RAIPUR: Communist Party of India (Marxist) Polit Bureau member Brinda Karat, who visited the violence-hit areas of Bastar in Chhattisgarh, said that there was a well-planned conspiracy behind the attack on tribal Christians and urged the Congress government to depute a team of ministers to monitor the situation, assess the losses and to provide compensation to the victims.
Talking to reporters after her three-day visit to Kanker, Kondagaon and Narayanapur districts in the Bastar region, she said the recent incidents of violence of communal nature were designed to weaken the united movement of tribals against mining projects which are being opposed by tribals in Narayanpur. She said it was essential for the government to hold gram sabha meetings as mandated by law.
Accompanied by a delegation of Adivasi Adhikar Manch, the Marxist leader said she had interacted with local tribal communities, victims of violence, pastors and priests, elected members of local bodies activists leaders of Chhattisgarh Progressive Christian Alliance, police and administrative officials of Narayanpur and Kondagaon. Chhattisgarh CPI (Marxist) acting secretary Dharamraj Mahapatra, Adivasi Ekta Mahasabha state secretary Bal Singh, Najeeb Qureshi and Vasudev Das were also present.
Expressing surprise over ministers or any senior leader not visiting the troubled areas, the CPI (M) leaders have shot a letter to chief minister Bhupesh Bagehl saying that the state government approach has been insensitive and it amounted to gross underestimation of the extent of violence against tribal Christians, particularly women and children and their suffering.
“ There is extensive damage to homes, churches, belongings, livelihood and yet there is not a single family or individual victim who had received any compensation nor has there been any effort to assess the damage caused. Around 1500 affected people who were forced to flee their villages or were forcibly driven out and who were in relief camps run by the administration have now been sent home”, the letter said.
“Even as assurances have been given for their safety by the administration, we met many families who have been forced to leave their homes again and they are staying with relatives or sheltering in churches. To give an example, in Rembrugaon village, when the pickup truck arranged by the administration with the victims reached the village, they were met by a group carrying ‘tilaks’. They told the Christians that they could enter the village if they applied the tilak as a symbol of their ‘return’ to the Samaj – Ghar Wapsi, otherwise they would not be allowed into the village,” she wrote in the letter to the chief minister.
Besides, Christian tribals are not being allowed access to handpumps and shopkeepers of some villages have been threatened not to sell anything to them, the letter said. The letter also said a political agenda is working behind these attacks, given the schedule of elections to the state assembly later this year. The main concern of the tribals was that the forest rights act was not being implemented.
