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http://foraproletarianparty.org/workers_And_peasant_struggle/Lalgarh_and_the
_Subsequent_Adivasi_Struggle_in_West_Bengal.htm 


 


Lalgarh and the Subsequent Adivasi Struggle in West Bengal 


In the first fortnight of November '08 a big rural struggle surfaced in West
Bengal, a struggle that continued for many days and was expanding in nature.
Besides, another peculiarity apart from many other ones, drew attention: the
struggle was that from the very beginning the fight was conducted not under
the aegis of or not under the direction of any party of establishment.
Moreover, the Lalgarh movement was almost two concurrent struggles: [1] the
struggle of the villagers of Lalgarh Block [Mandal in govt Hindi] against
police atrocities, and [2] the struggle of Adivasi people of West Bengal in
general in support of the Lalgarh struggle, which had some unspoken words to
say beneath their actions and declarations. We shall deal with the events in
some detail as many of them were deformed in established media. 

The event started after 2nd Nov. WB chief minister along with multi
billionaire industrialist Jindal and Indian minister of Iron & Steel Mr
Pasowan went to Salboni in West Midnapur district for a foundation stone
laying ceremony of a steel factory, which was later declared as a SEZ. While
returning back from the ceremony riding on a mile long motorcade a landmine
burst took place at the fag end of the convoy, which, as the police smelt
afterwards, was due to an explosive, remote controlled by wire. But the most
strange, staggering event occured next day when the police looked for
miscreants not from nearby villages, but at places about 40 km away
surrounding Lalgarh and arrested 3 homeward-bound students as
Maoist-extremist in charge of sedition, blast etc! The police also tried to
arrest a peasant who came to hire agricultural workers. Some women workers
resisted that. Police raided the village at night and had those women
workers severely beaten including an almost 80 years old Adivasi woman.
Those women bled profusely, had their bone broken and perhaps one of them
would loose sight for ever! These tortures were enough to open the floodgate
of decades-old tolerance and a deluge of protesting Adivasi people and other
inhabitants there put the Lalgarh Police Station in captivity. The arrested
ones were freed. Those Adivasi people came with whatever 'weapons' they
found at hand and the police trembled in fear. Roads were dug up and trees
were fallen to make Lalgarh unapproachable by police cars/jeeps, reminding a
form of struggle originated in Nandigram. But more events were at store. The
Adivasi people of West Bengal were called up by the Bharat Jakat Majhi Madwa
- an organisation of traditional chiefs of different levels of the Adivasi
people to join the fight wherever they are. Events of digging-up of roads
and tree-felling were being reported from one place after another. Jhargram
Sub-Division was on the verge of being cut-off. But after a few days one or
two influential Majhi-s, who were well connected with the govt, vacillated
somewhat. They came to the barricading Adivasi youth at some places near
Jhargram to soften them by telling that govt would take some steps, would
consider few other demands and so the blockade might be lifted. It bore a
strange fruit. Those high level Majhi-s were jeered and sent back - And a
mist of disbelief started to cast shadow on their age-old tradition:
tradition of putting unquestionable faith on their chiefs, of obediently
executing their orders including orders of joining Wars of Independence
against the British and Dikku [native exploiters - moneylenders,
contractors, landlords, etc]. The fight went on spontaneously. Everybody
knows that Adivasis have their own way of maintaining linkage among villages
spread over vast area, and that was seen again. Adivasi youth took an
important role. Some other Adivasi organisations also participated in the
struggle with full might, like the Kurmi youth and their social network, the
Jharkhand Dishum Party - at the call of which Adivasis blocked road and
railway transport in Hooghly, Bardhaman, Birbhum and other south Bengal
districts. A Peoples Committee Against Police Atrocities [PSBJC in Bengali
Acronym or PCPA in English abbreviation] was formed in Lalgarh from Day-1 of
the struggle. that committee spread its message of forming such committees
everywhere in an assembly of Adivasis at Lalgarh, but that did not take
effect, the struggle rode on a wave of spontaneity. The demands of Lalgarh
people were: # culprit policemen must be punished; # the police super must
come to Lalgarh and pray pardon by clutching his ears [a rural way of
begging pardon]; # govt must take financial responsibility of treatment of
the injured persons; # the injured must be compensated by the govt; #
thenceforth the police would not raid any village from the dusk, without
arrest warrants and without taking along with them local responsible
persons; .etc. The general Adivasi movement demanded that the govt had to
listen to Lalgarh. The govt, the CPIM party, all seemed toothless; they
couldn't do a thing other than howling about 'Maoist Plot'! They could not
see the fact that the Maoists had no presence at all in lots of places in
the vast tract covered by the Adivasi movement. The so-called great power
CPIM, all its armed squads and hooligans, the govt forces that didn't
hesitate to kill people at Nandigram - all had to sit mum! After almost six
weeks the govt had to relent, some demands were met, Lalgarh lifted its
blockade. The blockades of other places had been lifted not synchronously,
some perhaps a bit earlier, because the struggle was not being conducted
systematically under a unified command.