Searching for democracy in Bastar

LINGARAM KODOPI with SONI SORI

THE heart, or rather the heartbeat of the Indian nation is the state known as Chhattisgarh. In this state is a region called the Bastar division. This comprises seven districts and 12 Legislative Assembly seats, of which 11 are reserved for Adivasi candidates, while one is unreserved. Bastar division also has two Lok Sabha seats, both of which are reserved for Adivasis. The Bastar division is rich in natural resources, with mountains, forests, waterfalls and other natural wealth. Along with vast amounts of forest wealth, Bastar division is also filled with various minerals like iron ore, limestone, bauxite, tin ore, sapphire, dolomite, quartzite, lepidolite, mica, and corundum. Most of the people that reside in Bastar division belong to Scheduled Tribes. More than half of this tribal population, who we call Adivasi, lead their lives in the forests and mountains.

If you think about it, we Adivasis lead our lives atop a gold mine. This is why Adivasis have always held that ‘Jal, Jangal, Zameen’ (Water, Forest, Land) belongs to us. So long as the country has forests, land and water, Adivasis will be present in the country. Various governments have devised new laws and employed various political strategies to seize the land, jungles and rivers from Adivasis. Some Adivasis are educated, while others are not. Adivasis know how to live in harmony with their mountains, land, rivers and forests. But it’s natural that if one lives atop gold, then to access that gold, those who want to mine will be determined to remove the Adivasis. It’s difficult for Adivasis to live their lives in this country because powerful, political wolves are intent on eliminating us.

To mine the gold and riches out of the ores, any and all strategies are used to remove the Adivasis. Of these many strategies, one was Salwa Judum (‘Peace March’) Abhiyan that was started in 2005. The person leading this operation was a local tribal leader, Mahendra Karma, who was a Congress party MLA (Member of the Legislative Assembly) for Dantewada district, leader of the opposition in the state Assembly. Under his leadership, another anti-naxal operation, Jan Jagran Abhiyan, had been formed in 1991, which was unsuccessful. If we look at the history, it seems that Mahendra Karma started these two operations against the Naxalites, both of which turned out largely unsuccessful, from a specific caste-enmity. What these two operations certainly did was kill many Adivasis.

In 2001, Adivasis comprised 31.76% of the state population, which has now reduced to 30.62%. The average population growth rate in Chhattisgarh is 22.61%, but it is 18.23% for Adivasis. When the entire world’s population is increasing, why is it that the Adivasi population in Bastar is declining?

In Bastar, we have had the violent machinations of the central and state government on one side, and on the other, the violent revolution of the Naxalites. We should take a good look at the subject of this violent Naxalite revolution. Unless we begin to understand the reasons for the violence of the Naxalites, any solutions or results are impossible to conceive. Why do the Naxals revolt? How were the Naxalites born and why? In the history of the world, whenever the poor and the marginalized have been wronged, someone or other has come forward for support. The Naxalite (Maoist) movement doesn’t tire of calling itself a political party and a revolutionary organization.

We need to reflect on what happened to the Adivasis of Bastar that they felt the need to stand with an armed movement. If we talk of the Naxal ideology, then the word ‘Naxalwad’ was born from Naxalbari village in West Bengal. So why did armed resistance flare up in Naxalbari?

About 50 years back, under leadership from ‘revolutionary’ communists who were ideologically inspired by the Maoist revolution in China, tribal farmers and peasants from the villages under Naxalbari thana (police station) in north-western Bengal started an armed uprising. At the time, communists were in power in West Bengal, so this farmers’ uprising was militant. Scared by this, landlords began to evict sharecroppers. Sharecroppers sometimes used the armed movement, and at other times used the judicial system to fight for their rights.

One such sharecropper was Bigul, who had acquired an order from the civil court in his favour. Bigul was also a member of the CPI(M). The landlord Ishwar Tirkey however refused to let Bigul take over the land. In response, farmers under local party leaders formed committees and armed squads to forcefully capture back their lands. False documents were burnt, promisory notes for loans were destroyed, and campaigns to extract arms from landlord agents were undertaken. Tirkey’s men attacked
the farmers who had come to support Bigul Kisaan, and using this investigation as an excuse, the police came in support of the landlord. On 23 May 1967, armed with bows and arrows, the police and farmers attacked each other. Three policemen were hurt and Inspector Sonam Wangdi succumbed to his injuries in hospital. On 25 May, many police came and another clash took place. This time, the bullets of the police killed 10 people. This armed resistance continued in Naxalbari for 52 days.

Such incidents happened in Bastar too, which is why the Naxalite (Maoist) movement grew here. All the political parties tried to use each event to enlarge their vote bank. This is how the Maoists found a way to increase their army and Bastar became a place for the Naxalites to hide and expand.

