India's Silent War

A 40-year long civil war has been raging in the jungles of central and eastern India. It is one of the world's largest armed conflicts but it remains largely ignored outside of India.

Caught in the crossfire of it are the Adivasis, who are believed to be India's earliest inhabitants. A loose collection of tribes, it is estimated that there are about 84 million of these indigenous people, which is about eight per cent of the country's population.

For generations, they have lived off farming and the spoils of the jungle in eastern India, but their way of life is under threat. Their land contains mineral deposits estimated to be worth trillions of dollars. Forests have been cleared and the Indian government has evacuated hundreds of villages to make room for steel plants and mineral refineries.


The risk of losing everything they have ever known has made many Adivasis fertile recruits for India's Maoist rebels or Naxalites, who also call these forests home.

The Maoists' fight with the Indian government began 50 years ago, just after India became independent. A loose collection of anti-government communist groups - that initially fought for land reform - they are said to be India's biggest internal security threat. Over time, their focus has expanded to include more fundamental questions about how India is actually governed.

In their zeal for undermining the Indian government, Maoist fighters have torched construction equipment, bombed government schools and de-railed passenger trains, killing hundreds. In the name of state security, several activists who have supported the Maoists have been jailed and tortured. Innocent people have also been implicated on false charges. These are often intimidation tactics used by the government to discourage people from having any contact with the Maoists.

The uprising by Maoist fighters and its brutal suppression by the Indian government, has claimed more than 10,000 lives since 1980, and displaced 12 million people. Many of the victims are not even associated with either side. They are simply caught in the crossfire. And the violence is escalating as both sides mount offensive after counter-offensive.

Imran Garda in Al Jazeera. Here

Al Jazeera's Imran Garda travelled to the Indian states of Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Orissa and West Bengal to get a secret glimpse into the world of the Naxalites and to meet with rebel fighters as well as those victimised by this conflict.

I'm neither a Maoist nor a Gandhian but I'm an Adivasi who is determined to fight

Gladson is an Adivasi living in the now war-torn state of Jharkhand. When he was one, his family, prosperous farmers owning 20 acres of fertile land, were made homeless. Their ancestral land disappeared when a dam was built on the Chinda river. As compensation the family was paid Rs 11,000. When they and their neighbours protested they were sent off to Hazaribagh jail. Could a family of six ensure food, education, housing, health care for their entire life with Rs 11,000?

"The worst thing is the culprits were not brought to justice. Can anyone tell us why the Indian state did not deliver justice to us, who snatched our resources in the name of development? Why there is no electricity in my village even today? Why my people do not get water for their field whose lands were taken for the irrigation projects? Why there is no electricity in those houses, who have given their land for the power project? And why people are still living in small mud houses whose lands were taken for the steel plants? It seems that the Adivasis are only born to suffer and others to enjoy over our graves.

"After a long struggle, we all got back to life but my pain and sufferings did not end here. When I was working as a state programme officer in a project funded by the European Commission, a senior government officer and an editor of a newspaper (both from the upper caste) questioned my credentials saying that being an Adivasi, how could I have gotten into such a prestigious position?

Can those so-called supporters of the unjust development process, who have not given even one inch of land for the so-called national interest, coin me as a Maoist ideologue: why should I shut up my mouth and stop writing against injustice? I have lost everything in the name of development and now I have nothing to lose.
Therefore I'm determined to fight for my own people.I have taken the democratic path of struggle. A pen, mouth and mind are my weapons. I'm neither a Maoist nor a Gandhian but I'm an Adivasi who is determined to fight for his own people, whom the Indian state has alienated, displaced and dispossessed from their resources and is continually doing it in the name of development, national security and national interest even today." 

From Mallika Sarabhai's thought provoking article 'A story about an Adivasi's fight for his people' in DNA.

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