Volume 4, No. 8, August 2003

 — Sushila

I visited Bastar district at a time when the political atmosphere in this region was charged with the issue of resignations of the Sarpanchs and Sachivs. I set out on my journey to Bastar in this background when the entire country was shocked with the resignations of about 1000 Sarpanchs, deputy Sarpanchs, Grama Panchayat members, Janapad presidents and vice presidents, during the period September to December of last year. This issue was even raised in the Rajyasabha. The Chattisgarh newspapers, have written special articles and editorials as per their understanding. Some accused the government for remaining quiet even though the Panchayat system has completely broken down in Bastar. Some wrote that these ‘resignations’ are because Naxalites couldn’t get the money they expected from the Sarpanchs and Panchayat representatives. Some expressed the fear that there is no state in Bastar district, and that the PW is running a parallel government. Some even made predictions that the resignations, which started with Panchayat representatives, will lead to the resignations of the Assembly and Parliament representatives. Because of this sensational news I was really excited about my Bastar journey. An anxiety to find out what is actually happening in Bastar! What were the reasons and where it will lead to, etc., strengthened my desire to visit Bastar.

Bastar district in Dandakaranya is primarily an Adivasi district. The total population here would be around 28 lakhs. And 65% of them are Adivasis. Geographically, Bastar district is larger than some states in the country and some countries in the world. Bastar has extensive reserves of many precious minerals including gold. It is a district with a number of perennial rivers and large forest areas. In the name of administrative necessity this district was divided into three districts in 1998 May. As a result Kanker, Jagdalpur and Dantewada came into existence as district centers.

The revolutionary movement started in this large Bastar district in the year 1980. The Andhra State Committee of the PW, immediately after its 12th State Conference, had sent some activists in the form of squads to Dandakaranya (DK). That means the revolutionary movement has been continuing and expanding, facing many ups and downs, in this region, for the past 22 years. Even while facing severe enemy repression the revolutionary movement has been organising the people, leading them, and recruiting them into the PGA.

The police themselves have admitted that, out of 63 police station areas in the district, Naxalites are active in 44 station areas. According to their own report Naxalite activities have extended to 7 out 11 police station areas in Kanker district, 9 out of 19 areas in Jagdalpur and 28 out of 34 police station areas in Dantewada district. Recently they also decided to have 5 more police stations in Dantewada. It is important to know that the revolutionary movement is relatively stronger in Dantewada district. The so-called ‘breakdown’ of the Panchayat system was also started in this district and ‘Janasatta’ was the first to publish this report. Because of its special significance I confined my visit to Dantewada. Here I met some Sarpanchs, Sachivs, Janapad Presidents, government employees and leaders of mass organizations and had discussions with them to find out the facts. I would like to share this with you. However due to the serious repressive situation prevailing in that area, they all talked to me under conditions of anonymity.

The people of Bastar are opposed to the forceful inclusion of their district in Chattisgarh, and observe November 1st as ‘betrayal day’. However they whole-heartedly support the formation of the Chattisgarh state. This shows their democratic understanding and respect for a nationality, only they feel that the tribals of Bastar have a separate identity of their own.

The resignation process got initiated when hundreds attended a meeting organised by the range level leaders of the mass organizations, DAKMS and KAMS, from 10th September to 13th September, at Gaganpally in Oosur block. This meeting was attended by 21 Sarpanchs, 23 Sachivs and 3 Janapad members. This meeting, which continued for three days, resulted in the beginning of the current resignations. I met the leaders of the DAKMS/KAMS, who had participated in this meeting. According to the information given by them some of the Sachivs (government employees) are poor people and arrangements are being made to provide them with cultivatable land from the surplus land seized from the wealthy people in the villages. They also told me that there is no problem of livlihood for the remaining people who resigned, as they are all quite well off. They cited the example of the Veng Palli Sarpanch, Narayana, to explain how people like him are swindling money from this corrupt system. They explained that Narayana was earlier a poor person, but now, after becoming Sarpanch, he bought a tractor, a motor cycle and even constructed his house with concrete RCC slabs.

