Pathalgadi movement: India's old battle with its Adivasis continues

On a chilly, foggy morning in the first week of January, villagers in Burugulikera, Jharkhand, had unexpected visitors. Two youths who had been absconding for a year returned to the village, about 150 km from the state capital, Ranchi.
 
They (the names have been withheld for legal reasons) went underground early last year after the government, led by Raghubar Das of the BJP, cracked down on the supporters of the Pathalgadi movement. The youths feared they were among the 10,000 unnamed persons booked under the Indian Penal Code (IPC).
 
“Pathalgadi”, which means carving a stone, is an ancient tribal tradition in Jharkhand. Adivasis erect engraved stones to mark the birth or death of a person. The practice took a new turn after the Panchayat (Extension of Scheduled Area) Act (PESA Act) was legislated in 1996. The Act empowered gram sabhas or panchayats to safeguard and preserve their traditions, community spaces, and culture, and gave them the right to mandatory consultation in land acquisition.

 

Trudging down the roads in the interior of Jharkhand, huge stone plaques and signboards on the outskirts of villages draw visitors’ attention. Besides excerpts from the PESA Act and the Fifth Schedule of the Constitution, which deals with the administration and control of “scheduled areas” as well as of Scheduled Tribes residing in that area, the green concrete slab with engravings in white letters also warns “outsiders” that they are unwelcome.
 
The supporters of the movement declare the gram sabha as the highest authority, and refuse to obey the state and central governments.
 
Hemant Soren’s first action as chief minister of Jharkhand on December 29, 2019, was to order the withdrawal of cases registered against people allegedly involved in the Pathalgadi movement. The development purportedly emboldened the absconding Pathalgadi supporters to return to the villages. The two from Burugulikera village are among them.

 
The supporters of the Pathalgadi movement are hell-bent on taking revenge on those opposing it. The Burugulikera incident, in which seven anti-Pathalgadi supporters were brutally killed on January 19, is a fallout of that. The two youths who returned to the village are allegedly involved in the murder, police suspect.
 
“The incident is suspected to be a fallout of rivalry between two factions of the village, one led by former panchayat chief Ransi Budh, who is believed to be pro-Pathalgadi, while the other is led by the deputy chief, James Budh, who was allegedly anti-Pathalgadi,” said West Singhbhum Superintendent of Police (SP) Indrajit Mahata.

 
On the pretext of preserving tribal interests, anti-socials and miscreants are setting scores with rivals. “The morale of these elements is high with the withdrawal of the cases and this is going to be a big challenge for the administration,” said political commentator Suman Shrivastav.
 
The Kochang village incident in June 2018 underlines this. A group of supporters of the movement raped six women workers of an NGO after kidnapping them from a missionary school. In May last year, a court in Khunti convicted them, besides holding a Catholic priest guilty of suppressing the crime. Besides, a series of incidents related to attacking police parties, loot, and atrocities on women had been reported.

 
“The modus operandi shows that hard-core criminals were involved in the Burugulikera incident,” said former IPS officer Arun Oraon, who is now national vice-president of the BJP’s SC/ST Morcha.
 
Maoists in Jharkhand only beat up people after abduction, he said, adding that slitting the throat of seven people, that too in one go and at one place, could be by professional killers.
 
Though Soren has assured stringent action against the criminals, dealing with the issue is no doddle. “Taking firm action will invite tribals’ wrath and he will be seen to be suppressing people’s rights,” said Shrivastav. After all, his party, the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM), bagged 30 seats banking only on tribals, who constitute 26 per cent of the state’s population, and Muslims.

 
For Soren, the Pathalgadi movement will be a thorn in his flesh. In Khunti, which is the epicentre of the movement, 13 families wrote to the President of India, saying that they did not believe in the Constitution, and returned their Aadhaar cards.
 
Another challenge on the political front has put Soren in a spot. He has put off cabinet expansion, which was scheduled for January 24, citing Pathalgadi as the reason for it.
 
Soren and his ally, the Congress, have reportedly failed to reach a consensus on sharing ministries.