[Reader-list] Reversing Land Reforms in WB - Report

[A. Mani]

http://www.pragoti.in/node/4527

Reversing Land Reforms in West Bengal: A Report

Rama Das, Mihir Bhattacharya, Malini Bhattacharya, Gairika Ghosh, and
Bhagabati Mandal



This report is based on case-studies of incidents of eviction from
agricultural land in 4 districts in the southern part of West Bengal,
namely, North 24 Parganas, Burdwan, Birbhum and South 24 Parganas,
undertaken by Punarnaba; a Forum.





This report is based on case-studies of incidents of eviction from
agricultural land in 4 districts in the southern part of West Bengal,
namely, North 24 Parganas, Burdwan, Birbhum and South 24 Parganas. The
studies are mainly based on visits to thana areas in the districts
where such eviction is reported to have taken place and on interviews
and group-meetings with affected persons, more particularly with
women. A broad questionnaire was previously formulated to ensure that
comparison may be done among the different findings, but the
discussions were more flexible and not confined to the questionnaire
alone. In a number of instances, people showed us documents in
corroboration of their claim, but the evidence was mostly oral. To
understand the broader context of the incident, we spoke also to
senior people in the village, to panchayat members and to Kisan Sabha
leaders. We did not try to compare our evidence with ‘official
versions’ because most often such versions do not exist and the
incidents we are speaking of remain invisible because in many cases,
police refuse to take complaints, or even when cases are lodged the
basic question of conflict over land is completely blurred by putting
a different construction on the incident. This will be evident from
our reports on Kankutia, Birbhum, and Harapur, south 24 Parganas.
Wherever the incidents have been reported in media at all we have
tried to compare the different versions. This study was undertaken by
Punarnaba; a Forum, which also organized our visits to the locations.



1. We visited Haroa Block in North 24 Parganas on 20.7.11. The
location to which we went was called Chhowani, on the border between
two blocks, Minakhan and Haroa. It was situated right next to the
bheris or fisheries, extensive stretches of water with low narrow
earth walls in between and occasional little shacks called alaghar on
poles rising from the water. These are the places from which night
guards employed by the fisheries keep watch against intruders. There
is only one tarred road in rather bad condition, wending along the
edge of the bheris towards Haroa where the nearest police station is
located and it had taken the best part of an hour for us to come from
Haroa to this spot. This spot is very close to the place where, on 9
July,2011, police and TMC allegedly opened fire on peasants trying to
retrieve possession of the land for which they had been given pattas
more than a decade ago by the Left Front Govt., an incident in which
three peasants sustained bullet injuries.



Our respondents were Pintu Mollah, Dinabandhu Sardar, Dasarath Mondol,
Sajal Das as well as women like Atashi Mondol, Bimala Sardar, Parul
Munda, Karuna Sardar, Pano Sardar, Sita Sardar, Santi Sardar,Mani
Munda, Durgamani Munda, Sitamani Munda and others who were from
Gopalpur-1 and -2 and Munshirgheri-1 and -2 panchayat areas. Quite a
few of the women came from the village of Banstola, very close to the
place where the peasants were attacked and were eye-witnesses to the
incident. All the women who met us, except one, were Adivasis.



What we were told is that land reforms did not take place in the
moujas of Tentulia, Nebutola Abad and Munshirgheri under Gopalpur-1
and Gopalpur-2 until 1996. There were large areas of benami land
occupied by extensive fisheries under the ownership of jotdars like
Kashem Ali and Chhoton Munshi. The peasants were largely landless, a
majority in some of the moujas including Munshirgheri mouja, being
Adivasis. In 1996, under the leadership of Kisan Sabha, landless
peasants from Gopalpur-1 and -2, Mohanpur, Champali etc. seized
occupation of large parts of this benami land in the three
above-mentioned moujas. The amount of land occupied was 1265 bighas in
Tentulia, 2200 bighas in Nebutola Abad and about 1100 bighas in
Munshir-gheri.



