As the people of Junglemahal drift close to desperation, it is the state that is to blame
Soumitra Basu
Chairman, Indian Instutite of Marxist Studies, Kolkata
An epic is being enacted, or an apology of it! Chidambaram started it, with a number – 72 hours. Kishenji retorted with another unit – days… nothing came of it. Neither took it seriously. Both procrastinated. This is a fine management technique- one that creates huge media hype and thus social capital is formed. Things did not change but perceptions did. Junglemahal is now a name, more than Nandigram.
People die or are dying, get raped, jailed, evicted and, of course, they are threatened on a quotidian basis. Lalmohun Tudu was bumped off in an encounter. His crime? A highly dangerous conspiracy against the state and the system – he was running a local hospital on the people’s initiative. Compassion is extremely dangerous when people are the target. Police officers are disappearing too. Retaliation is often swift. The cycle goes on, on and on. The idyllic but sombre rainforest is now bloodied. And procrastination is the response.
700 villages have been flattened and wiped out ostensibly for “development” – for mining important national resources. “National interest” serves city-dwelling billionaires who compete in the global arena. It will never serve the people in the nation-state. A rainforest does not have capital value and is, therefore, dispensable. People who live and who produce through their toil and let the wealthy live off their resources generated through indirect taxes, do not have a voice or opinion in a “democracy”. The voice that matters is that of those whose “national interest’ is served.
Liberals and “independent” think tanks are clamouring about a colossal breakdown of an ostensibly perfect development regime. A haven of representational neurocracy that we advertise as the best liberal model laments that people of the rainforest are now mere victims of neglect and corruption! What a revelation! Ask Lalita Tudu, thoroughly determined daughter of Lalmohun. She does care a fig for “development” or “administration”.
Soumitra Basu
Chairman, Indian Instutite of Marxist Studies, Kolkata
An epic is being enacted, or an apology of it! Chidambaram started it, with a number – 72 hours. Kishenji retorted with another unit – days… nothing came of it. Neither took it seriously. Both procrastinated. This is a fine management technique- one that creates huge media hype and thus social capital is formed. Things did not change but perceptions did. Junglemahal is now a name, more than Nandigram.
People die or are dying, get raped, jailed, evicted and, of course, they are threatened on a quotidian basis. Lalmohun Tudu was bumped off in an encounter. His crime? A highly dangerous conspiracy against the state and the system – he was running a local hospital on the people’s initiative. Compassion is extremely dangerous when people are the target. Police officers are disappearing too. Retaliation is often swift. The cycle goes on, on and on. The idyllic but sombre rainforest is now bloodied. And procrastination is the response.
700 villages have been flattened and wiped out ostensibly for “development” – for mining important national resources. “National interest” serves city-dwelling billionaires who compete in the global arena. It will never serve the people in the nation-state. A rainforest does not have capital value and is, therefore, dispensable. People who live and who produce through their toil and let the wealthy live off their resources generated through indirect taxes, do not have a voice or opinion in a “democracy”. The voice that matters is that of those whose “national interest’ is served.
Liberals and “independent” think tanks are clamouring about a colossal breakdown of an ostensibly perfect development regime. A haven of representational neurocracy that we advertise as the best liberal model laments that people of the rainforest are now mere victims of neglect and corruption! What a revelation! Ask Lalita Tudu, thoroughly determined daughter of Lalmohun. She does care a fig for “development” or “administration”.
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