On the one hand. while the local Adivasi community-led protests are being suppressed by the state government, the establishment –regardless of which party is in power, Indian National Congress (INC) or the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) –is adamant on continuing the coal mining project.

Adivasi activists have alleged that the newly elected BJP government in the state has handed over thousands of hectares of forest lands to big corporate players. It is feared that these state-imposed policies may lead to further displacement of the indigenous community in the state. 

While axes fell the trees in Surguja districts in Chhattisgarh, it is police batons that are raining violence on the protesting Adivasis. News of large numbers of recent arrests of Adivasi activists by the police has also been documented. 

Given the huge protests, the state government has also arranged for a large deployment of security forces in the areas. Instead of initiating a dialogue and addressing the growing discontent of the people, the BJP government has approached the issue by intensifying armed security. 

According to the indigenous activists, both the police and the local administration are threatening the local Adivasi community against raising their voices against the ongoing deforestation projects. They have alleged that the local administration has been instructed by the state government to deal firmly with the protestors. –

The state government’s repressive policy is a tool to generate fear among the protestors, who are waging a life and death battle les against the greed-propelled and ecologically unfriendly models of development.

But Chief Minister Vishnu Deo Sai has, so far, appeared to be in denial mode by saying that so far no arrest had been made. He is unwilling to engage with the allegations that his government has failed to involve the indigenous community in the developmental process.  Even the Constitutionally-mandated laws giving special protection to the Adivasi community and the resources in their areas have been bypassed to facilitate the plunder of the natural resources. 

For example, a news story by the news agency PTI revealed that the state government has handed over a thousand hectares of forest lands for mining in the Surguja district to corporate players, triggering wide-scale protests. The Hasdeo Arand Bachao Sangharsh Smiti, which is led by the Adivasi community, has been raising voices against the handing over of the forest lands to corporate players. 

The voices of protests against the deforestation of the Hasdeo forest are also being echoed in different places in the country. 

A public meeting was held in New Delhi’s Press Club of India on January 2 during which a large number of activists, civil society members and intellectuals, united under the banner of Chhattisgarh Bachao Andolan (CBA), expressed their deep concern about “corporate takeover” of the natural resources.

Prominent among those who attended this press conference were Alok Shukla (Chhattisgarh Bachao Andolan), Thawar Chand Meena (MLA from Dhariawad, Rajasthan), Umeshwar Singh Armo (Hasdeo Aranya Bachao Sangharsh Samiti), Prashant Bhushan (Supreme court advocate), Prafulla Samantray (activist), Sudiep Shrivastava (Chhattisgarh High Court advocate) Paranjoy Guha Thakurta ( author and journalist) and Professor Nandini Sundar (University of Delhi).

At the Press Club of India, the activists and the civil society members rightly linked the fight to save Hasdeo Aranya forest to other struggles to save nature and the life of the Adivasi community across the country. According to them, the corporate loot of minerals including coal and bauxite is happening at various places in India, particularly in the Adivasi regions.  

History is witness to the fact that since the colonial era, the vicious cycle of the exploitation of natural resources from the Adivasi areas and the displacement of the indigenous population has not stopped. 

The rise of the modern state and the profit-based economic model are some of the major factors for the destruction of the environment and the attacks on the indigenous community. With the introduction of the institution of private property during colonial time, the landlords, moneylenders and colonial administrators penetrated the Adivasi region to inflict ruins on them. 

Such exploitative colonial policies supported by the native landlords and money lenders were vigorously opposed by a series of revolts by the Adivasi community. One of them was led by Birsa Munda in the last phase of the nineteenth century. Birsa’s struggles were aimed at achieving self-rule for the Adivasi community and autonomy in their regions. 

After Independence, the promises made to the Adivasi community were largely forgotten. It was the Adivasi region which was chosen for the construction of the large-scale dams and the mining projects. This led to the destruction of the environment, loss of biodiversity and the displacement of the Adivasi community on a large scale. 

While the migration of non-Adivasi outsiders to the Adivasi areas has been substantial, leading to ae change in the demography, the ongoing policies of deforestation, mining and industrialization have also rendered Adivasis homeless, forcing them to migrate to urban areas where they have no social security. Nor are they often recognized as the Scheduled Tribes (ST) by the state.

