Lalgarh, 2009 (Indian tribal people dislodged again)

brotee mukhopadhyay

a village cot of west bengal

Lalgarh is a small area where a section of the Indian tribal people lives. Lalgarh is in the Indian state of West Bengal and is in the district of West Medinipur. The area has been occupying the front page of all the dailies in India in recent times due to some ulterior design of all the rulers. This short article is to highlight that something has been rotten.

The history of the tribal people of India is replete with tears and bloodshed and deprivation. People comparatively developed and equipped with developed arms have always driven out the tribal folks in India from their settlements. One will find accounts of their fight against the oppressors down the historical periods. Even the great bard of the Indian epic of the Ramayana has described how Ramachandra has killed one tribal chieftain. The tribal resistance against the expansion of the British imperialist in India is a part of history.

The fate of the Indian tribes has not changed after 1947, the year in which India has achieved political independence. Tribal people of India have remained as a source of cheap labor. They have always been neglected and deprived of the bliss of the modern civilization. For the growth of the Indian economy roadways, railways, factories and big dams have been built up. But for each and every construction a great mass of the Indian tribes has been uprooted and dislodged from their habitations. Rehabilitation of the driven out has been pronounced by a few and Indian government has earmarked millions of rupees for their betterment officially. But there are men at every point of disbursement of the same to rob the most.  And it stands as an open secret.

VILLAGERS’ LABOR

Right from 1977 communists are at the helm of power in West Bengal. West Bengal is a state in the eastern part of India. These communists are the most opportunists and they have established themselves as one of the worst of the hypocrites although they claim that they are the messiah of the poorer people.  Presently they have engaged themselves in a competition to satisfy the pilots of the globalization and hence they have decided to follow the footprints of the communist China in building up Special Economic Zones in different parts of West Bengal. They have selected locations where the resistance from the people will be less.

In mainland China the building up of the Special Economic Zones was a brutal process as this was done driving out millions of humans from their traditional settlements without assuring an alternative for their sustenance. In West Bengal the Indian varieties of the communists have attempted the same in Nandigram at first. But resistance of the people from the location was tremendous. Despite every kinds of oppression by the ruling communists the people of Nandigram have braved to combat them. A few of the villagers have been butchered and some women have been raped. But the hunters of land have failed in grabbing operation.

NANDIGRAM WHICH RESISTED THE EVIL DESIGN OF THE COMMUNISTS OF WEST BENGAL

In India there is another variety of the communists. They call themselves Maoists. They also claim themselves as the best of the friends of the poorer people. The Maoists have been engaged in clandestine operation of blasting and killing of human beings. In West Bengal their targets are limited to the activists of the ruling communists, activists belonging to the party named CPIM.

People of Lalgarh had no knowledge that they would have to quit their traditional settlement and that the honorable communist rulers had conspired against them secretly. The communists have been supported by the non-communist central government of India. The slogan of development by the communists has so long failed to convince the rural people.  

A Maoist-attempt of a land-mine blasting targeting the notorious Chief Minister of West Bengal failed. The Chief Minister was on his way to return from Shalboni after an inauguration for a steel-manufacturing site of the Zindal Group. The state police entered the villages in a hunt for the miscreants. Innocent villagers were tortured. A woman lost her eyes and pregnant woman lost her baby in the womb. The tribal folks organized themselves automatically after years of deprivation and they formed ‘Pulici Santras Birodhi Comiti” (Committee to oppose the persecution by the police). They demanded that the police must beg pardon before entering the villages. They were successful in the movement for a few months.

The Maoists entered in the scene. They blasted a few bombs and killed a few CPIM men and helped the communist rulers of West Bengal in grabbing the land. Then the West Bengal government sought for the services from the central forces.  

In no time the central and the state forces have been found to be in use in order to invade the land. They drove away most of the tribal people. The government has decided to keep the forces there for some uncertain time in order to curb any resistance. Persecution of the people in different form is a regular happening at present. Now a Special Economic Zone will be built up.

Yes, it is the same old story. The hapless tribal people have again taken shelter in the adjoining hills and forests.