Chacko Anthony SJ
Sido, Kanhu, Chand & Bhairav! Four brothers of the Murmu family of Barhait Bhognadih village in Jharkhand, eastern India. Phulo and Jhano Murmu, their heroic sisters!
These six of them have been acclaimed by the indigenous community in northern India as those who spearheaded the famous historic Santal Rebellion of 1855 during the infamous British rule. Sido, the eldest in the Murmu family, shared with his brothers and sisters a dream or a vision he had. It was about the great God of the Santals calling him to lead a revolt against the oppressive British rule and the exploiting moneylender-business men combine.
The news of the dream spread like wild fire. Sido called for a grand meeting of all Santals. At Panchkatia, some 6 kilometres from Bhognadih which was Sido’s birth place, the meeting took place. Sido explained to the crowd the intolerable suffering the Adivasis were made to undergo due to the exploitation of the oppressors including the British.
Cash-based land tax introduced by the British was an oppressive act in a barter economy. The land belonging to the indigenous was surveyed by the British and, thereafter, declared the property of the British administration. The original settler cultivators were recorded as tenant landholders under the government. A clear example of an alien encroaching upon people’s land and resources and making people poor and resourceless!
The illiterate Adivasis were naturally thrown into the compounds of the money lenders with begging bowl for borrowing cash to pay the land tax. Those who could not pay the mounting rates of land tax had their land auctioned by the British and given to the moneylenders and businessmen. This helped the landlord system to flourish.
The moneylenders were blood suckers. With a thumb impression on blank paper they would lend money. The blank paper would be filled up later. When the repayment time came, the borrowers were told to pay large sums which they had not bargained for. The money lenders contrived also the system of compound interest which meant interest upon interest. A crop season loan meant a 50 percent interest for a period of 4 to 5 months.
Sido Murmu minced no words in pinning the blame squarely on the British who had created an exploitative system. Such a system spawned moneylenders and businessmen who were blood suckers. Enough was enough, Sido said to the eager crowd. ‘We ought to put an end to it,’ he roared. The people shouted ‘Hul, Hul’. The word ‘Hul’ meant ‘Revolt’.
There appeared the officer in charge of the nearby Dighy police station. Without sensing the mood of the angry crowd, he tried to pacify the gathering and told them to disperse. Sido pronounced an instant judgement. The policeman paid with his head. The crowd got more excited. Sido asked the crowd to proceed to Calcutta, the Headquarters of the British in Eastern India. Shouting ‘Hul’, ‘Hul’ the crowd fanned out. Calcutta was 300 kilometres away.
Along the way, the marching crowds had their revenge by breaking open the granaries of moneylenders and traders to get food provisions. The forward motion took a slow pace with sporadic skirmishes and guerrilla type fight with the opposing British army and the landlords. In all, within eight months Sido and his followers had reached only till Maheshpur, just about 150 kilometres. Another distance of 150 kilometres was still left. But, then, nemesis caught up with the rebellion leaders. It is said that Sido‘s hide out was revealed to the British by one of his own group. Sido was caught and hanged. So, too, Kanhu, his brother, got the same fate. In all, twenty thousand tribals shed their blood in the process of ‘Operation Santal Revolt’.
Was it a wasted exercise? In a way, yes, because twenty thousand indigenous people had to sacrifice their lives for cause of liberation. But, it had its salutary effect too. Wisdom dawned on the British administration not to provoke the Adivasis anymore. Hence, post rebellion, the British went on a back foot. They had not gauged the will power of the indigenous people. They would not bargain for another such rebellion. Hence, they declared the area where the Santal tribals lived in large numbers as a new Division of Santal Parganas with special administrative provisions. Certain land tenancy laws were enacted to protect the people from land grabbers and exploiters. Customary laws were accredited with legal standing.
The wheels of time have turned more than a century and a half by now. How does the situation look like? In actuality, nothing much has changed. The slow pace of literacy, education and awareness of the people has been a boon for exploiters in new garbs. Tenancy laws to protect land remains only on paper. Their loopholes are taken advantage by others. The slow pace of consciousness of the gentry makes political leaders ride roughshod over them to keep them at base level with a little bit of ration.
In the present day world, land grabbers and resource looting mafia have spread their wide net, thanks to the favour of the powers that are. Quarrying and mining of precious resources go at a breakneck speed. Jharkhand holds the pride of place in having 35% of India’s mineral deposits. Hence, the hawk’s eyes on Jharkhand!
Santal Parganas Division in today’s Jharkhand looks lacerated with mines, quarries and excavations which are mostly illicit. The 150 kilometre long Rajmahal Hill and Forest Range is getting decimated by encroachers and the mining mafia. Some community leaders and corrupt politicians share the fringe benefits of the loot.
The thrust of the so-called developmental frenzy of the ruling dispensation remains a question mark. Development at what cost? At the cost of taking away people’s land to be handed over to big business and private enterprise on a platter? At the cost of large scale displacement of the land holders?
The question of what are the landowners and the community’s share in development benefits is still a grey area. No one bothers to clarify the issue. Be it the Central or the State government, the intention is clear. Development! In fact, the development policy is based on skewed development blueprints hatched in air conditioned rooms in the company of politicians, business magnates and middlemen. Hence, for example, a six lane highway to industries and to city centres is a must to facilitate resource transportation. Like the British built roads, canals and railways for transporting India’s resources to Britain.
Jharkhand’s previous BJP government had contemplated setting up ‘land banks’ to grab tribal land. Will the present Adivasi party-dominated Jharkhand Mukti Morcha government be far behind? Only time will tell. Rumours are afoot.
One thing is abundantly clear! In the name of development, people are made victims of an exploitative system. Educational system in rural areas is in tatters. There are glaring examples of schools and training centres running on paper. One can buy a degree at the drop of a hat. Some aim at offering fake certificates to produce morons and scatter-brained individuals who will be dull headed administrators or gate keepers and pliable agents in the hands of modern day exploiters.
Today, the Adivasi community can no more afford to think of bargaining with their traditional bows and arrows. Sidos and Kanhus have to emerge in a new avatar where they can use the bows of their intelligence and the arrows of their analytical and logical thinking to assert their space. In a world of rat race for power and pelf, in a world where corrupt and power hungry leaders are front runners in the race, new strategies have to be adopted. Benefits of existing laws have to be resorted to. Certain top heavy laws may need to be changed. Awareness has to be built up.
Village Gram Sabahs need to rise up from their indolent pose and assert their constitutionally guaranteed legislative measures. 25 years on, the PESA Act (Panchayat Extension to the Scheduled Areas Act) has failed to make any impact in the life of Adivasi people. Lack of awareness about people’s self-rule power is a major block. That weakness is taken advantage of by those who want to deny self-rule benefits to Adivasis.
The other major areas neglected are agricultural and pastoral. Adivasis depend on agriculture and rearing cattle. In these two areas they need to improve their techniques and take to processing and selling agricultural and farm produces. Lack of business acumen needs a hard look. Business is an operation used by non-Adivasis to dominate the tribals. If the Adivasi world needs to improve economically, business operations also need to be resorted to.
Politicians and planners need to plan projects with grass root needs in mind. Otherwise, they will be playing second fiddle to those who conduct operations of loot banks and private kingdoms. Let not the blood of the martyrs go waste! Hul Johar!