THE SOCIAL BLOG

For starters, I don’t intend to be prophetic in my evaluation of the recently concluded Gujjar Community-Rajasthan Government wrangle. However, I cannot help but observe, quite candidly, that the whole situation serves as a dark episode in the history of civil liberty movements in this country. The reasons for such analysis are not too far to seek.

For a moment, let us relive the influence of caste in shaping the political, cultural and even geographical history of India; caste as an index continues to affect our public policy, be it through coalition governments or affirmative action, and hence is a critical determinant of the upward/downward mobility that the Indian citizen attains in life. Central and State Governments, have throughout the course of post-Independent India, engaged in active programmes that seek to mitigate the wrongs of historical discrimination meted out to various castes. One may indeed argue that the whole gamut of events has only recently, acquired a political twang. Caste-based violence still continues to be a haunting reality in rural India, with incidents of isolated and systematic torture frequently surfacing in the news.

Taking such grim reality as the backdrop to this article, it is important that we understand the repercussions of granting ’special, backward community’ or ‘ST’ status to Gujjars. Not because the additive 5% would increase the ever-burgeoning basket of reservations in the quota system, but because the 5% so granted was the direct and immediate consequence of untoward and violent rebellion against the State. Of course, the million-dollar question is always going to be whether the Govt. was right in granting such privileged status to the community? Nonetheless, the finer aspect of the issue still remains: Was the Govt. right in acquiescing to the violent methods of the Gujjars in granting reservation? The next logical question would then be: Is not the Govt. setting a bad precedent, effectively indicating that ends can be achieved through such caste-based violence? The answer, unfortunately, is a loud and thumping Yes.

(To be continued.)

Day 3 (8th June’08 )

Rains last night had led us to alter our plans and we made move for a village called Potenaar. It was a nine km trek to jangli thana which took us about an hour and forty five minutes to cover.

On our way we were stopped by a patrolling squad of SPOs who asked us where we were going. By now this had become normal since we were on our way to naxalite territory from Salwa Judum’s. Fortunately we had informed the police and the NHRC card seemed to have worked. People here have become very vary and cautious of the NHRC after newspaper reports of the issue reaching the Supreme Court et. al.

The testimonies at Potenaar were the most horrifying to hear and document till now. First the Naga battalion came and killed people , raped women and burnt their houses. Then the Salwa Judum took them at gun point to the camp. The camp description they gave seems a lot like a nazi concentration camp. In all they were given food only once in the two years that they spent there. They didn’t have much to money to but food so they were like scavengers hunting for it. The Salwa Judum; at one documented instance took eight of their women to the bridge by the jungle and raped them. One of these girls was 13 years old then and I still cannot get her face out of my head.

These instances are only of one pada of the seven in the village and there were as many as 20 villages in the camp at Jangli.

You start wondering where this is the notion of Governmentality and human dignity that one yearns and talks about. Life is so different here than what we experience in Hyderabad, Mumbai or Delhi. It is a full fledged war out here that shows no signs of ending.

When we go to the villages, the people are so open about the deaths and other gruesome crimes committed against them that you wonder as to how it all seems so normal to them. Perhaps its because they’ve been witnessing it for over three years now. The Salwa Judum and SPOs have instilled a lot of fear in the minds of the tribals. In a place called Matwada where the people were planning to leave the camp for their village; at around 3 a.m. they were pulled out fo their houses and beaten up with their hands tied. After that there were taken to the nearby handpump and forcefully drink water. At around 8 a.m., knives were pulled out and their eyes were pierced and finally they were killed with boulders squashing their heads.

I’m not recounting most of the testimonies as one is more horrifying than the other and would bring back memories that I dont want to keep. Above was merely an instance of the gravity of the situation out there.

Things are really bad out here and I know that I’m really lucky to survive. I don’t know how Ill be able to tell my friends as to what’s happening out here. I don’t know if they’d even make an effort to understand what I’ve seen and the shit going on around. There are no atheists in fox holes they say and every time I see an armed person stopping me i forget being an atheist.

Day 1 (6th June’0

- We reached this place called Jagdalgaon in the morning and left for Dantewada from there. It was the ten of us in a single Tata Sumo.

- On reaching Dantewada town, we got down to have breakfast. At breakfast, I saw a guy standing right next to me in civilian clothes with an AK-56. My guess was the he was a Special Police Officer (SPO); but he claimed that he was the bodyguard of a Zilla Panchayat Officer. I think this is the starting point from where things get worse.

- Apparently yesterday morning, the naxalites blew up six power lines due to which there would be no electrivity and water for the next fifteen days in the district. The naxalities feel that since the tribals don’t get water and electricity, other should’nt too.

- Law, order and governmentality don’t seem to be exist here. This seems to be a place where everybody keeps shooting and killing everyone and you start wondering why the hell you’ve come here? Now that’s a question I shall answer later on; perhaps at the end.

