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Narayanpatna – questioning Orissa government’s concern for the tribal communities

"When tribal communities of Kalinga Nagar and Niyamgiri hills in Orissa are fighting to safeguard their rights over the land and forests they have been enjoying since generations, the tribals of Narayanpatna block of Koraput district have taken up arms to forcefully establish their rights over the land enjoyed by the other community people since many years"

The failure could be for any reason but its consequences shocked the nation. In order to secure their legitimate rights, the tribals are now on a warpath. These aggrieved tribals are on a ransacking, vandalizing, murdering and looting spree in the Narayanpatana block and have taken law into their own hand. Suffering since generations, the tribals of Narayanpatna have forcibly recovered thousands of hectares of agriculture land that belonged to the landlords and other community members claiming that these lands actually belonged to the tribals since time immemorial. ‘These outsider landlords and upper caste people, including the ‘Sundhis’ [arrack-making people], flocked from outside and thrived on our resources by exploiting us’, claim the tribals of Narayanpatna.

Suffocated with the apathetic attitude of administration, the tribals of Narayanpatna got organized under the umbrella of Chasi Mulia Adivasi Sangha (CMAS) that is now into open rebellion against the non-tribals and local administration. It’s because of the slogan to uplift the rights of the tribals and downtrodden, thousands of haplessly exploited tribals and Dalits voluntarily joined CMAS. And, the retaliation of Sangha against the exploiters, as they say, and administration has literally sent the shivers down the spine of the State Government and the local administration. Block Office, Tehsildar and the Police Station were targeted. In fact this CMAS is virtually running a parallel administration in Narayanpatna. The Sangha’s modus operandi has been accepted by the tribals of Narayanpatna and most tribal communities across undivided Koraput district and is spreading its tentacles even to other districts now. Various parts of Rayagada and Koraput are witnessing the tribals getting together to attain what is called complete control over their own soil. If the State Government delays in restoring the legitimate rights and giving justice to these revolting communities then it is not unlikely that this undivided Koraput district may point of trouble for the state of Orissa in the not too distant future as the tribals have lost their patience and do not want to be exploited any more in the name of so called modernity and development. What the tribals believe now is that they have been treated like guinea pig by the leaders who are into selfish vote bank politics.

In 1994, tribal agitations started in Bandhugaon for the first time over a land dispute where a tribal family’s land was taken over by a ‘Sundhi’ as the value for few times of arrack. Another such instance took place in the year 2000. An upper class landlord forcibly acquired the land of three tribals for a petty amount of hand loans. Then for the first time the tribals came on the road and started agitating. They submitted a memorandum to the Tehsildar, Collector and District Magistrate & the Superintendent of Police of Koraput. Alleging that the business community, upper class people, landlords and Contractors exploited the tribals, grabbed their land against arrack and loans, the tribals demanded that arrack making & land grabbing should be stopped forthwith. “All the local police and the Tehsil Office staff were in collusion with these land grabbers. The land grabbers used the poor tribals as slaves. When the tribals opposed the local police & forest officials lodged false criminal & forest cases. Now the police use the easiest way to put the tribals behind the bars thorough false Naxal cases. How long will we tolerate these injustices?” asked Pandey Mandingi and Kunup Mandingi.

Located on Orissa-Andhra Pradesh border, poor tribal village Alomunda played a major role in creation of CMAS. The poor tribal women of Alomunda used to visit Parabatipur in Andhra Pradesh to sell firewood, vegetables, fruits & minor forest products. Two communist ideologists and senior activists of Royat Coolie Sangathan (RCS) in Andhra Pradesh master Bhaskar Rao – a tailor and P. Gangula – a vegetable vender came across these women and built up a relationship with these tribal women. These two leaders motivated and groomed the tribal women named Kondogori Paidamma to lead the tribal movement against exploitation.

Then CMAS was formed in Narayanpatna and Bandhugaon as a wing of CPIML JANASKATI placing Gananatha Patra as advisor and Paidamma as the acting president. Initially, under leadership of Paidamma, CMAS started an Anti Liquor Campaign and then awareness campaign programmes against exploitation of tribals. In 1996, CMAS recovered tribal land of Arjun Nayak of Mathurgaon, and Loknath Sahoo of Gedawa village. The then local police S.I. Siba Mallick and D.S.P. Madan Das somehow tackled the situation. But the seed of a movement had already sprouted.

