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In 2009, I had toured the Maoist insurgency marked villages
in the region where the three states of Odisha, Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand
converge, and saw widespread destitution. The tribals there were bereft of
a regular source
of income, had no basic
health facilities, and had access only to very poor educational
infrastructure. The roads linking the various villages were so decrepit that they were just
notional.
It is in such circumstance that I remember meeting Sahria Devi, 60, a widow
belonging to the Birhor tribe of Hindiyankalan, a drought-stricken village
in the Chatra district of Jharkhand. She was busy making 'soops' (winnows) and
hardly looked up, but the trauma of having lost three members of her family
to starvation a few months earlier was apparent on her face. Her remaining
family - three sons, two daughters-in-law, two small grandsons - was
surviving by collecting and selling honey and wood from the forest and
selling the 'soops' she made at seven rupees a piece. The family was
entitled to an Antyodaya ration card that would have given them 35 kilos of
grain at highly discounted prices, but Sahria had been unable to get the
card despite pleading for one before local leaders.
This time around when I visited the region, I could not help but recall
Sahria's plight. The place had hardly changed much - villages still did not
have electricity; procuring safe drinking water was a challenge and the
closest hospital had no doctors. But what was most apparent was that the
locals were still living in fear, caught in the crossfire between the
Maoists and government forces.
Elections, even the 2014 General Election, did not excite them. Laxmi
Hentala of Papermetla village of Malkangiri district explained why this was the case,
"Just after 2009 election, one Ayush doctor was posted here. The ASHA
was also visiting us frequently. Earlier we had only one motor boat to
cross the Balimela reservoir to go to the Chitrokanda, but in 2009 two
additional private motor boats started operations. We thought things were
changing but after the kidnapping of district collector R.
Vineel Krishna by Maoists, it was back to the deprived times of old."
When I caught up with Sahria in Hindiyankalan village of Jharkhand, I found
that she was very ill. Her sister, Pyari, revealed that since 2009 nothing
much had changed there and the able-bodied were still jobless. "We
mostly depend on the forest for our sustenance, but because of the Maoists,
security forces are also around. Going to forest means inviting a threat to
one's life, either from the Maoist side or from the security forces,"
said Pyari. She reiterated what many had already revealed - that during
elections political parties make all kinds of promises but after they get
over nobody even bothers to find out how the locals are doing. "So why
should we bother to vote?" Pyari asked, not unreasonably.
The threat of Maoist violence was real - Umakant, CPI (Maoist), secretary
in the Bansadhara-Ghumasar-Nagabali division of Odisha, had in a taped
message even asked people to boycott the elections because it was an empty
exercise. All three states had reported casualties to Maoist-driven
violence in 2013. While Jharkhand saw 383 such incidents in which 150
civilians and security personnel were killed; there were 353 such cases in
Chhattisgarh leading to 110 deaths; while Odisha witnessed 101 cases of
violence in which 35 people had lost their lives.
This disturbed situation dissuaded many candidates from campaigning in the
areas where the Maoists had a presence. Jhina Hikkaka, who had been
abducted by Maoists in March 2012, contested from the Koraput Lok Sabha seat on a Biju Janata Dal (BJD) ticket this
time, and avoided visiting places like Narayanpatna and Bandhugaon,
although they fall in his constituency, for fear of experiencing the terror
all over again. But there were other candidates - including two courageous
women - who did not allow fear to come in the way of their electioneering.
Soni Sori, who contested from the Bastar Lok Sabha seat this time on an Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) ticket, even refused
security. "Why do I need security to meet my people? It is my
birthplace and I think there is no threat to me when I am here with
them," she told me when I caught up with her. Soni, a resident of
Jabeli village in Dantewada district,
Chhattisgarh, was arrested in 2011 by the state police for allegedly being
a conduit in the transfer of funds from the Essar Group to the Maoists. She
was granted permanent bail by the Supreme Court in February 2014 and has
always maintained that she was a victim of the excesses of the security
forces and the state.
"I always have been branded a Maoist sympathiser by the state, but I
don't care. I am working for the benefit of the poor," she said, ruing
the fact that Bastar has been turned into a battlefield with innumerable
tribals being killed for no fault of theirs. "Our children are
carrying guns. I want to give them pens, I want to educate them. Tribals in
Bastar are living in great pain and deprivation. I want to bring about a
positive change in their lives. I want to give them voice," said Soni.
Another woman activist and award winning journalist, Dayamani Barla from
Jharkhand, also embraced electoral politics this time. She contested for
Jharkhand's Khunti Lok Sabha seat as an AAP candidate. In 2012, this activist, well known as
the 'iron lady of Jharkhand', spent 69 days in Ranchi's Birsa Munda jail
after being an accused of leading 400 Oraon tribal farmers in Nagri to
protest against their fertile, multi-crop land being handed over to build
the campuses of elite institutes like the Indian Institute of Management,
Ranchi, and the National Law University.
Barla campaigned on the slogan, "Rajniti Nahi, Andolan Hai. Chunav
Nahi Chunouti Hai. Vote Do, Hak Lo" (this is not politics but a
movement; this is not an election but a challenge. Cast your vote and get
your rights). Unlike many of her counterparts in the fray, Barla ventured
into the most inaccessible terrain, whether it was high up in the hills or
deep in the forests.
"My fight is for my people; my fight is to get rights over jal, jungle
and jameen (water, forest and land). My fight is for the tribal cause and
the implementation of laws. I don't want to make big promises but I want to
ensure rights and social security for all tribals who have only got more
and more marginalised over the years," said Barla.
Like Soni, she is not worried about the Maoist threat. "As long as my
tribal people are with me I don't have to fear. It is not my fight but the
fight of each and every poor tribal man and woman who is struggling to get
a square meal every day," she elaborated.
As Alok Prakash Putul, a senior journalist based in Chhattisgarh pointed
out, participating in elections in Maoist areas is a huge challenge. But
two strong women faced up to this challenge this time and together
symbolised an alternative, more people-centred, politics.
—(Women's Feature Service)
News Updated at : Monday, May 5, 2014
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