Loud protests took place at the company’s last London AGM today. Company founder and Chairman Anil Agarwal was not present, creating uproar among protesters and shareholders. Vedanta Resources officially de-listed from the London Stock Exchange at 8am this morning. Inside the meeting dissident shareholders asked questions about the police shooting of thirteen protesters against Vedanta’s copper smelter in Tuticorin, Tamil Nadu in May. Another shareholder asked how much Vedanta spent on litigation or bribes, given the number of court cases they are tied up in at their various operations. Meanwhile a large contingent of Tamil people played traditional Parai drums and demanded ‘justice for Tuticorin’ outside the AGM.

Hours before the meeting a protest was held at Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) headquarters in Canary Wharf, demanding that British regulatory authorities do not let Vedanta flee the London Stock Exchange without being held to account. Representatives for FCA Directors were handed copies of a damning report ‘Vedanta’s Billions: Regulatory failure, environment and human rights’, published by Foil Vedanta(1) and a coalition of organisations days before. The report was described by Hywel Williams MP as ‘deeply concerning and disturbing’ and gives a comprehensive account of legal judgments against Vedanta across its global operations, blaming the City of London and FCA for failing to regulate or penalise the company, which is the latest in a long list of London miners linked to ‘corporate massacres’.

On Thursday 27th September popular Zambian reggae artist and public figure – Maiko Zulu – was arrested outside the British High Commission in Lusaka, Zambia, holding a banner stating ‘Hold Anil Agarwal to account for Zambian crimes before de-listing’.1 Zulu gave this statement to the media, referring to the Vedanta subsidiary KCM’s pollution of the River Kafue, for which the landmark case of 1,826 farmers against Vedanta will be heard in London Supreme Court in January2, as well as the Tuticorin ‘massacre’:

“Vedanta is being de-listed from the London Stock Exchange following serious crimes against indigenous people of India and the pollution of our own Kafue River which is a source of livelihood for thousands of peasants. The inequality that multinationals are creating can not be left unchecked and we will continue standing up and facing arrests for the good of our people. Our fellow protesters were shot at by police in India.”

Thirteen people, including women and children were killed by police shooting on the 100th day of protest against Vedanta’s copper smelter in Tuticorin in May, as well as 217 injured, and nine disabled for life.3 Vedanta’s de-listing plans were announced shortly afterwards amidst global protests against the company. Fatima Babu, from the Anti Sterlite People’s Movement, one of the main groups involved in the protests says:

“The people of Thoothukudi are still reeling from the massacre of innocent women, men and children in May, which was carried out in the name of protecting Vedanta’s industry from the people whom it has polluted for so many years. The Tamil Nadu, Indian and British government’s must all take responsibility for the lawlessness and disproportionate power wielded by Vedanta, which led to this tragic event.”

On Sunday 31st October thousands of Adivasis (tribal) people protested against forced land acquisition for Vedanta’s steel plant in Saranda forest, West Singhbhum district, Jharkhand, India.

Samarendra Das from Foil Vedanta, primary author of the Vedanta’s Billions report, says:
“Anil Agarwal is so desperate to avoid public scrutiny following the Tuticorin massacre that he ran away from his own company AGM. We cannot him and his board escape accountability and justice in the UK, under whose jurisdiction they have committed widespread financial, human rights and environmental crimes. The FCA and City of London must now initiate proceedings against Vedanta or remain complicit in enabling and mitigating these abuses.”

The report ‘Vedanta’s Billions’, released several days before the AGM, is a summary of legal judgments against Vedanta across its operations, revealing its abusive modus operandi, with special focus on illegal mining in Goa, pollution and tax evasion in Zambia, as well as illegal expansion and pollution in Thoothukudi, Tamil Nadu, industrial disaster at Korba in Chhattisgarh, land settlement and pollution issues in Punjab, displacement and harassment of activists in Lanjigarh, Odisha, and a mineral allocation scam in Rajasthan.

Inside the AGM, dissident shareholders asked questions based on the catalogue of judgments against the company documented in the report. One question from a woman who has visited the concerned area will ask the company to respond to evidence of a pollution and a ‘land grab’ affecting primarily Dalits at the company’s Talwandi Sabo power plant.

