First God made humans,
then he divided them into
exploiters and the exploited.
And he gave power to the
exploiters to exploit the
exploited, till one day the
exploited turned around
and asked, is there any
God and if so whose?
The lord God was silent.
Then the exploited said
there is no God and became
NAXALITES!.............................from the book of an INDIAN tribal/ peasant.
You say I am an
enemy of my own state,
a traitor. That I’m red,
ultra, extremist, maoist.
You also call me Naxalite!
My names are numerous,
you can’t define me yet.
So keep giving new ones!
And oh yes! Announce new
packages, schemes, whatever.
A few reams of paper ain’t
that costly, besides I can’t
even read or write. So it
doesn’t matter, I won’t ever
ask what happens afterwards,
to all those moth eaten files
gathering dust. I never asked
what happened to that 1969
report, its recommendations
and the others that followed.
In your laws, I’m a scheduled
caste or a tribal; an adivasi
eligible for special benefits.
But, in your sub conscious,
an untouchable, still!
Has it occurred to you
I’m human too? An
ill fed, unclothed naked
soul? Shivering in rain,
scalded by sun?
As you go on subsidizing
poor, poor Tatas, Birlas,
Ambanis, do I ever crib?
Even when you say there’s
no money for me, I only
smile through hunger,
fill the stomach with dirt
water running through my
streams, rivers; get malaria,
dysentery and die uncared!
It’s alright I’ve lived this
life through ages, to be
born again and again
from this soil. Its soul
vibrates in me, only me!
You always have miser’s
fist when you think of me.
When you are liberal with
Tatas, it’s liberalization,
For development and jobs!
When you help MNC’s it’s
globalization; opportunities,
jobs and more jobs. Rupees
700 crores daily on corporate
subsidies? Hidden ones!
Trillions annually? Atrocious
actually! And you say I’m the
one committing atrocities?
When you come to take away
the piece of land that I still till,
or the forests where I dwell,
in the guise of economic zones
for ‘these specials’; and zone me
out of existence, should I drown,
or rebel and pick up a gun?
Why damn me to ‘dam’ the rivers,
why damn me to mine this land?
I’m illiterate, won’t you enlighten
me? I am a citizen too. Not equal?
Okay! But is there any rights at all?
If you’ll never understand
why I’m naxal, leave me alone.
Don’t come to grab my anscetral
land for ‘them’! Ain’t I human?
Today is world human rights day,
please illumine me! Shall I
continue to march to the peal
of that spring thunder forever?
Just take away my hunger or put
some bullets in my stomach!
-------------------------------------
10/10/2009 R Jayachandran
Note: This poem is not in support of the naxalite movement. It is an attempt to see things from the perspective of the lesser privileged sections of Indian society who are forced to stray into the arms of the naxalites by our neglect and callous lack of concern for their well being. If it serves as a wake up call for at least a few I shall feel redeemed.
The Naxalite movement began in Naxalbari village in West Bengal, India in 1967 as a peasant uprising led by Charu Mazhumdar, Kanu Sanyal and Jangal Santhal against feudal landlords and soon acquired a momentum of its own and spread to many parts of India.
Some of the finest brains and cream of India’s youth spurred by dreams of a new social order left their homes and colleges to join this movement. The Chinese Communist Party and the government of China initially hailed the Indian revolutionaries and lent support. The ‘People’s Daily’ proclaimed in its editorial that “a peal of spring thunder” has crashed over India.
The response of the Indian state was brutal. Overwhelming use of armed force to repress the movement and its leaders! Yet, the might of the Indian state backed by the world’s second largest army, fourth largest air-force & fourth largest navy, a well organized police force and crores of rupees have all failed miserably to wipe out the naxalite movement which has only continued to grow from strength to strength over the last four decades and today poses the gravest threat to the unity and integrity of India.
A committee set up by the government of India in the wake of the naxalite uprisings had way back in 1969 itself compiled a report entitled ‘The Causes and Nature of Current Agrarian Tensions’ in which it is stated clearly that the prime cause of unrest is basically the defective implementation of the laws enacted to protect the interests of the tribals and the under- privileged. The recommendations of this and other committees set up by governments from time to time remains unimplemented even today despite proclamations of lofty intentions by the powers that be, from time to time.
The alienation of tribals and the other under-privileged and their support to the naxalite cause continues unabated as a result. The policy of arming and deploying extra constitutional forces like the Salwa Jalum by the Chattisgargh state government has proved to be counter productive and has only helped in further alienating the under-privileged. Unless they are brought into the national mainstream and made stake holders, movements such as naxalism will continue to flourish and threaten the Indian state.
Today, the naxalites are active in 220 districts spread across 20 states within the Indian union which is about 40 percent of our geographical spread. They control about 92,000 square kilometers of Indian territory known as the red corridor, where the government of India’s writ doesn’t prevail at all. All this with a mere 20,000 armed cadre and another 50,000 regular cadre!
If this menace is left unchecked it will gradually consume the Indian state someday. It’s time for all free thinking Indians to sit up and ponder how we
have let things to come to this pass and how our policies and approach should be revamped to check this menace and win back the confidence of the tribals
and the other under – privileged sections of our soceity. JAI HIND!
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