AHMEDABAD: The Lok Sangharsh Morcha on Sunday gave a call to tribals
and other downtrodden in Gujarat and other parts of the country to look
for a solution to their problems “outside the framework of law.” They
should remain prepared to fight long arduous battles to get justice
from the “lawless governments.”
The Morcha, which organised a convention of the tribals and other
downtrodden on the “People’s Rights and the Issues of Democracy in
Gujarat” here adopted resolutions, including one condemning the alleged
atrocities on the tribals by the Narendra Modi Government and his
“false propaganda” on allotment of forest land to the tribals.
It called for the immediate scrapping of all Special Economic Zones
and condemned the police firings in Khammam (A.P.), Nandigram ( West
Bengal), Orissa and other States.
Communist Party of India general secretary A. B. Bardhan and veteran
Gandhian Nirmala Deshpande were present. Briefly dealing with the
alleged police atrocities on the tribals agitating for their rights on
the forest lands in various states, Collin Gonsalves, a senior Supreme
Court advocate, said that from his long experience in practising law he
had realised that there was “no law, no court, no government” for the
poor and downtrodden. Pointing out that he was contesting several cases
in the Supreme Court on the tribals’ rights on the forestland, he said
it was hardly leading to anywhere.
“If you want to get your problems solved and re-establish your
rights on the land you till, you must seek a solution outside the
framework of law. He advised the tribals to join hands with the Dalits
and Muslims to fight for the downtrodden.
Mr. Bardhan, addressing the gathering, said he supported the
contentions of Mr. Gonsalves and regretted that the subsequent
governments in the post-independent era had belied the hopes and
expectations of the poor and the downtrodden of a better deal by their
own government.
He said that even 60 years after Independence, nearly 80 per cent of
the population in the country, largely constituted by the tribals,
Dalits and Muslims, had to still survive on a paltry income of Rs.20
per family per day.
The government had no land to give to the tribals for tilling, but
could give thousands of acres of land to the industrialists to set up
the Special Economic Zones. Criticising the government’s SEZ policy, he
said he was not opposed to industrialisation, but questioned the need
for giving such large chunks of land to the foreign and domestic
investors to set up SEZs which could solve the problems of thousands of
families of poor tribals and marginal farmers.
Castigating the government for “its failure” to frame a proper land
policy, Mr. Bardhan said the tribals were being driven out from the
forests and the Dalits and other downtrodden from the land earmarked
for the SEZs.
Displaced when they settle down in the slums in the urban areas,
their houses were being “bulldozed.” The compensation paid to the poor
in lieu of their land given for SEZs, was too inadequate, he felt.
Assuring that he and his party would be with the tribals and other
downtrodden in their fight for justice and rights, Mr. Bardhan,
however, advised them to wage a war under some political banner.
Source by hindu.com
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