The report notes that Vedanta is now the latest in a string of London listed mining companies linked to the murder or ‘massacre’ of protesters, including Lonmin, Glencore, Kazakhmys, ENRC, Essar, GCM Resources, Anglo Gold Ashanti, African Barrick Gold and Monterrico Metals. As such, the report names the role of the City of London and the Financial Conduct Authority in ‘minimising the risks associated with Vedanta’s legal violations and human rights and environmental abuses’ and failing to investigate or penalise any London listed mining company on these grounds.

The report concludes that;
“Some companies have de-listed due to a legitimate need to pursue long term company strategy, which may not be supported by shareholders’ emphasis on short term profitability. However in this case, Vedanta’s track record of human rights, environmental and financial violations, together with its already complicated financial structure, strongly suggests that de-listing is part of a policy to further limit public scrutiny of its operations.”

The report also includes a detailed diagram of Vedanta’s corporate structure, as it has evolved over the years, revealing the disproportionate number of shell companies registered in various tax havens, reflecting their opaqueness, contrary to their claim of being transparent.
Plaid Cymru MP Hywel Williams, who received a copy of the report, said:

“This is a deeply concerning and disturbing report. I will be taking note of its findings and seeking to ensure that MPs, policymakers and the Westminster Government are informed of its findings. The report once again emphasises the need for action by UK authorities to investigate and regulate London-listed corporations that carry out illegal and immoral acts overseas.”

In Goa, where all Vedanta’s operations are shut down due to a lack of appropriate permissions to operate, the State has begun the process of recovering value owed to it as a result of Vedanta’s illegal mining between 2007 and 2012. On 29th August this year Goa’s directorate of mines and geology issued a Rs 97.5 crore ($13.43 million) demand in respect of non payment of royalty for the financial years 2011-13.⁴

In Zambia, where the company was found guilty of a major pollution incident in 2006, and there is evidence of widespread transfer mis-pricing and tax evasion, Vedanta’s subsidiary KCM recently had its power supply partially cut by the Copperbelt Energy Corporation due to its refusal to settle a three month electricity bill5. Contractors and suppliers of KCM are also in a long term dispute with the company over non-payment of invoices.⁶

A prominent banner at today’s protest stating ‘Hall of Shame – the faces behind Vedanta’, pointed out the high level support the company has received from British and Indian former politicians and other figures. Vedanta Directors have included former High Commissioner of India – Sir David Gore-Booth, former Finance Minister of India – P. Chidambaram (who also appeared as counsel for Vedanta in a recent case7), former Home Secretary of India and Indian Ambassador to the USA – Naresh Chandra, mining mogul and former BHP Billiton CEO – Brian Gilbertson, former Rio Tinto CEO – Tom Albanese, and former Anglo American CEO – Cynthia Carroll. Former J. P. Morgan banker and one of the most well known dealmakers in London, Ian Hannam, advised on Vedanta’s listing as well as many of the City’s largest mining IPOs including Xstrata, BHP Billiton and Kazakhmys.

(1) Foil Vedanta is an independent grassroots solidarity organization focused primarily on the FTSE 250 British-Indian mining company Vedanta Resources PLC. Foil Vedanta targets the company in London where it is registered, as well as linking with people’s movements where Vedanta is destroying lives and devastating the land in India, Zambia, Liberia, South Africa and elsewhere.
(2) Vedanta Resources is a FTSE 250 diversified oil and mining company, who have been named the ‘world’s most hated company’ by the Independent newspaper for their long list of environmental and human rights crimes for which they are being opposed all over the world.9