A Dalit couple Sundari Mahanandia & her husband Kansari joined the CMAS. Explaining as the reason Sundari told with tearful eyes, “We had only half-an-acre of land. My father-in-law was sick and he mortgaged this land to Gati Kishore Padhi for Rs. 800/- only. Gati laid down a precondition that Kansari would have to work in his fields sans any wages. My father-in-law accepted the condition as he had no other alternative. But, we lost our only source of livelihood to Gati and my husband worked free for him. It was almost impossible to survive! When the CMAS started we complained against Gati. Kansari refused to continue to work free in Gati’s fields. Narayan Bidika & Gati Padhi filed a false case in the Police Station. Kansari was then dragged to the lock-up and kept there for four nights. In connivance with Gati, the Police officer Narayan threatened us in the P.S. that we must leave CMAS or they would term Kansai as a Naxal Cadre and send him to jail. However, with the help of CMAS, Kansari was rescued. After 23 years, finally we recovered our land and freed ourselves from slavery. Is this illegal?’ - Asked Sundari and Kansari?

There are several other pathetic cases of this sort in Narayanpatna block. Ramoni, a 24 year old widow of Gechela village, lived with 3 years old son since she lost her husband Sankara who had borrowed Rs. 300/- from a landlord. Narrating her story of torture and exploitation Ramoni said, “Twenty days after taking this loan my husband died. Soon after the landlord claimed Rs. 600/-. I objected saying that, it was Rs. 300/-. The landlord shouted and told, ‘Including interest’. I asked him - how within a month such a colossal sum of interest? Telling that was his wish the landlord came with his musclemen after 3 days and forcibly took away a pair of oxen & a male calf from my home.”

These types of land and property grabbing are very common and day-to-day affairs not only in Narayanpatana but entire undivided Koraput district. No Government has ever seriously considered for a solution to these problems of the tribals. These landlords and Sundhis played the card of divide and rule by making these tribals drunk and fight against each other. Often, the tribals were put in the police lock-up being framed with false cases. Even today these poor tribals are treated in a barbaric fashion as in medieval days. This situation of unrest is nothing but a spontaneous outburst of the simmering discontent that prevailed in Narayanpatna since years.

The local administration and the district administration never took the issues of the tribals seriously. In connivance with the local businessmen and affluent people, it rather played the landlords’ game with the tribals just to make money and land by illegal means, as alleged by the tribals of Narayanpatna. Large scale irregularities in the revenue offices for legalizing land sale and conversion is a proof to it.

Situation in Narayanpatna and adjacent blocks narrates the reality of development claims often made by Orissa’s CM Naveen Pattnaik and leaders of his party. Earlier, administrative loopholes in implementing tribal development programmes were also exposed in Kandhamal district. The issue of exploitation and negligence finally erupted in Narayanpatna. But, even after the issue took a violent turn in Narayanpatna and Bandhugaon, government and local administration is yet to take a lesson from it and work to sort the problems of the tribal communities of Koraput and allow them to live in peace with dignity. Rather, the issues have been put into political churning. Government slips off its responsibility by terming the movement as Maoist backed one. Local administration and political leaders are into their usual game of divide and rule. They have been successful in splitting the greater Narayanpatna-Bandhugaon CMAS. Apprehending that the illegal constructions and business establishments over tribal and forest land would have to be vacated, the local landlords and business class is into counter agitation to create a lobby and pressurize the government to harshly suppress the tribal movement against age old exploitation that is now spreading to the tribal populated blocks of adjacent districts.

Undivided Koraput district has become highly infamous nationally on account of the incessant Naxal menace. As usually, the State government passes the responsibility of combating this menace to the centre by explaining it as a nationwide issue. But the moot question arises - who’s responsible for the burning cauldron-like situation in Narayanpatna? This problem has come to such a pass just because of the apathy & callousness of the State Government and local administration. Since decades, the total machinery has been paying a deaf ear to the inalienable rights of the tribals of Narayanpatna and rest of Orissa.

To take advantage of the situation in Narayanpatna and spread their mass base, the Maoists soon extended their open support to CMAS for the cause of the tribals and this Sangha. The Maoist leaders would have planned to spread such kind of movement in other parts of the tribal dominated areas in the name of tribal rights to gather support and sympathy. As it seems, a fierce red revolution across the tribal populated track of Orissa is in the offing if the state administration maintains to be callous. So, the State Government should expeditiously solve these tribals’ land disputes. Otherwise, it will be extremely difficult to control the movement raised by tribals because Koraput is fast proceeding towards a situation like Lalgarh and the ideologies of the movement are being accepted and appreciated by the oppressed tribal communities of other districts as well.