By Gladson Dungdung
Intercountinentalcry

25 May, 2009

The state of Jharkhand known as the abode of Adivasis (Indigenous People), containing 40 percent of India’s minerals, has been witnessing a series of people’s resistance against unjust development for decades. The industrialization has been chalked full of investor uncertainty and city dweller middle class cries foul but the anger of the Adivasis against the land acquisition for development projects is not calming down in the state. In a fresh incident, thousands of Adivasis from the Talsa village near Jamshedpur entered into the offices of the Deputy Commissioner of East Singhbhum at Jamshedpur on May 19, to resist the Uranium Corporation of India Limited’s (UCIL) drive to acquire their land for its new tailing pond near Turamdih mill.

The villagers started gathering in front of the Deputy Commissioner’s office in the morning. They were armed with the traditional weapons – bows, arrows, axes, swords and sickles. The agitators with placards, banners and traditional weapons were up in arms against the PSU under the leadership of the village chief Durga Charan Murmu. The Adivasis became angry when UCIL informed them of its land acquisition drive through a public notice last month. The company proposes to acquire 276.62 acres of land for its tailing pond project. The tailing pond will be used for dumping waste generated from UCIL’s Banduhurang mines. The villagers have been fighting UCIL for compensation since 1983 but their issues were never addressed, and now they have have joined hands against the company’s new project.

The Adivasis demanded that the Deputy Commissioner should come out of his office for receiving the memorandum. They rejected the officers’ plea to submit their memorandum to sub-divisional officer Kartik Kumar Prabhat who was present at the spot in the capacity of the Magistrate. After a hue and cry of the district administration, the villagers agreed to submit their memorandum to the Additional Deputy Commissioner (ADC) H.N. Ram who arrived at the spot. “We have taken the memorandum and would look into the demands made by the villagers,” H.N. Ram said. The villagers called off the protest after the ADC promised the villagers to look into the matter and take the appropriate action.

The painful suffering of Talsa village began with the notification for land acquisition in 1983-84. According to the agreement made between the Talsa Gram Sabha and UCIL management in 1983, the company promised to provide employment for two to three members from each displaced family. Accordingly, the UCIL management started making appointments and providing jobs to 45 displaced persons by 1988. But in 2000, the management suddenly decided to resume the extension project and went ahead without fulfilling its commitment. The majority of those displaced between 1984 and 1985 were not rehabilitated properly and left in isolation.

According to the 2001 Census , the total population of Talsa village is 912. The village is highly dominated by Adivasis with the population of 889. Presently, the village population has increased—therefore approximately 1500 people will be completely displaced if the company acquires the land. These villagers have already given half of their agricultural land to the UCIL but now the company plans to acquire the entire village. The villagers are strongly resisting it. Section 144 (a law that prevents the assembly of five or more people and gives the government “absolute power” in “urgent cases of nuisance or to apprehended danger”) has been imposed by the Gram Sabha after a meeting of villagers on May 10. According to the village head Durga Charan Murmu, the UCIL failed to meet its promises made in 1983 therefore Adivasis don’t want to give their lands to the company at any cost. “Most of the villagers depends on agriculture for their livelihood, we have a place of worshiping our God and our culture is based on land therefore we don’t want to lose our remaining land any more,” Murmu said.

The people of mining areas live in constant threat due to radiation as there are open cast uranium mining projects being operated. After the uranium ore is mined and processed, the “yellow cake” is sent to the Nuclear Fuel Complex in Hyderabad for enrichment. The waste is then brought back to the UCIL complex for further extraction. Finally, the waste is dumped into the ponds, which is open and unprotected. In the last year during the rainy season, the radioactive waste from the tailing pond of Turamdih uranium mines spilled over into the village’s wells, ponds and fields. The UCIL admited it but denied its threat to life due to radiation. But the fact is aquatic creatures died, fishes got strange diseases and crops were affected therefore the villagers had stopped using water of the pond and wells.