This benami land was vested in the Government through legal process
and patta was then given in 2000 on 508 bighas to 1205 landless
peasants in Tentulia. In Nebutola Abad and Munshirgheri, the process
of giving pattas was stalled as the jotdars went to court and the case
remained sub judice. However, there was a Supreme Court order whereby
eviction of the occupants of the land, even where they had not
obtained pattas but were cultivating the land, was prevented. For more
than a decade now, these occupants have been themselves raising one
crop on it and after the harvest, they have been leasing out these
small plots of land to other local people who are then turning them
into fisheries for the rest of the year. Earlier the peasants would
migrate to other places in search of work, but now that they own some
land, migration has been reduced. The jotdars had retreated for the
time being; however, they were down but not out and even after 2000,
there had been sporadic disturbances in the area. In a sense, what
happened after the change of regime in the state was a continuation of
the tensions that had prevailed here over the ownership of land, the
peasants determined to hold on to the rights to the land they had
acquired and the jotdars fighting tooth and nail to regain possession
of what they had lost.



According to our respondents, troubles started once Assembly election
results were out. On the pretext of looking for illegal arms, armed
gangs recruited by TMC and with active support of the jotdars started
infiltrating into the area helped by the local police force. On 3
July, they entered the village of Amta-Khantra in search of arms and
when nothing was found they demanded that search should be made in
Gazitola. The next day they came back with a huge police force as well
as RAF; the attacking gangs were themselves armed with bombs, swords
and firearms and they were hiding behind the police forces. The
peasants being unprepared and unarmed could not resist them and
although no hidden arms could be discovered, they set fire to the
alaghars, damaged whatever property of the peasants they could find
and took possession of the bheris. This time the police were not just
silent spectators, but led the campaign in evicting the peasants.



The evicted peasants were desperate because the time for cultivation
was about to start and unless they could immediately regain access to
the land that was legally theirs, they would not be able to raise the
crop on which their subsistence depended. Nor would the leaseholders
who were running the fisheries be able to carry on their work, thus
jeopardizing the livelihoods of all those who depended for a living on
the fisheries. On 8 July, there was a meeting at the Chhowani retail
fish market, which was attended by leaders of the political opposition
in the state like Shri Surjakanto Mishra. Here it was decided that the
peasants should try to enter the land and start cultivation as they
did every year.



Accordingly on the morning of 9 July, a group of pattadars about
1200-strong, Adivasis most of them, went forth around 9.30 am to take
possession of their lands. The intruders who were on guard, were
outnumbered by the peasants and backed away in the face of their
advance and retreated to Dewalgheri. But a couple of hours later, they
returned in full force bringing this time 6 vehicles filled with armed
police to back them up. As soon as police arrived, without any warning
they opened fire according to our respondents; allegedly the TMC gangs
accompanying them also started shooting. In the face of this twin
attack, the peasants broke rank and started to run away wherever they
could. In the melee 3 peasants got bullet injuries; as far as they
could tell us the injuries were caused by TMC bullets. The names of
the injured persons are: Bonko Sardar, Kanai Sardar and Saharab
Sardar. Kanai Sardar’s injury was serious, but they did not dare to
take him to the Govt. hospital and managed to admit him to a private
clinic a couple of days later.



According to their statement, the peasants ran away only because they
were being attacked by the police and they knew that they were in no
way prepared to resist the police and RAF. Many women who had come out
of their houses to watch the progress of their men and were standing
around at that time also ran helter-skelter. Some of them like Atashi
Mondol, Karuna Sardar, Pano Sardar, Anima Sardar were eye-witnesses to
police firing. They also said that that the police closed in from both
sides and mercilessly beat up one Bikash Santra, who was a lessee
running fisheries in the area and severely injured him. Another
lessee, Sambhu Sardar, was accused of having illegal arms, and
although nothing was discovered at his residence, the TMC gangs
together with the police allegedly ransacked his house, destroyed his
papers and set fire to the alaghar on his rayati property. They also
threatened and gave chase to young boys like Dasarath Mondol who were
standing in the vicinity watching the attack made by the police and
TMC.



The situation at the moment is that in Tentulia mouja the entire
vested area consisting of 1265 bighas is now under occupation by the
intruders, and about 3000 peasants including those who did not have
pattas but who had the right to till the soil according to the SC
order, have been deprived of their livelihood and the land remains
uncultivated. Also since there is now no one to look after the bheris,
the likelihood of water level rising, breaking the earth walls and
flooding the fields making them unfit for cultivation is now very
real. In Nebutola Abad mouja, where in a large part of the land, cases
are still going on in the High Court, about 3700 people have been
ousted from the land they had been cultivating. In Munshirgheri mouja,
where also the process of vesting was stalled in parts of the land due
to court cases, the intruders have taken possession of about 120
bighas out of about 1100 bighas.



