Bastar–A Slaughterhouse

Suman Kalyan Moulick

In the political map of India, there is a central Indian district by the name of Bastar. It seems people have forgotten this fact. The people who stay in this geographic area are citizens of India, they have constitutional rights under the much advertised second largest democracy in the world and they have the right to organise themselves under any democratic banner. Concerned Indians have hitherto kept faith in the corporate media houses who convey the achievements of the state’s law enforcers in killing “Maoists” in the interests of the country. Over a hundred Adivasis have been killed in the last five months in what is called Bastar. The civic society, in unquestioning faith in narratives accepts that kids, school students, teenagers, all are a massive threat to the internal security of the country and hence annihilating them is the only way to keep India safe. As the “Rule of Law” is a farce in the tribal hamlets, the administration is careless.

To understand the present day reality of Bastar and Chhattisgarh, one needs to talk about the plight of SuneetaPottam from Korcholi village of Bijapur district who was abducted by the Bijapur police from her temporary residence in Raipur. 25-year-old Suneeta is one of the leaders of the MoolvasiBachaoManch and one of the prominent face of mass movements against eviction in the name of development, construction of military camps in villages, encounter killings, in that region. As an activist of human rights organisation PUCL, Suneeta had filed a case in Chhattisgarh high court, in 2016, against the encounter of six people by the police on mere suspicion of being Maoists. Because of Suneeta’s attempts, the country came to know about the death of a six- month- old baby due to police firing on 1 June. To stop this vigilant action, the police, on 9th February, 2024, tried to arrest her by forcefully taking her to a government hospital in BIjapur. However, due to the vigilance of the local reporters, the operation failed. This time also, she was framed under several cases. This is the present day reality of Bastar. Attacks on rights activists in this slaughterhouse is rampant. All those who have challenged the claims of “encounter”, and brought forth the real identities of the people encountered, have faced the wrath of the state. From Himanshu Kumar, Bela Bhatia, SoniSori to today’s Suneeta—it is a repetition of history.

In any democracy, the basic condition premised is the right for existence of different views and the right to know the truth. In Chhattisgarh, an attempt to know the truth is a crime. An important part of the rights movement is fact finding. This very right is prohibited. The Chhattisgarh government has resisted any attempts to find the facts. Coordination of Democratic Rights Organisation (CDRO), the most prominent organisation coordinating rights organisations across the country, along with Telangana and Andhra Pradesh based mass organisations and some independent media initiatives, had formed a 50-member team to conduct fact finding operations in all the places where encounters took place recently. On 30.5.2024, the first team was stopped by the CRPF at Kunta. Some members of the first team joined the second team which was heading towards Bijapur’sGangalur forest. This team was stopped and detained at Tarlaguda, which is 85 km from Bijapur. The Para-military forces, citing security issues, ordered them to leave. The forces even threatened to take legal steps if they didn’t leave the place. The rights activists didn’t give up. On 31.5.2024, a team of ten rights activists tried to enter Bijapur through a government bus. However, in broad daylight, the bus was stopped at Chintur bus stand and they were made to get down. In the words of a rights activist, the Para -military forces and police in white uniform had surrounded them throughout the day. In truth the Chhattisgarh government and the Central government want to hide their actions.

Notwithstanding the black- out of the corporate media, sometimes the truth comes into light, where the reality of these “ongoing encounters” get exposed. Here, the primary role is played by the united efforts of local journalists and responsible citizens. On 11.5.2024, Chhattisgarh police published a report claiming the death of 11 Maoists in a clash between the forces and the Maoists. Among them, there were members of CPI (Maoist)’s armed wing’s members namely, BudhuOram, KalluPunnam, and BhimaKoram. Each one of them had a head price of one lakh rupees. However, the villagers refused to accept this “story”. In a report by Hindustan Times, it was said that the villagers had started protesting against these killings in front of the Bijapur District Collectorate office. They proclaimed that none of the people killed were members of any guerrilla squad but were residents of their villages. The police had killed them in a cold blooded fake encounter. Gurunanda, from Pedia village, who is a witness to the incident, told journalists that people of the village had went to collect tendu leaves. The police had chased them and killed them. Another witness, Raju, said that LaluKunjam, who is a farmer and who was among the people killed, had seen the police and started running.The police forces completely surrounded the villages of Pidia and Tevar and conducted the operation. On 19.01.2024, when a fact-finding operation by Forum Against Corporatisation and Militarisation (FACAM) was made possible even then, MadkamSoni, from Nendra village and PunemNangi from Gotham Gram, were labelled as Maoists and killed in the streets by the police , for joining the demonstrations against military camps. Numerous incidents like these are hidden in this death valley of Chhattisgarh. “The Indian state’s war against Naxalism is practically a genocidal war on people, particularly the Adivasi peasants.”