I asked them whether they were asking for the resignations from only the corrupt people. They felt annoyed with this question and said that was not the case. One teacher (asked not to mention his name) gave me some important aspects on this issue. He told me that the newspaper people don’t realize the real intentions of the revolutionaries. And is pained at them for misguiding the people with their untruths and distortions. He further explained the standpoint of the revolutionaries: "They never asked any Sarpanch to resign for not giving them money. They never threatened to eliminate any Sarpanch for not listening them. Here, all these resignations have taken place as per the people’s wishes."

"They don’t have faith in this system. They call this system exploitatory. They say that people’s lives will not be changed through the parliamentary system and propagate amongst the people for boycotting the elections, as a policy. The people who can critically view the 55 years reality of India are on their side. But it is surprising to see Chittaranjan Bakshi (Secretary of the CPI for Chattisgarh state) criticising them. Revolutionaries were continuously calling upon the people to boycott elections for the past 22 years. And the people are listening to them. Officials are admitting that polling was never more than 15 to 30 percent in Bastar district. There are many interior villages where polling was only 2 percent. But for the interference of the police, and rigging by political parties, these percentages would be much less. At the beginning of 2001, during the elections, the revolutionary party and its mass organisations once again extensively propagated for the boycott of the panchayat elections. It had good impact. Let me tell you the details of Kunta.

"There are 59 panchayats in the Kunta Vikas Khand (block). No one contested from 12 panchayats and there is no village panchayat system for those villages for the past three years. In your language it is ‘destruction’. In another 25 villages as no one was contesting, Sachivs themselves wrote some names on the nomination papers, and completed the formalities. And in the remaining 22 villages polling took place. This is a fact. In those villages too, polling was between 5 to 30 percent. And within few days after the elections, people from 16 village panchayats, protested against the announcement of Sarpanchs from their villages, even without their involvement. With this, the Sarpanchs gave in their resignations. If we add these 16 villages to those villages where there was no Sarpanch at all, in 28 villages, which is about 50 percent of the total, there were no Sarpanchs from the very beginning. Now, about 20 more have resigned from the Kunta block. In fact, at present, there is no role for them in the villages. People do not even feel the necessity for a Sarpanch in their villages. And all the work in the villages are going on smoothly."

When we ourselves are looking after our needs why do we need Sarpanchs and what is the need for the government?

A person who has been president of the RPC (Revolutionary People’s Committee - the present form of people’s democratic dictatorship) for the last 6 years, requesting not to reveal his name answered this question, saying, "We have been fighting against this government for the last 22 years. We are poor people. This government has done nothing for us. We formed our mass organisations. Forest officials used to harass us like devils. Shopkeepers used to loot us. Patwaris and the police exploited us using their brute force. After the formation of our mass organisations (Sangams), all this has gradually stopped. And now only the police are after our villages. We are resisting them also. We are looking after our needs. In our village, we dug a common well. We are collectively bringing fresh land into cultivation. We planted a fruit garden in our village. Now we have a Primary School and Hospital in our village. We built two water ponds for irrigation with our collective labour. For the same work, this fraud government would have spent about 10 to 12 lakhs. But here all work was done through ‘shramdan’. For the last six years the ‘People’s Power’ (RPC in Gondi language) is working in our village. This was elected by the Grama Sabha. This will be elected every two years. This new power is looking after agricultural development, education and culture, defense, justice and health. All our needs are fulfilled. Similar activities are going on in many villages. That is why we say there is no need for separate Sarpanchs or MLAs or MPs for us."

Recommending for extensive powers to the Grama Sabhas in Scheduled Areas, the Bhuria Committee submitted its report to the Central government in 1995. It recommended for the prior approval of Grama Sabhas for maintenance, control and development of natural resources and for acquiring lands for projects. It appealed for making the police, excise and revenue departments work under the control of autonomous district councils. This committee also recommended that the reorganisation of villages in tribal areas must be carried out on the basis of their traditions, customs and cultural aspects. But the government simply washed its hands off the report by making the 73rd Amendment to the Constitution. The Government didn’t give any powers to the Grama Sabhas. However the central government declared the year 2001 as the year of the Grama Sabhas and started huge propaganda. Ministers and Chief Ministers have poured praise on the Grama Sabhas in every state. But the reality is quite the opposite of this.

