Professor G Hargopal, a human rights activist who has been advocating for the Adivasis of Bastar for many years, was the second speaker at the public discussion on Operation Kagar.
Prof. Hargopal spoke about how the government uses police to prevent such discussions from being held by actively limiting access to spaces for assembling, and by surveilling all attempts at organising these. Within the academic sphere, faculty now feel scared to address such issues. He expressed concern over the fact that it may soon become impossible to have these discussions at all. Drawing a parallel with the genocide in from private violence, as has been the case in Chhattisgarh.
Prof. Hargopal emphasised how perennial the Adivasi struggle has been. It is a 200 year long struggle not for any personal gain or accumulation, but for the basic and necessary right to live peacefully in their forests. Their freedom struggle has persisted parallel to the mainstream movement led by Gandhi, and people like Birsa Munda and Jaipal Singh have been important figures in this struggle. Jaipal Singh as part of the Constituent Assembly vocally stated the lack of trust of tribals in the Indian state. Despite the legal safeguarding of Adivasi people’s right over their forests in Schedule 5 of the Indian Constitution and in the Forest Rights Act (2006), the State has repeatedly broken its promise of not entering their forests without their consent.
Prof. Hargopal pointed out the irony that the autonomous and dignified Adivasis who have no interest in using land for private profit, are being targeted for the natural resources that happen to be concentrated in their land. He went on to criticise neoliberalism, endorsed by politicians like Chandrababu Naidu, as a major force in the increasing corporatisation of these resources. This is being done in the name of development, but at whose cost?
Highlighting the importance of peace talks, he discussed the time and the arduous efforts it took to have peace talks in Andhra Pradesh to discuss the demands of the revolutionaries for land reforms, democratic rights, and withdrawal of corporate MoUs, the setbacks that came along the way, and how this was an important precedent to the peace talks today. He emphasised that at a time when democracy is endangered as institutions like the judiciary, the media and the Election Commission are being weakened, and when violence has permeated lives, peace talks are an opportunity to arrive at a mutually acceptable solution.
The ongoing peace talks must raise larger questions about the fundamental relations between the people and the State, and the normalisation of State violence. While the State repeatedly uses violence by Maoists as a pretext for inflicting violence on Adivasis, it was not Maoists who killed Gauri Lankesh, Pansare and Kalburgi. He reiterated that those who are not immediately affected by the Chhattisgarh violence cannot afford to look the other way, as the violence would ultimately pervade their lives too.
Prof. Hargopal ended his address by emphasising the unique quality of human beings to build a humane, democratic society. The fight against State violence in Chhattisgarh would ultimately contribute to building such a society that is economically egalitarian, politically participative, socially harmonious, morally elevating, aesthetically pleasing, and ecologically sustainable. “Peace is not a graveyard, peace is life,” he said.
