By Vidya Bhushan Rawat
The
top leadership of Congress party in Chhattishgarh came under a well-coordinated
attack from the Maoists in Darba Ghati in Sukma in the southern part of Bastar
region. The Congress leadership had been campaigning in the state as part of
their ‘Parivartan Yatra’ as Chhattishgarh goes for polls during the year end
with many other states. Those who were killed are leader of opposition and a
well-known Aadivasi leader Mahendra Karma, president of Chhattishgarh Congress
Committee Mr Nand Kumar Patel as well as his son, some other senior leaders of
the party. Former Union Minister Mr Vidya Charan Shukla suffered from four bullets
and is battling for life in a hospital in Delhi while Ajit Jogi too survived as
he flew from Sukma to Raipur. The leaders after finishing their rally at Sukma
were going to Jagdalpur when the Maoists ambushed their caravan resulting in
killing of over 29 party workers including senior leaders of Congress Party. Let me explain here that when we condemn
the attack on the political workers does not mean we condone all their acts of
using the state administration to intimidate people. Many of these leaders were
highly unpopular because of their action but they had their huge followers too.
The
audacity of this attack has rightfully shocked the nation. The enormity of the
assault on the political structure was so high that the top leadership of the
Congress Party had to discuss the issue in an emergency meeting at the Prime
Minister’s residence and their Vice President Rahul Gandhi reached Raipur in
the late night and met those injured. The Prime Minister and Congress President
has just visited the state capital and expressed solidarity with their party
workers.
Now,
there are two important aspects in the entire incident. One that those who were
targeted were political people and not the paramilitary forces or the local
police and hence it is an important issue of deliberation and must be discussed
with candid way as why the Maoist did so and whether they want the same
reaction from the security agencies to eliminate their top leadership? What Chhattishgarh and Baster in particular
lacked was the politicization process in which aadivasis must be made part of
the democratic structure. The state apparatus remained contemptuous towards the
aadivasis and hence they went to Naxal for basic support like getting their
issues resolved through the ‘Jan Adalaits’ which are Kangaroo courts and do not
place in any civilized society but because of ‘instant justice’ they instill
fear in the small population who then have no option other than following the
‘sarkar’. The government of Chhattishgarh remained in Raipur with read
beacons and politicians using mining to strengthen their pockets and here
Maoists were engaged in their propaganda of ‘state’ as people’s ‘enemy’.
Corruption, exploitation all those things which we are romantic of explaining
could be best used by the ‘revolutionaries’ after all we get frustrated with a
system only when we face corruptions and delays and this gives rise to
‘victimised’ mindset. One victimized mindset is completely developed then the
radicalization process start and it is also true that we start believing that our
‘world’ is just around us. We stop to see the world in bigger sense. The propagandists will always speak in
terms of ‘speaking’ for ‘people’. They will always claim a bigger
representation from people. The fact is that Maoists have people’s support in
those regions but whether this support is due to fear or without it does not
matter. It only reflects that our governance structure is completely collapsed
in Chhattishgarh and it needs special treatment. It need serious thought while
violence must be handled with great caution, it is important that innocent
people do not become victim of this ‘collateral damage’ as military ‘experts’
always claim.
It
need to be understood that Chhattishgarh still has high number of investment
and companies and other mining giants are still functioning in the state in
spite of the so-called Naxals. Then we have religious gurus who have big
ashrams in Chhattishgarh and no attempt have been made to respect the aadivasi
identity. In fact the whole project of
Hindutva is to ensure that Aadivasis remain as part of the Hindu system and there
has been no effort by the so-called Maoists or Naxals to ensure that resulting
in the continuous oppression of aadivasis by both the religious thugs as well
as economically powerful people. Chhattishgarh and Jharkhand today are
dominated by the outsiders. They have procured land and there is no stoppage to
it. All the government schemes cannot function without those who are
‘dominating’ the area hence a basic question how are these outsiders able to
work so independently who are fighting against ‘foreign domination’.
It
is also a well-known fact that aadivasi areas have been without any road links,
hospitals, schools and other basic facilities. Our system has not reached them
and there is no participation in administration and political structure.
