BEARING WITNESS : VOICES FROM BASTAR
Monday 30 January, 3-6 pm
Constitution Club of India (Dy. Speaker’s
Hall, annexe)
Bastar in Chhattisgarh is the nursery where the Modi
sarkar’s version of development – the offspring of the toxic
marriage of corporate capitalism and militarised nationalism – is
being carefully nurtured and brought to fruition.
The Maoist
insurrection provides the perfect cover for the exploitation of
Adivasi lands and forests, which are now defined not as part of
India’s heritage of natural resources but as sources of profits for
mining companies, businessmen and contractors. Bastar has been
turned into a war zone where the Constitution is suspended and the
rule of law does not exist even on paper. The police under the
command of IG Bastar SRP Kalluri are
brazen in their disregard for the Constitution and the rule of law,
flouting all norms and procedures to establish a reign of terror and
violence in the region.
Events over the last
two years have shown how far the state is prepared to go in pushing
this distorted version of development. Community leaders who question
the actions of the police are arrested on vague charges and held for
indefinite periods, with no access to courts or legal representation.
Young Adivasis are picked up and forced to pose as “surrendered
Maoists” or shot in cold blood and paraded as “Maoist
commanders”. Police and paramilitary patrols roam the countryside,
looting and plundering in the name of search and combing operations.
Sexual violence against women is the strategy of choice to terrorise
communities into silence.
Silence and invisibility are essential to the success
of the Bastar model of development.
The Bastar police has therefore launched a systematic campaign of
intimidation and harassment against all those involved in
investigating and exposing human rights violations in Bastar. Adivasi
leaders, lawyers, media professionals, academics and researchers and
social activists have all been targeted with threats, slander, false
cases, illegal arrests and murderous attacks by the police and
vigilante groups facilitated and patronised by them.
Soni Sori, Bela Bhatia and Shalini Gera are among the
human rights defenders who are challenging the power of the state by
breaking the silence and bearing witness to the attempted murder of
democracy in Bastar.
We invite you to hear them speak about their lives
and experiences in Bastar, and share the stories of resistance and
resilience that the state is trying to silence and erase.
Indian Social Action Forum (INSAF)
A124/6 Katwaria Sarai
New Delhi 110 016.
Telefax: +91-11-40582589
Email: insafdelhi@gmail.com
http://www.insafindia.com
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