Letter to Tehelka / Other sides to the Orissa story

This is in response to this story in last week's issue of Tehelka available here:
http://www.tehelka.com/story_main40.asp?filename=Ne130908CoverStory.asp

It was serendipitious indeed that I left for Kalahandi a few days after I received the latest issue of Tehelka. I've spent the past three days in Kalahandi profiling elected women representatives; naturally, I had to ask about the violence in Kandhmal. While Kalahandi is not Kandhmal there are similar social, cultural, demographic and political histories the two neighbouring districts share. There are a few issues regarding the recent and ongoing violence in Kandhmal that your latest story has not touched on, issues which I think are relevant to the situation. This is based on conversations with an activist/professor of literature - an 'unconverted tribal who is proud of his tribal heritage', his wife 'Mrs. A' a social worker, their colleague and friend SM who is also a social worker, the office/NGO driver D-Bhai, a young office attendant who has worked in Surat and Bombay and therefore is no stranger to xenophobia, and a woman sarpanch, DM, all in Kalahandi.


The first thing they had to say was something one tends to hear with increasingly regularity both in the city and in the village: 'the media' doesn't get it right, 'the media' are not talking about all the issues that exist. What don't they get right? Well, in the context of the violence in Kandhamal the Eastern Orissa-Western Orissa divide is a significant concern, a source of a lot of disenchantment, and has not been adequately recognized. I wanted to know who these VHP/RSS goons were. Where are they from? Are they local? No, my informants say darkly, they are from Eastern Orissa. Some have settled here, some come and go. But they are not local. Some of the people I talk to go so far as to say that there needs to be a separate state of Paschim (West) Orissa.

This part of Orissa has historically been neglected by the state, most bureaucrats and leaders being from the more populous, more conservative and better-developed coastal regions, the East. Western Orissa has mostly just been raped, and continues to be raped, for its rich mineral and natural resources. 'What is the use of Vedanta (the most prominent and dominant mining corporation in these parts) saying they will give something back to this area in the form of a University, and then opening that University in Puri? Is this right? Is this what 'corporate social responsibility is??! Why don't they consult us when they do these things? It is as if they are nation-states in and of themselves' says SM the NGO activist angrily. 'The roads are not made for twenty ton trucks, they're made for ten ton trucks, and when you have about 100 Vedanta trucks going up and down everyday, then obviously the roads are going to be in such an appalling state' he goes on to say. I agree, these have got to be some of the worst roads I have ever traveled on. (And I think I've seen my fair share of bad rural roads). 'What is the development coming back here to this part? Absolutely nothing. When there was a request for a Central University in Western Orissa they go and set it up in an already developed part of Koraput. What is the use?!! All the leaders are from Eastern Orissa and they continually reject people from here; we have no leadership, our people are not being represented, the State has never cared for the people of this region. We are only known for all the disastrous horrific things that happen here' SM goes on.

Driving from Bhawanipatna to Titlagarh one sees Jain-, Bansal-, Mittal-run shops; 'some enterprising business people have settled down here but that is to service Vedanta' says Mrs. A the social worker. 'They are just here to do business, they don't know anything about us, they are not interested, and they don't do anything for the local community.'

It appears that the wave of Hindutva, like the businesspeople and the corporations, is also seen as an assault on the Western districts by the Easterners. The Christian presence is seen as coming from a worse place – 'the West'. (the other West, the big bad West, that is)

The professor, a tribal himself, feels that rapid conversions 'culturally unmoor' the population. 'You cannot come in here and convert people and expect them to then reintegrate with their old lives. You may change inside but your environment hasn't. You are talking about massive social change; conversion of any kind puts pressure on you and on your surroundings. For example, you suddenly start eating beef because you think that is how you distinguish yourself as a Christian. How ridiculous! Where are all these cows going to come from now? We eat chicken and the cows are our livelihood!'

D-bhai the driver has worked with this NGO for sixteen years; he says that tribals and Dalits are given much in exchange for conversion, including money and sometimes sexual abuse. 'But sometimes it is funny, there are some tribals I know who have converted but they don't know anything about Christianity, even basic facts. I asked one man running a home for children "Esu Christi ka ma ka naam kya hai?" And he didn't know, even I know it is Mary! Yes they are getting some help but it is not all-round development. They are giving quinine on the side and saying that Jesus has cured the malaria. How can you take that seriously? In the end madam, they are different from us - the Hindus and the Christians - we are more like people from Chattisgarh, Jharkhand, even you can see how our Oriya is different, we can understand your Hindi, but if you go to the East they will not be able to understand either you or me. And we are all supposed to be Oriya?!'

I suggest a state of Central Indian tribes, the tribes of the contiguous regions of Bastar, Chattisgarh, Jharkhand, Western West Bengal, Western Orissa. D-Bhai's eyes light up. 'Hanh, that makes sense.' I clarify that I am only joking. But he seems to like the idea. 'Then we can be left alone,maybe' he adds.

The issue, they feel, and as your correspondent has pointed out, is not just Hindus versus Christians ("and please tell this to any media people you know" Mrs A says to me as I leave); it is about the overall lack of development of Kandhmal, it is about land being taken away, it is about being displaced from a known way of life. Mrs. A and her husband the professor say that the Kondh and other tribals in the area are 'simple people', they are very involved in their own way of life, their forests, their families; according to them tribal communities here are not exposed to the world outside, and neither do they want to be. They also tend to withdraw from conflict. 'As a result, they are not fighters, they are not agitators; but now when it has come to a point of forests and lands being taken away they have woken up, because they have no sources of food, income, livelihood, culture anymore' says the professor.
The Panos on the other hand, the Dalits (after a long time I heard people refer to them as 'Harijans') are the 'Scheduled Castes', most of whom have converted to Christianity. According to the locals the Panos are more enterprising, exposed, savvy, more versatile. There are conflicts between Kondhs and Panos (and both communities have converts to Christianity) over shrinking resources; the Panos have made great efforts to lift themselves out of obscurity and poverty and are going after the paltry few jobs and resources available in this area. The conflicts take on many different dimensions. Apparently, all this has been discussed quite a bit in the local Oriya press but hardly gets heard elsewhere in the country.

So who killed Lakshmananda? Some feel that the Maoists have their grouses too (and many of them are Christians). This cannot be ruled out. If there is any heartbeat of a justice system in this blighted land, maybe the truth will emerge. However that is only one form of justice, possibly not the sense of justice that resonantes for and with people here. My concern however is not merely Lakshmananda. It is about how the complex social, cultural and economic climate here is being cast in terms of Hindutva versus Everyone Else. Don't get me wrong, I live in Maharashtra so I know how filthy and nasty the Hindu Right is. The Hindu Right is a growing presence here and they have been making their way here since 1992-93. They come from the East, they come with their violence and their rigid notions. But I hope that magazines like Tehelka go to the heart of this horror and expose the many actors, including the lazy State and pampered corporations and the appalling corruption that lies between the two, who are responsible for brewing this mix. I leave Titlagarh with the activists' last words to me echoing uncomfortably against the verdant beauty of monsoon-drenched mountains: 'December 25
th is going to be bad here. It is Christmas and elections will be going on. There is going to be more death. But what does anyone else outside care, just a few hundred poor people will die. And they will call it a Hindu-Christian issue. It serves the real villains fine to focus on communal issues and to hide the real violence they have been committing here for too long now.'