However, the UCIL claims that it has not seen any effect of radiation on its workforce. But the people’s lives are in danger in the uranium mining areas of Jharkhand. Precisely, because on the one hand, they lose their land and do not paid sufficient compensation as promised, and they also suffer from chronic diseases like lung cancer, skin disease and physical deformities caused by radiation on the other. In fact, lives have been lost, cattle have died and human suffering is ongoing but the state who’s duty it is to protect the rights of these people, instead promotes the nuclear terror in the name of development. Therefore, the Adivasis of Jharkhand have decided not to surrender their land for any project and fight against such terror, which has carried with it a heavy cost on the villagers for decades.

Gladson Dungdung is a Human Rights Activist and Writer based at Ranchi, Jharkhand. He can be contacted at gladsonhrights@gmail.com gladson@jharkhandi.com

4 lakh tribals displaced due to Maoist activities

New Delhi: More than four lakh tribals have been displaced due to extremists activists by Maoists in various parts of India, a non-government organisation has claimed in its latest report.

"A total of 4,01,425 tribals have been displaced due to armed conflicts and ethnic conflicts across India," Asian Indegenous and Tribal People's Network (AITPN), which has special consultative status with the UN's Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), claimed in its report.

"These displaced persons (tribals) have been living miserable lives without basic amenities including food, water, shelter, medical services, sanitation and livelihood opportunities," it added.

About 1.2 lakh members of Gutti Koya tribes of Bastar and Bijapur districts of Chhattisgarh fled to Andhra Pradesh's Khammam between January to June last year to escape violence by the maoists and the salwa judum activists, the report said.

Initially, they were provided humanitarian assistance by the Andhra Pradesh Government and tribals benefitted from NREGA and were also provided with ration cards.

But, these benefits were later withdrawn by the Andhra Pradesh Government soon after maoists killed more than 30 Greyhound personnel in an ambush at Chitrakonda reservoir in Orissa on June 29 last year and police accused Gutti Koya tribals of being supporters of the maoists, the report said.

The AITPN said that about 36,991 tribals from 201 villages in Dantewara district and 10,949 tribals from 275 villages in Bijapur district are living in 23 government-run makeshift camps in the state following the armed conflicts in the region.

Over 96,000 tribals, mainly Bodos, are staying in relief camps since the communal clashes broke out between Bodos and "non-tribal" Muslims in Assam in August 2008.

In Tripura, 30,000 Bru tribals of Mizoram, displaced after an ethnic clash a few years ago, continue to languish in six relief camps and struggle for their basic rights, AITPN said.

Source: The Times Of India

Where are tribal women in Indian politics?

By Manipadma Jena

Underneath the gloss of the UPA victory on 16 May lies a sober reality. Around the country, adivasi women are known for their leadership qualities, and yet, they do not get equal opportunities to contest elections.

Bhubaneswar: For a decade, Mukta Jhodia, 49, hitching a ride on her husband's bicycle, would go into remote tribal villages of Kashipur in Orissa's Rayagada district to dissuade people from giving up their farmland for bauxite mining. In 2007, Mukta received the Chingari Award instituted for Women Fighting Corporate Crime. Then there is Sumoni Jhodia, 60, who was the unofficial advisor on tribal development from 1993-95 to the erstwhile chief minister, Biju Patnaik. That's not all: Among the 12 tribals killed in police firing at Kalinganagar in Jajpur district in 2006, two were women.

Mukta, Sumoni and those killed in the firing are from the Scheduled Tribes (ST), which make up 22.21 per cent of Orissa's population. It is women like them who form the backbone of people's movements. In terms of leadership qualities, they generally do better than their more economically prosperous counterparts from the 'general castes'. Yet, they do not get equal opportunities to contest elections and be a part of the law-making process so crucial for their communities.

Even the nomination of Padma Shri Tulasi Munda, 61, to the Rajya Sabha in 2006, was blocked by the Adivasi Mahasabha comprising several tribal organisations. It was a surprising case of tribals pitting themselves against other tribals, but it reinforced the fact that when it comes to political power sharing, the deeply entrenched G-Factor, or gender factor, kicks in.