Even though prior approval of the Grama Sabhas are required for all government programs, which will be implemented in the name of social and economical development as per the Panchayati Raj act, government officials are implementing the programs of the World Bank and other international institutions without the approval of Grama Sabhas. Though Grama Sabhas have ownership rights on 64 types of forest products, the Tribal Co-operatives continue their monopoly on these products. The government departments have completely forgotten the existence of the Panchayat Raj act. In this region the organised strength of people, have made Bastar a model district for Adivasi regions throughout the country.

Today the people of Bastar are fighting exploitation. They are coming onto the streets demanding education, development, health and cultivatable land. They are opposing the corruption in the government. It is interesting to note that exactly 15 days after the meeting on the resignations of Sarpanchs at Gaganpally, a procession of about 15 thousands people, along with the Panchs, Sarpanchs and Sachivs of about 25 villages, was taken out on the streets of Bairamgarh, shouting ‘Adivasi Janata ko Adhikar do’ (give powers to Adivasi people). Let us see what the government does when people demand power.

The Chattisgarh government is freely handing over Bastar to the imperialist MNCs. The NMDC is opening a steel plant in Nagarnar with technical collaboration of Romault. In spite of serious opposition from, not only local people, but also from environmental groups and intellectuals throughout the country, the Chattis-garh government is adamant on implementing its decision, even by putting the people in Jails. By destroying Adivasi traditions and their cultural values, the Jogi government has decided to convert Bastar into a wonderful tourist center. After the Bailadilla incidents, and even after stiff resistance from the victims, Mr Jogi is not prepared to listen to anything. Everyday he is pleading with the Center for additional forces to suppress the people’s opposition and the revolutionary movement. Recently he declared Bijapur and Narayanapur as special police districts. He is spending about 4% of the State budget on the police department (twice the amount as on education). They imported mine-resistant vehicles, worth lakhs of rupees from America, and displayed it before the people. But the police officials are not happy even with this, as it can withstand only up to 6 Kgs of explosive. (Their worry is that Naxalites will not use anything less than 10 Kgs of explosive). In January 2001, DGP Shukla openly asked for a hike in the remuneration to informers. This shows the level of misappropriation of public money. Though about 50 irrigation projects are incomplete and pending for a long time, there is no one to bother about them. In April 2000, the RBI criticised the Chattisgarh state for decreasing the funds for the social welfare department and refused to accept it as a welfare state. Particularly in states like Andhra, Chattisgarh, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Bengal, Orissa, Jharkhand, Bihar etc., where the revolutionary movement is going on, peoples welfare is replaced by the police state. And as a result of this, movements are further strengthening. Probably, the resignations of Sarpanchs have to be seen in this background.

The series of resignation has been continuing for the past 3 months. The Government is saying that these resignations have not been accepted. It is seen that some are withdrawing their resignations because of pressure from government officials and some of them are re-submitting their resignations due to peoples’ demand. These are part of the government’s measuring yardstick to find out whether its power is intact and whether people are abiding by its rule. Revenue collection, smooth touring by government officials and occasional inspection of government departments are also part their yardsticks. Presently, the people in Bastar are not paying taxes. And there are no smooth tours of government officials and inspection of villages by government departments. Now, with the resignations of Sarpanchs, the Grama Panchayat system came into the limelight. The Government will have to decide whether it is going to bow before the people and accept these resignations of the Grama Panchayat system, which had become like any other corrupt government department, or is it going to preserve them in its records by rejecting their resignations. But it is certain that there will be no Sarpanchs as far as the people are concerned. This is like a ‘checkmate’ message to the government’s rule.

We shouldn’t forget the manner in which the TDP leaders and elected representatives at village and Mandal level in the Telangana region of Andhra Pradesh had submitted their resignations and ran away to the towns. The President of the Ussur range of the DAKMS clarified that in the past three years, whenever people like Ajay Sharma (Janapad member), Millem Jogal (sarpanch), Sunnam Jogal (sarpanch) etc were killed or when people like Paddam Swami (Janapad president) have fled to Jagdalpur, it was not because they were the elected representatives of the people, but because their anti-people activities resulted in them being punished by the People’s Guerrilla Army’.

