Jagdalpur jail accused in Naxalite cases. We have already paid 12.000 to the lawyer but he sa . ■
ne can only get them out if we give him 20 thousand more.
After that we started living in the jungle only, and Salwa Judum started coming very
frequently to our village. Each time we would run away, but somebody or the other would get
caught In this way six people of our village have got caught
Two of them were father anci soThey were caught together when they were cutting wood They were hacked to death nn.i th.rov .
in the river
None of these 6 was a Sangham member
Salwa Judum people have burnt my house three times till now Now there is not a smgie
house in the village which has not been burnt. Now there are only walls left in the viHag ■
Whenever we make a house they come and burn it. This has happened about 10 times. New we
make houses of plastic sheets and are living in the jungle
• (
Jaganath (32), son of Aytu of our village used to tell people to go the camp and we
suspect that he used to spy about our village to the SPOs. The dadas (Naxalites) came to know
about this and one day during this time the dadas killed him
There was a school in our village. Now the administration has transferred the school io
the Mirtur camp. Not a single person from our village stays in the camp now. That’s why no child
of our village goes to school now.
There is no hospital in our village. We used to go to Mirtur for the market and hospital but
now we cannot go to Mirtur for fear of the Salwa Judum Now we only send old ladies and
children to the market to buy salt and oil. They have to walk one full day and after that spend the
night somewhere to reach the market in the morning.” Chamru requested me not to write the
name of that market.
’Earlier in our village there were 5 Sangham members and the dadas (Naxals) used to
come from time to time. They used to take meetings and tell us to do agriculture well and not
drink. They never did any harm to us, Sahab”.
Chamru told me that this is not only the story of his village. The neighbouring villages like
Timenar, Hurepal, Phoolgatta, Dorguda, Kondapal, Pittepal, Neelavaya, Madpal, Indri, Kokur,
Tamud.Orvada, Paralnar, Kudalka, Peddapal.Jn all these villages the story is more or less the
same. All of them are living in the jungle. The people of all these villages cannot come out and
neither can anyone except Salwa Judum and the police come to our villages.
There was no one from the dalam in our village, now one has joined. From my
neighbouring villages,'15-20 from some and 30-40 from others have joined the dalam Before
Salwa Judum there were only 1-2 persons from these villages in the dalam." Chamru also told
the names of the villages where all the youth had gone with the Naxalites but he requested me
not to write the names of those villages for reasons of security.
Chamru can be called a Naxalite. This meeting can be called Naxalite
mscmi: E .,
when Chamru was speaking there was pin drop silence in the whole nail and : :.<■< ■.
' - >t
eyes of many people sitting in the chairs around me.
The population of those 644 villages like Vechapal is about three and a half
According to government statistics about 50 thousand of them are in camps and the rem r r ing lakhs like Chamru have gone closer to the Naxalites.
This is the success of Salwa Judum"
Shubranshu Choudhari,14.9.2007, “Chhattisgarh
Every day the newspapers of Chhattisgarh carry disturbing news of killings, most of
these are attributed to Maoists. As peace-loving people, far removed from the villages of
Bastar, we shudder on reading these We wish that there were some solution to end this
seemingly endless cycle of violence But we must remember that it is difficult io find the
stories of the “Chamrus" in those reports. We have to read between the lines. If the
newspaper says "commanders were felled” and shows a photograph of several young
men in lungis what does it mean? If we are told the Maoists ruthlessly murdered a
villager” who also was an SPO what does that mean? And if we are told nothing at al!
what does that mean? Though we are often told that “the Maoists threw pamphlets' it is
rarely that a statement of the CPI(Maoist) finds its way to the press, and if so to confirm
its authenticity. On 22 12.2007 a statement was published in the name of Gudsa Usendi
Spokesperson of the Dandakaranya Special Zonal Committee ir. fire Daily Chhah-sgarh
in response to an article of journalist Asha Shukla. This is how it concludes
"Whatever is being broadcast in the TV channels and newspapers is almost all one-sided If ■.<£
make only this storm of one-sided propaganda our source of information we shall make serious
mistakes. Ashaji has rightly said that our Chhattisgarh is looked upon as a backward ■eg'C'.