In these areas, even those with legal pattas are unable to access
their land so that they may start cultivation; cultivators without
patta, but none the less protected from eviction by the SC order, are
also in a similar situation. Further, in Tentulia mouja, 150 families
are unable to stay at home and have taken shelter here and there. In
Munshirgheri mouja also displacements have taken place. A FIR was
lodged with Haroa police station after the incident of 9 July; 4
persons were arrested and released the next day. The police came to
Kanai Sardar’s house for enquiry, but according to the women, asked
irrelevant questions like ‘Why were you standing outside at the time?’
‘Do you know the persons who set the alaghars on fire?’ when
everything happened in front of them and they could see what was
happening. The women complained that in many cases the men in their
families were staying away from home at night for fear of raids, while
they themselves lived in daily fear because gangs on motorbikes were
frequenting the only road regularly and shouting abuses and threats.
Their children’s education was being disrupted and they were unable to
send them to the Madhyamik Shiksha Kendra which was some distance
away.



Many of the married women in this area are beneficiaries of joint
patta although they have only a vague idea of the significance of
this. However, as matters stand now they are also deprived of
ownership right to the land. Since most of the peasants only have
small plots of land, they also have to work as agricultural labourers
for part of the time to make ends meet. The women themselves also work
as agricultural labourers along with their men; after harvest is over
they work in the fisheries collecting prawns and crabs and selling
them. Even now wherever possible (as in Munshirgheri) they have
started the work of planting rice seedlings since soon it will be too
late for that. But now that they have been deprived of their land and
whatever other livelihood they had, they are saying that they would
have to turn into migrant workers in search of work once again. The
pity of it is that in spite of having legal rights and in many cases
the necessary legal documents, the peasants are unable to gain access
to their land. The police in stead of helping them are allegedly
either turning a blind eye to this violation of rights or working
directly in cahoots with the intruders. It is quite true that the
geographical location of the area is such that the intruders would not
have been able to make much headway without the support of the police.



The peasants have also stated that some members of the gang of
intruders were known to them as being close to the jotdars in the area
and acting as their henchmen. But mostly the intruders were unknown
and had probably been brought over from other areas with promises that
they would be able to grab the land, and particularly the fisheries,
once when the present occupants have been ousted. They have firearms
and other weapons with them. They knew that the intruders belonged to
TMC because at the time of the attack, they were carrying their flags.
The women vociferously said that whatever their affiliation, TMC or
CPI(M), they should stop their violent activities and allow some peace
and quiet in the area.



2. A team comprising Debjani Sengupta, Supriyo Basu and Samhita
Majumdar visited the villages of Barorpara in Mahadebpur Mouja,
Dakshinbati and Jankar in Samudragarh under Purbasthali thana in the
district of Burdwan. About ten years back, in Mahadebpur, benami land
owned by three jotdars, Abu Morol, Hajijur Rahman Mondol and Abdul Haq
Mondol (about 300 acres) was occupied by 508 landless peasants who had
been tilling the land since 1980s. This land was vested and
distributed among them, although because of pending cases, pattas
could not be given for 110-115 bighas. After the assembly elections, a
mob about 400-500 strong, among whom there were many outsiders, came
and evicted about 200 of the above-mentioned tillers from their land
by force and marked it with TMC flags. It was forcibly redistributed
among people in the village many of whom had more than 4-5 bighas of
land. Also some landless labourers were promised pattas and engaged to
till the occupied fields. Those who had obtained tillers’ rights
during the Left Front regime, but had not yet received the documents
due to legal complications were the most vulnerable group. Protima
Prodhan, Kanchan Das, Monjira Biwi, Abdul Halim Mallik, Khairul Mollah
and others told us that they have already been evicted. Others like
Mosharraf Mollah are being threatened with eviction.



But this does not mean that those having the required documents are
absolutely secure. One widow, Chhabi Das, and Mumtaj Begum, a deserted
woman, showed us documents for their rayati land, which is now under
occupation, and said that although they had been assured that they
would be able to till their land if they had proper documents, the TMC
flags are still flying over their land and outsiders have been engaged
to cultivate their plots. They also told us that they feared for the
lives of their sons should they try to retrieve it. Apart from
intimidation, girls had been molested. Khadeja, a young girl of 15 and
her mother, Arjina Biwi, were brutally tortured on the pretext that
they had stolen a mobile phone. Her brother too was beaten up. The
women said: now that they (TMC) are in power, they can do what they
like. If the villagers want to complain, they have to plead with TMC
leaders. Laxmi Hansda, Talkuri Hansda and one other Adivasi woman
showed us their patta documents and said that they were unable to
access the land that is rightfully theirs although it is being said
that the land of those having pattas will not be taken away.



