When MSEZ “Goondas” turned playground into battlefield for Nallidadi Guttu kids

May 30, 2012

Msez

“I haven’t been able to sleep for the past two days” is what 12 year old Bhavya Shetty says holding her ear which she says was mercilessly twisted by men representing the Mangalore Special Economic Zone Ltd. (MSEZL) who came in with JCBs and bulldozers to carry out work on land belonging to the inhabitants of Nallidadi Guttu in Bajpe on May 25.

“They twisted my ear and threw me away. All we did was ask them why they were laying their hands on our elders”, she says.

The ecologically rich landscape around Nallidadi Guttu has already come under the radar of MSEZ and on May 25, its personnel announced their arrival with JCBs around the Guttu to carry out their work. “About eight of us were playing when they came. When our elders went to speak to them, they laid their hands on them. We went and asked as to why they were beating our elders but Krishna Mayya (MSEZ official) twisted my ear and threw me away. My ear is still paining and I haven’t been able to sleep for two days”, says little Bhavya.

Her 13 year old cousin Nirikshit Shetty had to face the music too. “They twisted my hand and threw me away” says Nirikshit holding his fractured arm. Ujwal, another of their cousins was also mercilessly treated by MSEZ officials, the kids say. “He has gone down with fever after the incident”, says Bhavya.

It was vacation time for Bhavya who had come down to her ancestral home from Mumbai. But MSEZ officials ensured that her holidays this summer would be remembered by her for wrong reasons. The child recalls every bit of what transpired before her on May 25. “They dared our people to stop them from acquiring our lands. They told us that they will get JCBs soon and demolish our Guttu, even if it means breaking our limbs and burying us under the same mud heap”, Bhavya says.

The entire Nallidadi Guttu rose in revolt when Laxman Chowta, the head of the Guttu, was attacked by MSEZ officials. “He is our spiritual head. But naturally when someone does something to him, we will not be able to tolerate it. When he was attacked, we all went to his aid and so did the children. But they showed no mercy” says Kishor Shetty, Bhavya’s uncle.

No one was spared on the day says Mr. Kishor. “They attacked me too. I was hospitalized later that day. I still have a swollen neck and my eyes are still paining. They did not spare our women either, warning them that they would cut them into pieces. They behaved rudely with them. On that day, not many from our family were present here. What can you do when they bring some 200 goondas along? We cannot take them on all by ourselves. They were rowdies and you could make out in the way they were speaking to our people. Their language said it all. Besides, if the MSEZ officials were really concerned about security they should have brought police personnel along with them, not goondas”, says he.

Laxman Chowta, the spiritual head of the Guttu was targeted the most. As a spiritual head of the Guttu, he commands respect from his people and it showed in his concern for making preparations for the ‘Nema’ that was scheduled to be held the following day. He came back from the hospital at night and made sure that everything was in place for the ‘Nemotsava’.

The Nallidadi Guttu consists of 18 houses inhabited by about 300 people, all of whom belong to the same family. “We are all relatives and are one family. Our Guttu has a tradition and history of more than 800 years. We hold a grand ‘Nemotsava’ every year. One of our traditions is mass feeding for people who attend our ‘Nemotsava’. We hold mass feeding programmes thrice every year during Aati, Deepavali and Chavali Nemostava festivals”, says Mr. Chowta. In fact ‘Chowta’ is a title given to the chief of the Guttu. The Nallidadi Guttu household also has a tradition wherein it is mandatory for all the families to have food together under one roof once in a year.

The ‘Daiva’ that people of the Guttu believe in, had even warned MSEZ officials once, Mr. Chowta says. “Some MSEZ officials had attended one of our rituals and the ‘Daiva’ had warned them asking them to stay away from our land. But they said they are just employees of the company and left the scene along with the ‘prasad’”, says he.

The MSEZ officials had cheated them, Mr. Chowta says. “When A J Pai was in-charge, he had told us that only some of our lands would be acquired by the MSEZ. We believed in his oral assurance and did not take it in writing”, Mr. Chowta laments.