otherwise people would have shown the same interest in exposing the frightening and most
brutal violence which is going on in the name of Salwa Judum as they have in expos '•g the
Gujarat riots or the killings in Nandigram Without writing or speaking anyth:’ c rtoo ‘
women (rape victims described earlier in the article'), and hundreds of othw ntun a
><_ even trying to find out about them, to try to blame us. or abuse us in very r motienaiiy an i r
.
style as Ashaji has done, shows only dishonesty towards this problem..
Here on the one hand the violence of the Salwa Judum is on
On the other hand is the retaliatory violence on behalf of a historically defeated people who nave
been struggling for their water, land and forest for the past 27 years It is the violence of me;.,
who have nothing left to lose. Everything has already been looted from them. .
. They have
only two ways left: to surrender and live like slaves in the “relief camps oi to resist even at the
cost of their life. I am not trying to give an argument to justify our violence, I am only rer ■■•».t>r.g
that the people were forced to make this choice Sitting in Delhi or Raipur oi even regaining
confined to the roads of Bastar and shouting “you are killing innocent and helpless people" is
very easy, but to touch the hearts and feel the pain of those whose tears have dried up is very
difficult. Finally I want to say that in these last two and a half years if despite this barbaric
repression there are still people alive in south and West Bastar it is only and only because of ou:
resistance struggle. If our party had not led this peoples resistance history would perhaps ” '
forgiven us. you may callus violent or abuse us, but this is the reality and it is o..-r conviction th;-;
history will vindicate us."
Knocking on the doors of the democratic state - do the adivasis of
Bastar have any civil liberties?
Ttje silence about Bastar is not “natural”. There are many brave journalists, lawyers,
social activists in Bastar and Chhattigarh. And many of them have been trying to speak.
But journalists have been harassed, beaten, arrested; their homes and jobs taken away
from them. False cases, transfers, income tax raids, defamation - the state has a myriad
ways to silence social activists. Even a lawyer, Shri Girjuram Kashyap, filing affidavits of
villagers against the fake gram sabhas at Lohandiguda was picked up. The politically
motivated and criminal incarceration of Dr Binayak Sen - which continues even after 19
months despite the lack of legally admissible evidence and the widespread protest,
nationally and internationally - is also to “teach a lesson" and brutally enforce this
sifence.
Salwa Judum began in June 2005, and by December the blood had start trickling out
from under “the wall of silence” - the hushed reports of repeated attacks on villages
under massive paramilitary cover, the rounding up of entire villages into camps - houses
razed to the ground, meager belongings looted, crops ruined and livestock slaughtered,
hundreds of ostensible "Sanghams” killed, and all those who refused to come to the
camps and preferred to flee to the jungles labelled 'Maoists’.
It was Dr Binayak Sen who took the first brave step of organising a joint All-lndia
fact finding team of human rights organizations to investigate these disturbing rumours.
The team was obstructed, harassed and threatened, but it nevertheless let the nation
know what was happening in Dantewada. The report was aptly entitled “When the State
makes War on its People”. After this many fact finding teams notably the Independent
Citizens Initiative, various governmental commissions such as the National Commision
of Women, international human rights organizations like the International Association of
Peoples Lawyers and Human Rights Watch, journalists’ and doctors' associations
(Reporters Without Borders and Jan Swasthya Abhiyan), and teams of various political
parties like those of the CPI and the Congress have also repeatedly documented
atrocities, lawlessness, forcible displacement, pitiful conditions in camps, cases of
sexual harassment etc. Letter petitions of the Vanvasi Chetana Ashram have been taken
up suo moto by the Chhattisgarh High Court, and the Forum for Fact Finding and
Documentation has filed numerous petitions before the State Human Rights
Commission. Finally two petitions questioning the legitimacy and violent modus operand!
of Salwa Judum have been taken into cognizance by our apex judicial forum - the
Supreme Court - one filed by Nandini Sundar, Ramchandra Guha, EAS Sharma and
other members of the Independent Citizens Initiative, and the other by Kartam Joga
Manish Kunjam and other residents of Dantewada belonging to the Adivasi Mahasabha.