It is the time for harvesting jute, but TMC leaders are saying:
harvest your crop and get off the land. Former MLA, Manoranjan Nath,
advised the peasants to till the land on the same day after harvesting
the jute. For the last ten years, in the face of stiff opposition from
landowners, Kisan Sabha had been identifying vested land and giving
homestead land to the homeless. With the change of regime, their
rights too are jeopardized. Thirteen families, who had been holding on
to such land since 1998, although their homes have been twice burnt
down by landowners’ henchmen, are now being told that if they do not
leave, they shall be thrown out by the police. Abdus Sukur of
Kesabbati, who had been cultivating rayoti land (33 shatak) since
1978, has been evicted and his land has been given to two persons who
own more than 1 acre of land. Kisan Sabha has started holding meetings
in the area and trying to win back peasants who were actively involved
in the eviction; some of them have been persuaded, but as one peasant
said, these steps should have been taken long ago.



We were accompanied by Sahadul Khan, president, Block Kisan Sabha and
by Anju Kar when we visited Dakshinbati. Here, in 1998, more than 4
acres of benami land was identified and distributed among 80 peasants.
But due to opposition from TMC-dominated Panchayat, pattas could not
be given although there was a court order saying that apart from 2
acres 66 shatak, on the rest of the land, patta could be given. On 26
June, 2011, the original owner re-occupied the entire land, including
vested land, with the help of the police, on the basis of a court
order dating back to 2001. They also brought some landless labourers
with them. The argument of the police, who did not accept the
complaint of the peasants, was: you cannot cultivate this land as you
have no pattas. The intruders also cut down about 80 mango trees.
Since the peasants were aware of the intimacy between the IC and the
landowner and had found the police too ready to respond whenever the
latter needed their help, they did not try to recover their land
immediately. But the next day, through organized resistance, they
recovered 50-60 shataks of land. The rest of the land was tilled by
labourers hired by the landowner. Three days after our visit, it was
reported in media that they had been able to retrieve the entire land
which was vested.



Next we visited the house of Santosh Dhara, a registered bargadar of
Jankar village and heard of the torture he had had to endure in the
hands of TMC goons. His family has been specially targeted because his
son, Goutam, is a CPI(M) activist. Santosh Dhara and his 3 other
brothers cultivate 7 bighas of land on which his father had bargadari
rights. It is not known whether the landowner was privy to the attack
on him since he does not live in the village. However, on the day of
the attack he and his brothers were working on the land when 50-60 TMC
supporters set upon them with hatchets and other weapons. He and his
wife, Anita, were hit on the head with hatchets and lay unconscious in
their own blood. His brothers and one sister-in-law also sustained
serious injuries. The attackers also tried to prevent the ambulance
from entering the village. However, through the efforts of Aleya
Begum, the erstwhile pradhan and present leader of opposition in the
panchayat samiti, they could be taken to the hospital for treatment.
They are still living in terror; even the families who had helped them
on that day are under threat. One girl student named Ananya, studying
in Class XI, told us how she and her family are being harassed because
they made a complaint to the police. The police have not so far
admitted any complaint, neither GD, nor FIR, although they visited the
spot.



The salient points observed by us are: attacks are concentrated where
peasants have not received patta owing to legal complications,
although the pattadars and owners of rayoti land are not entirely
immune to attack; while the tillers of the land are being ousted, it
is being distributed to others, even though many of these people have
land of their own; a reign of terror is being unleashed from which
even women are not safe; attempts at eviction had been going on for a
long time, now these attempts are being successful; police is actively
facilitating eviction and not registering the complaints of the
peasants. The peasants are saying that they could not have been ousted
from the land if police were not helping their adversaries; the IC at
the thana level is actively participating in the process of eviction;
during LF regime, the advisory committee at the thana level consisted
of people from all walks of life, but now its place has been taken by
a ‘nagarik committee’ which represents the ruling party alone.



