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It was a small
village in Konta, situated in the Southern extreme of the tribal belt of Bastar.
The village had come alive and was the hub of intense activity on December 2,
2001in the otherwise sleepy and slow moving life of the jungle people. The
gathering was colourful and the mood celebrative. The people in their hundreds
were thronging the site from all sides in a variety of colourful dresses beating
their drums. It looked as if the jungle had started blossoming again in this
early autumn month when there were no flowers to be seen and the leaves had
started dropping. The whole scene betrayed the look of an adivasi pandum
(the tribal festival) but it was not organised by the vaddes (godmen),
instead, the tribal people had come swarming at the call of the Dandakarnya
Adivasi Kissan Mazdoor Sangham (DAKMS) and the Krantikari Adivasi Mahila Sangham
(KAMS) to participate in the celebrations of the second anniversary of the
People’s Guerrilla Army.
For eight days the
DAKMS and the KAMS had campaigned in five dozen villages exhorting the people to
celebrate the PGA day as the guerrilla army was the one that belonged to the
people and was the chief instrument for securing water, forest and land for the
adivasi people. The PGA in the area constituted the men and women from
among the local people and its popularity was apparent from the celebrative mood
and the numbers of the people. More than three thousand had assembled in this
village which lies a few kilometers away from the Konta police station. This was
the first time that the gathering was being addressed through a hand carried
loud speaker that had been brought by the guerrillas and from a massive podium
collectively built by the people. The adivasis had never celebrated a
pandum (festival) in such an invigorating spirit and fanfare as women folk
were never allowed to enter the main arena of the festival where the village
godmen used to perform the main functions of the occasion.
The celebrations
started with game competitions for both men and women. The games are a new
phenomenon introduced in the lives of the tribal people by the people’s
movement. The winners of the long jump, high jump and arrow shooting were given
knives as the first prize and utensils as second prizes. The knives are a thing
the tribal youth love very much and the utensils are a thing the jungle people
usually don’t have.
After the games a
demonstration was started at 11 AM which went through the jungle and ended up at
the venue of the conference at 12 noon. Here you could see a lot of people
climbing up the stage. Everyone thought that it belonged to him or her, and
moreover, as they erected it they considered it their right to mount it. The
people feel elated when they roam over the stage and not a few of them are less
curious to have a word or two whistle through the microphone. They are happy and
enjoy doing it. The organisers don’t discourage them and let them have their way
until the flag raising ceremony starts.
Suddenly, a group of
armed guerrillas marching in a formation emerge on the scene and all eyes are
attracted towards them. They halt in front of the stage make a right turn facing
the rostrum and a thin man of a moderate height brings out a red flag. The PGA
red flag with a hammer and a sickle crossing with a Self-Loading Rifle is
unfurled by the Area Committee Secretary of the CPI (ML) People’s War. As soon
as the flag is hoisted the man and his comrades salute it. The crowd of
thousands of men and women falls silent in a second and watch inquisitively. The
high held red flag acquires an imposing singularity. It pulsates gently in the
breeze of the forest and not a voice disturbs the vast calmness of the jungle
till the thin man says, "Hands Down". Hands of about twenty men and women
guerrillas come down simultaneously. They make another right turn, walk off from
the front of the stage and take up positions at different points of the venue.
By now the village
people had cleared off the stage. Another uniformed man climbs up the rostrum
and takes up the microphone. He is the commander of the LGS (Local Guerrilla
Squad), Konta but he has no stars on his shoulders to tell him from others. I
come to know about his position only after I make an enquiry from another member
of the guerrilla squad. The commander addressed the people in a passionate voice
telling them the of the formation of the PGA for the people of India. He
condemns the anti people character of the Indian State armed forces and hails
the PGA as the armed force of the Indian people. He calls on the people to join
the PGA in great numbers from every village and increase its strength so that
this area is soon converted into a guerrilla base as a part of the formation of
the base area for a new democratic India. He elaborates on the strategy of the
Indian revolution and explains the formation of the PGA as an important step
towards the formation of a People’s Army in India. He also elaborates on the
current political scene and blasts the Indian leaders for their slavish
behaviour to the US imperialist masters in the context of the current
imperialist war on Afghanistan.