1https://www.lusakatimes.com/2018/09/28/maiko-zulu-released-after-kcm-protest/
2https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lungowe_v_Vedanta_Resources_plc
3https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/madurai/its-official-217-hurt-during-anti-sterlite-protests-9-disabled-for-life/articleshow/64835110.cms?from=mdr
4https://www.firstpost.com/business/goa-slaps-rs-97-5-crore-penalty-on-vedanta-in-a-move-to-recover-gains-made-from-alleged-illegal-mining-5068961.html
5https://diggers.news/business/2018/08/30/cec-switches-off-power-at-kcm-for-failure-to-settle-electricity-bill/
6https://www.zambianpolitics.com/kcm-contractors-suppliers-complain-over-non-payments-zambian-politics-news/
7Chidambaram acted as counsel for Vedanta Ltd in a case regarding the illegal expansion of the Lanjigarh refinery. The judgment was in favour of SSNP. Vedanta Ltd vs Shenzhen Shandong Nuclear Power, pronounced on 31 August, 2018. High Court of Delhi, FAO(OS) (COMM) 35/2018 & CM APPLS. 8307/2018 & 11962/2018.

Courtesy: https://countercurrents.org/
 

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Tiphagne wrote, on July 22, “After all the cancellations of venue due to police pressure and the ‘illegal’ questions asked by the SHO of SIPCOT Police station for a private hall meeting, this morning at 11 AM we the organisers after a meeting with all the leaders of the political parties in the district and after conversations with the IG South at Madurai, decided that it was time to call a spade a spade and hence changed the venue to our own private venue and successfully conducted the event”. However, Tiphagne explained the extent of police pressure surrounding the event, saying “police terror” was created by the SP Thoothukudi “and the district administration through its revenue staff”. Tiphagne said police were “threatening families not to attend the meeting”. He wrote that the roads leading tot he city and the venue were “blocked with barricades,” and that the people traveling on the roads were forced to explain where they were going.

In spite of police pressure, Tiphagne wrote that former Supreme Court Justice Gopala Gowda was in attendance, along with other prominent citizens, including the Archbishop of Madurai, the Bishop of Thoothukudi, as well as members from political parties such as the DMK, CPM, TMMK, and Congress, among others. Amnesty International India and other parties and movements were also present, Tiphagne wrote. Despite the “police terror,” more than 500 people attended the event, he noted. Also present were several families of those who were killed.

Tiphagne noted that one “highlight of the event” was Justice Gowda being videographed as he entered the road near the venue, even as he was traveling in an official protocol vehicle with an official police escort. Tiphagne wrote that Inspector of Police Paulraj of Koilpatti who was on duty was unable to explain why a former Supreme Court judge was being videographed when attending a private function, saying that the Thoothukudi South SHO also could not explain who had given orders for the videographing. Tiphage wrote that no additional SPs or DSPs were present with the local SHOs “to carry on this illegality,” concluding, “This speaks of the politicisation and criminalization of the police and duly exposed the so called peace that the District SP claims has returned to Thoothukudi.”.

Tiphagne also took note of the fact that with 243 FIRs being registered thus far, the Thoothukudi SP, Murali Lamba, “who had been addressed complaints from all the families of the deceased almost a month ago asking that separate FIRs be registered and duly investigated, had the audacity to ensure that his SHOs issued summons to all the complainants to appear before them on the 21st July in an attempt to prevent them from attending this event.”

More details regarding the People’s Inquest’s report on the Tuticorin massacre can be found here.
 

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After hearing about the events that occurred and feeling nervous for my family and my people, I visited Thoothukudi, my birthplace on May 26. Thoothukudi is a coastal city, painted white from the vast salt harvesting pans with cool salty air wafting through. On this day, however, I was only greeted by empty ghostly streets hiding the chaos of conflict and suffering. The only people I could see were (police) barbarians carrying guns and lathis.

The people of Thoothukudi were still shut in hospitals and their homes. The media was announcing that normalcy had returned to Thoothukudi, but what I saw were terrified people crouched in their homes, afraid to step out even to get medicines for the ill or milk for babies. Mothers with adolescent and young boys were anxious fearing their children would be plucked from their homes by the police.

The first person I went to meet was Infanta. She was the friend of Snowlin, a girl who had been killed in the firing. Infanta was also beaten brutally by the police and she had been admitted to the government hospital. I met her around 3 pm on May 26. The 23-year-old had deep lathi marks on her back and neck but even so, it seemed as if those were less painful than the pain I saw in her eyes she had for her friend Snowlin. In many ways, she had not recovered from the shock of that violence.