3.Our team visited village Kankutia in Raipur-Sripur panchayat area
under Bolpur-Sriniketan Block in Birbhum on 27.07.11. This is a large
village having about 500 families (2500-3000 residents) residing in
it. Here in a series of incidents culminating on 19 July, 42 peasants
(ST 27+ SC 10 + Muslims 5) were evicted from 14 bighas of agricultural
land for which they are holding pattas. They have been cultivating
this land for a long time on the basis of which pattas were given to
them between early ‘80s and late ‘90s. The original owners of the land
are living in Burdwan, so that it is not possible to say whether they
are involved in the process of eviction. A total of another 10
peasants ( ST 2+SC 6+ Muslim 2) have also been evicted in the villages
of Singi, Nahina, Shalan and Jashra from 11.5 bighas of land, bringing
the total amount of land to 25.5 bighas, most of which is vested.
Since land had been distributed much earlier, there are no joint
pattas, but there are 6 or 7 women beneficiaries. Four of those
evicted are bargadars. The land yields only one crop, but some
vegetables are grown where irrigation is there. So apart from a large
number of landless labourers travelling to other areas of Birbhum, the
pattadars themselves also have to look for supplementary work since
the land they have is scattered in small plots over the area. Many of
them earn some income through construction work. We talked to some of
the many women landless labourers in the village. They have homestead
land, but no agricultural land and travel to different parts of the
district in search of work. The daily wages vary and depend on
negotiations with their employers. But they have not been greatly
affected by the present disturbances and were either unwilling or
unable to talk about incidents of eviction.



Everyone said that this had been a peaceful area. Troubles started
before the assembly elections. Work at the left-dominated panchayat
came to a standstill because the woman pradhan, Sonali Dhibar was
being daily harassed by organized gangs of TMC workers who crowded her
office in the name of giving deputation; she was even manhandled.
After the election, a left panchayat member, Lete Soren, was falsely
implicated on the charge of carrying a bag of bombs on his motor-bike.
He is now absconding. Fatik Kisku’s homestead land was taken away and
TMC flags planted there. We were told that at the moment, the
panchayat is able to function, police cars are making their rounds as
we also saw for ourselves; but in spite of that, an atmosphere of
unease and terror prevailed over the village. So much so that apart
from woman panchayat member Lakshmi Soren, few others would give us
their names. In Kantabagan, which is an Adivasi neighbourhood, we
found very few men at home. One woman would not even come in front of
us because her husband had been arrested by the police, and she said,
who knows whether she too would be arrested for talking to us, and
then who would look after her children. In Bagdipara (where the SC
community live), everyone retreated indoors when they saw our
Ambassador car coming.



After we succeeded in assuring them that we were not connected with
the police in any way, some women, both at Kantabagan and Bagdipara
came and spoke to us, but they were still wary of telling us their
names. The story they told us was this: Those from whom the land had
been vested are living in Burdwan. But some local TMC leaders such as
Abul Rahim, Dhiren Bala and others had been intruding into patta land
with tractors and destroying vegetables grown by the peasants. In
Bagdipara, one woman told us that the land for which her family has
patta has been occupied by Abul Rahim who has no claim to it; when she
protested she was told ‘This is not your land, you can till the land
on that side’; but that plot is not only uncultivable, but it once
used to be the common burial ground. To sort out these problems, the
villagers made a deputation to the Block Land and Land Reform Officer
and demanded that the land be measured. On the morning of 19 July,
while the BLLRO’s men were starting this work, the above-mentioned TMC
leaders came with a huge armed gang and started throwing bombs. At
first, the villagers began to run away, but then finding that the
bombs were ineffectual on the wet ground, they came back, gave chase
and succeeded in catching two of the intruders whom they gave a good
thrashing so that they had to be hospitalized. The measurement work
was thus thwarted; the police who had been inactive so far now swung
into action and F.I.R.s were lodged against a large number of persons
– 40 persons from this village alone. Three or four TMC men have also
been named in the F.I.R., but none arrested. Two women, Jasoda Majhi
and Arati Burman made counter-complaints against Dhiren Bala, Abul
Rahim and others for attacking and molesting them during the incident.
But they too remain scot-free.



In the evening of the same day, the police raided a licensed liquor
shop which villagers often visit after their day’s work and arrested
19 persons, only 1 of whom has been named in the FIR. On the day of
our visit, they had still not got bail. Others are absconding, among
them the husband of Lucy Mardi, who spoke to us. They have some patta
land which is partly cultivated by them and partly by engaging
labourers. The season will soon be over and Lucy’s land will remain
fallow as her husband is not there to cultivate it. Most of the land
which the pattadars have is not going to be cultivated this year.
Anath Burman in Bagdipara has 12 bighas of rayoti land which is tilled
by bargadars. His wife complained that this land has been occupied by
the TMC men and the bargadars are not allowed to access it. In some
cases bargadars are also being threatened. TMC men came with tractors
and occupied the rayoti land of Madhab Ghosh and Bhupen Ghosh. Now
outsiders have been hired to till that land.



