Selling India by the Pound
The Hidden Story of Operation Green Hunt
Operation Green Hunt was launched in the latter half of 2009 and a large
contingent of paramilitary and military forces aided and abetted by mercenaries
were deployed in large parts of Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Orissa, Andhra
Pradesh, Maharashtra and West Bengal. It is a war supposedly to free the
people of these areas from Maoist influence. By repeated declarations and
one-sided media statements the Government has made Maoists “the single largest
internal security threat to the country”.
Advertisements are regularly appearing in all major newspapers which call
Maoists nothing but cold-blooded murderers. They are being accused of
terrorizing the poor, killing men and rendering women widows, destroying school
buildings, as criminals who indulge in extortion. The Home Ministry then
exhorts the common people to stop violence and become prosperous. According to
government sources 203 districts are affected by Maoists. What we should ask
is: are people prospering in the remaining 400 districts? Do people have enough
employment there? Do children go to schools? Do innocent people not die
untimely deaths there?
Let’s take the case of Delhi which is not affected by Maoists. Prices of basic
food items have skyrocketed. One day it is sugar, another day milk, on the
third the price of cooking gas or public transport – the government keeps
increasing prices under one pretext or the other, or many a time without giving
any reasons. While the common citizens pay ever-rising prices the benefits go
increasingly to big companies. Sugar mills and traders make windfall profits by
importing sugar and selling it at uncontrolled prices; Petrol fills the coffers
of the likes of Ambanis.
We have witnessed many innocent people being killed in the last thirty years.
Gas leak in Bhopal killed thousands but no punitive action has yet been taken
against the management. In the case of the proposed Nuclear Civil
Liability Bill, instead of protecting its citizens, the government has been
trying to cap the damages to be paid by nuclear companies of US regardless of
the destruction they cause. The killing of innocents is not acceptable to
anyone, but why have the guilty of the 1984 riots belonging to Congress not
been punished as yet? By inciting people to break down the Babri Masjid, BJP
caused riots all over the country; why use the army against one set of supposed
killers (Maoists and other “insurgents”) but set up tedious commissions for
communal riots against another?
The other charge against the Maoists is that they are luring people by making
false promises of prosperity. But one must not forget that the Maoist party and
their predecessors came into existence long after ruling parties had made these
promises to people for decades to garner their votes. It is the false promises
of development which lacked any real will that gave opportunity to new forces
and parties. At any rate the real reason to send the army to these states is
not to flush out Maoists.
The reality is that our government is subservient to domestic and foreign
capital. Today, these masters are not satisfied with control over the
market—whether it is retail, whole sale, rural, urban, high end or of those
that cater to basic necessities. They are desperate for the real estate, water,
and minerals and other natural resources. The regions and states where the
Operation Green Hunt is being carried out have a large proportion of tribal
population who have been living under dismal conditions for decades. The only
outreach of the government to them has comprised of the Forest Department and
the police and neither has lost any opportunity to intimidate them.
Unfortunately for the tribals, their land has vast mineral treasures hidden
under their feet. To mine these and to process them, the concerned governments
have signed unprecedented numbers of MoUs with Indian as well as foreign
companies during the last five years. In this period another
opportunity has also been created for real estate speculation and take-over
with the SEZs Act.
If the MoUs have to be honoured then the government is under compulsion to
remove the present inhabitants. Crores of people will be affected in this
exercise. While the government is eager to implement the MoUs it has thrown to
winds all the constitutional guarantees under the Fifth Schedule of the
Constitution which acknowledge the traditional rights of the tribals to the
forest land. Notwithstanding the tall claims of Rehabilitation and Resettlement
there has not been a single case so far of proper rehabilitation of the people
who have been affected. All the ‘Modern Temples’—as Nehru used to call it—of
‘Development’ like Mega dams, Steel factories, mining establishments till date
have been built on the graveyards of people who were never part of that much
abused word, ‘development’. The poorest of the poor people of these regions are
facing perhaps the worst ever murderous campaign, called “the biggest land grab
since Colombus” by
none other than the Ministry of Rural Development report of the Government of
India! In the state of Chhattisgarh 644 villages have been vacated in the
district of Dantewada alone by burning and looting. The residents are forced to
live in inhuman conditions in refugee camps which lack basic facilities and are
no more than night shelters. Lakhs are hiding in the jungles without any
support system and lakhs have migrated to districts like Khammam in the
neighbouring states. This eviction was carried out using a private army called
Salwa Judum. But when this operation was not adequate as it met with stiff
resistance from the local people as well as the civil society and a sizeable
section of the media provoking worldwide indignation then further operations
were planned using the pretext of Maoist threat. The people of India is time
and again being informed and reassured by a suave, erudite, Mining Company
Director-turned Lawyer- turned Finance
Minister-turned Home Minister that the army will move in, clear the area of
the Maoist ‘menace’, and development will follow closely on its heels.