The responses from elected representatives have been disappointing too, Mr. Chowta says. “We had met Nalin Kumar Kateel and explained to him the situation and he had assured us that he will come for a survey. But he hasn’t been available ever since, neither does he pick our telephone calls. The Chief Minister said he could not directly take a call and advised us to approach Krishna Palemar who has also disappointed us”, says Mr. Chowta. “Palemar is with the MSEZ officials. He told us to even take them on if they get physical assuring that he would be there come what may. If we believe his words and get physical with them, tomorrow we will be behind bars with criminal cases slapped against us and Palemar will not come to our rescue. These elected representatives are not being available as it is. How can we expect them to back us in such situations?” asks Mr. Kishor.

“The authorities claim that our people had given land to them voluntarily. When we demanded an answer from them through an RTI application as to whether they can produce documents in support of the voluntary land hand over, the response we received said that no documents are available at the moment”, Mr. Kishor says.

After all the unpleasant happenings on May 25, Mr. Kishor said a bigger surprised awaited them from MSEZ. “They have registered a case against us saying that we harmed their JCB. Are they out of their senses? How would it have been possible for us to damage their JCB with 200 of their goondas coming at us? Tomorrow they may say our children damaged their JCB!” Mr. Kishor says.

Mr. Chowta and others have however filed a complaint on the assault on them with the Bajpe police. Bhavya and Nirikshit too have submitted a written complaint to Yogesh Dubey, Chairman, National Child Rights Protection Commission who visited Mangalore on May 28.

The advent of MSEZ has spelled doom for people of the Guttu. Chanrdika, one of the ladies who now lives in a rented house following the demolition of her dwelling by MSEZ officials during land acquisition, says she fails to fathom the compensation parameters of the company. “They want to build an industry alright, but for us our agricultural land itself is our factory. We are farmers. We felt our belly burn when their machines pulled down our trees and crops. Do they realize that it takes about ten years for a coconut tree to grow and start bearing fruit? They want to give us a meager compensation and take away our factory, our land on which we do farming, the only thing we know”, says she. Its hard, indeed hard for Ms. Chandrika and others to see their crop lying destroyed along the ground. They see them every day.

After MSEZ work began in the region, the residents of Nallidadi Guttu have been facing other problems as well. “Their heavy vehicles have spoiled the road which was already in bad shape. Mud has been dumped around the region in large quantities and during rains there is bound to be some flooding. Some of the wells have become dirty. Their vehicles keep damaging the electric poles and we are left to face constant power cuts”, says Mr. Kishor.

Demolished2

Demolished3

Demolished4

Demolished5

Demolished6

Demolished7

Demolished

MESZ2

MESZ3

Photos by Suresh Vamanjoor

Comments

Add new comment

Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.

What about Kashmiri Pundits? Three Decades of Exodus

Ram Puniyani

February 22,2020

This January 2020, it is thirty years since the Kashmiri Pundits’ exodus from the Kashmir valley took place. They had suffered grave injustices, violence and humiliation prior to the migration away from the place of their social and cultural roots in Kashmir Valley. The phenomenon of this exodus had been due to the communalization of militancy in Kashmir in the decade of 1980s. While no ruling Government has applied itself enough to ‘solve’ this uprooting of pundits from their roots, there are communal elements who have been aggressively using ‘what about Kashmiri Pundits?’, every time liberal, human rights defenders talk about the plight of Muslim minority in India. This minority is now facing an overall erosion of their citizenship rights.

Time and over again in the aftermath of communal violence in particular, the human rights groups have been trying to put forward the demands for justice and rehabilitation of the victim minority. Instead of being listened to those particularly from Hindu nationalist combine, as a matter of routine shout back, where were you when Kashmiri Pundits were driven away from the Valley? In a way the tragedy being heaped on one minority is being justified in the name of suffering of Pundits and in the process violence is being normalized. This sounds as if two wrongs make a right, as if the suffering Muslim minority or those who are trying to talk in defense of minority rights have been responsible for the pain of Kashmiri Pundits.

During these three, many political formations have come to power, including BJP, Congress, third front and what have you. To begin with when the exodus took place Kashmir was under President’s rule and V. P. Singh Government was in power at the center. This Government had the external support of BJP at that time. Later BJP led NDA came to power for close to six years from 1998, under the leadership of Atal Bihari Vajpayee. Then from 2014 it is BJP, with Narerda Modi as PM, with BJP brute majority is in power. Other components of NDA are there to enjoy some spoils of power without any say in the policies being pursued by the Government. Modi is having absolute power with Amit Shah occasionally presenting Modi’s viewpoints.