What struck us was the atmosphere of terror prevailing in the village.
Whole families have left the village; in some cases the women have
returned, but they do not know how to resist this terror. The fear of
crop failure had been looming large because of scanty rains; the
present troubles are going to add to their woes. Attacks on Left-run
panchayats is adding to the confusion. Even before we had left Bolpur,
we came to know of another panchayat at Ruppur , where after attempts
to insult and terrorize the woman pradhan, Niyoti Soren, had failed, 6
Left members were persuaded/ induced/ forced to turn over to the other
side so that the panchayat came under the control of TMC.



4. Our team visited Bhangar in South 24 Parganas on 17.08.11 because
media reports told us that in some places in Bhangar where attempts at
eviction had been taken by newly powerful political groups, effective
resistance had enabled the peasants to hold on to their land. The
village visited by us was Sonatikuri in the Tardaha village Panchayat
area in the Bhangar Block. It is situated in a low-lying area behind
the huge Kolkata Leather Complex at Bantala, off the Eastern
Metropolitan Bypass. The land yields only one crop. Our respondents
were Shakti, Dilip Koli, Anil Mondol, Bhadreswar Mondol, Urmila
Mondol, Mina Mondol, Jasho Mondol, Menoka Mondol, Sumita Koli and
others. From what they told us, it appeared that in 1972, the jotdars
in this area, in order to evade the law and deprive the peasants who
had been tilling the land for at least 2 or 3 generations, had
distributed about 400 bighas of excess land to their own henchmen.



However, in 2004, through the efforts of the Kisan Sabha, this was
annulled and patta was granted to about 150 peasants who had been
tillers of the soil for a long time. The peasants were emphatic in
stating that only those having no agricultural land of their own and
making their livelihood from the soil had thus been granted pattas in
2004. The allegation that some people had benefited from this latest
land-distribution in spite of the fact that they possessed some land,
has been disproved. Each family got at most about 2-3 bighas of land,
which meant that apart from raising paddy on this land, for the rest
of the year, they had to work as day-labourers to make ends meet. The
leather complex in the vicinity provided some opportunity for work;
but this was largely contractual work and not regular employment at
the Complex itself. Such work fetched a daily wage of about Rs.130/-,
which is higher than the rates received by agricultural workers, but
much lower than the going rates sanctioned by the Central Govt. But
even here, according to the peasants, the atmosphere has changed and
Trinamul Congress strongmen under the leadership of Arabul, notorious
for his role in the Vedic Village disturbances last year, have been
calling the shots in recent times. The peasants referred to
lumpenization of sections of young people as a result of illegal
activities being carried on by these elements.



Attempts at eviction had been made even after the Loksabha elections
of 2009, but these were not successful. This time on, the disturbances
started on 8 July, 2011. A huge procession led by outsiders entered
the village and planted TMC flags on the patta land in the entire
area. Similarly they planted their flags on rayoti land in Ushpara and
ransacked shops belonging to CPI(M) supporters; they also ousted
Adivasis like Bharat Munda, Nishi Munda, Kabiballav Munda and Sudo
Sardar from their land. On 9 July, the peasants went to the police
station (KLC) to lodge their complaint, but received no response. In
fact, one of the women alleged that at that time Arabul was sitting
inside the thana. On the other hand, after 23 July, false cases were
lodged against 157 peasants in the entire Tardaha area. With the
encouragement of some of the Kisan Sabha leaders in the area, however,
the peasants decided that they would try to reclaim what was
rightfully theirs; they were anxious that they would not be able to
raise their yearly crops if they were unable to plant the seedlings in
time. So on 23 July, under the leadership of Kisan Sabha, the peasants
congregated in a huge procession in which women participated in large
numbers; they entered their patta land, threw away the TMC flags and
planted Kisan Sabha flags, thus taking possession of the land once
again. But the tension continued; the peasants were prevented from
tilling the soil with tractors with threats and the police and
administration were still quite inert.



