Stop Criminalising The Activists Fighting For People’s Rights
By Vidya Bhushan Rawat
26 October, 2012
Countercurrents.org
It is hard to believe that Dr Sunilam who fought valiantly the battle of farmers in Multai in Madhya Pradesh as criminal and that too the one who deserve life imprisonment. Sunilam is a socialist by thought and action was leading a farmer’s struggle in Multai in 1998 in which the police had to fire on the farmers. 18 farmers died in the police firing including one police personnel. Sunilam had to face wrath of the administration on many occasion where police severely beat him up. He survived because of immense good will that he had with the activists as well as political leaders.
Betul and other districts in Madhya Pradesh were facing crop failure and Sunilam was leading a farmer’s seize at the Multai Tehsil headquarter. As usual the protest turned out violent and police had to resort to firing killing so many farmers and injuring others. Sunilam blamed the then chief Minister Digvijay Singh and his administration for framing him wrongly. Political parties did not come for the rescue of Sunilam but individual leaders were there to support him like former Prime Minister V.P.Singh. Sunilam’s popularity with his people never diminished and he won with over 50% margin from Multai constituency for the Madhya Pradesh Assembly. He was made leader of Samajwadi Party in the state assembly but it looks at in the ultimate working pattern of the party Sunilam was not fit. The current generation of socialists are not really samajwadis and hence in the past few years, Sunilam was not just part of wider movements against land acquisition and struggle against Special Economic Zones in India raising the issues of people’s right over their resources. When Anna Hazare started his anti-corruption stir, Sunilam was among the first to join him much to the discomfiture of many.
Sunilam was attacked by the goons in many places when he was raising the issue of farmers in the land acquisition process at many places. It is sad that the political class while claiming to represent the people has been largely irresponsible in addressing the issue. Even the social activists have not reported on the matter. Team Anna, of which, Sunilam was a part remained quiet on the issue.
Sunilam is not the only case of criminalizing the social activists. The anti-nuclear activist S.P.Udayakumar is facing numerous charges against him including war against nation for the huge protest that Kudankulam saw in recent months. Every time the protests reach its peak, the government and authorities bargain for peace to be restored and immediately afterwards different departments are active to file cases against the activists making them criminal which are unwarranted in democratic polity. It is another way of intimidation so that people do not raise their issues. The question is while there may be agreement and disagreement on the issue of source of power generation in India, one is sure, there may not be any disagreement that those who suffer out of any project including defense, nuclear or power generation must be fully informed and their concerns need to be addressed fully. The state cannot displace them without providing them alternatives. But what has happened is the conspicuous nature of the state where the notices are sending to people in such a way which make them vulnerable to take over without questioning the state. The idea that the state has unquestionable right over the people including taking their lives in the name of ‘national interest’ has to be questioned and not only politely but loudly. It is not for unknown reason that for the first time in history over 3000 people have been charged with ‘War on nation’ simply because they were not assured of the safety by the authorities on Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant. They had seen the horrific stories emerging from Japan and remained unconvinced with the answers given by the authorities. Today, Udayakumar, who left everything including his well-paid job in the United State is virtually hiding. It is deeply saddening to see how a person who is embedded to the ideals of peace and non-violence is being terrified as well as demonized by the government and its different agencies who are out and out there to prove that Udaya Kumar is anti-national. If fighting for people’s right is being termed as anti-national then we must all do that too?
The story is not finished. We now see the news from Jharkhand. Damayani Barla, a well-respected tribal right activist is behind the bar. Barla lead the protest against the huge land acquisition for Arcel and Mittal in Jharkhand. Her difficult circumstances never hindered her spirited work. She is the first tribal woman journalist from Jharkhand and a qualified journalist. Today, because of her struggle, the aadivasis of Jharkhand have been raising voice against the land acquisition and violence against them. Damayanti Barla became voice of the adivasis of Jharkhand but the state of Jharkhand felt that she must be silenced and hence false cases were filed against her as her organization Adivaasi, Moolvaasi, Astitva Raksha Manch launched the agitation and was not ready to give a single inch of land for this purpose. Barla has mobilized the tribal against this illegal land grabbing as she feel that land is fundamental to livelihood and tribal cannot outsource their land to alien forces. Land, water and forest are inherent part of tribal heritage and giving them for commercial greed is a betrayal to the great struggle of tribal lead by Birsa Munda. It is also important to understand that Barla’s message that ‘ we would not allow our ancestral land to be given to these companies’ has gone down very well with the Aadivasis who are solely behind her.
In an interview to BBC, Barla explained ab land nature relations of the Aadivsais. ‘For any tribal community, land is not an asset to be sold, it is their heritage. They are not masters or owners of it, but its protectors for the next generations,” she says. Ms Barla says: “The corporate houses are simply ignorant of the concept of the subsistence economy of a tribal society that is rooted in agriculture and forest produce. “The natural resources to us are not merely means of livelihood, but our identity, dignity, autonomy and culture have been built on them for generations. “These communities will not survive if they are alienated from the natural resources. How is it possible to rehabilitate or compensate us?” she asks.
It is shocking to see how a 8 year old case has been opened against Barla where the court declared her absconder. She is now in Jail. One must not forget that the case is not related to her individually but a case of fighting the irregularities in NREGS work when over 1000 people were protesting against the same in 2006. The criminal jurisprudence system in India need an overhaul as activists, writers do not know what cases have been filed against them. If the address is wrong the authorities never try to verify. They only put the thing as not available or absconder. It is shameful how the authorities feel that an honorable woman who is fighting for the rights of Aadivasis and who is the voice of Jharkhand can be termed as ‘absconder’. We all face such farce and we must be prepared for it.
We may have differences in our working approaches, ideological framework but it is time, we must stand together holding our hand and come out openly and unambiguously against such onslaught. It is tough time for India when the urbanized upper caste protests are being promoted by the state itself so that it does not have time to address the issues of tribal and Dalits. These urbanized protests have actually taken the Indian state ransom and actually are meant to strengthen the state apparatus. It is not for anything that we do not hear any voice of condemnation by the so-called ‘revolutionaries’ available on our television screens every day. Unfortunately, Sunilam and the likes too felt that they were ‘revolutionaries’ but would now realize they are fake ideologues who do not want to fight against corruption but want to ensure their place in the current system. Indian state has been very brutal in every sense against the tribal, dalit and other dissenting voices and it is time this characteristic of it must be exposed and opposed tooth and nail before it takes its toll further. All the cases against these friends must be withdrawn and hence a team of legal experts need to work on that and take these cases to logical conclusion.
Vidya Bhushan Rawat is a social and human rights activist. He blogs at www.manukhsi.blogspot.com twitter : freetohumanity skype : vbrawat Facebook : Vidya Bhushan Rawat [email protected]
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