[Reader-list] Fwd: FACT Exhibition at IHC‏

[Kshmendra Kaul]

Dear Ms Dube
 
If the BSP has "begun to ignore the demands of the majority of Dalits, the rural poor" as suggested, then the BSP I presume will lose 'that' vote and suffer in the elections. Rather, perhaps be wiped out since the majority support base of the BSP is Dalit and the majority of the Dalits are "poor" and the majority of the Dalits are "rural".
 
Why is it difficult to imagine that the Adivasis can emulate the BSP example? Does being "forest dependant" and being "non-urban" preclude the Advisasis from being able to take up collective political thought or action? Being "non-urban" at least, certainly does not prevent the majority of the people in India from participating in the political process. 
 
You have mentioned that the "the adivasis (are seen as) .... footsoldiers of the Naxalite movement" and that there exists the "communitarian politics and political philosophy of the adivasis". Both comments suggest that there is "political awareness" amongst the adivasis.
 
Would the advisasis perhaps be better placed than the Dalits were?
 
The Adivasis are primarily on the fringes of the "social order" and can carve out a new and separate political space for themselves without such an initiative appearing to be directly threatening to already entrenched politics. You yourself have cited the examples of Jharkhand and Chattisgarh. 
 
The Dalits on the other hand had to 'revolt'  and snatch political space form those very elements from who they faced the suppression. Quite a confrontation.
 
Just some thoughts.
 
Kshmendra
    

--- On Sun, 7/13/08, pankhuree dube <pankhuree at hotmail.com> wrote:

From: pankhuree dube <pankhuree at hotmail.com>
Subject: Re: [Reader-list] Fwd: FACT Exhibition at IHC‏
To: "Sarai" <reader-list at sarai.net>
Date: Sunday, July 13, 2008, 2:53 AM

Dear Mr. Sengupta,Thank you for your incisive critique of the IHC exhibit. I
look forward to reading your contributions to this listserv and I am not
disappointed by your comments on this discussion.    I am curious to know why
you think the Naxalite insurgency intensified in tribal areas after adivasis
achieved their demands for statehood in Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh. I wonder if
the Naxalite movement is tapping into a larger vein of discontent in rural
India. Although the economic success of urban centers receives a lot of
coverage in the Indian mainstream media, the continuing oppression of tribals,
landless laborers and peasants tends to be ignored, or covered only
intermittently. I see the Naxalite movement as merely one expression of the
intensification of the rural-urban divide wherein urban centers continue to
extract resources from the countryside, ignore rural development needs, and
de-humanize those who face crushing poverty in these areas. Scholars like
historian Ramachandra Guha and observers from the Asian Centre for Human Rights
maintain that the adivasis are merely the foot-soldiers of the Naxalite movement
which is led by a Commander Kosa based in Andhra Pradesh. I agree with your lack
of sympathy for the violence employed by the Naxals. My interest is in the
political solutions innovated by the adivasis themselves. I think the
communitarian politics and political philosophy of the adivasis gets ignored by
journalists who merely talk of the tribals as guerrillas or victims. 
   In this regard, Mr. Kaul made an intriguing comment about the Dalits
engaging in peaceful 'remedial measures' from within the political
system, i.e through the Bahujan Samaj Party. But one criticism directed at the
BSP is that they have begun to ignore the demands of the majority of Dalits,
the rural poor. Since the adivasis in central India are generally
forest-dependent and non-urban people, a BSP-type political solution may not be
as attainable or even suitable for them. Organizing a political party may be
easier for urban groups and also, less appropriate for a group (such as the
tribals) that perceives the nation-state as an illegitimate, occupying force
which sanctions oppression.
    So, my question for you and others is: What are the political
solutions--which you may know of--being employed by adivasis, for adivasis?
Such solutions get lost in all the talk of Naxalism and the distinction between
adivasi activists and Maoists gets blurred by the mainstream media.  
   I hope you can make sense of my jumble of thoughts! Pankhuree               
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