A week later, the intruders were back. Some of them belonged to the
same village, others had come from outside. The peasants of Sonatikuri
mentioned one particular area (dag no. 815) consisting of about 36
bighas where conflict was particularly intense. Here, according to
them, Left Front supporters had got patta on 24 bighas, while the rest
of the land had been allotted to supporters of TMC. One elderly man
named Anil Mandal said that when on the morning of 30 July, he saw
about 300-400 TMC men coming in strength, he called all the women who
were at home at that time and went with them to confront the TMC army.
Urmila Mandal said that she was standing on the border of her family’s
land which her husband was tilling when the family to whom the next
plot of land belonged, both men and women, attacked her with bamboo
rods and threw her on the ground. Another woman named Mina Mandal was
about to be hit on the head and was rescued in the nick of time. While
this conflict was going on, a large contingent arrived from the thana.
A large number of men from both sides were then called to the thana.
The women also accompanied them, but the latter complained that they
were not allowed by the officers to sit inside the thana. Since they
would not go home without their men, they then continued to wait on
the road under the scorching sun. However, at this stage, as things
were getting out of hand, the block administration intervened. They
called both parties and eventually gave their verdict in favour of
patta-holders. They said that those who had possession of the land
after the annulment of the 1972 settlement must be allowed to till the
land.



Thus the tillers of the soil for generations have been able to hold on
to their land for the time being through the intervention of the
administration in the teeth of concerted attack. They were able to
plant the paddy seedlings finally; but what they achieved through
their unified struggle has now been largely destroyed through the
inclemency of nature. Heavy rains have flooded their fields and the
seedlings are now under water over a vast area comprising not less
than 1200 bighas. They took us to see the fields now under a vast
sheet of water with the green heads of the young rice-plants showing
here and there. Nothing could be saved of the crop and since the
Government had refrained from declaring a flood-situation in the
State, they had little hope of receiving any compensation. They
pointed out that had they been able to plant their seedlings in time,
they would perhaps have been able to save some of their crops from the
flood. They also showed us a place where a small bridge had been
sanctioned and building materials had been brought, but which they are
unable to construct because of TMC opposition. In consequence, people
are having to wade across knee-deep water to reach their houses. In
spite of this, the men and women who met us were in good spirit. They
told us that they had been tilling this land for generations; they
would rather die resisting than give up what was theirs by right. One
woman, Sumati Koli, SHG leader in the area, said that they are
constantly threatened and jeered at by TMC supporters who are their
own neighbours; some such young men remarked that her sankha (sign of
a married woman) would soon be broken by them. But she turned round on
them and answered back because she knew that if she showed that she
was afraid, they would only feel encouraged.



In Sonatikuri, most of the peasants belonged to one of the most
numerous scheduled castes in West Bengal, the poundrakshatriyas; the
next spot we visited on the same day had an Adivasi settlement
consisting of about 60-70 families. This village was called Harapur,
Panchshotopara, under Kheadah-1 village panchayat within Sonarpur
Block. The people here belong to the Munda community; while still
retaining their language and some of their cultural practices, they
are much embattled by the changing world around them and are being
gradually absorbed into it. Apart from homestead land, they also have
patta rights to some agricultural land; but the Metropolis being so
near, the younger people often travel to Jadavpur and Bagha Jatin in
search of supplementary livelihood and earn some money as
day-labourers in construction work. Even the mud-house of the
panchayat pradhan bears the mark of poverty; but all the children,
including girls, go to school.



At the time of our visit, the panchayat pradhan, Bikash Munda was not
at home. But we managed to meet him later and obtained from him some
details about the history of land relations in this Adivasi
neighbourhood in the village to which he himself belonged. He told us
that their community have been residents here for several generations
and agriculture has been their main source of livelihood. In this
panchayat area of Kheadah, the Mundas had been actively involved in
the land struggle of 1967-69. He said that he has heard stories from
his father of Kisan Sabha leaders coming and spending the night in the
village and sharing their meagre fare of rice and boiled water-lily
stalks. Nine and a-half bighas of agricultural land, which had
belonged to two Adivasi brothers Rajan and Sajan, had been alienated,
but through a long process of litigation, they got a court order
restoring the land to them in 1972. However, on the same day as they
got the order, they were forcibly made to surrender it by the opposite
party, the family of one Shashibhushan Naskar. During Left Front
regime, the land including the afore-mentioned nine and a-half bighas
was declared vested and the right of the Adivasis to it was recorded
although they had not got pattas on it as yet. But they had been
regularly cultivating paddy, some vegetables and even flowers on the
land and growing some fish in the inundated areas. After the Assembly
elections, the erstwhile jotdars had started eyeing this land again,
as it would be very profitable if bheris could be set up here.



