Pathalgarhi versus the police: A ground report from Khunti, Jharkhand

The tribal-dominated district of Jharkhand, Khunti, is also home to the biggest tribal icon, Birsa Munda. Known as Dharthi Aba or father of the earth, he led the Ulgulan movement against the British. Today, Khunti has hit national headlines for all the wrong reasons after the gangrape and abduction of five women last week. Moreover, for the past two days, the Jharkhand police has been searching villages in the district to find three security guards abducted by supporters of the Pathalgarhi movement that draws its inspiration from a tribal tradition of demarcating land to declare self-governance. However, if you overlook the recent unrest in Khunti, all you will find here are hardworking people, rivers and water-springs surrounded by hills.

You will find that a majority of the people living here are still waiting for development to touch their lives. In this wait, people have begun asserting their rights in the form of movements such as Pathalgarhi. Through the Pathalgarhi movement, tribals declare self-rule, self-governance and establish the right of gramsabha [self-elected village body] as supreme.

Meanwhile, gramsabhas have started issuing diktats like ‘outsiders’ won’t be allowed to roam in the village freely and that no law passed by Parliament or Assembly would be applicable in the areas under the fifth scheduled of the Constitution. Tribals even began setting up gramsabha banks.

The gramsabhas have also tried to stop children from attending schools and started alternative learning platforms. In recent times, these areas have been in news owing to the Pathalgarhi movement.  Even though it is a state-wide movement, but in Khunti, Jharkhand police and tribals have come under direct confrontation.

The situation is only getting tensed with every passing day. The state government and tribals are wary of trusting each other. The recent clashes between the police and supporters of the movement are yet another example of it.   

The gangrape of five women, who had gone to Khunti to perform a street play for an awareness campaign, has further complicated the Pathalgarhi movement and the narrative around it.

These five women were abducted from Kochang village of Adaki police station area on gunpoint on June 19 and gangraped. Following the crime, gramsabhas have held several meetings. The tension is visible on their faces. Those from Kochang, Kuranga and nearby villages feel that the incident has brought a bad name to them.

We travelled to several villages of Khunti to understand the situation on the ground. It wasn’t an easy journey. Broken roads run between the rivers, hills and jungles. An invisible fear pervades.

The police has accused the leader of Pathalgarhi movement, John Jisan Tidoo, as the mastermind of the gangrape. These accusations have made supporters of Pathalgarhi and gramsabhas in uncomfortable. Tidoo is a resident of Kuranga village. The police has lodged an FIR against Tidoo in the gangrape case and has been unsuccessfully looking for him. Even in these circumstances, Tidoo not only addressed a meeting of hundreds of tribals on June 24, but also spoke to the media.

He has rejected the allegations against him and has dubbed the charges as the state’s conspiracy to crush the movement.

The police has filed several FIRs against Tidoo in the past – all related to the movement. However, so far, it has failed to arrest him.

The natives in these villages of Khunti are not ready to buy the state’s narrative that supporters of the movement or the gramsabhas were involved in the gangrapes. Jarika Munda, a local resident, in his native language speaks in a similar tone to that of Tidoo. He says: anti-social elements could be behind the gangrapes. The administration wants to break the momentum of the movement and hence it is linking the gangrapes with Pathalgarhi supporters.

Tidoo’s associate Balram Samad says: the police want to arrest all leaders of the Pathalgarhi movement so that it can avert tribals from achieving the self-governance goal.

He further added that instead of crushing the movement, the government should send its representatives to gramsabhas to hold a dialogue. He emphasises, the funds of the Tribal sub-plan should be directly transferred to gramsabhas, which can carry out development projects and officers should report to these councils itself.

During the crackdown on these villages, the police has filed several cases against supporters of the movement. It has also filed over a dozen cases against Yusuf Purti – the man leading the movement from the front. On June 26, when the police was carrying out kurki (consfication) at Purti’s residence, he was participating in the Pathalgarhi of Ghagara village.

In Kochang and nearby villages, the natives are yet to get electricity, water or irrigation facilities. The lack of such basic facilities in these villages has further strengthened the support for the movement which calls for self-governance. In a young man, Sonika Soy’s, words, “jungle hi jeene ka aadhar hai (the jungles are basis for life here.)”

When asked how they would see any development if they reject the government machinery, Birsa Soy responds – “it is because of the fact that we don’t trust these machineries anymore, we are fighting for self-governance under the gramsabhas.”