Bastar’s issues cannot be resolved from Raipur and it is important that an
independent Bastar Zone should be created with assurance of aadivasi control
over mining and other natural resources. If the government had taken proper
care and helped aadivasis to acquire space and not to strengthen aadivasi
middlemen in the region, they would have not faced this scenario. Today, there
is so must of mistrust that any action of the government is taken as an attempt
to intrude in aadivasi zone. In the crisis of mutual trust, it is the
Maoists who dominate and their propaganda work hence to maintain their hegemony
they bring threat, intimidation and different stories of government efforts to
control the natural resources. It was time for sincere thinking where
government could have sought to talk with aadivasi leadership in the region.
Who are the aadivasi leaders who government can speak? Did the government ever
call for a meeting of Aadivasi social activists, academics, leaders, panchayat
leaders from different part of the country including Chhattishgarh to discuss
their issues? You do not do and the result is today aadivasi leadership in all
these ‘revolutionary’ Zones is in the hands of non aadivasis and if we see
their track record they have systematically eliminated all those leaders who
differ with them and were a challenge to them.
To
say that Naxals or Maoist ‘revolutionaries’ are isolated bunch is ridiculous
and therefore we need to look into the political aspect of these killings.
Simply because the killings are done by Naxals or Maoist does not make it
beyond political conspiracy. There are chances of these killings are political
as Naxals or Maoists are too smart and take part in the political activities.
They know well who to eliminate and who to protect and politicians across
spectrum need them and that is the only reason why they are surviving. The
failure of political leadership and the criminalization of our political
structure actually help the Naxals very well. It is true that the aadivasis
seek their help to get justice and protection but what is the alternative they
are providing? Is the ‘Jan Adalat’ not like Khap Panchayat which provides
instance justice to the people through various torturous ways in which people
are killed.
Our
crisis is bigger as those who are voices of reasoning are not liked. These are
times of pamphleteers and mouthpieces and those writers and academics who live
in their one particular worldview and anyone who differ is anti-people or anti
national. Indians are experts in tagging people whenever they differ. Human
Rights defenders have to face the worst.
This is also a fact that today human rights have also become
instrumental or frontal organizations for those who have no faiths in rights at
all. Whenever we condemn the violence by
extra state actors, we are told that you are a ‘state’ agent. Whenever a poor
aadivasi is killed, he is termed as a ‘state’ agent. My question has been how
come a poor aadivasi who want his right and protection from people become a
state agent if he participate in NREGA or speak to a political leader. Why the
Maoists want to stop my choice to vote to politicians of our choice. If they
were true to their beliefs, we should have seen the best politicians in
Telangana, Andhra, Odisha, and Chhattishgarh but some of the most corrupted
politicians who are hand in glove with business and corporates, who exploit
poor, who amassed huge land and other natural resources, still hail from these
regions. Why these regions most of the people remain highly apolitical and no
independent Dalit aadivasi leadership is allowed to develop so that it could
contest elections. So, terming anyone who differ with you, stand in front
of you become a state agent. And I have a simple question that in India extra
state actors are more powerful. India is run through the constitution of Manu
in reality.
Here we see how the right wing Hindutva brigade targets the Dalits,
Aadivasis and Muslims through administration, media images and social
oppression. In 2002 Gujarat massacre happened and the murderers came to power
and became ruthless in isolating the minorities particularly the Muslims. They
got the benefit of communalization and nationalization through the Ayodhya movement
too. Today the same leaders are having free time in Chhattishgarh, Maharastra,
Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh. It became their laboratory and we could not stop them.
Big companies have come there and exploited people and we are witnessing the
lethal cocktail of capitalism and brahmanism. Where are the revolutionaries?
How many times they took on the right wing Hindutva nationalism which is a big
threat to the country and today our corporate and business are ready to thrust
those forces on us and such incidents only strengthen them.
No,
they won’t speak against communalism as it is not their issue. They will call
for poll boycott and what is the result of these poll boycotts. Jharkhand,
Chhattishgarh are gone to non aadivasis and Hindutva forces? What have they
done for stopping this? How can the top leadership of the Maoist speak against migrants’
leadership when their top leadership itself is exported from Andhra Pradesh?