The G-factor has clipped the wings of many women interested in contesting elections. Only a minuscule percentage has made it and the fact that the Women's Reservation Bill has remained in a limbo since 1997 has not helped. So what one has here is gender disempowerment within the larger disempowerment of tribals as a community. Of the 157 candidates contesting the Lok Sabha (LS) elections this time, only six per cent were women. The situation was replicated in the polls to the Orissa legislative assembly: Only 10 per cent of the total 1,397 contestants were women.

Orissa has 33 seats out of the 147 in the legislative assembly reserved for tribals. At the parliament level, five of the total 21 seats are reserved for ST candidates. Historically, political parties have never fielded more than an insignificant number of women from these seats. But when women candidates have been given a chance, they have won - not just once, but twice and thrice - proving that they too can master the 'winnability factor'.

Saraswati Hembrum, 60, starting as a Sarpanch (village council head) and went on to represent the Congress Party from Kuliana in Mayurbhanj for three terms in the state assembly from 1980 to 2000. She was also the first tribal woman to be given ministerial charge. Frida Topno, 84, a gazetted state government officer, won the LS seat in 1991 and again in 1996 from Sundargarh district. Sushila Tiriya, 52, went to the Rajya Sabha twice (in 1994 and 2006) from Mayurbhanj and once to the LS. Interestingly, Frida and Sushila, both graduates, are deeply committed to social work and have chosen to remain single.

Two high profile women from tribal communities contesting elections from Orissa this time (LS and assembly elections in the state were held simultaneously in two phases on April 16 and 23) are Draupadi Murmu and Hema Gamang. Draupadi, 50, a Santhal and a graduate, is a two-time Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLA from Rairakhol, Mayurbhanj. This time round she is contesting the LS seat from Mayurbhanj. She started her career as part of the government clerical staff, and went on to become a minister.

Hema, 48, from the Saura tribe of Rayagada, was the youngest entrant in this lot. She was only 38 when she entered the LS in 1999 from Koraput district on a Congress ticket. Although there were local politicians in her family, it was her husband, Giridhar Gamang, who was instrumental in opening the portals to mainstream politics to her. He was the Orissa Chief Minister at that time and had won in six consecutive LS elections. He needed Hema to keep his LS seat safe, while he dominated state politics. Hema readily acknowledges this, "I was acquainted with politics and knew grassroots party workers well, having campaigned for my husband. But I was not keen to jump into the thick of the fray at that point."

Once in, though, she not only learnt the ropes but also developed a taste for power. In 2004, she fought a furious and very public battle with her husband to retain her Koraput LS seat, which her husband wanted back. The Congress sided with Giridhar and Hema had to settle for the Gunupur assembly seat in Rayagada. History repeated itself in 2009 as well. She gave up the Gunupur constituency, which she had nurtured because both her brother and son wanted to contest from there. This time she fought from the Laxmipur assembly constituency in Rayagada. Observes Hema ruefully, "The men try to push a woman around in politics as well!"

What does it take for a woman from a tribal community to get a foothold in national politics? "Family political background, personal qualities, exposure to the world outside one's own community, education and adequate funds - in that order," says Hema promptly.

In sharp contrast to Hema, Draupadi Murmu does not come from a political background. Today, after eight years as a legislator and after heading two ministries, her nomination affidavit reveals that she has no house to her name, only a modest bank balance and some land. What works for her? "Showing results," Draupadi quips. She concedes, however, that being in the right place at the right time and having access to the right people helps, although that did not get her the LS ticket in 2004, which she had badly desired. The selection committee doubted whether a woman would be able to fight Jharkhand Mukti Morcha's strongman, Sudam Marandi. So her male colleague, Bhagirathi Majhi, was fielded instead. He lost and this may have forced the party to do a re-think: Draupadi was pitted against Marandi this time.

Sahadeva Sahu, a former Chief Secretary in the state government and Convener of Orissa Election Watch (OEW), a civil rights organisation, agrees that tribal women don't stand a chance when it comes to getting tickets. "They cannot even speak up for themselves," he observes.