We visited Harapur to enquire into an incident that had taken place on
15 June, 2011 in connection with this land, as a consequence of which
28 year-old Moghai Munda died most tragically leaving behind a
distraught mother and a young bride he had married only a couple of
years back. 17 year-old Ajit Munda, Moghai’s cousin studying in Class
XII, told us that on the day of the incident he had gone to put up a
fence around a small plot of land belonging to him in which he had
planted many trees. But a neighbour called Gopal Naskar, who had
created trouble on earlier occasions and had told Ajit that he would
get his dues once election results were over, appeared and tried to
prevent him from doing his work. When Ajit protested, he pounced upon
him and punched him so that he fell on the ground. Other members of
Gopal’s family also started beating him. When his brother Robi Munda
and his sisters-in-law Kakoli and Jhuma tried to save him, they were
also attacked. All of them then retreated home. But soon after, Gopal
Naskar, not satisfied with what he had already done, called up a large
number of TMC goons, armed with bamboo rods and shovels, and raided
the Munda settlement, specially targeting the 6 families who were
immediate relatives of Ajit. Moghai, who had just returned from the
field, tried to intervene and was set upon by the mob and beaten most
brutally. He was thrown into a pond and attacked with sticks and
shovels until he lost consciousness. According to his relatives, at
this time he sustained kidney injury which later (28 July) caused his
death. Apart from Moghai, three others were seriously injured, among
them Sujata Munda who was hit on the head with a shovel. Moghai’s
elderly mother, who pleaded with them, was forced to hitch up her sari
and was threatened that a shovel would be thrust into her genitals if
she interfered.



All the family members ran away from their home in a state of shock,
and Moghai was rescued by some other women in the neighbourhood.
Moghai and the other three were taken to Chittaranjan Sebasadan in
Kolkata for treatment. The women from the 6 households came back later
in the day; but the men stayed away in fear of their lives. According
to the women, bamboo rods had been kept in readiness at a doctor’s
dispensary in the neighbourhood, which showed that the TMC goons were
only waiting for a pretext to attack the Adivasi families. Around the
same time, they also planted TMC flags on the land belonging to the
Adivasis and made away with the fish in their ponds.



Police came in the afternoon. When the women found that they were
going away only after taking the statement of the Naskar family, they
came forward and forced the police to take their statements as well
and to have a look at the damage done to their houses. The police came
back again at dead of night and abused them and said that it served
them right for getting drunk and fighting among themselves. Both
parties should be prepared to go to jail. Later the Munda families
also went to the thana and lodged an FIR. Another FIR was lodged after
Moghai’s death. But so far, no arrests have been made. On the
contrary, the day after the incident, the Naskars lodged a complaint
against Moghai and others for allegedly snatching ornaments of the
women of the Naskar family, for which the Adivasis had to get bail.
Post mortem examination of Moghai’s body was being denied; they
succeeded in getting it done after much trouble. But the false story
that the death was the result of quarrel within the Adivasi community,
that it happened when the Adivasis were in an inebriated state and
that no one else was involved, is being spread; even some newspapers
have published this false story without any investigation, obviously
to protect the miscreants. In the mean time, the Munda families are
under constant threat; bombs are being thrown into their yard at
night; abuses are being hurled at them; the girls are afraid of going
to school.



Interestingly, it is likely that Moghai’s family and relatives were
TMC supporters, because when they were in Kolkata for Moghai’s
treatment, they had gone to the Chief Minister’s residence at Kalighat
and tried to meet her. They did eventually meet Mukul Roy, a Central
Minister from TMC and he directed Firdausi Begum, the MLA of the area,
to sort out the matter. Apparently, she even met them once; but the
outcome was nil. She also seemed to be putting the same construction
on the incident as the above-mentioned media. Of course, at the level
where people like Moghai eke out their existence, it often does not
make much sense to think that political affiliation is a fixity;
categorisation as Left Front or TMC supporters is fragile; any shift
in the situation may cause a fracture in the categories. But the
significant fact is that in spite of the fulsome expressions of
sympathy for the Adivasis who are some of the most deprived sections
of society, when it comes to the crunch, TMC cadres and leaders have
no compunction in leaving them helpless, even if the latter are their
supporters.

Malini Bhattacharya, Rama Das, Gairika Ghosh, Bhagabati Mandal, Mihir
Bhattacharya



PUNARNABA :A FORUM

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Best

A. Mani



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