An elderly, Ratiya Munda says, “is ilake mein rozgaar, gareebi aur bhookh ke dard logon ko jyada satata hai. Apko isse samjhna hoga [You will have to understand that they pain of hunger, poverty and unemployment haunts the people here].”

Consecutive governments have neglected these villages and that is why its people support the Pathalgarhi movement. Young Haasa Purti, thunders in his native language, “Wherever you will go in these villages, all you will find is despair and hopelessness. When the lives of natives haven’t changed in the past 70 years, how can you question and vilify the Pathalgarhi movement?”

Kochang gramsabha Pradhan Sukhlal Munda says the gramsabhas have been asked to identify and arrest the perpetrators of the gangrape. However, when you travel to these villages and try to speak about the gangrape – several try to dodge these questions. A few would ask you to speak to the village pradhans – heads of the councils.  

While visiting these villages, one thing is clear: that those leading the Pathalgarhi movement have been successful in their strategy of uniting the gramsabhas.

This is the reason that no one dares go against the decisions of these councils. If one refuses to follow the collective decision, they are penalised by the gramsabhas. If they follow the councils’ orders, it would mean they are standing against the government and if they don’t – they would be penalised by their people.

Meanwhile, the state machinery is hell-bent on crushing the movement. This is also because those carrying out the demarcation for self-governance have started moving from the interior villages towards areas close to the main roads. Every person is delegated specific tasks during these exercises. Importantly, those behind the movement have been provoking the youth to stand against the police.

What triggered the abduction of the three security guards of BJP MP Kadia Munda?

On Tuesday, the police deployed heavy security in Ghagara village to avert the attempts of Pathalgarhi. The police first asked supporters of the movement to disperse and later resorted to lathi-charge.

The angry mob, on the way back, surrounded the residence of senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader and Lok Sabha MP Kadia Munda in Anigada village. They abducted the three security guards, along with their weapons, deployed at Munda’s house.

It was clear and loud that the anger of tribals was triggered by the fact that the police was trying to arrest their leader Purti and had carried out kurki at his residence.   

After the abduction of the three guards, the police had cordoned off Ghagara village the entire night. The lathi-charge and use of tear gas led to a stampede and the crackdown eventually claimed the life of one tribal.

The police has managed to trace the officers on Friday. Meanwhile, the police has also arrested Father Alphonso Aaind of Kochang’s Mission School and two others in connection with the gangrape. Father Alphonso has been arrested under the charges of intimating the police about the crime and conspiracy. It has identified three others and is trying to nab them. The police has also released the image of one of the accused – who is reportedly area commander of a Naxal organisation.

On the orders of the state government, heavy force has been deployed in Khunti. Ranchi Deputy Inspector General of police has camped himself in the district.

The survivors had gone to Mission School to perform a streetplay – under the campaign to spread awareness against human trafficking. A group of four abducted these women from the school and gangraped them.

Lakshmi Narayan Munda, an expert on tribals issues, says, “Khunti is a classic example of how the state uses its machineries and powers to crush the movements and tribals when they fight for rights and to save Jal- Jungle-Jameen (Water, Jungle and Land).” He further adds, “the government must open channels of communication without any conditions.”

Even the former Chief Minister of the state and senior BJP leader, Arjun Munda had said, in an interview, recently that the state will have to understand the reason behind dissatisfaction among the tribals.

On the other hand, questions related to the present form of the movement are being asked within the community.

The movement, angst of the tribals and the call for self-governance areas have triggered fierce political atmosphere in the state. While the opposition parties are training their guns at the governing party and Chief Minister Raghubar Das, the BJP has its own arguments in support of the government’s action. The Chief Minister has again emphasised that the turbulence in Khunti is being stirred by anti-national forces and he will not let them succeed. Das says that he will defeat such conspiracies through the politics of development. The BJP and its government has used the present crisis to take on the Church and the Christian Missionaries whom they accuse of carrying out forceful conversation of the tribals in the state.

Jharkhand Mukti Morcha’s (JMM) chief and former CM Hemant Soren has said the government is hell bent in killing the tribals. According to him, the state is going through a crisis. He says that in the areas under the fifth schedule, all channels of communication between the government and its representatives and the tribals have fallen apart. He adds that the BJP government, instead of understanding the nature of seriousness of the traditions such as Pathalgarhi, has indulged in oppressive measures to end the movement.

While leaders are busy taking pot shots at each other, a harrowing silence pervades in the villages of Khunti.

Translated by Amit Bhardwaj. Read Newslaundry Hindi’s complete report here.