Laments Tapasi Praharaj, a Bhubaneswar-based activist from the Left-leaning All India Democratic Women's Association (AIDWA), "Women participate more in the election process in every way. But, they are given a raw deal at the time of ticket selection." This despite the fact that women figure high among voters: It was the women of Malkangiri and Koraput this time who bravely exercised their franchise despite boycott calls given by Naxal groups.

Neither the Congress nor the Biju Janata Dal (BJD) have fielded a woman in these LS polls. As for the assembly elections, BJD Chief Naveen Patnaik, although he claims to be committed to the empowerment of women and tribals, fielded only eight women for the 130 assembly seats the party is contesting. Sonia Gandhi's Congress has not done much better: Only 15 out of its 147 candidates are women. None of the Left parties - CPI, CPI (M) and CPI (ML) - have fielded a woman candidate. Significantly, out of the total 140 women candidates in the assembly elections this time, 37 - or roughly one-third - are contesting as Independents. The figure reflects the high level of frustration among women candidates at being denied party nominations.

If the status of women in these neglected tribal communities is to change for the better, political parties across the board in tribal-dominated states like Orissa will have to do a serious re-think on their ticket distribution strategies.

Manipadma Jena is a freelance journalist from Bhubaneswar.

Tribals exempt markets from North Bengal bandh

People of the tribal areas of North Bengal got some respite on Tuesday as the tribal body which had called for an indefinite bandh three days ago exempted tea gardens, shops and markets from it.

Government offices, however, remained shut and transport remained cut off due to the bandh. Adivasi Vikas Parishad, the tribal body, on Tuesday announced that the strike will end on May 17, when they will court arrest en masse in Jalpaiguri court.

The state government, meanwhile, refused to let off the two adivasis arrested for rioting and arsoning and remained firm in its stand.

“We are keeping a vigil. Things are under control. But we will not release the arrested people,” said Raj Kanojia, Inspector General, Law and Order.

“We have exempted shops and markets from the bandh, since we do not want the people to suffer. We will continue our bandh till May 17 and on the same day lakhs of tribals will surrender and court arrest in Jalpaiguri court,” said Rajesh Lakra, senior leader of Adivasi Vikas Parishad.

Tribals gherao Dooars thana, force cops to withdraw FIR

Over 10,000 armed Adivasis held the Jalpaiguri district administration hostage all through Saturday. They outnumbered the force deployed to control them and relented only on their own terms.

For nine hours, Banerhat a small town about 70 km from Jalpaiguri along NH 31-C resembled Lalgarh in West Midnapore, where the writ of tribal leaders rule and police have been reduced to mere onlookers. Tribals from the entire belt converged at the police station and gheraoed it, demanding the release of two Adivasis arrested on Friday night. The gherao was lifted only around 5 pm, but the tribals have called a 24-hour Dooars bandh on Sunday. If the two are not released by Monday, the strike would be indefinite.

Once the blockade was lifted, relief was palpable on the faces of the 100-odd terror-stricken police and paramilitary personnel caught in the pressure-cooker situation. "It was the most frightening experience of my life. We could have been slaughtered any moment," a police officer later said.

Friday's police action followed a week-old complaint by seven persons from Telepara tea estate, accusing Alexander Minz and Sanjeev Oraon of arson on election day. According to the FIR, the duo, who also live in the tea estate, set fire to their homes after they defied the vote boycott call given by Akhil Bhartiya Adivasi Vikas Parshad (ABAVP). Minz and Oraon are allegedly ABAVP functionaries.

Though the duo has not been released yet, police sources said they would walk out free on Monday after police moves court, citing the FIR's withdrawal. All seven who had accused the duo retracted the accusation on Saturday.

Four of them were produced by tribals at the police station and made to publicly withdraw the FIR. Anthony Tirkey and Benedict Kujur are members of National Union of Plantation Workers affiliated to Congress-trade union wing Intuc. Kashi Oraon is a member of Chabagan Mazdoor Union affiliated to CPM trade union wing Citu and Raju Oraon is a member of Dooars Cha Bagan Workers Union, an RSP-affiliated trade union.

