The
security establishment never tires of claiming that human rights activists are
partisan, and only blame the state. But when they do expose Maoist crimes, the
police is not interested. One wonders if the establishment’s problem is really
the Maoists – in whose name the state is spending several thousand crores on
militarisation – or rights activists and the idea of democracy they uphold.
Last
week, four of us, including a colleague from JNU, visited Bastar division. The
press release we issued upon our return is unequivocal in blaming both the
Maoists and the police for the current vulnerabilities of villagers. However, the
police have drummed up a campaign vilifying us, claiming, ridiculously, that we
threatened villagers with Maoist retaliation and instigated them against the
police. The Bastar collector, Amit Kataria, has added to this by circulating
fake complaints on social media, fuelling the ongoing anti-JNU hysteria.
CRPF/BSF/ITBP
camps are visible everywhere 2-5 km in Bastar. Villagers report that the camps
come up over night, cutting down acres of trees, and taking over land that villagers
have been cultivating. No permission is ever taken from the gram sabha. In one
village we visited, a young woman had a baby after being raped by a sahayak arakshak (former special police
officer), attached to a BSF camp. No action has been taken against the rapist. In
the past too, women have complained about the insecurity generated by police
and paramilitary camps, especially when they are located next to schools or girls’
hostels. Women’s groups have exposed three major instances of mass gang rapes
and sexual assault by security forces out on combing operations. Moreover,
having a security camp next door is no guarantee of security from the Maoists. A
schoolteacher in Dornapal was killed in broad daylight, allegedly by Maoists, in
the close vicinity of a CRPF camp and police thana.
Over
the past year, the police have been holding Jan
Jagran Abhiyans (the original name of Salwa Judum), at which they
distribute clothes, money, and even mobile phones. These are also occasions
when they stage mass ‘surrenders’, many of which involve ordinary villagers. In
some cases, villages are persuaded into thinking they will be better off with a
police camp nearby.
In
Kumakoleng, however, asking for a police camp has had dangerous consequences
for villagers. It began when the police discovered some names in a diary kept
by a Maoist area commander. In March 2016, 50 persons were forced to
‘surrender’, and are now living in police and CRPF camps working as informers.
On April 15, the police held a Jan Jagran
Abhiyan in Kumakoleng, at which some of the villagers asked for a CRPF camp
to come up near the village. On April 17, the Maoists beat up villagers,
including women, for collaborating with the police. When we visited, two-thirds
of the villagers had fled for fear of the Maoists. Not everyone in the village
supports the idea of a camp. All this is dangerously like Salwa Judum, which
too began life as Jan Jagran Abhiyan.
Villages were divided and people displaced in large numbers, with some
supporting the police and others the Maoists.
In neighbouring
Soutnar panchayat, the villagers have been patrolling for the past three months
to keep the Maoists away, laughingly describing themselves as ‘the tangiya (axe) gang’. The villagers told
us they too wanted a camp, but the police refused, saying that the Maoists would
go away if they patrolled. By promoting village patrols, the police is making people
vulnerable in the first place and then leaving them to their own devices against
armed Maoists.
In a
drought year, the Maoist levy on tendu patta and mahua earnings and their
objections to the villagers asking for MNREGA work are creating deep
resentment. On the other hand, people complain that they are not paid for MNREGA
work, for years at a stretch. Average incomes are 1000-2500 rupees per
household per month, i.e. starvation levels.
In
the current context, people need neither paramilitary camps nor a Maoist
parallel government. What they need is a government, which cares about their
well-being and is willing to engage in dialogue with all stakeholders to
achieve this.