All the parliamentary parties are saying that these resignations are taking place only due to the threat by Naxalites. They describe this as an axe blow for the ‘Indian Democratic System’. Everyone is competing with the other to condemn the revolutionaries. Everyone, from the CPI general secretary, A B Bardhan, to local level leaders are praising Indian parliamentary democracy in ‘Communist’ language and giving their ‘advice’ to the revolutionaries. The essence of their argument is that these resignations are nothing but adventurism ignoring the people. However in many villages in Dantewada the people showed me how this was a contrast from the reality.

We can see two reasons behind the heating of the political atmosphere. One is the famine prevailing in this area, and the other one is the forthcoming elections. About 12 states in the country are facing severe drought this year. People are demanding relief from the government and questioning all the people’s representatives in all states. All state governments and the central government have been forced to release funds for relief activities. And special allocations are being made for the Adivasi regions. In these circumstances the resignation of Sarpanchs will deprive small and big leaders of all political parties for the opportunity to pocket these funds. That is why they are making a hue and cry on this issue.

One of the Sachivs has responded seriously on this issue. He referred to the news item published in the ‘Navabharat’ (Raipur edition) on 12-12-2002. According to this news item, the government’s forest department has showed false claims of constructing water tanks and swallowed huge amounts of money — Rs 2.80 lakhs in Mailamar of Gollapalli range, Rs 1.90 lakhs in Vanjalavayi, Rs 1.90 lakhs in Bacchan palli, Rs 1.98 lakhs in Amir-guda and Rs 1.90 lakhs in Tinganpalli. These are only those cases that got exposed, but there will be many more that are not exposed. In Dantewada district alone, Naxalites have built more than hundred water ponds. All these were constructed by the people themselves. See how much money would have been spent for them if all the officials had taken their respective shares.

We should particularly note that in the coming year along with the states of Delhi, Himachal and Madhya Pradesh, Chattisgarh is also going for assembly elections. All the political parties have already begun their political propaganda. All those Panch-ayat leaders who have submitted resignations belong to one or the other political party. The real intention behind all these political parties is to get political advantage by standing with them in this crucial time. Though resignations have been taking for the last 30 years and no one talked about them, with the elections around the corner all political parties are disturbed.

And now Jogi has only two options. They are: Either to intensify the repression by deploying additional forces, combined with economic reforms; or to silently bow down before the ongoing developments.

Any bourgeois leader will naturally opt for the first option. I have already witnessed some incidents in Bastar pointing in this direction. During the PGA week of December 2-8, firing took place between revolutionaries and government police in about 20 incidents. This reflects the change in the atmosphere. On 12-12-02, the outraged police burnt down three houses of Adivasis in Cheramangi village of Oosur Vikas Khand. Incidents of beating the ordinary people and government employees are rising. Arrests have begun and have increased to hundreds. It means that the Jogi government has decided to create a ‘peace of the burial ground’ before the coming elections. He gave the green signal for police oppression. While the ruling party is behaving in this manner, the opposition parties are ready with their ammunition to en-cash on the anti-establishment votes. Under these circumstances we can best define the mental preparedness of Adivasi people who are preparing to face the oncoming repression in the words of "Rago". Bastar women, who once used to run away even at the sight of an outsider, are now reminded of the "Bhunkal" (heroic resistance by Bastar people against the British imperialists in 1911) days.

"Jangal Meende, Harritohatala Party Meende

Inje Lal Jenda Vende Meende Harrimata Vidchom"

This means:

We have forest. We have weapons. And we have the party to guide us.

We fought in the past. We will fight again.

And now we even have the red flag. We will not dither from this path.

The recent developments in Bastar remind us of the elections in Kashmir, which were conducted under the ‘protection’ of a 6 lakh armed force. It also reminded me of Assam’s struggle 20 years back. Governments will conduct elections for their own satisfaction or for deceiving the world. They declare that people’s representatives are democratically elected. But the fact is, they are not the genuine representatives of the people. There is no place for them amongst the people. Bastar is a live example for this.

With the objective of a Danda-karanya Liberated zone, the revolutionary movement is continuing for the last 22 years. The CPI (ML)(PW) is fighting for establishing a workers’, peasants’ and democratic system in place of the existing exploitative system. Now it has extended to 12 states, and fighting with the PGA in its hand. The resignations of Sarpanchs are part of its political objective only. They clearly show that there is no place for dual power (parallel government). They are the primary steps towards the struggle for new power. Let us welcome them and stand by those people.

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