Mumbai To Bastar : People's Struggles Against State Repression And Dictatorship
By Bastar Solidarity Network, Mumbai
23 March, 2016
Countercurrents.org
Let us declare that the state of war does exist and shall exist so long as the Indian toiling masses and the natural resources are being exploited by a handful of parasites..." - Bhagat Singh
Though Bhagat Singh said this quote almost a century back, the relevance for it could be understood in these times when the Indian state has unleashed a war of the most brutal nature on its own people. The Bastar Division of Chhattisgarh has seen intense militarization ever since counter-insurgency operations were unleashed against the Maoists under the purview of the State. Villages have been plundered, houses burnt and countless locals have been killed, ‘encountered’ or otherwise driven away from their homesteads into crowded and roadside cabins-(ill)maintained by the State. As a part of the ongoing and severe escalation of state-sponsored violence, it was declared on February 2016 that a team of ‘local-fighters’ mostly renegade and surrendered Maoists shall be armed and trained rapidly and deployed for counter-insurgency, which shows how a Salwa-Judum like situation is in continuation, in direct mockery of the Supreme Court of India’s order. Another alarming trend has been noted in recent times, where mass gang-rapes are being committed on tribal women from several villages in different parts of the Bastar Subdivision. It is almost impossible to lodge an FIR,because of the absolute impunity enjoyed by the police, paramilitary, district administration and all other counter-insurgency agents in such areas.
One of the fearless voices against these atrocities has been that of activist Soni Sori. In 2012 she was brutally raped and tortured while in police custody and her nephew Lingaram Kodopi, who had documented many instances of plunder, pillage and house-burning carried out by SalwaJudum and Green Hunt forces, was also badly tortured. The police officer who committed these crimes has since been bestowed with a President’s Gold Medal for his valour. The present Inspector General of Bastar-SRP Kalluri, is also alleged to have committed such custodial rapes.As part of Soni Sori’s work to bring all these injustices to light, while attempting to file an FIR under the SC/ST Prevention of Atrocities Act against Kalluri she was attacked with a strong chemical substance on the evening of 20th February 2016, for which she had to undergo intensive treatment in New Delhi. Consequently back home, Kalluri and his men began threatening, harassing and assaulting her family members in an attempt to make them depose before the Special Investigating Tribunal (SIT) which was formed to investigate the attack on Soni. They harassed Linga Kodopi to an extent wherein now he feels that there is a threat to his life and hence announced 23rd March as the day he will end his life himself rather than getting killed in an encounter.
Meanwhile, journalists and researchers who were reporting on these atrocities and advocates representing many tribal people have been forced to leave Bastar because of immense pressure put on them and people close to them by the police as well as certain private vigilante groups. They were harassed and heckled through various measures such as burning of effigies, loud slogans and processions close to their place of residence, direct threats and stones pelted on private property. Fact Finding teams and human rights defenders have documented at least three cases of mass sexual violence in the past few months itself, where security forces have run amok in the villages, stripping women, playing with their naked bodies, indulging in gang-rape, looting their precious food supplies, and destroying their homes and granaries. The women were trying to pursue their complaints when their lawyers, journalists and other activists who supported them were forced out of the area. Their eviction was followed immediately by the chemical attack on Soni.
Given the well-known mineral-richness of the region and reports of all the upcoming mining and industrial projects, the ‘real’ reason behind such large scale violence and plunder aimed at mass-displacement of tribal people can certainly be seen as not merely suppressing the Maoists.
In light of this terrible situation in Bastar Division, Chhattisgarh and Lingaram Kodopi's impending decision to take his own life after coming under various encounter threats from IG Kalluri, concerned citizens under the umbrella of Bastar Solidarity Network's Mumbai chapter, staged a demonstration at the very busy VT terminus of Mumbai , today 22nd March 2016 at 6pm. Around 60 people from different walks of life particiapted in it.The protsters distributed leaflets, after which they gathered at the entrance of the outstation side of VT to demonstrate and shout slogans. This created huge amount of interest int he crowd gathered around and they stopped by to understand the issue. The police got alarmed by the growing crowd and increasing number of people and hence started pushing the protesters. After a while,the protesters were asked to move towards Azad Maidan and they moved in the form of a march crossing the bus stand, station, subway and ultimately reaching outside Azad Maidan, shouting slogans etc. The police looked clearly agitated as the interest in the protest grew and started jotting down the protesters names. Protesters were only let off after all of them had given their names.
The protesters demanded the following :
1. Immediately stop all the physical and mental threats to Linga Kodopi and SoniSori and their family as well as harassment and forceful eviction of local and national journalists, activists and lawyers who take up cases for tribal people in militarized tribal regions such as the Bastar Division.
2. Create transparent fast-track courts to investigate and try all the rapes, tortures, false encounters, threats, murder and abductions perpetrated by various state forces and other vigilante groups in the entire Bastar division.
3. Immediately disband all the currently operative vigilante groups such as SamajikEktaManch, NaxalPeeditSangharshSamiti and armed militia comprising of renegade Maoists to prevent repetition of SalwaJudum-like situations.
4. Ensure proper implementation of the various laws which give control of indigenous and natural resources to the local community and prevent the corporate loot of such resources through mining and other projects.
5. Scrap sedition laws such as UAPA, CSPSA etc. where the criminal system has been seen to operate on a ‘presumption-of-guilt’ premise for the accused and which have been regularly used to harass activists and keep innocent tribal people languishing as under-trials in district prisons for many years.
Bastar Solidarity Network, Mumbai
About Bastar Solidarity Network : Bastar Solidarity network was formed in the wake of increasing state repression in Bastar in the name of counter insurgency operations against Maoists. Bastar solidarity network is a group of concerned citizens connected through web and has expanded to many cities since its formation. Protests are currently taking place across the country against this repression