An Appeal to the International Community: Raise their Voice against State repression in Lalgarh, West Bengal, India

We at the CRPP wish to draw the attention of the international community to the plight of the adivasi people in one corner of the State of West Bengal, India. That area is called Lalgarh--an integral part of Jangal Mahal i.e., a vast stretch of forest area situated in the West Medinipur district of West Bengal. The tribal people of India had always been the targets of some of the worst man-eating policies of the ruling classes, be that during colonial times or during the period following the ‘transfer of power’ to friendly hands in 1947. Forest lands were being systematically cleared to make room for agricultural lands for revenue earning. Vast stretches of land were converted into reserved areas by evicting adivasis from their land and habitats on an unprecedented massive scale. And quite justly, the history of the various tribes in different regions of the subcontinent have been punctuated with uprisings and rebellions against the worst forms of exploitation meted to them by various powers who tried to dominate them through brute force. In the recent times, the central and state governments have initiated the land-grab movements quite euphemistically called as the Special Economic Zones (SEZs) so as to facilitate the loot and plunder of the country’s natural and mineral resources by the imperialist, predatory MNCs.

At Salboni within the same district and somewhat far from Lalgarh, a SEZ was to be created by the big business house of the Jindals on 5,000 acres of land. In November 2008, immediately after the inauguration of the said SEZ project, the convoy of the WB chief minister, that of one central minister and of Jindal was attacked with claymore mines by the Maoists. Some of the policemen got injured in the process. What followed was police repression of the most brutal kind. Village houses were raided at dawn when people were still asleep, people were arrested, women were humiliated and beaten with rifle butts on all parts of the body not even sparing their eyes and molested. One woman lost her left eye as a result of police brutality. A pregnant woman, whose husband was picked up, was forcibly dragged out of her home and then thrown on the road to be beaten up and kicked around. School students returning home after attending a village cultural performance and a retired school teacher and others were picked up and detained illegally on mere suspicion of being involved in the mine explosion. No one was spared. All these atrocities were committed in Lalgarh and Binpur areas—far from the site of the mine explosion.

The people of Lalgarh, however, refused to be cowed down by such terror. They formed the People’s Committee Against Police Atrocities (PCAPA) and demanded public apology from the police and compensation for the damage done to the people. They had suffered enough. They refused to be further humiliated by none—neither the police nor the henchmen of the ruling CPM called as the Hermad. They dug roads; blocked the roads with trees; formed village committees of the people to assert themselves. This was a just struggle for dignity, against state brutality and is/has spread to other parts of Jangal Mahal embracing as many as 1,100 villages, if not more, in the three adjoining districts at present. The People’s Committee formed village committees, women and youth brigades and have carried on development work in the form of the setting up of health centres for free medical care of the poor, water conservation through small ponds and other imaginative water harvesting methods. They have conserved the fertility of the soil so that they are now raising two crops a season. Also they have built roads linking many of the villages. All these the so-called left front government could not even realize despite their much trumpeted three decade rule in the state. It was for anyone to see that the local CPM bosses have mansion like houses when the poor tribals live in utter penury. No wonder the people have raised their voice against such man eaters and have initiated a total social boycott against the right hand of the CPM bosses in the areas—the police. The defiant masses of Lalgarh have raised blockades and check-posts preventing the entry of police and the CPI (M) goons.

After the Lok Sabha elections held recently, and the formation of a Congress-led government at the centre, the central government is all set to send more paramilitary forces to help the ‘left-front’ government suppress this just struggle of the people. The central and state forces are being accompanied by CPI (M) led goons who had already set up Salwa Judum-type mercenary organizations to suppress the Lalgarh people, as they had done in Nandigram earlier. The CPM-sponsored hermads/goons had already attacked many villages controlled by the People’s Committee, killed some of its members, wounded others and burnt a large number of houses. They are keen on making genocides in the Jangal Mahal area with the backing of the state and central forces.

Very recently, when a cultural team from Jangal Mahal went to a place called Chakulia in the neighbouring state of Jharkhand to mobilize people to participate in a women’s rally scheduled to take place on 5 June, many of them were arrested and molested in the police station and sent to jail. When the committee members proceeded towards the police station to seek release of the political prisoners, they were prevented by a massive mobilization of state forces and the use of tear-gas shells against the procession of the people. The situation is worsening day by day with the State increasing its teeth in the area by piling up more and more paramilitary in the region to initiate a blood bath so as to put an end to the defiant voice of the people.

As reports last came in, the central government has kept its ‘Cobra’ force—a commando force of the notorious ‘Greyhound’ type--ready on the Jharkhand-WB border. Helicopter surveys have been going on and the state is preparing for a massive crackdown with the paramilitary forces and the state police forces to crush this just struggle of the people in pools of blood. Needless to state, they will be joined by the notorious CPI (M) goons. Nobody knows how many people will fall down dead in the battle ahead, how many people will receive bullet wounds and get disabled for life in the process, how many children would lose their parents, and how many women would be humiliated in their just and heroic struggle for justice and dignity.

The clarion call of the people of Lalgarh for dignity and justice are reaching out to one and all. Right now it looks up toward the international community for their unsolicited solidarity.

The CRPP urges upon the international community to raise their voice against the brutality done by the Indian ruling classes to the people of Jangal Mahal to nip their just struggle in the bud by putting pressure on the government of India through various means. The struggle being waged by the people of Lalgarh, nay of Jangal Mahal, is a just struggle and we urge upon you to stand by its side to the best of your ability. Come let us join and raise our voice at this historic moment which the daring and defiant people of Jangal Mahal have created out of circumstances not of their choice but given to them by the forces who have been breeding on their blood!

Gursharan Singh Amit Bhattacharyya
President Secretary General

SAR Geelani Rona Wilson
Vice President Secretary, Public relations

Danilo Ramos Wilfredo Marbella
Secretary-General Deputy Sec-Gen for Internal Affairs
Asian Peasant Coalition (APC) Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas
(Peasant Movement of the Phils.)