Undoubtedly, the Adivasi community has been the worst sufferers of the developmental projects. The Constitution’s provisions for the protection of the Adivasi community continued to be violated to facilitate the corporate plunder of the resources. Worse still, the consent of the Adivasi community for the developmental project is either bypassed or obtained through coercive methods. Sadly, regions in central India, dominated by the indigenous Adivasi population are also among the most heavily militarised by the state. Yet, on the human development index, the same regions fall behind, are the most backward regions.  

What is happening with the Hasdeo Aranya forests is the cruel continuation of the process of colonisation in the Adivasi areas. But sooner or later such anti-Adivasi policy must stop to ensure the will of the people, and the future of Indian democracy. 

(Dr Abhay Kumar is a Delhi-based journalist. He has taught political sciences at NCWEB Centres of Delhi University.)

Disclaimer: Views and opinions expressed in this article is solely that of the author and does not necessarily reflect the views or position of Sabrang India and this site.

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Giving assurance to the people, Siddaramaiah said that they were free to “eat” and “wear” as they wanted. As he put it, “How you dress and what you eat is your choice. Why should I obstruct you? Wear what you want. Eat what you want. I will eat what I want, you eat what you want. I wear dhoti, you wear pants shirt. What’s wrong with that?”

The decision of the Karnataka Government not only strengthens social harmony in India but also promotes the ideals of gender justice, cultural diversity and pluralism, one of the key pillars of the Indian Constitution. The decision to withdraw the ban on Hijab will empower women and encourage them to pursue their education. 

A day after his Mysore speech, the Chief Minister made it clear that so far no order to remove the Hijab ban had been issued. According to a report in The Indian Express (December 23), Siddaramaiah said that “We have still not issued any order regarding this. A question on hijab was asked for which I said we are considering lifting the ban on wearing hijab (in schools and colleges). We will discuss at the government level and then take a decision”.

Fearing a counter-mobilisation from the BJP, the Congress Government in Karnataka is looking into the matter before taking a final call. After the CM’s statement, School Education Minister Madhu Bangarappa issued another statement clarifying that the Government was looking into all legal aspects before taking the final decision.

Before taking a final call on the decision, the Chief Minister Siddaramaiah is trying to mobilize more support on the issue, both within the party and within the party and outside. He has been advised that the Hijab issue has been made a “controversial” issue by the BJP and the RSS and he should not give the saffron party an issue ahead of the 2024 General Elections.  However, political commentators have opined that the Chief Minister Siddaramaiah is personally keen to lift the Hijab ban.

Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, who comes from a historically oppressed caste and whose association with the movements of social justice, goes back years, has set an example for other leaders of the secular parties to follow. His clear message to the secular camp is that the soft-Hindutva strategy and turning back on the marginalised communities including the Indian Muslims, is self-defeating. 

In the light of the Congress defeat in Madhya Pradesh, Siddaramaiah’s act assumes much bigger importance. For example, Kamal Nath, former chief minister and the face of the Congress party within Madhya Pradesh wasted a lot of crucial time by visiting Babas and fell at their feet to seek blessings ahead of the assembly elections. He even publicly made a statement that credit goes to the Congress party for opening the gates of the controversial Ram Temple at Ayodhya. 

Even the “blessings of Hindutva-funded Babas” and Kamal Nath’s compromise with secular politics could not prevent the Congress from facing a humiliating defeat in the state. Leaders like Kamal Nath should learn from Siddaramaiah that politics-based secularism and social justice is the only way that the BJP and the RSS can be defeated. 

Siddaramaiah was quite aware of the game plan of the saffron government that had banned the Hijab at the public educational institutes ahead of the state assembly elections to fight elections on an anti-Muslim agenda. The BJP chief minister B. Bommai was desperate to create a religious polarisation so that the public attention from his government’s failure and the alleged corruption could be diverted. The Hijab ban came months before the assembly elections. Godi media mischievously created an impression that the protests against the ban were led by “radicalised” Muslim students and organisations. Intellectuals and activists who spoke in favour of gender justice and cultural pluralism were demonised as “supporters” of obscurantism and patriarchy within the Muslim community. 