Neither the state nor central government has any sensitivity or empathy towards the Adivasis in Bastar. Were they sensitive they would not have armed Adivasis in the fight against Naxalites and got them killed. Whether it is Jan Jagran Abhiyan or Salwa Judum, none of these illegal operations would have been possible without governmental support.

So why did the Adivasis supporting Salwa Judum, reduce from 50,000 at its start to a mere 13,000 in 3-4 years? There were obviously severe flaws in the operation that made Adivasis begin to escape from the Salwa Judum camps. In Salwa Judum operations, police would catch hold of educated Adivasi youth and pressurize them to commit atrocities on other Adivasis, who were falsely portrayed as Naxals. During this time, hordes of Adivasi youths were being forcefully enrolled as ‘Special Police Officers’ (SPOs). I too became a victim of the police during these events.

The scars that the Dantewada police inflicted on me is something I deal with to date. Like me, there are thousands of Adivasi young men and women who live with the persecution and oppression that the police unleashed on them. Bastar is full of examples of police brutality and state-sponsored violence meted out to Adivasis.

One well known example is that of Soni Sori, who was a schoolteacher in a tribal school in Jabeli village of Dantewada district in Bastar division. In 2011, the police falsely accused her of being an informant to the Naxalites. She was arrested in Delhi and produced in court there. She was aware of the brutality and torture that the Dantewada police were infamous for, and appealed to the judge not to hand her over to the Chhattisgarh state police. Perhaps the judge was bound by rules. Anyway, Soni Sori was handed over to them.

The Dantewada police kept Soni Sori in custody for two days before producing her in the District Sessions Court, during which time she was stripped naked, sexually tortured and given electric shocks. Due to this third degree torture, she was not able to walk on the first day she was produced in court. Later, during an independent medical examination ordered by the Supreme Court, three stones were found thrust into her private parts. The case of stones found in her private parts is still ongoing in the capital, in the Supreme Court of India. Dates of hearings are repeatedly issued and deferred, and one doesn’t know if Soni Sori will ever get justice. In one hearing, a statement from the Chhattisgarh government alleged that Soni Sori herself inserted stones into her vagina and rectum. Why would a woman put stones in her private parts?

Soni Sori is an educated woman, and because of this she has been able to put forth her testimony and detail the events she experienced in front of the world through newspapers and media. Yet there have been no results till date. Why? Our judicial system and Constitution are meant to secure justice for all citizens. Rich or poor, nothing is supposed to prevent complete justice for each and every citizen. Then why has Soni Sori not got justice till now?

What kind of systems have we created? The generations to come will curse us for the systems we have built. If we talk about democracy, then democracy is considered authentic when it is the rule of the people, for the people, by the people. In democracy, the public is supposed to hold ultimate power. It is with public assent that rule by an elected government is possible. It is the well-being and progress of the people that is the sole indicator of the government’s work. Is it only Soni Sori who was tortured like this by the police? Or have many women in this country experienced such behaviour? Was Soni Sori tortured because she was an Adivasi woman, or because she was accused of helping the Maoists?

India is given the status of the world’s largest democracy. Each citizen would want their country’s name to be upheld. The Chhattisgarh police brutally tortured Soni Sori, so is Chhattisgarh state different from India? Did India’s status increase or did India’s dignity rise when Soni Sori was tortured?

The SP on whose orders Soni Sori was tortured in custody, Ankit Garg, was awarded the President’s gallantry award. Should such a Superintendent of Police not have been punished by the Indian state? When one hears about the atrocities committed on Soni Sori, one realizes that the Chhattisgarh police simply fulfilled their lust, and spread terror and fear among the Adivasis, so that no Adivasi man or woman would dare to stand up against state violence and injustice. It was not just the third degree torture, but Soni Sori was sent to jail with eight false cases filed against her for alleged naxal activities. She has been acquitted in seven of these eight cases, and one is still pending in court. Soni Sori was granted bail by the Supreme Court.

Perhaps the police thought that Soni Sori would not raise her voice against the atrocities committed against her, that she would die of shame in custody, and that’s why eight false cases were made out against her? Currently Soni Sori has been supporting those Adivasis who have been framed as ‘naxals’ and pressurized by the police. She has been fighting alongside them, through democratic means. There are countless Adivasi women in Bastar who like Soni Sori have not received justice till date.

If we speak of justice, then twelve years ago, on the night of 28 June 2012, the Indian security forces gunned down Adivasi inhabitants of Sarkeguda, Kottaguda and Rajpenta villages who were celebrating Beej Pandum in an open field. Of the 17 innocent Adivasi villagers who were killed in this massacre, seven were children. The judicial commission set up to investigate this massacre concluded after almost seven years, finding the security personnel and the state government at fault. But even though the security forces and state government were held responsible for killing innocent villagers, no action was taken against any of them. Till date, no FIR (First Information Report) has been registered against the killers. Why?

