Chattisgarh : Maoist Violence, State-Terrorism and Plight of Tribals

Chattisgarh, a mineral rich but largely impoverished state in central India, is mostly in news due to the Maoist violence.  Chattisgarh was carved out of Madhya Pradesh in November 2000 due to the inability of area to develop in spite of having rich deposits of minerals. But the situation has worsened in last 9 years, now Chattisgarh is only about maoist violence.

Maoist violence or Naxalism started in 1967 in a village named naxalbari in west Bengal. After Government signed two MoUs (Memorandum of Understanding) with TATA and ESSAR in 2005, Maoists in Chattisgarh have become more brutal, guerrilla warfare expert, adopted better strategies and weapons and above all, better information network.  Hundreds of Maoists sit in ambush, attack security forces, and then again become invisible in dense forests. Each day government is making new strategies to curb Maoist violence, but Maoists seems to be one step ahead.  Indian Prime Minister Dr. ManMohan Singh says “Naxalism is the gravest security threat for India”. Both security forces and Maoists are hunting each other, one wins on one day and other on other day. There are piles of dead-bodies on both sides. There have been some peace building efforts between Maoists and Government brokered by Swami Agneevesh but all proved futile. It looks there are two community in Chattisgarh, one is Maoists and other is security forces but there is a third community, innocent tribals, which is always on losing side. These tribals are considered most trivial and therefore, their plight is largely ignored.

Government, in 2005, launched Salwa-Judum, a tribal’s own resistance movement against Maoists, as the tribals are more familiar to dense jungles as compared to security forces. In Salwa-Judum, tribals are given guns and training to kill Maoists. But some scholars like Nandini Sunder, Arundhati Roy, Ramchandra Guha have criticized it by saying “Salwa-Judum is a mercenary army and this strategy has back-fired”, instead of providing protection to tribals they started looting money and food, burning houses, raping wo      men and killing innocent men. Police along with Salwa-Judum oppress tribals and force them either to join them or face dire consequences.   A report released by IAPL (International Association of People`s Lawyers) in 2007 states “Salwa-Judum, a civil militia, loots money and food, rapes women and kill men , burns houses of Tribals and force them to live in Salwa-Judum concentration camps in devastating social and psychological conditions”.

Maoists, too, are no different in treating tribals, If a tribals preaches peace and rejects the armed struggle of Maoists, then maoists are after his life. Lingaram Kodopi, a 24 year old tribal man from Sameli village in Dantewada District of Chattisgarh, has experienced it. After Dantewada police locked him in jail for 36 days in August-September 2009 for refusing to become a SPO (Special Police officer), his family filed a habeas corpses in Bilaspur court and Lingaram won that case . Police officials became infuriated and threatened him. After returning to his village, Maoists, too, threatened him for rejecting the idea of armed struggle. He was getting continuous threats from both police and Maoists, so he fled to Delhi with the help of a NGO. Then he started Journalism Studies. But Chattisgarh police came haunting him here too when an unsigned police note says “Lingaram is a mastermind of July 6 attack on a congess leader house, in which two people were killed.” Then, Lingaram organized a press conference with the help of human rights activists like Swami Agneewesh and Prashant Bhushan and claimed his innocence. After huge press coverage of issue and their humiliation, Chattisgarh Police is taken aback. But still Lingaram is feared for the security of his family back in village. He is very much elated to see the impact of journalism and now he is even more confident that through the means of journalism, he can raise the voice of tribals and save them from the violence. He dreams those yester years where he is driving his tractor and ploughing his field peacefully, all his fellow tribals are drinking Mahua wine and singing songs while harvesting crops.