The political affiliation of the quartet is interesting, indicating a joint effort by all political parties to counter ABAVP that has emerged as a force in the belt. The vote-boycott call by the organization for the Lok Sabha elections elicited an overwhelming response from Adivasis. Those tribals who defied the diktat faced consequences. In Banerhat, violence was reported from tea estates like Palasbari and Telepara on the night of May 30. In Telepara, seven houses were set ablaze. No political party showed any resistance.

It was only the next day that parties urged the affected people in Telepara to lodge an FIR. Based on the complaint, police picked up Alexander and Sanjeev on Friday and produced them on Jalpaiguri town on Saturday morning.

When word of the arrests got around in the wee hours of Saturday, ABAVP leaders galvanised the community into action. Tribals began to assemble in front of Banerhat PS from 7.30 am. In the next 30 minutes, the number had swelled to 10,000. Carrying bows, arrows, spears, hatchets and crowbars, tribals had trekked down from Telepara, Gandrapara, Palasbari, Haldibari and several other gardens. They gheraoed the police station and demanded the duo's release.

"We deployed over 100 policemen, including Rapid Action Force, Indian Reserve Battalion and State Armed Police personnel, at Banerhat PS. But they were simply outnumbered by the turnout," an officer conceded later. The tribals blocked the train line from New Jalpaiguri to Alipurduar Junction at noon, forcing the diversion of a train from Ranchi to another parallel line. Blockades were set up on NH 31C at Moraghat, Telepara and other intersections. Raju Bara, chief advisor of ABAVP (Dooars-Terai Committee) accused the CPM of deliberately engineering the arrests to foil a meeting scheduled on Sunday.

Source: The Times Of India

Contaminated water kills 5 tribals

Balasore: At least five tribals from three families in Nedam-Patharkhani village under Kaptipada block of Mayurbhanj district died after consuming contaminated water yesterday night. The victims include a child and a woman.

Official sources said, eight others are now undergoing treatment at a temporary camp in the village. The deceased have been identified as Sudam Bhakta (40), his daughter-in-law Sukanti Bhakta (20), Suhagi Dei (60), her grandson Laya Naik (5) and Ledri Naik (20).

Confirming deaths, Chief District Medical Officer (CDMO) of Mayurbhanj KC Mohanty said, they died of gastroenteritis. ‘‘They had taken polluted water from a nullah in their village which caused toxic infection leading to the deaths,’’ he informed.

‘‘While four of them died in the village, the child succumbed in the hospital. They first suffered from throat infection and then diarrhoea,’’ he maintained adding that the condition of the other patients is improving. The CDMO who visited the village today informed that the village, having a population of around 1,000 mostly from Lodha and Santhal communities, lacks proper drinking water facilities. ‘‘A dug well and two of the three tube-wells in the village have already dried up and the lone tube-well fails to meet the demands of the villagers. The people are dependent on nullah water for all purposes, a sample of which has been sent for medical test,’’ he said.

Meanwhile, a team of doctors and health officials led by Kaptipada hospital in-charge Basanta Nayak is camping in the village to check the affected.

The villagers have alleged that due to the callousness of the district administration the five persons died. ‘‘We have been demanding safe drinking water in the village since long but nobody cared for our grievances,’’ alleged a ward member, Bikram Hansda. He has demanded action against the erring officials who despite repeated requests didn’t provide permanent drinking water facilities in the village.

The villagers have also demanded adequate compensation for the kin of the victims.

