Why
do the Naxalites, whose one point agenda is to "liberate the toiling
masses from the bondage of poverty" oppose construction of roads?
Roads,
as the policy makers say, is an instrument of development, with a
potential to create employment opportunities even for the rural poor.
Then
why the opposition and how do Naxalites secure people's support on
such a venture which ultimately may prove "profitable" for
the rural poor?
These
questions had been haunting me ever since I came across reports of
Naxalites violently opposing the repair of the Ranchi-Ramgarh-Hazaribagh
Road and Hazaribagh-Tilaiya-Kodarma Road. Through the latest issue
of its mouthpiece Lal Chingari, the CPI (Maoist) has threatened the
"bourgeoisie administration" of
"dire consequences" if it ventured to build roads in the
remote Jharkhand villages.
I spoke
to many police officials, who have operated in the Naxalite strongholds,
and also administrative officials who deal with the extreme left issues,
to find out the actual reasons for the opposition.
The officials
were unanimous in their views that the rebels perceived roads as a
threat to their existence. Roads will allow the police to move faster
and quicker. Quite frankly, the argument seems too simplistic.
In a
bid to find out the answer, I spent some time in the tribal- dominated
villages of Makhmandro and Purio on the Ranchi-Gumla Road and some
other villages on the Ranchi-Patratu Road. I chose these villages
because they were said to be the CPI (Maoist) strongholds.
To my
surprise, all the men and women I spoke to opposed the construction
or the improvement of roads without admitting any link to Naxalite
outfits or any
displaying any sympathy towards them. Yet, their argument against
roads was logical, to say the least.
Take
for instance , Lakhendra Oraon at Makhmandro. A few years earlier,
he owned 14 hens and half-a-dozen goats, all of which he lost, thanks
to speeding vehicles.The repair of the road near the village allowed
the vehicles carrying netaas, babus and contractors to drive by "murdering"
most of his
animals. "Now, we are left only with four hens and two goats",
Oraon said, adding, "all other hens and goats were crushed under
the speeding vehicles".
Parval
Minz, Hemlal Oraon and Nainsukh Lakra, too, narrated similar tales
of reckless driving and loss. Ramdayal Oraon, an educated youth, argued:
"We don't have vehicles that we can drive. Even the better off
among us have bicycles which we paddle anywhere, even on the kutcha
village roads. Then, what use do the roads have for us? The roads
serve only policemen, mafia and outsiders who run their vehicles crushing
our livestock," he added.
The Purio
villagers also said they would welcome other changes, such as improvement
of irrigation facilities, setting up agencies to provide livestock,
safe drinking water and provision of seeds and fertilisers to augment
the foodgrain production.
"These
measures may eventually help us to buy vehicles that we may drive
on these roads, but untill then, the roads are of little use to us,
but to the outsiders it is a scope to invade us," argued Ramdayal.
The villagers pointed out that the police raids in villages have put
several men behind bars after
vehicles carrying babus and netaas is attacked. But, they simply don't
lodge FIRs when villagers approach them with complaints of their hens
and goats being crushed by speeding vehicles.
Here,
what needs to be pointed out is that none of the villagers spoken
to expressed any sympathy to the Naxalite outfit. Even without that,
they seemed to be talking in the same lines to the latest issue of
Lal Chingari. Probably because Naxalites dealing with ground reality
and living among the villagers have a better grasp of the problems
of villagers.