Today what is happening in Bastar and broadly in Chhattisgarh had started much earlier. One can consider 9th June, 2009 as the commencement of these incidents when the then Prime Minister of India, Dr Manmohan Singh, had commented in the Parliament that If left wing extremism keeps increasing in mineral rich regions, it will affect the environment for foreign investments. The need to establish hegemony of corporates over these mineral resources is the main reason for the State’s war on its own people. It becomes the responsibility of the central and state governments to evict the people of the region and lay bare the mineral rich lands of Chhatisgarh, Andhra Pradesh,Maharashtra,Jharkhand and the vast area of central India for corporate loot. Felix Padel and Samarendra Das in their book, “Out of this Earth: East India Adivasis and Aluminium Cartel” says that the bauxite minerals in Odisha is worth 40000 crores as per 2004 estimates. The iron resources in Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand is worth 6 trillion dollars. In this eastern and central India, there are 28 types of extremely valuable mineral resources like uranium, limestone, dolomite, coal, tin, granite, white stone, copper, diamond, gold, quartz, corundum, silica, fluorite, garnet etc. Then there are thermal power plants, dams, highways, steel and cement factories, aluminum extraction factories, paper factories and many other infrastructure building projects. The success of investments by Adani, Ambani, Tata, Jindal, Thapar and many other Indian and foreign investors depends on these evictions.

Alongside the notorious SalwaJudum, the Chhatisgarh government created an army with a section of former Maoists, Adivasi and Non-Adivasi youths. This auxiliary unit was named as Special Police Force (SPO). There was no rule with regard to age, educational qualification, training schedule in its recruitment process. Only thing required was agreement to work with SalwaJudum and Para-military forces. In such ways, by bypassing the constitution, they created a condition of civil war. Social activist, NandiniSundar filed a PIL in Supreme Court against this. The court called this SalwaJudum and the entire process of creating a semi-government security force unconstitutional. Even after this judgement, the state government didn’t move from its path. To give the entire thing legality, it passed the Chhattisgarh Armed Force ordinance. Followed by this, more advanced weapons were handed over to these government volunteers. In 2013, it came to be known as District Reserved Guard. Such unconstitutional forces further complicated the situation.

The Indian Constitution recognises 705 Scheduled Tribes. As per the last census in 2011, the population of Adivasi people is 11 crores that is 8.6% of the total population. Out of them, 90% of the Adivasi population lives in village or forest areas. The two states where Adivasis are the most in population are Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh. Today, the civil war is going on mainly in 7 regions in Chhattisgarh, where the majority population is Adivasi. These regions are Kanker(55.4%), Kondgaon(77.07%),Narayanpur(77.04%),Bastar(62.45),Dantewada(71.2%), Bijapur(80%), and Sukma(83.5%). According to Article 15(4) and Article 46 of the Constitution, there are various safeguards for the Adivasi people. Along with this, various rights are guaranteed under the fifth schedule for the Adivasis of central and eastern India and sixth schedule for the Adivasis of north-east India. Along with Chhattisgarh, in ten states, self rule through gram sabhas are recognised legally for the Adivasi people, under the fifth schedule.It has been said that the Gram Sabha will take the final decision in a democratic environment regarding resources and land of the Adivasis. Besides, there are two important laws to ensure self rule in tribal areas. “Scheduled Tribes and other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of forest rights) Act-2006” and “Panchayet (Extension to Scheduled Areas)”. It also needs to be mentioned that India has signed the United Nations’ declaration (ICCPR) to protect indigenous people’s rights.

Even after having so many safeguards, the Adivasi people are facing rampant exploitation and repression. The only reason behind the civil war going on in Bastar is the heaven and hell difference between the Constitutional rights guaranteed and the policies taken up. Between 2003 to 2018, Chhattisgarh government has signed 272 MoUs (Memorandum of Understandings) in which the estimate investment was around 16.5 billion US dollars. However, due to the failure in execution, 158 MoUs had to be called off. Again, the number of MoUs signed between 2019 and 2021 is 104, where the estimated investment is 6 billion US dollars. Today, in this slaughterhouse, on one hand there is the fight of the Adivasi people for their Jal-Jangal -Zameen and on the other hand there is the government’s military operation to facilitate corporate loot of mineral resources under the land.

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Frontier
Vol 57, No. 10, Sep 1 - 7, 2024