Maoist movement and State's role deliberated
Source: The Sangai Express

Imphal, January 02 2016 : A one day interactive discourse on 'Maoist Movement and the Roleofthe State: Chhattisgarh Experience ' was held today at Manipur Press Club.

The programme was organised by the Centre for Manipur Studies, Manipur University, Canchipur in collaboration with Columnists' Forum, Manipur.

Prof Rajendra Kshetri, Head, Department of Sociology, Manipur University was the moderator.

Prof Felix Padel, Visiting Professor, Centre for Northeast India Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi and K Madhumangol, president Columnists' Forum, Manipur were the panellists.

Suvojit Bagchi, Bureau Chief, The Hindu, Kolkata made a presentation in two parts.

The first part dealt with the rise and factors responsible for the rise of the CPI-M [Communist Party of India-Maoist] in south Chhattisgarh, referred to as the Dandakarnya by the Maoists.

And the second part focused on various forms of State repressions.

Bagchi asserted that the erstwhile Bastar Division (now divided into seven districts) formed the south Chhattisgarh, is the region where the Maoists (earlier known as Peoples' War Group) are largely concentrated.

He said that tribal uprising in the region is around 300 years old, and thus, Maoist movement is just a dot and subsequent happening.

Further, he stressed that tribal uprising against the State is continuing in Central, West and East India.

Thus, Maoists did not convert the Gond tribal of North India into a militant-tribe who protest for their rights against the State but rather the tribal adopted the Maoists and their policies.

The Maoists at present fight for prevention of exploitation of the resources of the tribal people mainly forest produce.

They attempt to regulate Tendu wage and price rate of forest produce, which are mainly dominated by the Marwari, Bengali, Gujrati, Sindhi, Punjabi and the Bihari in terms of business, while the tribals are the manual labourers.

Therefore, control of the Cintalnarh Market in Sukma District is the key - or a central character in the prevailing conflict in south Chhattisgarh.

The Maoists have taken up these issues in the form of their political programmes, he asserted.

Suvojit added that the third factor in the rise of Maoism is two important Central Acts of India, such as the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972 and the Forest Conservation Act of 1980.These two Acts empower the personnel who are in charge to protect wildlife and trees.

However, these Acts are also instruments responsible for completely stripping Adivasis (the Tribals) of their right to collect wood & plants and to hunt /kill animals for survival.

Interestingly, when these Acts were enacted in the name of preservation and conservation for the forests and wildlife, it was done without any planning - or without ever thinking how the people who survived on Forest for thousands of years would survive.

So, for the Maoists, it is demand for their access and use of their resources without any inhibitions.

The other factor which helped them immensely is engaging women and children.

While many hold that Tribal society is fair and upholds egalitarian ethos, Suvojit held that many of these societies are largely patriarchal and exploitative in terms of gender relations.

Another strong reason for Maoists to convince the tribals of Bastar is that they need armed movement to protect their water, forest and land.

He added that mining begins from meetings of the Gram Sabhas, where signatures of the land owners are forged and gives away lands to the mining companies.

The second part of the presentation focused on State's plan to isolate the Maoists, and how it has led to severe repression of the tribals.

For a long time, the Indian State did not try to understand the problems of the tribals in the region or about Maoism.

Mahendra Karma, a rural land lord and former CPI MLA, started the anti-Maoist movement from within the Kond community from the 1990s, known as Salwa Judum.

In this process, Mahendra Karma with the help of moneyed community, armed the local Gond tribals to fight other set of Gond tribals initiating a fratricidal warfare.

The other part of the war was to isolate the villagers and Maoists known as Jagargunda experience.

In this process hundreds are being killed and raped.

He cited Nandini Sundar who had documented killing of more than 500 women and destruction of villages and filed a petition in the Supreme Court of India.

He also cited the example of Dr Binayak Sen who was jailed for raising questions about lack of Health Care and blatant Human Rights abuses; Soni Son, Lingaram Kodopi who were tortured for raising their voices against these injustices; journalist Santosh Yadav and another reporter arrested because they were reporting these cases; Social scientist Nadini Sundar was hunted because she was documenting these cases and approached the Supreme Court and ICRC was thrown out for providing emergency care.

Comment