What has been the response of our democratic institutions?
Take the Ponjer fake encounter case. Not only the CPI, the Forum for Factfinding and
Documentation, and the PUCL, but even a 5 member team of Congress MPs including
Moolchand Meena and Jamuna Devi had conducted an investigation and declared that
12 innocent villagers had been murdered by the police in March 2007. 8 bodies were
exhumed and a magisterial enquiry was ordered. But the police finally registered an FIR
in the name of "unknown uniformed persons.”
The BJP MLA of Keshkal and Parliamentary Secretary Mahesh Baghel had gone
public stating that the 79 persons who were paraded before the press in Raipur as
surrendered Naxalites in January 2007, were innocent peasants. He had claimed that
not only were they not even Sangham members, but most of them were BJP cadres and
he knew them personally. But only a few of these persons could be released.
Presumably the rest are still rotting in jail.
The gang rape of an adivasi woman by the Mizo jawans had enraged the people
. of the Nakulnar area in February 2007, and they continuously agitated under the
leadership of the Adivasi Mahasabha for the punishment of the jawans and the
withdrawal of the Mizo batallion. Those jawans had also threatened and beaten the local
adivasi police who had tried to register a case. Thanedar Khalko told an ETV reporter
that,"The Mizo jawans beat up anybody. If they are not withdrawn from here, the
situation can become explosive We are only 7 and they are 117. We are helpless before
them.". The Dantewada police however acted in collusion to save these jawans. The
woman was made to identify the rapists in an identification parade which was well nigh
impossible for her because of their identical Mongoloid features.
■|
Apart from this denial and cover-up mode, the other official response has been offensive
- to declare every person who opposes the brutalities of Salwa Judum as a “Naxalite
supporter”.
The extreme example of this was when, in November 2007, the Dantewada
collector KR Pisda wrote to the State Government that the Y category security given to
Congress MLA Kawasi Lakhma be withdrawn as he was a “Naxalite spokesperson.” The
‘‘proof’ given for this was, “He has not issued any statement opposing Naxalites. He has
not participated in the Salwa Judum. In fact he has demanded that it should be stopped.”
Even in the petitions in the Supreme Court, the reply of the Chhattisgarh
government was that all the petitioners are “Naxalite supporters!"
After the recent elections, as usual, an adivasi MUX, this time Nankiram Kanwar
has been adorned with the crown of thorns, namely the post of home minister. It is
pertinent that in the previous cabinet he had been Forest Minister, which ministry was
taken away from him when he had tried to prosecute the Sterlite company for their illegal
encroachment on forest land and felling of thousands of trees. This time he has
immediately towed the line. After first making a visit to the RSS office, Mr Kanwar stated
that al! those who oppose Salwa Judum are “anti adivasi", “Naxalite supporters” and
shall be “dealt with sternly.”
In which case the list of Naxal supporters is rather daunting - Sandeep Pandey,
Justice Srikrishna, EAS Sharma, Nandini Sundar, BD Sharma, D.Raja, Medha Patkar,
Kanak Tiwari, D. Bandhopadhyay, Hira Singh Markam and of course the inimitable Ajit
Jogi. The latest addition is our Union Home Minister P..Chidambaram who stated during
question hour in Rajya Sabha that “We are not in favour of non-state actors lakim- ■ .•
enforcement in their hands,"
.Chief Minister Raman Singh and DGP Vishwaranjan are literally crowing over the results
of the recent assembly elections in Bastar and interpreting them as a mandate in support
of Salwa Judum. Is it so?
