New Delhi: The tree felling for Parsa East and Kanta Basan (PEKB) phase-2 extension coal mines in Chhattisgarh’s Hasdeo Arand forest has begun despite protests from the Adivasi community and activists. The question whether Vishnu Deo Sai, the state’s first tribal chief minister, will intervene in the matter has immediately become a dominant concern, and perhaps, the first big challenge for the newly appointed chief minister.A section of activists fighting for Adivasi rights in the state believe that there is no point in having a tribal chief minister if he continues to overlook the community’s priorities to facilitate corporate interests in Chhattisgarh, known for its rich mineral wealth underneath dense forests that has been home to Adivasis for centuries.“Yes, Chhattisgarh has got its first tribal chief minister and the Adivasi community felt that maybe he will act in their interests. But the manner in which Adivasis are being oppressed and corporate interests are being upheld in Hasdeo, it has become clear that the tribal chief minister is [wearing] a mere mask, and what corporates will decide, only that will happen,” Alok Shukla, convenor of the Chhattisgarh Bachao Andolan, told The Wire.On December 22, the felling of trees in the biodiversity rich forest started despite protests from locals and activists. Hasdeo Arand is one of the last unfragmented forest landscapes in central India.Spread across over 1,500 kilometres through central India, the area is home to India’s tribal communities, with an estimated five billion tonnes of coal buried under the dense forests. Mining has become a huge business in the area, leading to protests by the locals.This is what “transitioning away from fossil fuels” looks like in India.The new BJP government in Chhattisgarh has resumed the task of clearing the Hasdeo forest for coal mines!Tribal communities are at the forefront of the fight to save the forest. pic.twitter.com/msMT9u2KrC— Avinash Chanchal (@avinashchanchl) December 22, 2023According to an investigation by Scroll.in in April last year, the Adani Group has been excavating coal from the PEKB mine since 2013 on behalf of Rajasthan’s state electricity generation company, Rajasthan Rajya Vidyut Utpadan Nigam Limited, to whom it was originally allocated.Activists alleged that those who were travelling to the area to protest against the felling of trees were detained by the police on the morning of December 22.Shukla told The Wire that Adivasi activists, including Ramlal Kariam, Jayandan Porte, and Thakur Ram, were picked up from their homes and detained. Shukla himself was stopped by some persons who were not in police uniform, while on his way to Hasdeo on December 22 morning. They were taken to Bilaspur and released late at night.“I had left from Raipur and was on my way to Hasdeo to meet other activists, and I was picked up on the way and taken to Bilaspur. Ajay T.G., who is a documentary filmmaker, was also with me. After Ajay contacted some lawyers around 4 pm in the evening, word of our detention got out,” he said.However, the new Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government has denied that the police detained anyone, reported Press Trust of India.On Wednesday, Sai, while speaking to reporters, blamed the previous Congress government.“They should see that the permission for deforestation is from a time when it was their (Congress) government in power… Whatever has happened, even if it is deforestation, is happening with their permission,” he was quoted by the news agency as saying.Former deputy chief minister and Ambikapur MLA T.S. Singh Deo, a political strongman from the Sarguja region where Hasdeo is located, met protesters and said that he had spoken with the chief minister about the ongoing protests in Hasdeo Arand.आज, माननीय मुख्यमंत्री श्री @vishnudsai जी से दूरभाष के माध्यम से बात कर उन्हें हसदेव अरण्य से जुड़े विरोध प्रदर्शन की ज़मीनी स्थिति से अवगत कराया।जहां पुराने खदानों में उत्खनन के प्रति स्थानीय लोगों के मत विभाजित हैं, वहीं नए खदानों में माइनिंग के विरोध में पूरा आदिवासी समाज…— T S Singhdeo (@TS_SinghDeo) December 26, 2023Earlier, after meeting with the protesters, Singh Deo told reporters that as a tribal himself, Sai was expected to protect their interests.“The chief minister of Chhattisgarh himself comes from the tribal community of Surguja division – it is expected from him that he will listen to the protesters. At least protect the interests of the community from which he has come forward and got the opportunity to lead the state,” he said.आज, हसदेव अरण्य में कोयला उत्खनन के उद्देश्य से जंगलों को उजाड़ने के विरोध में संघर्ष कर रहे उस क्षेत्र के मूलनिवासी आदिवासी भाई-बहनों एवं ग्रामीणों से मुलाकात की।शांतिपूर्वक विरोध करना हमारे आदिवासी भाई बहनों का अधिकार है, मगर जिस तरीके से पुलिस प्रशासन ने क्षेत्र के आदिवासी… pic.twitter.com/vPE3OpmM7S— T S Singhdeo (@TS_SinghDeo) December 25, 2023‘Congress and the BJP taking each other’s work forward’However, activists and commentators say that both the BJP and the Congress have deprived Adivasis of their rights and Sai’s elevation as the first tribal chief minister has been rendered symbolic by the deforestation drive in Hasdeo Arand.Shukla said that the second phase of mining for PEKB affects the Ghatbarra village, which will be “displaced entirely”.