Inheritance of Loss

Beyond Maoism and the Indian government's punjiwadi development, Bastar’s Adivasis are realising that the fight is really between roti kapda makan and jal jangal jameen

- Rakhi Bose and Raunak Shivhare

EVER since her husband’s death, the middle-aged widow of Shamlu ‘Bama’ Kohrami lives in fear for her young children’s lives. Kohrami had gone searching for his lost oxen in Keshkutul village, located in the Naxalinhabited Bijapur district in Bastar, Chhattisgarh, in July this year. He was allegedly killed in an encounter with the police.

“They claimed he was a Maoist. But he was just a farmer,” she insists. The widow has demanded compensation and written assurances from the government and local leaders, formally guaranteeing that her children will not be falsely labelled as Maoists and killed. Against hopes that her demands would be heard during the 2023 Chhattisgarh Assembly elections, Shamlu’s widow, Nande Kohrami, was shunned by politicians. Her village, part of the “Maoist belt”, felt neglected despite the electoral process.

Bastar, where elections usually take place in the crosshairs of violence between security forces and Maoists, has seen an increase in the number of polling stations in “sensitive” areas this year and some districts like Dantewada have recorded a slight increase in voting percentage. The mood in Bijapur, which recorded the lowest voter turnout, nevertheless remains tense. While state and security forces’ narratives blame the “Maoist boycott” of elections for the low voter turnout, the region has seen a steady flow of anti-government protests led by unarmed Adivasi villagers for nearly two years now.

Jal Jangal Jameen

Twenty-one-year-old Vinesh Kumar Podiyam from Rekawa village at the Bijapur-Narayanpur border feels that elections in Bastar are not a celebration of democracy. “They say that India became independent in 1947, but we Adivasis are not yet free,” he says.