Most of the times nowadays elections are not fought on issues, how else can one
explain campaigns usiqg naive if not outright dumb star celebrities. In Chhattisgarh, the
burning issues being faced by a region reeling under imperialist onslaught were totally
absent. What to.say of poor contract labour or peasants facing displacement, even the
issue of the small industrialists did not figure in the manifestos of the “mainstream”
political parties. They were only vying with each other in throwing crumbs to the people
from the high table of loot - luring them with ‘three rupee rice’, ‘two rupee rice’, and finally
even ‘one rupee rice’!
But any one who visited the Dantewada or Konta constituencies in the buildup to
thp elections could see that the election there was being fought like a referendum on
Salwa Judum and land acquisition for companies. I quote from the newspaper Nai Dunia.
of 7/11/2008:
“Shri Karma has not been able to start his campaign in the Naxal stronghold areas of
Katekalyan and Kuakonda, even the BJP candidate Bhimram Mandavi has not plucked up the
courage to go there. On the contrary,, under the banner of the Adivasi Mahasabha, Shri Kunjam
has been successful in reaching his message; He is the national President of the Adivasi
Mahasabha and by going to jail in the matter of giving land to the Tata industrial group, he has
earned considerable sympathy. Famed as "Bastar Tiger", Mahendra Karma, though he is an
adivasi, is considered a leader of the non-adivasis. But some incidents of the recent past have
spoiled this image of his. Similarly his efforts to persuade the adivasis of Bhansi and Dhurli to
give their lands to the Essar industrial group may cost him dear."
The defeat of the powerful sitting MUX Mahendra Karma does of course signal
the unpopularity of the Salwa Judum he headed and also the land acquisitions of Tata
and Essar which he personally tried to push through. And this was despite not only
muscle power but even money power. He was caught on camera bribing an adivasi
woman, and quickly signalled to a man carrying a sack of cash to scoot! But how then,
did the BJP candidate, who was nowhere in the running, defeat such an obviously
popular candidate as Manish Kunjam?
The Citizens for Peace and Justice in Chhattisgarh had expressed
apprehensions in their letter to the Election Commission of India regarding electoral rolls
t>eing prepared in camps and therefore the possibility of fraudulent voting:
"According to recent media reports Government of Chhattisgarh claims that more than
57>,000 people are living in these camps and their names are getting included in the electoral
rolls for the camps. We have learnt through media reports that the Government has initiated
a process of including their names in the electoral roles for the camps.
As per reports we have received from local civil society members and fact findings done by
CPJC members, majority of people who were living in these relief camps have gone back to
their homes in their respective villages. According to our information the number of residents
in camps is not more than 10,000.
We are also aware of several other discrepancies existing in the preparation of
Electoral rolls: many names in from the voter's list have been dropped and in some cases
names of children aged 13-16 have been included in the names. Moreover, names of
several people who have fled to Andhra Pradesh and other neighbouring states have been
added or maintained in the electoral rolls of Salwa Judum camps when they never lived
there.
We are afraid that this will inevitably result in fraud voting while the citizens
themselves are deprived of their right to vote.
According to media reports Communist Party of India has also raised their objection with you
on similar points. They have informed that 50 polling booths in Bijapur and 92 polling booths
inpantewada has not been inspected by Election Commission. They feel the inspection staff
have refused to do their duty, probably due to threats from Salwa Judum."
Recently Advocate Pratap Narayan Agrawal preferred a letter petition alleging that the
election was neither free nor fair,
‘9.From the preparation of voters' list, photo-identity card and polling in booth is a story of abuse of power
and connivance of public servants with money-muscle- mafia candidates. The election commission abused
its'
power
in
firstly
declaring
that
in
absence
of
photo-identitycard
the
voters will be allowed to cast their votes if they have any of the other 29 proof of their identity, but suddenly
the election commission debarred tire voters of Dantewada and Konta-SuKma constituency who had no
voters’-identity
card.