“Even today, the Ghatbarra gram sabha has not given its consent for mining in the area. [It is] right next to that Parsa coal block; [it] will affect three villages, which have been agitating [against mining] for five years.”Shukla’s organisation had previously said in a statement that, according to the Forest Rights Act of 2006, completion of the forest rights claims process and obtaining written consent from the concerned gram sabhas (village councils) are mandatory before granting forest clearance for any project. They alleged that fake consent was obtained from the gram sabhas in the Hasdeo Arand area.In October 2021, hundreds of villagers from the Hasdeo Arand area had walked 300 kms to Raipur to protest against mining in the area. They had met then chief minister Bhupesh Baghel and governor Anasuya Uikey.“On October 23, 2021, the governor wrote to the chief secretary to probe these fake consents, however, no enquiry has been done. So, in the last five years, nothing has been done to give justice to the Adivasis in the area,” said Shukla.“On July 26, 2022, the Chhattisgarh assembly passed a unanimous resolution that mining activities will not be carried out in Hasdeo. But unfortunately, deforestation activities have now started,” he added.Shukla also pointed to the affidavit submitted by the Chhattisgarh government in July to the Supreme Court, wherein it was stated that, aside from the PEKB project, there is no necessity to allocate or use any new mining reserve areas for mining in Hasdeo.“Whether it is a resolution passed unanimously by both the Congress and the BJP in the assembly, or the Supreme Court affidavit, or overlooking the gram sabhas’ opposition, all efforts have become null and void in the face of corporate interests,” he said.A Raipur-based political commentator, who did not wish to be named, said that in terms of taking away the Adivasi community’s rights over land for corporate interests, the Congress and the BJP are taking each other’s work forward.“The Bhupesh Baghel government had taken the BJP government’s (Raman Singh government, from 2013 to 2018) work forward and now the BJP is taking the Congress’s work forward. In the area where deforestation is taking place now, under the Congress regime, 43 hectares of trees were cut last year (2022). In the same area, 91 acres were cut this year (2023). Now, the BJP government is here. There is nothing new with the new government or with a new tribal chief minister or a previous non-tribal chief minister,” he told The Wire.“In several villages that are not part of Hasdeo but are part of Raipur, Bilaspur, Kanker, Durg zilas, villagers are ready to take out protest marches apart from the organisations working to protect Hasdeo. These protests will likely intensify as the Congress and the BJP continue to shift the blame to each other,” he said.Also read: In Chhattisgarh, Adani’s Coal Mine Leaves a Village Parched This MonsoonAdivasi anger fuelled BJP’s victoryIn the November state elections, the BJP unseated the Congress government by winning 54 of the 90 assembly seats, while the Congress only managed to win only 35 seats.With approximately 30% of the population being tribals, the state witnessed the appointment of its first tribal chief minister, Sai.The Congress, which won 25 of the 29 reserved seats for Scheduled Tribes (ST) in the 2018 assembly polls, secured only 11 this time. The BJP improved its tally from three in 2018 to 17 seats dominated by tribals this time.Veteran tribal leader and former Union minister Arvind Netam, who quit the Congress last year to float his own political outfit, the Hamar Raj Party, said that the reason behind Congress’s loss in these elections was its neglect of the tribal community and dilution of the Panchayat Extension to Scheduled Areas (PESA) Act.The PESA law, passed in 1996, seeks to provide a sense of autonomy to the local Adivasis by making the consent of the gram sabhas in Adivasi areas mandatory for projects in the region. When the Congress government notified and implemented the PESA rules in 2022 (almost 25 years after the law was passed), the “consent” of gram sabhas was changed to “consultation”.