Source: Express Buzz

Don't Dissect

By Jyoti Sonia Dhan

Many often we come across such statements like ‘Tribal are in transition face’. This meaning to say that, tribal culture is in the transition face. It may amuse someone or it can create curiosity to some. The culture it self is unknown to many. The capitalistic think to be uncivilized, feudalistic think to be lowest earth and the intellectuals are still thinking through the lenses of social development for this community. When a socialist say its in a transition face means they have done much of research and social development done to this community and especially to those who are directly associated with community. The main question lies why this community is only observed and responded to undergoing a change, why it is not the others. Those who had spent years on the social development can express but for new entrants just to repeat what was said by elders. Was it that by saying this, making a research on tribal will search for livelihood to those who speak about the ‘transition’? The concern lies if one makes research and reaches to level of success earning awards and reflects its works by address the issue of tribal and creation of shift in status of tribal situation vulnerable to better is worthwhile. But, if an awardee, only glorifies; own work without a shift in status of tribal situation, than it is a danger. They are only Romantizing.

The transition face is seen in almost all the societies within varied cultures. It is also found in the dominate caste, group or community. The tribal being vulnerable is easily highlighted of course being ignored in many times. Are we not finding transition in the Harijans and Kurmi communities? Are we not seeing the transition in Brahmins? May be there has being no research being done; May be they are not ignorant or barely ignorant communities in the social economic development. May they have adjusted to the changing faces of life by repeated migration of their cultures and values.

In the pace of time things role on smoothly and fast with substances to carry on fitting to the time’s present situation, hence, the culture absorbs few changes and leaves the others. But, the main thing is that it carries basic values each individual community has for the human; the ‘human values’. So is with tribal community.

Secondly, statement ‘where tribal hunt gatherer or they are farmers’. It just ridicule as one is making dissection to this community. As, the time role on things changes some times they were forced to changed what one is. So it did tribal from hunter or gatherer to farmers. The examples are innumerable when we say setting up of the big industries, where the community is uprooted from the origin and forced to live what it does not in a sense living in ‘human values’. Now one can just reflect back to the statement already spoken was working towards tribal and making research is a perfect ground for livelihood for some.

So, the concern lies please stop dissecting. If someone is really sensitive towards the community should come and work together for them rather romantizing.

Writer is a social worker and an activist

More Tribal than urban women voted in Gujarat

Gandhinagar: Tribal women in Gujarat displayed a substantially higher inclination to vote this Lok Sabha poll than their counterparts in the urban areas of the state, despite intense heat wave conditions April 30, a poll official said.

The turnout of tribal women on polling day in Gujarat as per the final calculations stand at 48 percent compared to 43.37 percent of urban women, he said.

The reason for the higher turnout of tribal women in the 26 Lok Sabha seats in Gujarat is being attributed to higher tolerance level of women in the tribal areas to withstand heat wave conditions compared to their urban counterparts most of whom did not venture out to polling booths in similar temperatures of around 43 degrees Celsius which were recorded in certain parts of Gujarat.

“The tribal women work outside during summers all day so a temperature of 43 degrees Celsius for them meant no discomfort and they could stand in queues for an hour to vote but for urban women who remain indoors in offices or homes they may not have wanted to venture out even for a hour to vote, fearing a stroke,” the official said.

The maximum number of tribal women (1.19 lakh) turned out to vote in Vasanda assembly segment coming under Valsad Lok Sabha seat followed by Bhiloda assembly segment in Sabarkantha Lok sabha seat (1.14 lakh).

According to poll officials, another factor which might have contributed to higher turnout of tribal women could be their higher receptiveness to the various poll campaigns launched by the political parties.

The voting percentage of the tribal women in the 27 reserved seats of assembly segments coming under various Lok Sabha constituencies was as high as 42.48 percent this poll, the official added.

Source: Thaindian

Centre working on package for Bru tribals’ rehabilitation

New Delhi: The Centre is working on a package to ensure the return and rehabilitation of 5,000 displaced Bru tribal families from Tripura to Mizoram at the earliest.

A high-level team of the Union Home Ministry, led by Secretary (Border Management) Vinay Kumar, visited both the States early this week to work out a special relief package for the refugees thrown out of Mizoram in the nineties.

Home Ministry sources said here on Friday the package includes provision of land by the Mizoram Government for resettlement of the ousted Bru families.

The Centre, on its part, is providing Rs 80,000 to each of the Bru families returning to their native place besides free ration for one year. The payment by the Centre will be made to the Bru families through the Mizoram Government.