The
commission's agency failed
to
update
and
issue voters'
identity-card to each of the Indian citizen voter. Thus, the conduct of election was neither free nor fair nor
constitutional.
10. The commission failed to make arrangements for security of voters from naxals and other anti-law : is
clear from the incident of voting thrice in village ” G 0 G U N D A ' in Konta-constituency. The fear and
insecurity amongst voter is proofed by the fact that only 10 voters cast their vote against the roll of 711
voters. The election-party many a times did not go the booth and made false documents of voting The
election-machinery cared and busy only to protect the election-party, they did not care to
sepure the voters. Thus, the election in Konta. Dantewada, Kanker, Keshkal, Narayanpur constituency
were neither free nor fair nor secure nor constitutionally achieved.
11 The very fact that Collector and District Returning officer with superintendent police Car-k.. ...
;
reported against the election-observer: and the observer having reported against them for ceirui ; • •.••••■
is a proof of conduct of illegal elections
12. The ver ,- fact that the Chief Election Officer of Chhattisgarh election commission Dr c•.-»
reported of non-cooperation by Director General Police and his subordinates and the District Rr!.--- -no
officers, is a proof ' of conduct of elections in unfair and unfree and ilie.ini nr--?,
insecure manner
13. The very fact that Commissioner of Bastar Ganesh Shankar Mishra, Collector of Raipur Sc;
-• ■ . .s
and collector of Kanker Pisda were transferred for free and fair elections indicates unfree •=-. .- -.-i
involvement of public-servants.
14. The fact that many of the officers were not relieved from duty despite instructions o: elect... n
commission and some of them relieved on my notice, is a proof of unfair and unfree and corrupt and
abusive-power involvement of public servants in conduct of elections. None of the erring public-servant is
punished is the prove of their criminal conspiracy with political parties"
tn fact some persons of poll parties and security parties have already been prosecuted
for election malpractices by the Election Commission in Rajnandgaon and Kamker
districts. 11 persons are in jail pending trial. This poll party had never gone to the borto
but had sat in the fields and pressed the EVM buttons. There have been cases ot more
than 100% voting and cases where votes were cast only for the BJP Besides when we
recall that the votes in the camps could hardly have been cast freely and that votes of
government servants were ostensibly “cast by post’’, it is not difficult to unders!?"-;: hr? w
the BJP might have won
Recently the papers in Chhattisgarh were blazing headlines - "NHRC gives a clean chit
to Salwa Judum”, referring to the enquiry made on the directions of the Supreme Court.
Of course the NHRC had acted in a typical “police” fashion, traveled to villages in anti
land mine vehicles with SJ leaders and alleged perpetrators as translators and guides,
and could not even protect the few villagers who were brave enough to depose before it.
Yet the recommendatory chapter of its report begins by noting that the Salwa
Judum movement has now lost its momentum, and suggests that efforts should be made
to rehabilitate the remaining camp inmates. It recommends that village wise lists of
missing persons be made, atrocities be investigated and villagers be encouraged to
lodge FIRs, that all losses due to loot and arson be compensated irrespective of
perpetrators (read “even if non-naxalites”), that paramilitary forces stop using school
buildings, that corruption in camps be strictly checked, that security forces be trained to
avoid human rights violations and that a more humane transfer policy be put in place to
relieve them, and that rather than a security-centric approach efforts be made to address
socio-economic deprivation.
Dilute as they may be, could these recommendations, which are practically a
vindication of the allegations of human rights groups, be described as a “clean chit”?
Well, so thinks the Public Relations Department of the Government! And so that is the
Truth (with a capital T) in current vogue in Chhattisgarh.
In other words, after all that effort, we are back to square one.
Not recognising the people’s brave resistance.
Missing the forest for the trees.