On 17 May 2013, eight Adivasi villagers were killed in firing by security forces in Edesmetta hamlet, Bijapur district. Eight years later, a judicial inquiry report concluded that the entire encounter was fake. The report by Justice V.K. Agarwal, a retired judge of the Madhya Pradesh High Court, who was asked to inquire into the Edesmetta encounter, said that the security personnel may have opened fire in panic. Calling the incident a ‘mistake’ thrice in the report, Justice Agarwal said the Adivasis killed were unarmed and died in gunfire of 44 rounds, 18 of which were fired by a single constable of the CoBRA unit of the CRPF (Central Reserve Police Force). The report said that there was no strong intelligence behind the operation, which had claimed to be busting a Maoist hideout.

Following Justice Agarwal’s Report, a separate inquiry into the incident was conducted by the CBI following a Supreme Court order in May 2019. Eight years after the incident, this report handed over to the Chhattisgarh state cabinet by the investigation team made clear that of the eight villagers killed, four were children, that all the villagers had gathered to celebrate Beej Pandum, and that all were unarmed.

Beej Pandum is one of the biggest festivals for the Adivasis in Bastar, the festival of seeds (beej). It is the ritual sowing festival, when the seeds are blessed before sowing them in the fields. Adivasis take the seeds from their homes to a temple in the forest. After placing the seeds there, they leave to hunt in the nearby jungle with their bow and arrows. They bring back whatever animal has been hunted to the temple, and then the male members of the family and children sleep in the temple at night to protect the hunt and the seeds. The next day, the animal is cooked and the seeds worshiped, and the villagers return to the village blowing a conch shell. The women welcome the men and children with water, and welcome the blessed seeds into their homes.

On 17 May 2021, in Silger Gram Panchayat of Bijapur district, the Chhattisgarh police opened fire upon residents of Silger who were protesting against the setting up of a new camp of the CRPF. In this sudden firing, three Adivasi villagers died on the spot. The police also lathi charged the protesting villagers, injuring dozens. These injured villagers were then brought to a hospital.

Whenever the police take injured Adivasi villagers to a hospital, they frame them as Maoists to jail them. This has been the case in countless ‘encounters’ and police firings in Bastar. Injured villagers are rounded up, taken to hospital for treatment, and then framed as Maoists or sympathizers and sent to jail under false cases. I say this because the same happened in the Sarkeguda firing. Innocent Adivasi villagers who were injured were sent to jail, and I posted bail for two of the arrested.

The same thing was about to happen after the Silger firing. So when Soni Sori found out that the injured protestors were being taken to jail, she met with them, and with help from the court, was able to ensure that they reached their homes. It has been nine months since this incident and the Silger protest continues to date. You might wonder why Adivasis are protesting against the security forces and their camps? We ask what are the camps and security forces for? For our protection or to kill us?

The police keep claiming that the Adivasis are progressing because roads are being built; and speaking of development, the so-called ‘civilized’ world keeps claiming that big companies will bring in development. Even if we assume that the big companies constructing big roads and big buildings constitutes development, then how much development has been brought by the NMDC (the National Mineral Development Corporation Limited) that is considered a ‘navratna’ public sector enterprise?

The Adivasis are still where they were before. Let alone any progress, there are gaping lacks in education, schooling, health services, sanitation, and fundamental facilities of everyday life. The protesting villagers in Silger say: we want schools, we want anganwadis, we want roads based on our use and convenience, we want hospitals, we want handpumps. Does one need security forces’ camps to do all this?

In Bastar, we get the same answer every time time: kill the Adivasis, rape the women, frame them as maoists. When Adivasi villagers are framed as maoists, the so-called ‘civilized’ society doesn’t raise any questions. Treating a poor Adivasi farmer’s death as the death of a maoist, the civilized, intellectual class sits silent.

As in Naxalbari village, if Soni Sori wanted, she too could have provoked and motivated Adivasis to take up weapons to fight. But Soni Sori and I know, ‘Vengeance is the small happiness of a troubled mind’, and we believe in democracy, in the judiciary, in the Constitution of India.

Adivasis will get justice, if not today, then tomorrow. That is why, today, Soni Sori and I make it a point to join and be part of every protest and movement in Bastar. We know that the entire world community supports non-violence and that violence has only caused suffering. It has never benefited anyone. Laws such as the PESA Act, (Panchayats – Extension to Scheduled Areas – Act, 1996) provisions such as Fifth Schedule in the Constitution, as well as international laws, have been made to protect the Adivasis, yet these laws are only on paper.

If laws were being enforced, then Adivasis would not have had to
live with so much injustice. As part of the PESA Act in Fifth Schedule areas,
no security forces camps can be established without permission from the gram panchayat. Yet in Bastar, camps upon camps are being pitched. The very identity of the Adivasis in Bastar is in danger. While we live, we will continue the struggle to uphold democracy, protect our constitutional rights and the spirit of the Constitution, and resist injustice and oppression.

* Translated by Ragini Lalit.