[Reader-list] Lalgarh does not exist

[subhrodip sengupta]

Dear Rakesh,
 Quite informative. Has our home minister forgot some of the quantitative techniques he used to use when in finance. The Maoists are not a regional party, I guess. Sri Ram Sene can be banned but not Rss and it's current allies. Yet government carries out far worse practise of Fashioning by ignorance the body polity, but how can BJP be banned? hahaha. How can CPM be banned even when it uses so many Goondas? The political equation shall spoil. BUt who says these maoists are a regional disaster. Under various names they'll spur and thrive, like the SIMI which even after being banned used DU premises to spread it's propaganda, or simply take up a new name! CPIML i believe has spread it's infuence over many states. Under such a condition what amount of counter terror shall be required to remove this so called terror? Gives me goose-flesh. Alas, humiliated,unaccepted, severed from honour family and means of Existance, these youth would spread all
 over India trying to take up arms, resoting to Guerilla methods. Many civilians will get wounded in such civil strife. By the way the main source of the weapons is ingeneous craft. True. Any idea what is the next? Camps of the Indian Army! Hahahaha. Regards the last part of Upliftment. What else is Democracy than Uplifting the ploretariat to the dergree of stupidity the Beurgeoise have already attained? Smile do not solve the problem, but we need more time to think on this. Women are backward. We can therefore have a woman speaker but limited access to powerful posts. Ditto with tribals. Meena's case is a sad one. Yeah the ribal word is itself as british as Native.. . . . . . ..  Hopefully we'd see more empowerment of tribals in the parliament, and more hopefully people who'd take transaltors and be listened to seriously, not people who for regional popularity put up a mock show in the parliament. Then, in the abscence of democracy in spirit and
 upliftment of quality of life, where stands the parliament, and who'd listen to us. NOt MR. Chidambaram, certainly. We could reach some esctacy under the NSA for talking for a banned organisation at most. Pain gives Moksha, rationalises a lot of things, as does pure joy. Trust me.

Regards,
Subhrodip.




________________________________
From: Rakesh Iyer <rakesh.rnbdj at gmail.com>
To: subhrodip sengupta <sub_sengupta at yahoo.co.in>
Cc: Readers list Yousuf Sarai. <reader-list at sarai.net>
Sent: Tuesday, 23 June, 2009 4:44:20 PM
Subject: Re: [Reader-list] Lalgarh does not exist

Dear Subhrodip

It's not just Bengal, but in the entire country, tribals have been the one community which has suffered very badly. I remember having read a no. of times that out of the total people who have been displaced due to development projects, the tribals constitute the dominant section (around 40% or more I remember) which is disproportionate to the percentage of population they form in the country. 

The tribals have been sent away from forests in the name of Forest Conservation Act and illegal encroachment of forest land. They have not been allowed to even use forest products for food and for other purposes. They are people who have lived in tune with forests without endangering them for so many years, and here are we who want to modernize them and civilize them, so we in the name of development have allowed cutting down of forests, and then accuse tribals of destroying forests. How shameful that we destroy forests and then accuse tribals of the same?

I remember that in the year 2005 when there were Bihar elections, Ram Vilas Paswan had said that if his party were voted to power, Bihar would have a Muslim CM. Many had commented on this whether it was right or wrong. I and my friend Aashish (also a member of this forum) had a small conversation on this, and there are two things I remember we said to each other in that:

Rakesh: (myself) ' yaar it would be a historic day when india has a muslim prime minister'

Aashish: 'no. the historic day would be when india has a tribal prime minister.'

And indeed it would be historic. Muslims and Dalits have at least got some amount of education, have some intellectuals supporting their causes, and are any day better off on any standard when compared to tribals. The tribals don't have an intellectual by and large, from their own brethren, who can support them and fight for them. Even those who point their cause like me come from non-tribal backgrounds. This shows the state of tribals in our country. 

Infact, the very word 'tribal' seems to bring notions of backwardness in the minds of us educated, which is quite wrong. Just yesterday, I saw a video portraying the achievements of the Gujarat govt under Modi. Somewhere, came the information about the 'VanBandhu yojana', which was said to bring the tribals to the level of development and modern standards of the urban people.. So the tribals are not only considered underdeveloped (which they would be I believe), but they have to be modernized to that extent. Infact, the tribals were to be brought into the mainstream. 

It is utterly disgusting that whatever is tribal is considered backward, and notions of modernity are to be ingrained in them. I don't think people have a right to decide the benchmark of lifestyle for others beyond a point, especially on counts of modernity and backwardness. Also, who are we to decide development standards in terms of malls, multiplexes, 24 hr power supply and other things for them? There can be some common standards like health and education, but that's because those can be used as instruments to beter their own life and live well. How can culture and modernity decide development for them? 

The whole point about tribals itself needs to be seriously debated, both in terms of Lalgarh and even outside that. In the last 60 years or more, almost all the communities have got their voices heard in some way or the other. Upper castes, backward castes, Muslims, Yadavs, Ahirs, Jats, Gurjars, Meenas and what not. If there is one community which is left out, it's the tribals. And they deserve to be heard. They are the original inhabitants of this nation. They are the protectors of forests in our country. 

Regards

Rakesh


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