For the State in Chhattisgarh, there are no adivasi people, it only recognises “Maoists”
or “victims of Naxal violence”.
People have been speaking. But has anyone been listening?
■
&
On 5 November 2008, about 2 lakh adivasis gathered at Jagdalpur in a rally organized
under the aegis of the Adivasi Mahasabha. At the venue - the huge Jadgalpur stadium
there was not a single matador, truck or bus. All the participants had come walking,
some had left their villages 3-4 days before the event, carrying rice and their own fuel
wood. Their slogans - “Stop Salwa Judum”, “Stop giving adivasi lands to companies",
“Down with Mahendra Karma.”
A similar rally at Dantewada on 14 November 2007 had been denied permission
by the Collector Dantewada in the name of a by-election taking place in the Bilaspur
district more than 500 kilometres away! The High Court had struck down the order of the
Collector and permitted the rally. Despite all-out efforts by the Salwa Judum leaders and
thf police and para-military to obstruct and threaten, the participants of the rally did
arrive at Dantewada, 50,000 of them, to oppose the land acquisition by Tata and Essar,
and to oppose the massive displacement of adivasis in the name of Salwa Judum It is
interesting that despite all the government support, Salwa Judum has never been able to
muster such mobilisations.
And that is not all. Six months ago hundreds of tribals had demonstrated at the district
headquarters of Bijapur, protesting that CRPF jawans posted at a relief camp in the
interior village of Cherpal had fired at camp residents, killing a two-year-old boy Raju
and a woman, Ram Bai, 25. They had demanded the recall of CRPF from the village.
And at Nakulnar.. . At Bhansi . . .At Kondagaon. . At Lohandiguda
Yet unfortunately, for the civil society too, the adivasi people are only victims, “ground
between two stones”, “caught in the crossfire”, “those whose only crime is to be neutral.”
We have been appealing to the democratic institutions - the Executive headed by the
Collector and the Governor in the Scheduled Areas; the Judiciary headed by the Chief
Justices of the Supreme Court and High Court; the National and State Human Rights
Commissions, and the special committees set up to monitor the status of the scheduled
tribes and the scheduled areas; the national and local media; political parties of all hues.
After many undaunted efforts, not to be belittled in the least, there has been a small stir.
But small, far too small, in comparison with the dimensions of the human tragedy.
But the NHRC is right about the fact that the Salwa Judum has lost its momentum.
Now the operations are clearly police-CRPF-IRB operations. A large number of
the “pakka” SJ recruits have been absorbed as “Special Police Officers" - the lowly paid
(yet by adivasi standards getting a royal sum of Rs. 1500 a month) youth who serve as
the spy network, guide the police parties in the jungles and literally form the physical
shield around the CRPF in each of the thanas. Recently the DGP Mr. Vishwaranjan
stated that more than 1500 SPOs were discharged on grounds of indiscipline
(euphemism for atrocities).
The Collector of Dantewada candidly admitted to the press that 80% of the
inmates of the camps have returned to their villages. When one recalls that there are 19
battalions of CRPF not to mention Naga and Mizo IRBs in Bastar and Dantewada, today,
and that these security forces have been treating all those who refused to come to the
camps as “Naxalites” and in fact forcibly bringing them back if they ran away, how did
this happen?
How has Salwa Judum been pushed back?
The live telecasts of happenings in Singur and Nandigram have shown us what happens
when people of 11-12 villages refuse to part with their lands. Now multiply this by 50.
Think of the enormity of it - 644 villages, 3.5 lakh adivasis. The government figures say
50,000 are in the camps. Human rights organizations say another 50,000 have fled to
■
Andhra Pradesh. Let us add another 50,000 for good measure. Even so, our arithmetic
has failed. Where have 2 lakh adivasis vanished? Obviously into the jungle And
therefore by the government logic - they are Maoists?