Speaking against Indian state is easier than challenging the brahmanical system
which is the ‘extra state actor’ in India and root cause of our evils but then
when the top echelon of the Maoist leadership hail from the brahmanical customs
then what to expect from them.
If
over 200 districts of India are under Maoist influence then who stops them to
form a political party and contest elections. If they think they have the
people’s support without the intimidation of their AK 47 then why not influence
the political process. But once you pick up guns don’t expect the state to
respond to you with roses. And this is the most troublesome part. In that they
have killed a generation of tribal who should have grown to participate. Yes,
the government is responsible, our political parties are responsible and like
the tribal of Bastar we all are victim of this system and need to clean it. We
need to do so but what way?
I have no sympathy with those in power.
They have failed us. They have used the bogey and used the Naxals. The
doublespeak of Hindutva gangs and their sympathizers in media is visible. Everybody
is busy with the Indian Paisa league and the amount of corruption in it. Why
has the loudmouth in the TV chat room kept quiet on the issue? Will he ask
question to Chhattishgarh government and its abject failure to protect the
political opponents? The ‘future’ of India tweeted that ‘we must fight this
battle together’. The Ayodhya Sarathi said he is pained and we have to fight
together. Everybody wants to fight against it. All of them will enjoy this in
the forest but it is the common secularist who faces the intimidation from
state. It is they who are victimized in their daily lives and human rights
become dirty word.
Why
are we silent? A few years back, I happened to meet a general in a conference
who said that the Maoists are ‘our own people’. And that explain the things and
mindset. What do you mean by ‘our own people’? Why are the Kashmiris not our
‘own people’. Yes, if this big operation was done by some Hizbul or any XYZ
organization in the name of Islam, do you think, we should be watching or
debating IPL or satta bazar on our TV? Do you think that we would have been
these subdued responses? The entire country would have been tense and every
Muslims would have been asked to show ‘Vandemataram’ on his chest. This is a
reality. Since a majority of the leadership from Naxals are ‘well educated’ and
hail from ‘good’ upper caste families hence they are our own. Their biggest
certificate is that they are not ‘Muslims’ and their name is not ‘Khan’ hence
the state apparatus in India protect them. It protects them for political
purposes. Political leaders settle scores through them and therefore tribal or
aadivasis are just a tool, they are sandwiched between the brahmanical Indian
state and brahmanical Moists, both don’t want solution. Indian state want to
handover tribal land to big industries and the Maoists want to continue with
it.
If
both are true to resolve the issue then the Indian state must begin with a
complete moratorium on the land dealing or forest resources from Chhattishgarh
first. Let the Maoist surrender with their arms and let the government promise
to rehabilitate them and later let the government withdraw paramilitary forces
from the region in the name of operation green hunt. Let all the tribal who are
arrested in the name of being Maoists be released. Let Indian state show its
sign of magnanimity by announcing some non-military measures in specific term
and time bound programme. We have no
issue with the issues raised by Maoists and there are people who are fighting
for their rights, land and water all over the country and they still have faith
in Indian constitution and its apparatus despite all our disappointments. The
Muslims in India despite all victimization still believe in the constitution
and fighting their battle politically. The Dalits who were the worst suffers of
the brahmanical system are fighting for their rights and have got their space
too. Our difference with them is purely on their methodology. The left movement
is weakening in this country because they failed to win over the heart of dalits,
aadvasis, muslims and others. They did not allow the leadership from these
sections of society and hence the space was occupied by the rightwing forces. It
is a great challenge. India cannot be handed over to rightwing nationalist. It
is battle for all of us to unite and organise politically. The secular space is under severe threat. The Maoist threat and
violence will only strengthen the militarized minds in the bureaucracy who will
make a war cry. It will strengthen the right wing agenda of political parties
and the end result would be that situation would turn more difficult for all
those whose rights are violated particularly the most marginalized sections of
our society whether it is Dalits or Aadivasis or Muslims and other backward
communities. The challenge is bigger and it need a comprehensive political
response as the arms response will only give state a right to enter in those
zones and kill people in the name of these ideologies. It has happened till
date and it will further marginalize the people in these zones.