Those blurting, ‘what about Kashmiri Pundits?’ are using it as a mere rhetoric to hide their communal color. The matters of Kashmir are very disturbing and cannot be attributed to be the making of Indian Muslims as it is being projected in an overt and subtle manner. Today, of course the steps taken by the Modi Government, that of abrogation of Article 370, abolition of clause 35 A, downgrading the status of Kashmir from a state to union territory have created a situation where the return of Kashmiri Pundits may have become more difficult, as the local atmosphere is more stifling and the leaders with democratic potential have been slapped with Public Safety Act, where they can be interned for long time without any answerability to the Courts. The internet had been suspended, communication being stifled in an atmosphere where democratic freedoms are curtailed which makes solution of any problem more difficult.

Kashmir has been a vexed issue where the suppression of the clause of autonomy, leading to alienation led to rise of militancy. This was duly supported by Pakistan. The entry of Al Qaeda elements, who having played their role against Russian army in 1980s entered into Kashmir and communalized the situation in Kashmir. The initial Kashmir militancy was on the grounds of Kashmiriyat. Kashmiriyat is not Islam, it is synthesis of teachings of Buddha, values of Vedant and preaching’s of Sufi Islam. The tormenting of Kashmiri Pundits begins with these elements entering Kashmir.

Also the pundits, who have been the integral part of Kashmir Valley, were urged upon by Goodwill mission to stay on, with local Muslims promising to counter the anti Pundit atmosphere. Jagmohan, the Governor, who later became a minister in NDA Government, instead of providing security to the Pundits thought, is fit to provide facilities for their mass migration. He could have intensified counter militancy and protected the vulnerable Pundit community. Why this was not done?

Today, ‘What about Kashmiri Pundits?’ needs to be given a serious thought away from the blame game or using it as a hammer to beat the ‘Muslims of India’ or human rights defenders? The previous NDA regime (2014) had thought of setting up enclosures of Pundits in the Valley. Is that a solution? Solution lies in giving justice to them. There is a need for judicial commission to identify the culprits and legal measures to reassure the Pundit community. Will they like to return if the high handed stifling atmosphere, with large number of military being present in the area? The cultural and religious spaces of Pundits need to be revived and Kashmiryat has to be made the base of any reconciliation process.

Surely, the Al Qaeda type elements do not represent the alienation of local Kashmiris, who need to be drawn into the process of dialogue for a peaceful Kashmir, which is the best guarantee for progress in this ex-state, now a Union territory. Communal amity, the hallmark of Kashmir cannot be brought in by changing the demographic composition by settling outsiders in the Valley. A true introspection is needed for this troubled area. Democracy is the only path for solving the emigration of Pundits and also of large numbers of Muslims, who also had to leave the valley due to the intimidating militancy and presence of armed forces in large numbers. One recalls Times of India report of 5th February 1992 which states that militants killed 1585 people from January 1990 to October 1992 out of which 982 were Muslims and 218 Hindus.

We have been taking a path where democratic norms are being stifled, and the promises of autonomy which were part of treaty of accession being ignored. Can it solve the problem of Pundits?

Comments

Add new comment

Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.

India’s Composite Culture and Muslim Stalwarts

Ram Puniyani

August 9,2020

Contrary to present impression that Muslims are separatists due to whom the partition of India took place, the truth is that Muslims contributed to freedom movement and upheld India’s composite culture in equal measure. The partition process, mainly due to British policy of ‘divide and rule’ well assisted by Hindu and Muslim communalists is being hidden from the popular vision in India and Muslims in general are held responsible for the same. Not only that the communal historiography introduced by British to pursue their policies has become the bedrock of communal politics and worsening of the perceptions about Muslims is in progress in India.

Yet another example of this has been a series of tweets by the bureaucrat, who is close to retirement, K. Nageshwar Rao. Contrary to the service rules he has made statements, through his tweets which are appreciative of RSS-BJP and demonise the stalwarts Muslim leaders who not only contributed to the freedom movement but also later gave valuable service in laying the foundation of Independent India. As per Rao, his tweets he accuses Maulana Azad and the other Muslim Education ministers of “deracination of Hindus”. After naming “Maulana Abul Kalam Azad — 11 years (1947-58)”; “Humayun Kabir, M C Chagla & Fakruddin Ali Ahmed — 4 years (1963-67)”; and, “Nurul Hassan — 5 years (1972-77)”, he posts: “Remaining 10 years other Leftists like VKRV Rao.”