The LGS commander not
only spoke on military and political matters but he also dwelled on the theme of
developing the area as a self sufficient economic entity so that the people are
not forced to look towards the outside for basic necessities. He laboured on the
subject of how to conduct all round development of the region so that the living
standard of the people is raised and the diseases are controlled.
On the question of
encountering police repression he called upon the people to dwell on traditional
forms like beating of drums to inform the people of the adjoining villages of
the police attacks and to counter them in great numbers. He called upon them to
not to allow a single arrest in any of the villages of the area and resort to
the method of gheraoing the police station if someone is arrested.
The next who took up
the podium was a woman of tribal origin. She was the deputy commander of the LGS.
She told the people of the history of the Naxalbari movement and the thousands
of sacrifices made by the sons and daughters of India. She earnestly urged the
gathering to follow the cause of the martyrs and join in the people’s war that
is being conducted by the People’s War Party of the proletariat and advance the
movement to victory.
Commander of the
Durnapal area also addressed the people in the same fervour. He was also of the
tribal origin and happened to be there at the flag raising ceremony of the Konta
area. Most of the guerillas of the LGS were of tribal origin, well versed in
their language and in good contact with their own people. One could feel the
adivasi people rejoicing over the fact that their own sons and daughters
were part of the PGA and it was their own army which was quite different from
the armed forces of the oppressors at whose hands they have been suffering for
centuries. The fighters of the PGA reminded them of the army of the great tribal
rebel Gunda Dhoor who had fought against the British imperialists in the first
decade of the last century during the Bhoomkal Rebellion.
After the speeches a
cultural programme went on for three hours. This programme was very inspiring
and an easy method to make the tribal people understand many things. Amid
revolutionary songs many dramas depicting tribal life and the necessity to
change it were staged by the cultural troupe of Chetna Natya Manch (CNM is an
organisation of committed cultural activists drawn from among the Gond
tribals). The CNM dramas told the people how to organise developmental work
through potam kamo (common labour) and establish Gram Rajya Committees
(organs of the state power at village level).
At the end of the
December 2 celebrations the whole of the gathering sang and danced in their
traditional tribal way at the Dholl Taal (beat of drums). The women and men were
all dressed up for the occasion, though in very simple clothes. Men danced with
their Vill Khads (bows and arrows). Many wore cow horns and peacock crowns and
carried traditional weapons. It was like a pandum, a festival in all its
aspects, but no doubt, on a higher level of political consciousness and social
awareness.
Band
in Dandakaranya
At the call of the
CPI (ML) People’s War a Dandakarnya Bandh was organised on December 6, 2001 to
observe protests on the anniversary of dismantling of the Babri Masjid and
against the US war of aggression on Afghanistan. This call was observed in Konta
and Durnapal areas of South Bastar Division. A number of militant protest
actions were carried out in the region.
* On December 6, the
highway from Konta to Jagdalpur was blocked at five places with heavy stones and
tree trunks. At one point 350 people participated in the road block action, at
another 340 people were there and at still another 300 people took part in the
operation. At two more places same action was carried out with mass
participation. At all the places both men and women participated. The result was
the complete halt of traffic on the highway throughout the day.
* 49 members of the
people’s militia and 2 squad members blasted the block office in the early
morning of December 6 at 2 AM.
* In the middle of
the night between 5 and 6 December 175 members of the people’s militia gathered
at the Polampalli guesthouse and razed the building to the ground in just six
hours. This building was often used by the police to torture revolutionaries and
the common people to extract information and was the object of hatred. While the
dismantling operation was being carried on the police came to know of it and
headed towards the guest house but on seeing so many people engaged in the
operation it did not dare to intervene and retreated well before the building
was destroyed.
* Four members of the
guerrilla squad exploded a bomb at the Durnapal police station
* At Bheji police
station the guerrillas exploded another bomb on the same day.
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