The same trope was also used during the BJP’s campaign around the triple talaq issue. While the BJP is fond of selectively invoking the Muslim women question and using it as part of its anti-Muslim agenda, it is both afraid and uninterested in improving the subordinate position of Hindu women within the family. Amid all these challenges, the Karnataka Government has taken a bold decision to stand with marginalised Muslim women.

This opposition to the Hijab ban by this author should not be used as a weapon against women who oppose wearing a Hijab. Simply put, my position is that we should uphold freedom and oppose coercion. For example, if Muslim women are happy to wear a Hijab, they must be respected. If they do not want it, they must be supported, too.

Our Constitution gives citizens the right to freedom. The state has no business in policing head gear, dress or food habits. A significant number of Muslim women wear Hijab when they step out of their homes. For some, wearing a Hijab outside their homes gives them confidence. Hijab does not pose any threat to security as argued by communal forces. Rather, it showcases our multicultural society. Such women are within their right to enter college, university, seminar rooms and Parliament, wearing a Hijab. Minus Islamophobia, then hijab will appear to us as normal as a saree, salwar, shirt, or pants. 

The harsh truth however also is that, in Muslim male-dominated society, the Hijab is often also imposed on women. This is a form of coercion that is not peculiar to Muslim society alone. Even Hindu males, in some ways, do impose a particular dress code on their women. That is why, we should uphold freedom and denounce coercion wherever they are practiced. Put simply, support wearing a Hijab when it is worn out of choice or preference and oppose the same Hijab when this is imposed by patriarchy. 

So the larger issue is not the Hijab per se but the principle of individual freedom, general justice and pluralism. Progressive sections, therefore, have defended Muslim women’s right to wear hijabs in Karnataka, at the same time they have also spoken in favour of Iranian women’s right to cut their hair. 

Contrary to this, the BJP and the RSS appropriate gender issues selectively to promote their divisive and regressive ideology. Hindutva forces are never tired of demonising the leaders of the minority community as “anti-women”, “anti-national” and “anti-secular”, while they are afraid to touch the gross social inequality within the Hindu social order based on caste and gender. For example, untouchability, caste-based discrimination, multiple crimes against Hindu women, exclusion of Hindu women from large share of property, asymmetrical wage-relations, dowry, discrimination against sexual minorities and martial rapes hardly figure in the agendas of the BJP and the RSS.    

 (Dr. Abhay Kumar is a Delhi-based journalist. He has taught political sciences at NCWEB Centres of Delhi University.)

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While 38-year-old Rupesh is put in jail and the family needs more financial support, Ipsa was asked to quit the job. Apart from the family needs, she has to pay for the education of six-year-old son, Agrim. Amid this financial crisis, she has to offer private tuition. From pursuing the legal battle to fighting for the release of her husband, she works as a brave woman. Even in this difficult time, she is pursuing law and doing a course in journalism through the distance mode. Earlier she did B.Com and M.Com and earned a degree in Bachelor of Education. During an interaction, she is optimistic and firmly believes that Rupesh would be released soon. Her political conviction keeps her resolute and unwavering. 

At present, Ipsa lives in Ramgarh (Jharkhand) while his husband is imprisoned in Patna’s Beur Jail. When Rupesh was earlier kept in Ranchi Jail, it was much easier for her to meet him because of the relative proximity of the jail to her home. Not many people know that Rupesh and Ipsa became friends through social media. She has been very active on social media platforms and Rupesh first noticed her there. Her father Vishad Kumar is a journalist and politically left-oriented person. Rupesh has also been associated with the left organisations since his student days. Their shared political worldviews brought them closer. In 2016, they finally got married. 

In an online interview with the writer, 38-year-old Ipsa recalled that a few colleagues at her school were quite helpful. But later the school authority decided to fire her. The authority did not say it bluntly but employed an excuse: “I was being advised that I should focus more on my husband by leaving the job. Perhaps, the school authority was under pressure not to keep me further. I was given unsolicited advice that earning money should be less important for me than focusing on my husband’s case.” When she lost her job, her life became ever more difficult. Later, she had to offer private tuition to feed her family. Moreover, she had to pay the tuition fee for her young child’s education.  

