The current situation in Dantewada - the scene of Naxal and Salwa Judum driven violence - demands greater involvement of civic society groups. The direction of democratic India depends on how this crisis is resolved.

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Himanshu Kumar runs Vanwasi Chetana Ashram in the middle of one of the most violent regions in India today. It is one active institution that continues to push for a non-violent solution based on dignity and human rights for the tribal communities caught in the politics of naxals, salwa judum operations and more direct police action by the government of India and the Chattisgarh government.The current situation was described in an article by Tehelka. The background of the current Naxal situation and the role of the government has been extensively described by Arundhati Roy among others.

Dantewada is a region that is controlled by Naxals - 40% if you believe the goverrnment, 75% per Himanshu Kumar's numbers. Over the last ten years, government forces backed militia (called Salwa Judum) and Naxal forces have killed thousands of people, caused villages to become barren and forced thousands of villagers into living in settlements. In this fight for ideology, human rights of those who live in Dantewada has become moot. The naxals brutally kill any who they suspect as informer or dangerous to their ideology. Salwa Judum forces, backed by police also use brutal means - burning villages they believe might have harbored naxals. Both forces have actively, and under threat of death or worse, recruited from these communities - training them in brutality and weaponry.

It is ironic, then, that the Chattisgarh government has actively prevented Himanshu from a padyatra across the tribal belt to talk bring back peace to these communities. Even before the announcement of the padayatra, the premises of the ashram were bulldozed and people arrested. Sandeep Pandey, for example, has pointed out that the Chattisgarh Government even stage managed a rally against the Padayatra. In a note, he says:

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A Padayatra planned by Himanshu Kumar of the Vanavasi Chetna Ashram was due to start today from Nendra village in Dantewada district. The objective of the padyatra was to resotre peace and create an atmosphere where justice can be ensured by instilling confidence among the people to stop migrating from the area in the face of atrocities being committed on them by security forces, SPOs and anti-constitutional forces like Salwa Judum. The local administration has taken several steps to prevent the Padayatra. Roads leading to Nendra have been blocked by felling trees and VCA workers are being prevented from leaving their homes by the government backed armed Salwa Judum and its latest incarnation Danteshwari Swabhiman Manch goons. A group of 40 women activists from all over the country on their way to Danteawada from Raipur last night were stopped, their vehicles were seized and the women themselves were detained by the Police first in Charama and then in Kondagaon. They were subsequently released but were told that a mob of 4000 with the objective of confronting them was waiting for them enroute to Dantewada.  The police threatened the local bus operators not to take the women to Dantewada.

A petition has been posted requesting the CM to allow for civic society groups to engage on the issues of violence by naxal and salwa judum forces as well as for initiatives such as Himanshu Kumar's to be undertaken. The petition can be accessed and signed at this link. 

Beyond this initiative, even, there are broader questions that the government needs to answer. Being the trustee of the nation and the institution that can claim to undertake violence legally in the country, it has to present a roadmap of the way out. Its current position is to end naxal violence by any means necessary - and that includes use of extreme violence. It is then willing to hold talks and consider 'development'.

The government plan, however, is not enough. In accepting a democratic state, civic society needs to accept that non-government militia or other groups cannot have the right to violence. There is no question that naxal presence and their activities need to end. As also the activities of Salwa Judum. While the government may contend that use of force will achieve that, history from the 1970s suggest that it may not be the case. Even if we are willing to accept that government can force the end of Naxal and naxal like forces through 'intelligent' use of violence, it still needs to answer some more questions.

Naxal influences in much of these regions has arisen from the absence of government programs to build basic infrastructure such as schools, hospitals, etc but more so (and especially) from continuous turning a blind eye to institutional exploitation of people in these regions. These regions have seen exploitation at the hands of government agents as well as private firms. People from these regions have been pushed out of their lands, displaced from their means of sustenance. With often no compensation. The roadmap of the government needs to address these - and the government has consistently shirked from this aspect of the problem.

The communities in these regions - as it turns out - occupy some of the most valuable land. Valuable to multi-nationals around the world for the minerals that lie underneath. The former CM of Jharkhand is supposed to have receive millions of dollars in kickbacks. One can speculate that this was owing to decisions with regards to such natural resources. Numerous social activists (including Arundhati Roy) have argued that the violence against the adivasis is to clear these regions for MNCs to take over. In numerous regions - Jharkhand, Orissa and Chattisgarh, for example, communities have opposed MNCs trying to take over these lands. With senior ministers (Chidambaran is supposed to have been a director for Vedanta, one of the major players in Bauxite mining) having cozy relationships with these MNCs, there are grounds for such arguments alleging conflict of interest.

A roadmap needs to then present how the people of these regions partake of the wealth that promises to be created by displacing them from this land. In what dignified way do they participate in the 'development and growth' of the nation? Perhaps consensus building with the communities of these regions around these questions can help provide a way out. Besides, as a democratic government, should the the center and the states not attempt these processes before they bring out the heavy guns?

- Sanat Mohanty