During the visit, the Home Ministry team discussed with senior officials of both the State Governments the issue of rehabilitation of the Bru refugees, sources said.

The Mizoram Government has expressed its willingness to take back all migrants returning from Tripura and assured the team that all measures would be taken to ensure that they are able to earn their livelihood. It also promised allotment of land to them, they added.

The Home Ministry team, which also visited some Bru villages in Mizoram, discussed special relief package for three district in western Mizoram where the Bru tribal community, also known as Reangs, live on the borders with Tripura.

During the visit to Tripura, the team discussed relief being provided to Bru migrants housed in relief camps in the State. Sources said the latest initiative was part of the Centre's efforts to ensure return of the Brus.

While a section of the Bru refugees have already returned to Mizoram, some still continue to stay back in Tripura. Bru-Mizo ethnic clashes in the 1990s saw a number of Brus fleeing to neighbouring Tripura and Assam. The Bru National Liberation Front has been demanding an autonomous district council for the Bru community in Mizoram and return of displaced Brus.

Source: Daily Pioneer

Tea garden tribals stay away from booths

From Ghatia to Bhagatpore in Alipurduar and Malbazar in Jalpaiguri, booths in tribal-dominated areas remained deserted, following an election boycott call by the Akhil Bharatiya Adivasi Vikas Parshad (ABAVP). More than 6 lakh tribals and scores of Gorkhas in the two North Bengal districts refused to vote, leading to sporadic incidents of violence.

At Palashbari Tea Garden, tribals ran away with an EVM, while eight ABAVP supporters were arrested for picketing near a booth at Gurjangjohora Tea Estate. Tribals and Gorkhas clashed at Palashbari over the poll boycott. The Left Front, which has been holding both the Alipuarduar and Jalpaiguri seats since 1977, could be the most affected by the boycott, felt local political circles.

Walking past a deserted polling booth at Upper Ghatia, 60-year-old Shukra Munda cast a disinterested look at the polling station. "None of the parties has ever come to our help. The government was biased towards Gorkha Janamukti Morcha (GJM) during the clashes last January. We feel let down. Why should we vote?" said Munda. Less than 20% of the tribals in the two North Bengal districts cast their votes. Both tribals and Gorkhas have traditionally voted for the Left Front.

The boycott call can be traced back to January, when GJM made repeated forays into the foothills. They were resisted by ABAVP when they attempted to hold a meeting at Malbazar. It led to several clashes on January 16. The tribals alleged that the police had been soft towards the GJM while they were forcibly driven out of the area. The clashes continued till February.

Other issues such as closed tea gardens and lack of civic amenities have fuelled the discontent as well. ABAVP had submitted a charter of demands to the chief minister seeking GJM's ouster from the area, or else they would boycott the election.

"The boycott will affect our margin though I don't believe it could change results. Our candidates will win comfortably but we would have been better placed had they voted," said Manik Sanyal, Left Front Jalpaiguri district convener. While CPM candidate Mahendra Kumar Roy is pitted against Congress' Sukhbilas Verma at Jalpaiguri, Manohar Tirkey of RSP is taking on Trinamool Congress' Pawan Lakra at Alipurduar. BJP candidate Manoj Tigga is also in the fray.

Despite the Left Front's best efforts, polling remained poor. At the Satali Tea Garden in Alipurduar's Hanshimara, from where Manohar Tirkey hails, less than 20% voted. Polling was better in the traditional Congress pockets of Nagrakata, Changmari Tea Estate and Malbazar. Congress district president Biswaranjan Sarkar felt CPM was responsible for infuriating the tribals. "They had initially supported ABAVP to counter GJM. Later, the tribals dumped them when they realized they were actually appeasing Gorkhas," said Sarkar.

The picture was similar at Terai. Not a single vote was cast at several booths such as Phansidewa, Raykota and Bijlimoni Tea Estate. In Kadambini, Mariview and Tirdhana tea estates, there was less than 10% polling.

Source: The Times Of India