It is these adivasis who have been declared outlaw, who are being cordoned off by the
security forces, who are being deliberately starved of food and medicines by the
withdrawal of health services and ration shops. These adivasis, whose crops are
repeatedly burnt when they try to sow them in the abandoned villages. These adivasis
who have to walk kilometers and kilometers to a local bazaar to avoid being “identified”
as a Naxal by the Salwa Judum (or now the local SPO) and beaten, arrested or even
killed. They who are swelling the overcrowded jails of Dantewada, Jagdalpur and
Kanker, accused of “offences by unknown Maoists” - serving a sentence even before
trial, for the word “baii” is unknown in the legal lexicon of Dantewada. Thais from which
everyone knows they can only be acquitted for there are no witnesses, and no
complainants, and most of time no co-accused either.
But it is also these adivasis who have refused to go the camps, who have
repeatedly tried to return to their villages, who have sown their crops knowing
that they might be destroyed by the Salwa Judum and CRPF, who have also been
fighting to save their fields, their homes, their villages.
And yes, how can we deny it, who have resisted the Salwa Judum, the
police, the CRPF physically with their traditional weapons. And again, it is
undeniable, that the Maoists have supported them.
It is these adivasi people who have bravely created the conditions for those
held in virtual detention in the camps to return home. It is they who are refusing to
hand over their lands, their forests, to the rich global mining interests who are
'waiting in the wings. It is they who have pushed back a brutal campaign like Salwa
Judum. Can we refuse to recognise this brave resistance?
Today’s imperialist onslaught is a desperate attempt to overcome
crisis. And the masses of people refuse to be the sacrificial goat.
The ferocious aggression of imperialist capital, especially from the US, has to be seen in
the light of the economic crisis impending since the 1990’s, that has erupted now in
2008. This final economic meltdown has exploded many a myth about the illusory 'free
market economy’ and we are seeing the naked collusion between finance capital and
their imperialist states. The free market is for the devastation of lakhs of peasants, and
the bail outs and subsidies are for the big capital.
Even the mainstream economists like Joseph Stiglitz and Paul Krugman and many
others have been demonstrating that, especially in the last decades, US has been
consuming vast resources at the expense of the developing countries such as China,
India and Russia etc. This has been done largely through its unique position by way of
issuing dollars to reduce its mega-deficit and making the poor countries pay for its
consumerist extravaganza. According to a New York Times article, since 2001, the US
debt has grown by $1.7 trillion. Foreigners financed 75 percent - about $1.3 trillion - of
this, China alone bears one fourth the burden. So, we see that the plight of the Indian
peasants or that of the small industries is not a natural phenomenon, but a direct
consequence of ruthless loot by the desperate imperialists. But with all this loot, they
could only postpone the collapse of their economy, and finally by 2008, the crisis caught
up with them.
A word of caution. By economic analysis alone, without an all sided study of our times
we can never get to the whole of the truth, more importantly that truth, which guides us
to work to change the wretched conditions of our world, beyond mere interpretation
I
If we carefully think over the whole sequence of the events, we can figure out that had
George Bush succeeded in taming the Iraqi people in a time period of three to six
months, then he could have proceeded to conquer Iran and could have got hold of vast
oil resources cheaply. In that situation the imperialists could have postponed the crash
for another decade. This is what they had calculated.
The people of the oppressed world thought otherwise. At the cost of untold sufferings
and sacrifices, the march of the armed might of US imperialism has been brought to a
grinding halt. After Korea and Vietnam, the people of Iraq have shown that imperialism is
indeed a paper tiger. The moral of the story is that we have to go beyond interpretation,
work for change, come out and organize the struggle to defeat the plunderer imperialists.
At this historic juncture of world wide economic crisis, what is the state of affairs in our
country? What are the politicians of every major political party and the ruling bureaucrats
doing? Of course they are working to save the country, to save the economy from the
crisis. The country is - Tata, Ambani, Jindal, Jaiprakash, DLF, Indiabull, Essar, Birla,
Holcim, Lafarge, ITC etc. etc. and the vast people are their subjects More than 60
thousand crores have been injected. More may be needed. After all the country has to
be saved from the economic crisis.
