STRAIGHT FROM THE HEARTLAND OF DANTEWADA (30th Dec 2009, 2220 Hrs) – Continues…

STRAIGHT FROM THE HEARTLAND OF DANTEWADA (30th Dec 2009, 2220 Hrs) – Continues…

By Priyanka Borpujari

On Wed, 30 Dec 2009 11:53:46 +0530 wrote:

Just like any other new place which gives an avid restless mind and wandering eyes new revelations, so has it been with Dantewada. Just sitting under the canopy of a huge tree and listening to a resilient man spinning the charkha is enough to shudder as well as feel optimistic. Perhaps that’s what nature is all about – a continuous process of creation and destruction.

With Himanshuji continuing his fast for the second consecutive day on December 27, his resilience continued to shine, and we knew that the best that we could do was hear tales of strife, persistence, injustice, ignorance, nepotism, and the real meaning of Independence. His words are full of strength and seem to be oblivious to the fact that it had been more than 48 hours since he had any solid in his body. Just water, the potent clear liquid over which states fight and kill people, has been keeping his mind, hands and heart well in place and in tandem.

Rajiv Vora of Hind Swarajpeeth – a trust that is trying to advocate, promote and apply Gandhian vision and methods of nonviolence, Satyagraha, peace with justice and human dignity – arrived on Sunday morning. The Gandhian peppered his experiences and learnings on Gandhian thoughts in chase Hindi, which augmented the tenor of the many discussions that ensued. A classical music aficionado, Rajivbhai gave a new boost to Himanshuji and his father, both of whom would be languidly spinning the charkha, while talking about the days gone by, and the disciplined lives of those whom we today call “leaders".

Rehabilitation of Nendra Sometime during the course of the day, we were introduced to a volunteer with Vanvasi Chetna Ashram (VCA), who, hitherto, had been singing Bollywood songs in the backyard. This lanky tribal youth has been associated with VCA since over a year, when it was decided to rehabilitate the people of Nendra last year. During one of my conversations with Himanshuji, he had told me that Nendra was one village which was a red ocean – one that was torn apart with various atrocities, and the scars of annihilation were still moist with the tears that continue to shed. Yet, much of the wounds have been healed, with the persistent efforts by VCA and its workers. Today, Nendra is standing on its own, and like most graves, little flowers of hope have begun to bloom. Here is an account of my conversation with the volunteer, whose name I choose not to reveal.

“Nendra is about 150 kms south of Dantewada. When Salwa Judum forces tried to force the people from there into the camps, some of them hid in the forests while quite a good section of them fled into Andhra Pradesh, which is just 40 kms away. As internally displaced people (IDP), it was obvious that they were leading lives of despair. It was imperative that they return to their own land and rebuild their lives. We went to the bordering villages in Andhra Pradesh to survey the situation many times, and we realised that the people were threatened with what they had seen and what the ostracism they were facing as IDPs.

We had several meetings with them, egging them to be courageous and stand up against the Salwa Judum. Finally they acquiesced to get back to Nendra, and we assured to help them in rebuilding their broken homes, dreams, lives.

There were no roads built from Nendra to the bordering villages of Andhra Pradesh. It was July 2008 and the rain gods had begun to prove their existence. We had to set ourselves in those villages first, to be able to get those people back. Our car got stuck in the wet red slush and all the goods we were carrying had to be protected from getting wet. We could not move any further. We ate whatever food we had with us, and there were no hand pumps around, we were left thirsty. We were on bikes at such an area where the cops wouldn't dare venture even during the day! The long night elapsed but the next morning we had to proceed into the interiors of the villages, which actually meant traversing through the wild jungle. We found an angadwadi, cleaned it and set it up as our base. Few days later, we brought back the people of Nendra from Andhra Pradesh to their own village, and thus began the work of constructing the deconstructed among six villages.

Those who did not flee to Andhra Pradesh were hiding in the thick jungle, but had still one or two cows left with them. We brought them back to what seemed to be civilisation. We would go out with them to their farms and help them. Whenever the police would come in, we had to talk to them calmly. So we were on constant vigil in the borders of those agricultural lands. When the people would get back home in the evening, we would go among them and talk to them about moving on in life, by leaving the past behind. We would distribute medicines, clothes as well as yarn to be woven into clothes.