Initially, I thought I should not talk to her and disturb her. However, the world needs to know these truths. Therefore, I went to talk to her with as much empathy and delicateness as I could muster.

After a little bit of conversation. I asked how Snowlin died. Immediately tears came from her eyes. But through the tears, she talked. “We saw so many people that day at the protests that almost everyone of us thought that for sure the government will be obliged to heed our request and close this Sterlite organisation. Snowlin had the same hope. Me, Snowlin and one more friend were together the whole time during the protest. We were holding each other’s hands and walking forward with enthusiasm. When the procession reached VVT signal, someone was throwing the stones and one stone came and hit my head and immediately after that police lathi-charged us. After a small interval, tear gas was thrown at us. And in the tear gas haze, people were being beaten. To escape from this tear gas, we wrapped our dupattas around our nose and eyes and kept moving forward. In the front of the protests were 20 trans-women, and behind them cis-women, and behind them were men. People managed to cross over the stone throwing, the tear gas, the barricades, and take shelter in the Collector’s office. At first cis-women and trans-women entered the collectors office; only a few men were entering the collectors office. When we entered the Collector’s office, it was peaceful. We were also sitting there peacefully. Suddenly, a lot of police came from inside the office and lathi-charged us. We started running. Our friend who was with us tripped over the speed breaker and fell. She has asthma and she started wheezing. Snowlin and I went to pick her up . At that time, bullets were flying past us. We dodged the first two bullets . The next bullet I saw hit Snowlin’s mouth. And she fell with a thud. For some minutes I forgot myself. I became numb. And then even the lathi beating they gave me I was numb to . After that, we picked up Snowlin’s body and took her to the hospital on the way we saw about 20 bodies lying in blood.” Infanta said all this describing the scenery while shivering nervously.

Bearing Infanta’s blood filled words in my mind, bearing the scenery in my mind, I went around 4 pm to visit the family of Terespuram Jansi, another victim of the shooting. All around the house they were a heavy air of misery. Jansi’s youngest daughter, a 10th or 11th standard student, was so sad that I could not express in words. In this young age, they had lost their mother. I could not even stand by them for a minute stably I wondered how these young children would bear this burden for a lifetime.

I talked to Jansi’s older sister and her husband. Through her tears, her sister explained to me. “She went to buy fish for her eldest daughter living nearby. She went near the bridge and she saw the procession and the people and she stood there watching as a bystander. But watching the crowd was a crime to the police and they rained bullets on her. Her one side of the face was torn off. When she fell, they wrapped her body in a banner and put her in the police van and took her away. When we went to the hospital, they first told is there is no such woman here. We continued to ask and push them angrily. After that they showed us her blood-stained bangle. We screamed and wept when we saw that the bangle was our sister’s. The police are saying the protesters had weapons. But the weapon my sister had was the packet of fish she had in her hand for her daughter. If we catch fish they are shooting us (fishing in border waters between Tamilnadu and Sri Lanka is dangerous), if we carry the fish we caught, they are shooting us so how are we expected to live??” Jansi’s sisters question rung in my mind. Her question was a question for the whole state whose forces and actions have been oppressive.

Laying grief after grief down in my heart, I went to visit the next person’s house where another man called Clauston, was eaten by bullets. His wife was there. She didn’t want to talk to anybody. She sat in a corner hoping that everything that had happened would turn out to be a bad dream. Hoping she would wake up any moment from this nightmare. She felt if she spoke that the nightmare would become real. She stayed alone. Clauston’s 11th standard daughter spoke to me. “Mother has not been talking to anybody, since father was shot by the police.” Hearing the child say that I was sure no one could hold back their sadness and tears. I was in dilemma as to whether to talk to that child or not. But she started speaking herself. “Can they give me back my father? We cannot leave this as it is, we have to take action”. I could only give her my tears as a reply.