The crisis is of the demand side. So demand has to be boosted. Excise duty has been
cut across the board. Mobikes are cheaper by 4000, cars by 20 to 40 thousands. Banks
have been instructed to disburse loans to boost the consumer market. Come on citizens,
the country has to be saved, the economy has to be saved, tighten your belts
How can they give bonus, there is an economic slowdown. Wages less than half the
legal minimum? You should understand, it is a crisis. Everyone has to do their bit. The
country is taking upon itself the burden of carrying package after package, the citizens
should chip in with a bit of overtime and a bit of unemployment
And peasants, yesterday, you were to contribute your land for development, today to
save the country from economic crisis. Are you not expected to give that contribution at
th£ altar of country? You see, we are all one. The govt, of the economists is leading us.
We are in safe hands.
Just a minute.
The crisis is of the demand side Then, can the demand not be mmste;; ■ .
to the workers, by paying full wage and even a raise in that i.-y providing ■< ..
all with living wage (and not a starvation wage as undet NREGA), imagine;
: V it!.
the derriam: when 77% of our people living with less then Rs 20 a day star?
minimum ..'age of say Rs 100 a day? By constructing deer-':' hospitals for " •
population which doesn’t have them? By providing tor constmniic-' o
family? ~c boost the demand and save the economy, isc t t; Yg ■?:> •• = m .
on constructions of malls and all the other extra vagai.iwi
■ - .
providec with these essentials? Or is it that only when mans ;......
constructed the demand for the steel and cement industries is boos!'?;
,.
hospitals ; ■ toilets and houses are constructed, it is not
7
The logic of economics is absolutely clear in this matter, that in fact, the demand can
only be boosted in this manner But how can finance capital even allow you to think
about it, let alone propose action on this line? Ah! There is this political side to our
economy And our economist rulers are the agents of the supreme imperialists Indeed
the whole ruling class, the politicians, the big bureaucrats! It has recently been reported
in our mainstream media that the black money which was kept by this ruling class in the
Swiss Banks was Rs. 1300 crore in 1984, it increased to Rs. 28,000 crores in 1997 and
this amount had soared to a whopping Rs. 72,80,000 crores by the end of 2006.This
amount is hundred times more than the much worshipped Fll investments in the Indian
stock markets.
In its crisis ridden state, this imperialist capital has become fem■-imi
its old age It has been waging an all out attack on the lives anti: ■
crisis ridden imperialists and its pliant state have been particularly aggressive in cniyout land grab and easing out the peasants from their land lives and livelihood a?
;-i':,
unprecedented scale. Kalinganagar, Singur Nandigram, Midnapi ■ :■'OCikaiO.
Raigarh. Jashpur Poses in Jagatsingpur, Tata m Lohandiguda -Star in -that-si
Bastar, and so many other places in Chhattisgarh and all ovei India •.placement unsr.
Salwa Judum. as relocation under military strategy is the cm ■■■ iiif-- m ? • ■
instances. Imperialists consider the Maoist forces to be the most >-•m ■.
• ci 7 way of unbridled exploitation in Bastar and many other adivast aie->.iiate does not hesitate io cairy out genocidal campaigns an .urn; ;i.-. • .hV<3i»« I. L . ■ ■ ••
Tne representatives oi Tie US imperialists are frequently present •:■ •<-. if the : 1
doing enough to protect ti etc long term interests' in the mineral ;
" nis interference in out maiiem can not be allowed. The rfa/aa; m
exposed before the whole people
is the call of the hour - support the resistance of
■ ■■■.-■
resource-rich areas, join hands to come out and <jm•an•••.•<? tfcr
displacement struggle at the national level.
Surely, we shall defeat the plunderer imperialists.
I
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