So we went to this place called Mertwar and the moment we reached there the CRPF commander informed us that this was the most dangerous are of them all. The area description of the place is as follows;

The Mertur camp is protected by the CRPF from the outside (63rd batallion) and a Police Station is there inside to allegedly protect the villagers. Just near the camp is the Churli village where the people are forced to come and spend the nights at the camp. The camp officers say that this is to protect them while the churli people say that this is to get forced labour done out of them and if they dont come, they’re branded as naxalities.

Next to Churli village is a river and across it is pure naxalite territory. The CRPF calls this river the L.O.C. We were suppose to visit this village called Bechapal across the river but time didnt permit us. Near bechapal on the other side of the river is the Brigade HQ of the naxalites.

So we stopped our car and went this Churli as stated above to collect some depositions. Every evening they run to the camp for protection and while they’re there the Salwa Judum get forced labour out of them. The stories that they recollect are horrid I msut say. One of them had his house burnt by the police/ salwa judum for not coming to the camp regularly.

- Apparently all the roads out to the CRPF camp are mined by the naxalites. Across the river is Bechapal which was burnt earlier by the forces. It is rumoured that a few weeks ago the CRPF conducted combing operations there and a lot of violence had occurred. It started raining heavily at the end of it all out here.

- Everywhere we saw armed civilians carrying AK-56s. These people belonged to the Salwa Judum/ SPO/ Police/ CRPF. In fact, while we were coming bac we were halted at the Mertur Police Station; surrounded by the police and salwa Judum and interrogated. For the first time in the rip I was thankful that nothing had happened to us.

we were told in due course of the interrogation that there were 174 SPOs in the area along with the Police and 130 men of the 64rd batllion of the CRPF. In a 5 sqkm area they claimed there were up against 2000 or more naxalites. However in what is a game of power, the salwa judum and the police seemed to be killing a lot more civilians.

I spent the past eight days with a group of independent reseach scholars and students in the jungles of dantewada, Chattisgarh. Our idea was to visit the conflict zones and study the large scale human rights violations committed by the Salwa Judum, document them and present these testimonies to the National Human Rights Commission that was to visit Dantewada town on the 10th of June. This visit has turned out to be an eye-opener for me. Ive made good friends, understood that the idea of government in India is crap and that rights dont matter to the babus anymore.

The Team included;

1) Prof. Nandini Sundar, Prof of sociology, Delhi School of Economics

2) Sridevi Panikkar, Lawyer

3) Praveen Mote, Independent researcher

4) Pratyush Chandra, Independent scholar ( )

5) Kamal Nayan, Ph.d. Student in Tribal studies

6) Vikas Kumar, Preeti and Ranjay Kumar from Delhi Univ.

7) Sanchita Bakshi, TISS Mumbai

self (Aditya Swarup) from NALSAR Univ of Law, Hyderabad

The daily reports of the trip would be published in subsequent posts.

To

The Chairman
National Human Rights Commission
Faridkot House, Coparnicus Marg
New Delhi-

Hon’ble Sir,

Ahead of Panchayat polls on Sunday i.e.11/5/2008 the ruling party sponsored goons continued unhindered violence in Nandigram in spite of assurance by all political parties in a meeting with Block Development Officer that normalcy would be restored there.

Our fact finding team on getting information of the ongoing disturbances and police inaction reached violence-torn Nandigram today and have gathered information from the villagers that since the previous night the musclemen and goons alleged to be supporters of the largest ruling party CPI(M) flaunting red flags resorted to bloody violence in the area. Those miscreants snatched away the voter identity cards of the villager-voters and beat the possible opponent voters of the ruling party mercilessly even on mere suspicion of not being supporters of the ruling party. As a result of pre-poll clashes, at least 11 to 15 persons including women were admitted in Nandigram Block Primary Health Centre in critically injured condition.

The fact finding team has found that about 1000 to 1500 persons of village Kalicharanpur (Booth no.148 to 155) were robbed of their voter identity cards in the hands of the goons of the ruling party. Sk. Mojaffar, Giyasuddin Ali Shah, Sk. Malek , Sk. Rajjak, Sahauddin Shah, Saibul Shah, Samad Shah, Sk Basir, Amar Khatua, Mriganka Majhi were among other goons who masterminded and carried the operation in the area at the instance of the ruling political party. Moreover hundreds of villagers of Sonachura Gram Panchayat (Booth no.168 to 176), Gokulnagar Gram Panchayat, Bhangabera Gram Panchayat were also not free from such incidents.

Today at about 11 a.m. in the morning hundreds of villagers whose voter identity cards were forcibly taken away, gathered at the office of the Block Development Officer, Nandigram in order to ventilate their grievance and seeking permission to cast their votes after loosing their voter identity cards in the hands of the cadres and goons of the ruling party.  But without any provocation Mr. Debashish Chakraborty, Officer in Charge of Nandigram Police Station with Rapid Action Force (RAF) personnel conducted lathi-charge upon the innocent gathering of the people.

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