“The reason behind the BJP’s victory in the tribal areas is that the previous Congress government neglected the tribal community. Under the PESA law, the tribal community was granted rights and control over jal (water), jungle (forest), and zameen (land), but the Congress government diluted these provisions. This was the primary issue that led to the downfall of the Congress government in the state. In Bastar, at least 20-22 places have ongoing andolan (agitation) for over a year on jal, jungle, zameen. Either completely abolish PESA, or as long as the law exists, people will continue to speak up,” said Netam.A padyatra against mining in Hasdeo Aranya, held in October 2021. Photo: Chhattisgarh Bachao AndolanShukla said that along with the dilution of the PESA law, which angered Adivasis who had voted for the Congress “with a lot of hope” in 2018, it also failed to act decisively against Hindutva forces.Bastar’s Narayanpur emerged as the epicentre of the BJP’s claims of “forced conversions” by Christian missionaries in the tribal regions of the state.Over 20 instances of anti-Christian violence were reported from the Narayanpur district in December 2022 alone. A church in Narayanpur was vandalised in January 2023. Ahead of the elections, The Wire reported that in Narayanpur’s villages, Adivasis, who had converted to Christianity, continued to struggle to bury their dead and faced social boycott.“In Narayanpur, the Congress was following soft Hindutva and did not act to protect those who had converted to Christianity. Riots were reported, apart from attacks on church, and not allowing burials of those who had converted to Christianity. While the Hindutva supporters in the region were to vote for the BJP anyway, the Adivasi Christians were also disappointed because no action was taken to protect them,” said Shukla.According to Bastar-based lawyer and activist Bela Bhatia, in terms of policies, the BJP and the Congress haven’t acted differently for the tribal community.“The Adivasi community expected an adequate shift when the Congress came to power. It is not that attacks on Christians were new, but they increased during the Congress years, and the government did not handle it boldly,” she said.Activists said that Adivasi anger against the Congress government also intensified due to its inaction on judicial inquiry reports regarding fake encounters that occurred under the previous BJP government. These reports surfaced during the Baghel years but were not addressed.In June 2012, 17 villagers were gunned down in an alleged encounter between security forces and alleged Maoists in Barstar’s Sarkeguda. A judicial inquiry report by retired Justice V.K. Agarwal in 2019 found that there was no evidence to suggest that those who were killed or injured by security forces were Maoists.Another inquiry report by Justice Agarwal on the Edesmetta encounter, in which eight tribals were killed on the intervening night of May 17 and 18, 2013, when the Central Reserve Police Force opened fire on villagers who had gathered to celebrate beej pandum in Edesmetta, also concluded that none of the eight people killed were Maoists and that the security forces may have opened fire on the unarmed crowd in a moment of panic.Despite these judicial inquiry reports being submitted during the Congress rule, no action was taken to provide justice to the Adivasis.Bhatia referred to recent incidents in which villagers have been caught in the fray of counter-insurgency measures against left-wing extremism in the state.“In three crucial ways, the BJP and the Congress governments have been similar: in terms of economic policies, counter-insurgency measures, and lack of respect for people’s right to justice and grievance redressal,” she said.In September, villagers in Sukma’s Tadmetla protested against the killing of two men in a “fake encounter” after police claimed that they were Maoists.“In October, two youngsters from Abujhmad village were also killed allegedly in an encounter. In fact, they had accompanied their mothers to the ration shop, a day’s walk away in Koelibeda, so that they could carry the load of grain home. They were taken away in front of their mothers. The mothers heard the shots and also saw the dead bodies when they were carried back,” she said.“Almost every other day we keep hearing of activists and participants of peaceful protests being picked up and some of them incarcerated under false charges. This was the case before and after the change of government.”“The Adivasis need control over their jal, jungle, zameen, and for this, PESA and the Forest Rights Act need to be implemented in letter and spirit. The way the government is going ahead with privatisation without adhering to these laws and opening security camps in many places, it is apparent that they are protecting mining companies and not the people,” she said.Netam said that the true test for the new chief minister being from the tribal community himself will be how he handles these issues.“What I understand is that there is not much difference between the Congress and the BJP on jal, jungle, zameen. But how much will he (Sai) be able to resist his party’s policies and make pro-tribal policies, only time will tell. This will be the test for the chief minister, because they [the BJP] have governments both at the Centre and in the state now. Earlier, they could deflect blame to each other, despite both being pro-capitalist in their policies,” he said.“If Adivasis reach positions of power, it is welcome, but the real test is whether their coming to power makes a difference to the lives of the Adivasis, and if they will prove themselves to be better than their predecessors,” Bhatia added.