Remember that one year ago on July 17, 2022, Rupesh was arrested from his hometown Ramgarh by Jharkhand police. Since he was relentlessly writing against the exploitation of natural resources in Adivasi areas and raising voices against the attacks on their lives and liberty through his pen, he became a thorn in the eye of the establishment. As an exercise of silencing him, he was first arrested in 2019 under Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA). Since the Bihar police failed to file the charge sheet, he got bail in December 2019. But again he was arrested last year and charged with several provisions of the IPC. So far, he has been charged with four cases including draconian UAPA. At present, he has been incarcerated in Beur Jail.  

Earlier, Rupesh alleged that his phone was put under surveillance by Pegasus (spyware). To substantiate his claim, he said that whenever he reached any Adivasi area for reporting, he noticed that some unidentified people were already present there to persuade the local people against him. According to him, this was an indicator that his movement was being monitored. Against this regime of surveillance, he, along with some other journalists, moved to the Supreme Court.  

While Rupesh has been brought up in Bhagalpur, he has reported extensively from both Jharkhand and Bihar. For the last seven years, his stories were windows for the outside world to the ongoing system of exploitation of Adivasis and the resources owned by them. His writings have exposed the nexus between the State and the corporate forces. He wrote on topics which hardly figure in the mainstream media. He has been unambiguously eloquent against the ongoing militarization process in the Adivasi areas and in the name of combating “left-wing extremists”. He wrote with substantive evidence that such an exercise has resulted in the gross human rights violation of a large number of Adivasis. He has provided a valid critique of the developmental model that the ruling classes are forcing upon the people. He has also argued that the areas inhabited by the Adivasi community are bereft of the basic amenities including the safe drinking water, while, at the same time, the localities occupied by the outsiders and business classes have every facility.  

As a journalist, he wrote several stories against the ongoing plunder by the corporate forces. He even highlighted the violation of the special provisions enshrined in the Constitution for the protection of the Adivasi lands. He wrote that regimes, irrespective of their ideologies and social base, were busy robbing the Adivasi communities of their lands and resources and passing them to the rich and the corporate forces. These concerns raised by independent journalist Rupesh have made him a special target of the ruling elites.  

Much of the writings and speeches of Rupesh are available online. He has mostly written for Hindi newspapers and news portals. His concerns have largely been ignored by the mainstream media as well as a large chunk of the alternative media. He could only express himself at a few alternative media sites. Even though he has got little space, he could raise serious questions about the model of development and the plight of the Adivasi community. Environmental degradation in Adivasi areas, the lack of basic facilities such as safe drinking water, electricity, schools and hospitals, the looting of natural resources, the illegal occupation of Adivasi lands, their human rights violations and the increasing militarization are some of his central concerns.  

The strength of Rupesh has been his ability to reach the spot and report from the conflict zones. Slowly, he got admiration from the Adivasi community. He is seen as a people’s journalist. His substantive writing and his growing credibility among the Adivasi communities made him an ire of the establishment. Even the Hemant Soren Government, which claims to be a champion of the Adivasi rights to which Rupesh has dedicated his journalism, remains silent about his suffering. 

In January this year, Ipsa sent a letter to chief minister Soren and sought justice for him. The letter was later published by the media and was quite debated. However, she has not received any acknowledgement from Soren so far, not to talk of any formal reply from him or his assurance to address her grievances. In her letter, she asked the chief minister to spell out what wrong Rupesh had committed. She claimed that Rupesh was doing exactly what Hemant Soren spoke as an opposition leader. Both spoke against the exploitation of the Adivasi community. But when he, she alleged, came to power, he had forgotten his promises to the Adivasi community. 

Having said this, she explained the reason behind the two-contradictory approaches of the ruling classes. She said that when leaders were in the opposition, they would speak about the suffering of the people; but when they came to power, they would forget their promises. “This is the real character of the power. Greed and profit are their major motives” said Ipsa. While the so-called government has disappointed her, she appreciated the efforts made by the progressive forces in supporting the campaign for the release of Rupesh.  