He points out that their policies were meant to “1. Deny Hindus their knowledge, 2. Vilify Hinduism as collection of superstitions, 3. Abrahamise Education, 4. Abrahamise Media & Entertainment, 5. Shame Hindus about their identity! and 6. Bereft of the glue of Hinduism Hindu society dies.”

Then he goes on to praise RSS-BJP for bringing the glory back to Hindus. These statements of his on one hand promote the Hate and on the other tantamount to political statement, which civil servants should not by making. CPM politburo member Brinda Karat has written a letter to Home Minister Amit Shah to take suitable action against the erring bureaucrat.

Rao begins with Maulana Abul kalam Azad. Surely Azad was one of the major leaders of freedom movement, who was also the youngest President of INC, in 1923 and later between 1940 to 1945. He opposed the partition process tooth and nail till the very last. As the Congress President in 1923 he wrote a remarkable Para, symbolizing the urge for Hindu Muslim unity, “If an angel descends from heaven and offers me Swaraj in 24 hours on condition that I give up Hindu Muslim Unity, I will refuse. Swaraj we will get sooner or later; its delay will be a loss for India, but loss of Hindu Muslim unity will be a loss for human kind”. His biographer Syeda Hamid points out “He spoke without an iota of doubt about how debacle of Indian Muslims has been the result of the colossal mistakes committed by Muslim League’s misguided leadership. He exhorted Muslims to make common cause with their Hindu, Sikh, Christian fellow countrymen.” He was the one who promoted the translation of Hindu scriptures Ramayan and Mahabharat in to Persian.

Surely Mr. Rao, neither has read Azad or read about him nor knows his contributions to making of Modern India. While today, the ideological formation to which Mr. Rao seems to be pledging his commitment is critical of all that happened during Nehru era, it was during this period when as education minister Azad was shepherding the formations of IITs, Academies of Science, Lalit kala Academies. It was during this period that the efforts to promote Indian composite culture were undertaken through various steps.

The other stalwarts who are under the hammer have been outstanding scholars and giants in their own field of education. Humayun Kabir, Nurul Hasan, Dr.Zakir Husssain gave matchless ideas and practical contributions in different fields of education. One can say that contrary to the accusations, India could match up to the Computer era, software and associate things, due to creation of large manpower in these areas mainly due to these foundations which were laid down particularly in the field of education during this period.

The charge that these ‘Muslim’ education ministers white washed the bloody Islamic rule is a blind repetition of the offshoot of communal historiography introduced by British. While Kings were ruling for power and wealth, their courts had Hindus and Muslim both officers. The jaundiced vision sees this as a bloody Islamic rule but as a matter of fact the syncretic culture and traditions developed precisely this period. It was during this period that Bhakti Traidtion with Kabir, Tukaram, Namdeo, Tulsidas flourished. It was during this period that humane values of Sufi saints reached far and wide. It was during this period that poets like Rahim and Raskhan produced their classic literature n praise of Hindu Gods.

We also need to remind ourselves that large number of Muslims participated in the freedom Movement. Two scholars Shamsul Islam and Nasir Ahmad have come out with books on the myriad such freedom fighters, to recall just a few names. Khan Abdul Gaffar Khan, Zakir Hussain, Syed Mohammad Sharfuddin Kadri, Bakht Khan, Muzzafar Ahmad, Mohammad Abdir Rahman,, Abbas Ali, Asaf Ali, Yusuf Mehrali, Maulana Mazahrul Hague.

These are just a few of the names. The movement, led by Gandhi, definitely laid the foundations where composite Indian culture and respect for all religions, others’ religion was paramount and this is what created Indian fraternity, one of the values which finds its place in the preamble of Indian Constitution.

This blaming of Education ministers who were Muslims is an add-on to the process of Islamophobia in India. So for there have been many actions of Muslim kings which are selectively presented as being bloody, now the post Independent History, where glorious contributions have been made by Muslim leaders are being used to further deepen the divisive process. We need to pay respects to builders of modern India, irrespective of their religion.

Comments