Today it has become a crime to take the side of the tribals. Whether it is the
Gandhians who provide them with rations, or the doctors who reach out for
treating the tribals where the government has abandoned them, or the democratic
rights organizations who expose the violence committed by the state or Salwa
Judum. Such supporters have their Ashrams demolished, doctors and civil rights
activists are thrown in jail, even fact finding teams are not allowed in the
area. The tribals themselves are in a much worse shape. Complaints of rape are
not filed, witnesses of police firing and atrocities are made to disappear and
the Salwa Judum crosses over to Andhra Pradesh to intimidate the internally
displaced tribals. Opposing the government and its excesses has been made the
synonym of support to Maoists. Now, well known civil rights groups and leaders
have been named explicitly in Kobad Ghandy’s charge sheet. They are being
called the fronts of Maoists. This
act of association has been carried to such extremes that even the Supreme
Court has warned the Chhattisgarh police to refrain from using “Maoist
supporter” as an “innuendo”. Not just in Chhattisgarh but in other states as
well people are struggling against oppression and exploitation. To term all
protest as Maoist has become the standard response of the government.
Does it mean that sooner than later the army will be called to deal with all
resistance? Will prisons be filled up with the voices of dissent? The
government’s own reports acknowledge that Naxalism has grown on account of
neglect and miseries of the people. The response then calls for social and
economic justice and not of military attacks under the guidance of American and
Israeli specialists. Violence will evoke counter-violence because peaceful
protests are facing firing everywhere leaving them little option. Whether we
look at Tamil Nadu or UP or Karnataka or Maharashtra we find that freedom of
expression is largely abridged and leafleting is also termed as sedition.
Draconian laws follow each other with urgency to crush dissent, terming
everything into a crime at the whim of those in power and bringing
incarceration without trials in their wake. Media is run as a profit making
venture by large corporations and it gives weightage and coverage to
those in power.
No amount of force or use of army is likely to bring lasting peace. We should
not forget that army has been used extensively in Kashmir and the Northeast.
For sixty years these areas are under siege. In Manipur, for every citizen
there are forty men in uniform – the result is false encounters, rapes and
disappearances. The Home ministry states that at the height of insurgency there
were 3000 extremists in Kashmir. The violence unleashed to contain them led to
human right violations, rapes and disappearances – all leaving deep scars in
the psyche of Kashmiris which still breed hatred and mistrust. UN figures
suggest that the victims of army atrocities far outnumber those of the
militants. But this has not taught any lesson to the government and it persists
in repeating military offensive in large parts of the country. The problem
cannot be solved by combat and will lend itself only to a political and
economic solution.
In the light of this, we call upon all concerned citizens to come together and
join the struggle for people’s rights to life, livelihood and resources.
We demand:
· Immediate and complete withdrawal of military and paramilitary forces.
· Allow independent observers to visit the affected areas.
· Make public all MOUs concerned with natural resource extraction and
industrial production, 2005-09.
Please attend the following programmes:
· Public Meeting against State-Military Offensive on People's Lives &
Resources: 6 April, 2009. 4.00 pm at Central Park C P.
· Independent People's Tribunal on Land Acquisition, Resource Grab and
Operation Green Hunt: 9th to 11th April, Speakers Hall, Constitution Club, Rafi
Marg, New Delhi.
Delhi University Campaign against War on People; Jawaharlal Nehru University
Forum against War on People; Forum against War on People; Campaign against
Genocide of Adivasis; Citizens Initiative for Peace; Manipur Students’
Association, Delhi; Janmadhyam; Saheli; PUDR; PCC, CPI (M-L); Delhi Solidarity
Grouop; Campaign for Peace and Justice in Chhatisgarh; Campaign for Peace and
Democracy, Manipur; Pratidhwani; Kashipur Solidarity Group and others.
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