Giving the details about his case, Ipsa said that Rupesh is currently charged with four cases including the UAPA. Out of four, he has got bail in two cases. In jail, Rupesh has waged several struggles for the rights of prisoners. Even during his stay in jail, he was hit by chicken pox. Despite all these difficulties, he is pursuing M.A. in History from the Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU) and has recently appeared for the first-year exam. He is also going to appear for another exam for a journalism course in December. She recalled that during her last meeting, Rupesh assured her that she should focus on the education of his son and be less concerned about him. She said that even in jail, his study and struggles are going on: “Rupesh continues to struggle for his rights and he keeps his study on.” 

Despite facing a lot of hardship, Ipsa believes that the struggles of Rupesh are much bigger than her own struggles. She emphasised that even the State repression did not deter his spirit to continue his work. She said that Rupesh had done nothing wrong but just carried out his task of being a journalist: “Rupesh has been kept in jail because the establishment does not want him to write about the issues of Adivasi. That is why a new case has been slapped on him recently.”   

Ipsa Shatakshi is not off the mark when she says that the journalism of Rupesh has created discomfort for the ruling establishment. In the process of the plunder of the natural resources in the Adivasi areas, his journalism is seen as an impediment. But what is the way out? Her answer is the need to forge wider solidarity and gather the courage to speak for the free press. She, therefore, makes an appeal that all journalists should raise their voices against the attack on the media by expressing their solidarity with all political prisoners.   

Watch the full interview here: 

 (Dr Abhay Kumar is an independent journalist. He has also taught political science at NCWEB Centres of Delhi University.) 

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She has expressed disappointment that the Union Government has taken no steps at all to end gender discrimination and economic inequality, something that was underscored in the 21 Law Commission Report. Instead of concerning itself with gender discrimination overall, raising the implementation of the UCC is selective.

Author of several books on Family Laws, Flavia Agnes has argued that while an impression is being created that only Muslims are opposing Uniform Civil Code, the reality is that Adivasis and people from Mizoram have strongly spoken against Uniform Civil Code and any uniformity from the top.

Moreover, Flavia Agnes has said that the need of the hour is not to impose uniformity but to work for ending gender discrimination wherever it exists, in different customary and family laws.

She has also claimed that the imposition of the Uniform Civil Code is against the spirit of federalism

For more, watch this interview:

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Rajneesh Kumar Ambedkar, a PhD scholar at Mahatma Gandhi Antarrashtriya Hindi Vishwa Vidyalaya, Wardha, Maharashtra, India, has been sitting on a satyagraha at the university campus. He was forced to go on strike after the university administration failed to address his grievances.  

Ambedkar has alleged that he is being victimised by the university administration because of his Dalit identity.  Narrating his case, Ambedkar said his PhD thesis was submitted long back with all due process followed. His supervisor was satisfied with his work and he recommended the work for external evaluation.  

But the university administration, instead of sending his work to external examiners and facilitating the process of the award of the degree, has so far kept the thesis to itself.  

Months after the submission of the work, Ambedkar was told by the university to re-work his thesis under a new supervisor. Ambedkar argued that such conditionality is arbitrary and against the rule and he is being victimized for being a Dalit as well as being a vocal person about the issues of social justice.  

For a couple of days, Ambedkar and his friends have been sitting on strike. The administration has so far remained aloof from his problems. But a mob, perceived to be close to the establishment, came to the protest site a few days back, raising objectionable slogans. The mob allegedly assaulted activists as well. Later, Ambedkar’s injured friends were sent to the hospital. 

Amid this critical situation, Ambedkar continues fighting for social justice and democratisation of education.  

However, it cannot be ruled out that his life as well as his career is under threat. It appears not that an insensitive university system is pushing a Dalit scholar to meet the fate of Rohith Vemula and Darshan Solanki.  

Through an online interview conducted on April 1, 2023, I learnt from him about his case and his struggle. 

Here is the link to the interview: 

(The author is a PhD, JNU, New Delhi)

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March 2023 Round up of attacks on Dalits

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