Then, I went to Peruni Jai where 61 men who were remanded illegally were being released. The swift action taken by Thoothukudi lawyers collectives had resulted in their release. But it wasn’t before they were first tortured. They had been taken to an ammunition hold in Wallanad. There they faced intense violence. Some people’s ankle was swollen and broken. Many people’s backs were bruised after they had been beaten with lathis. Some people sustained head injuries. They recounted their painful experiences. One of them said that Wallanad ammunition hold was no less than a concentration camp of sorts.

That night I couldn’t sleep. I thought about how the government and the corporations are birthing novel ways to repress people. Our people too had to find new ways to resist. I thought about everything I had heard that day. I thought about Thoothukudi, a place I was born and raised in. I recalled the places where I would play as a child and the beauty of the town. But now Thoothukudi had become a literal hell.

The next day at 12 pm I went to see their Snowlin’s mother. The mother who lost her beautiful girl, her beautiful warrior. Seeing her, I didn’t have it in me to ask this mother who is such deep pain any questions.

iI just told her, “Amma all the daughters here are your daughters. Please take care.” In truth, such mothers are the mothers who birth this nation.

Finally, I went to meet my brave people, the first row protestors, the “thirunangai” (trans-women) community. Transwomen are generally not given front row spaces at state-level issues but in Thoothukudi, it was the first time that the people demolished these Brahminical ideologies of gender that prevent us from joining protests or being a full part of larger society. I spoke to Reena. “We have seen a lot of suffering including untouchability and exclusion, but we have never witnessed such a cruel oppressive government. Many of us have lathi bruises. It was in front of us that Snowlin was killed. Even the lathi wounds will heal but watching Snowlin die….and the scenes of death and destruction…. that wound will never heal.” said Reena. I understood how much pain she was in. Offering her words of consolation I had to move on.

On 28th morning, I visited Pandarapatti, a village where around 30 women were still fighting against Sterlite unfazed by bullets. I talked to an elderly woman in that group. She spoke with wrinkles on her face but not in her voice or content. “When people are fighting for their rights against the state, it is not without precedent that the state retaliates violently with shooting. It is not at all new. In the Manjolai tea labourers protests in Sivagangai district, the police put them on the banks of the Thambarabarani river and lathi-charged them brutally. I was there. I saw many people jump in the river in front of me and I saw them drown and die. I too should have died in that struggle. The life I have now is a sort of bonus life. Unless I see that Sterlite out of here, chased away, I will not be able to exit this life in peace!”

How ordinary and every day are great revolutionaries I thought to myself.

The next stop was Kumararettiyapuram village – a great big Neem tree sits at the centre. It is there that people come and meet, and is usually bustling. That day it was almost vacant. But about 5-6 woman was protesting there. They were also the elderly. “There are no youths here, daughter. They are all afraid of police and have disappeared to keep safe. But we are not leaving just yet, we are still here to fight.” Like old and rooted neem trees, these ladies also remain.

That evening we went to the house of Tamilarasaan. His house welcomed us with posters of Marx, Ambedkar, and EVR Periyar on the walls. Tamilarasan was not married but his brother, his brother’s wife and their kids spoke to me. ” He was a kind of a root for our town. He held it down for everybody. He has always been there for everyone. Whoever needs help. He sacrificed his life in his same act of rootedness.”

When revolutionaries are killed, the relatives and other people get threatened by the government. Even after the death of Tamilarasan, o his relatives are still getting threats and his sister-in-law was beaten at the hospital. They kidnapped Tamilarasan ‘s mother compelling her to take the body from the hospital. (People were refusing to take the bodies of their loved ones for final rites until Sterlite is shut down)

Finally, at around 4.30 pm, I went to the hospital to meet more people who were injured by bullets but survived. I was speaking with them when the Tamil Nadu government order to close Sterlite was announced. I informed everyone. They showed little happiness and more anger. They could have done this much before instead of taking our lives and maiming us in this way. Is this government for us or is it for Vedanta?

People suffering the outcomes neo-liberalisation, globalisation, privatisation all over the world are asking the same questions.

The author is a Dalit trans-rights activist, the first trans-woman engineer in India, technologist at Project Mukti, and the founder of Trans Rights Now Collective. 

Translation by A. Karuna.

Courtesy: Two Circles
 

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