We faced many hurdles initially. There were no markets; we had to walk miles as there was no transport whatsoever since the roads were pathetic. If any of our vehicles broke down we had to bring them to Errabor. At night if anyone fell ill, we would have to administer them with whatever medicines we had, and then wait till morning before we could take them to a hospital. There were no dispensaries there. All the schools which had been built were blown off. Even hand pumps had been removed so the villagers only had a pond to rely on for their water needs.

We continued with our work of providing materials and hope, but we had to face flak too. Once, we were beaten up by the SPOs in Errabor, which is about 8 kms away. The SPOs would tell us, “When none of our men would be able to get back alive from those villages, how on Earth would are you able to walk freely among those villagers? You all definitely must be supporters of the Naxals!” and a hard blow would fall on our backs. But we stood back erect.

Whatever little the people had earned while in Andhra Pradesh was being utilised to make Nendra their home again. We also helped in the implementation of all the governmental schemes that were supposed to be functioning, but were defunct – these included the anganwadis and crèches, where we would distribute chocolates among the 35-odd children and then teach them.

Once, some people, resembling Naxalites, came to enquire about our work. We said that we were doing the work only with the acceptance of the villagers; we weren’t forcing anything upon them. We were providing the villagers only with what they wanted, and that if they did not feel our need, we would leave and extend our help to other villages instead. They understood our intention and left us alone. Slowly, the conditions of the people began to improve. The children were studying; they began to come to school wearing clean clothes and neatly dressed.

But sometimes, forces would still come, ask the villagers some inane questions, and then take them away to the police thana, while beating them all the way. I would follow them to the police thana and plead with the police to let them free. We did this about three-four times. One day, sometime in August this year, one of my two colleagues, Sukhnath, had gone to the market. He heard there that earlier in the day, about five men had already been picked up. So Sukhnath went to the police and pleaded with them to release the men as they were innocent. Then the police told Sukhnath, “Perhaps you too are a Naxal supporter, and hence your commander will have to come here to release you.” Under that pretext, even Sukhnath landed behind bars. The next day, we were frantically searching for him. We went to Konta police thana and another camp too, but they all feigned innocence and said, “We haven’t picked up anyone.” But we later realised that Sukhnath had indeed been arrested.

We then notified about the same to Himanshuji who tried his best to get him free, but Sukhnath is still languishing in the jail today.”

Municipal election results in Dantewada The scourge of war was evident; the participants in this ghastly war were many. Yet, strange are the ways of the wisdom of crowds, strange are the ways of our democratic set-up. Salwa Judum to me sounds more like “sarkar ka zulm”, and yet, its proponents emerged winners in the recent Municipal elections here. While walking through Dantewada town on Sunday morning, to purchase some lemons for Himanshuji, we saw a huge procession, proclaiming the win of Deepak Karma in the municipal elections. Deepak is the son of Mahendra Karma, a Congress party worker and leader of the Opposition, under whose aegis Salwa Judum gained ground in Chhattisgarh, in 2004. Congress of BJP, suddenly, both the political parties are suddenly united in their strife to bring home MNCs and shoo and shoot away the bow-and-arrow carrying original inhabitants of the state.

The procession was a large one: an entourage of bikers carrying a huge tricolour paraded through the streets first, followed by a truck of supporters who could not contain their happiness upon Karma’s win and used their vocal chords to the best of their abilities. Then, on road, symbolising the people’s true leader, Karma walked through the street – hands folded into a Namaste, large orange garlands around his neck akin to the ones seen at commercialised temples, and grinning like a tantrum-throwing child who is given the first prize in some competition to silence his wails. Of course, Karma was in simple clothes – he didn’t need any kind of protective gear when he had managed to get about a 100 men and women surrounding him as he took his strides. As that large procession walked past, there was more to keep our mouths open in awe – about 50 Salwa Judum special police officers (SPOs), men and women, walked down the road, as though they owned it. They were recognisable by the fatigues that they wore, which perhaps gave a sense of pride – a sense of power over their own people.

When we narrated what we saw to Himanshuji, he only flashed his 1,000-watt smile. Was it the hunger-induced tiredness that resulted in silence? Was the solitary smile a the surrender to the nature of the Indian democratic system where parties unite to fatten their Swiss bank accounts through the cream fed by MNCs, and wean its masses of everything, including life? The silence was too loud. His smile was chilling.

Priyanka Borpujari
9820741992
www.priyanka-borpujari.blogspot.com