“Let us declare that the state of war does exist and shall exist so long as the Indian toiling masses and the natural resources are being exploited by a handful of parasites. They may be purely British Capitalist or mixed British and Indian or even purely Indian. They may be carrying on their insidious exploitation through mixed or even on purely Indian bureaucratic apparatus.”
-Shaheed Bhagat Singh
Adivasis in India have suffered plunder of their jal-jangal-jameen at the hands of ruling classes for centuries. Some of the most fierce resistance to British exploitation emerged in the form of Santhal rebellion, Bhumkal revolt, Rampa revolt, and many other Adivasi uprisings. Despite India having achieved formal independence, the loot of natural resources in Adivasi lands continues to escalate. At this very moment, the Indian state machinery under the behest of its corporate masters, has deployed its hundred tentacles to kill, rape, maim, hunt, and jail Adivasis with the ulterior motive of grabbing the rich mineral reserves they walk on. During this process, the Indian state is violating the Indian constitution and the very laws that the parliament has enacted to safeguard the rights of the Adivasis and the forests.
The escalation comes at a cost of violating UN covenants that uphold the rights of the indigenous people as well. As of now, in the course of Operation Kagar going on in Bastar, it has been turned into one of the most militarised zones in the world. In a very recent development fifty-two villages with a population of 9,601 people is slated to be evacuated for the Indian Army’s proposed manoeuvre range, spread across 54,543 hectares of land in Chhattisgarh’s Abujhmad forest, according to an internal survey of the Narayanpur district administration. The use of the army in an internal matter is tantamount to an overt declaration of war on the people of India. This human cost is the stepping stone towards the ecological cost that is bound to follow mining and other developmental activities that the corporate hawks are eyeing. With the intensifying crisis of world capitalism, the loot of natural resources will only worsen. The dire effect will be on the Adivasis of our country.
Recently, Bastar was dubbed as the Gaza of India by Colin Gonsalves of PUCL. The kind of weaponry that is being deployed to kill Palestinian people right now by the Israeli state is also being used to kill innocent Adivasis in Bastar. There is a targeting of women and children meant to wipe out future generations, similar to the strategy deployed by the Israeli Defence Forces. All these security excesses go to serve the foreign and domestic capitalists coveting the rich mineral reserves of India. Thus, the chain of imperialism connects every war-torn region on earth. With the neoliberal Hindutva fascist government at the centre, the attacks on the Adivasis continue to intensify with every passing day.
Other forms of warfare are also deployed by the state, as seen in Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Odisha, West Bengal, Karnataka etc. It is out to not just displace the Adivasis but also destroy their way of life, culture, economy, and institutions. In this regard, the RSS has played a central role through the mushrooming of ‘Vanvasi kalyan ashrams’ where they bring Adivasi children to the ‘mainstream’ through an imposition of Bramhinical culture. Through other forms of incentives as well, land-grabbing companies try to create rifts within the Adivasi community in a given area. These are a few of the tried and tested low intensity conflicts engineered by the state.
The strategy and intensity of state repression may vary geographically and temporally, natural resource loot remains the common thread. On Shaheed Bhagat Singh’s birthday (28th September), the people of Bengaluru came together to listen to accounts of Adivasi resistance to displacement from Hasdeo, Bastar, and Nagarhole from activists fighting for their dignity and basic rights. The event co-organised by Spark*, intended to bring news that mainstream media shuns deliberately, to people living in the metropolis.
We appeal to our readers to actively engage with the daily news of state excesses coming from Adivasi regions and spread it to more and more people. While the state expects absolute silence in this regard, we must strive hard to thwart that project with our solidarity.
