Jaideep Hardikar

Sarbajaya Bhattacharya

Editor

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A week before the Lok Sabha elections began, nearly 1,450 gram sabhas of Gadchiroli district declared their conditional support to the Congress candidate
Dr. Namdev Kirsan. This was an unprecedented move, seven days before the region went to vote on April 19, in the first of seven phases of the General Elections 2024. 

Unprecedented,
because in a district where the tribal communities hardly ever openly take
political sides, the support of the gram
sabhas across 12 tehsils surprised the Congress and
rattled the Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP). Sitting Member of Parliament (MP) Ashok Nete of the BJP is seeking
re-election for the third successive term. 

Over a thousand
office bearers and representatives of the gram
sabhas waited patiently in Suprabhat Mangal Karyalaya, a wedding hall in
Gadchiroli city, all day on April 12, for the Congress’ candidate and leaders
to hold an open meeting. In the evening, Lalsu Nogoti, a lawyer activist from
the vulnerable tribal group of Madia from the district’s south-eastern block of
Bhamragarh, quietly read out the conditions to Kirsan, who accepted the letter
of support and pledged to abide by the demands should he be elected to the
Parliament. 

Among others, the
conditions included a halt to the unabated and mindless mining in forested
parts of the district; the smoothening of the rules under the Forest Rights
Act; bestowing of community forest rights (CFR) on the villages with pending
claims; and a strict adherence to the Constitution of India.

“Our support is
for this election only,” the letter made it clear, “we, the people, will take a
different stand in the future if there’s a betrayal of the promise.”

Why did the gram sabhas take this step? 

“We will provide more royalty to the government
than the mines would,” says Sainu Gota, a veteran tribal activist, formerly a
leader of the Congress party. “To fell the forests and dig mines in this region
would be a mistake.”

Gota has seen it
all – the killings, the oppression, the long wait for earning the forest
rights, and the continued subjugation of his Gond tribe. A tall and sturdy man
in his 60s with a dark pointed moustache, Gota says the gram sabhas which fall under the Panchayat Extension to Scheduled
Areas (PESA) of Gadchiroli came together and decided to extend support to the
Congress candidate against the BJP’s sitting MP for two reasons: one, the
dilutions in the FRA, and two, the threat of mining in the forested areas that
would destroy their culture and habitat. “The constant police harassment of the
people can’t go on,” he says, “it must stop.”

Three
consultations were held before the tribal gram
sabha representatives arrived at a consensus and evolved their conditions
for the support.

“This a crucial
election for the country,” says Nogoti, who was elected to the zilla parishad as an independent
candidate in 2017. He is  known widely as
vakil-saheb in the district. “People
decided they must take an informed position.”

Last November
(2023), in an instance of unprovoked action, the Gadchiroli police razed the
site of a 253-day silent protest by the tribal communities against the prospect
of another mine being opened in this iron ore-rich region.

Falsely accusing the protestors of having
attacked a security team, a huge contingent of armed security personnel
allegedly destroyed the site at Todgatta village where protesters from nearly
70 villages had been agitating against the six proposed and auctioned mines in
the Surjagarh area. Their struggle was ruthlessly crushed.

Having witnessed
the environmental destruction wrought by the Surjagarh mines, currently
operated by a company called Lloyds Metal and Energy Limited, people from small
villages and hamlets took turns to sit at the dharna-site; 10-15 people, every four days, for nearly eight
months. Their demand was simple: no mining in the area. It was not just to
protect their forests. It was also for their cultural tradition – the area is
home to many shrines. 

The police
singled out and rounded up some eight leaders, and slapped cases against them,
triggering wide-spread condemnation and unrest among the locals. That was the
latest flashpoint.

Now, there is a
lull.

Gadchiroli
district leads the country with regard to the acknowledgement of CFR, with
nearly 1,500 gram sabhas in and
outside the areas falling under PESA. 

Communities have
begun to manage their forests, harvest minor forest produce and hold auctions
for better price appreciation, leading to a rise in their incomes. Signs are
that the CFRs have provided social and economic stability and brought a
turnaround in the decades of conflict and strife.

The Surjagarh mines have been an irritant: the
hills have been excavated; the rivers and rivulets flowing from the hills now
carry red polluted water. For long stretches, you can see massive lines of
trucks ferrying the ore out of the mine-site, heavily secured and fenced. The
forested villages around the mines have shrunk and become a pale shadow of
their original self.

Take, for
instance, Mallampad village. Locally known as Malampadi, this is a small hamlet
of the Oraon community behind the Surjagarh mines in Chamorshi block. Young
people here talk about how farming has been severely affected due to the
pollutants from the mine. They talk about destruction, devastation, and
prevailing health problems. Several tiny hamlets are seeing a destruction of
peace by what the outsiders call ‘development.’

Gadchiroli has
had a protracted history of violence and strife between the state security
forces and the armed guerillas of the CPI (Maoists), particularly fierce in the
southern, eastern and northern parts of the district.

Blood flowed.
Arrests took place. Killings, trappings, ambushes, beatings went on unabated
for three decades. As did hunger and starvation, malaria and a rise in infant
and maternal mortality rates. People died. 

“Ask us once what
we need and want,” quips an ever-smiling Nogoti, among the first generation
educated youth of his community. “We have our own traditions; we have our own
democratic systems; and we can think for ourselves.”

The large constituency, reserved for the
Scheduled Tribes (ST), registered over 71 per cent voting on April 19. On June
4, after the counting of votes, when the country gets a new government, we will
know if the move by the gram sabhas made
any difference.

‘Ask us what we need and want’

گڑھ چرولی کی گرام سبھاؤں نے کی مشروط ووٹنگ

'మాకేది అవసరమో, ఏం కావాలో మమ్మల్ని అడగండి’

‘எங்களுக்கு என்ன தேவையென முதலில் கேளுங்கள்’

'ਜ਼ਰਾ ਪੁੱਛੋ ਤਾਂ ਸਹੀ ਸਾਨੂੰ ਚਾਹੀਦਾ ਕੀ ਹੈ'

‘ଆମର କ’ଣ ଦରକାର ଓ ଆମେ କ’ଣ ଚାହୁଁଛୁ ଆମକୁ ପଚାରନ୍ତୁ’

ഞങ്ങൾക്ക് വേണ്ടതും ആവശ്യമുള്ളതും എന്താണെന്ന് ചോദിക്കൂ

'ನಮ್ಮ ಬೇಕು ಬೇಡಗಳ ಕುರಿತು ನಮ್ಮ ಬಳಿ ಕೇಳಿ'

‘हमारी क्या ज़रूरतें हैं, यह हमसे पूछो’

'અમને તો પૂછો તો ખરા કે અમારે શેની જરૂર છે અને અમારે શું જોઈએ છે'

‘हमन अपन बर खुदेच सोचे सकथन’

‘कांग्रेस हैरान भइल, भाजपा परेसान भइल’

‘আমাদের দরকার আর দাবিগুলো আমাদের থেকেই জানুন না’

‘আমাক কি লাগে, কিহৰ প্ৰয়োজন, এবাৰ সোধক’

‘आम्हाला काय लागतं, काय हवंय ते विचारा ना’

Gadchiroli, Gadchiroli Taluka, Gadchiroli District, Maharashtra, 442605, India

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‘Ask us what we need and want’

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