Not a single spark in the sleeping giant called Madhya Pradesh

NK SINGH

"And from Madhya Pradesh, you can always report on the Rajahs, the dacoits, the Adivasis and local politics", commented my friend.

So here you are, in the land of Rajahs deprived of their privy purses, the dreaded dacoits turned- Sarvodayaites (or is it vice versa?) of the Chambal ravines, the slowly dying adivasis, the 'gulabi channa', or to put it more explicitly, corruption-ridden politics and what my friend had forgotten to suggest a land without a single spark, not to speak of a prairie fire.

Even back in 1967-70 Madhya Pradesh was what West Bengal or other comparatively 'conscious' States are today, with no organisation to turn the winter of discontent into spring thunder.

One or two, almost feeble, attempts had been made in the Chhatisgarh region because of the influence of neighbouring West Bengal and Andhra Pradesh,

In 1970, a right-wing sensational weekly had headlined, "Naxalites in M.P.; landlords' heads as doorknobs!" It was a lengthy report about a single 'action' by the Naxa- (lites who "raided the residence of an ex-Malgujar of a Raipur village, assaulted his brother and servant and left behind them a few arms and pro-Mao and pro-Naxalite posters and pamphlets".

After one year, the same weekly reported, "large-scale sabotage plan of Naxalites in M.P.". It was a nauseating follow-up of the above-mentioned incident, reporting that the First Sessions Judge of Raipur had convicted 9 Naxalites to 7 years" imprisonment (perhaps that was the maximum he could do) for attempting to overthrow the present government by violence and murder an ex-Malgujar. 

The weekly had remarked, "The Raipur order is very significant because of its observation". Sagittarius also thinks so. To quote from the weekly: the judge observed that though there was no direct proof against the Naxalites of an attempt to overthrow the government by violence, it had been well substantiated by the prosecution that the accused had prepared themselves for these offences. 

The judgment said that the accused had followed the ideology of Naxalism and communism. On these grounds, the learned judge held the Naxalites guilty and convicted them."

After some time the weekly heaved a sigh of relief: "Police foil Naxalites' plan to sabotage 23 M.P. districts". They had been eliminated".

That is that. Not even a single annihilation, the accepted hallmark of revolutionary activities in those days, took place. Why this passivity?

Sagittarius hails from a more 'backward' State than Madhya Pradesh, but he has never seen such a submissive populace. Life crawls on. The lower stratum of society has reached a stage that can be called the limit of human suffering. 

Starvation deaths. have become too common a feature to attract even a sentence in the newspapers, except perhaps when the Assembly is in session and op-position parties use it as a handy stick always ready to beat the ruling party. After all, who are the dead? 

Just a horde of illiterate half-clad, semi-starving people. Hasn't the Government already set up a Tribal Co-operation Development Corporation and spent lakhs (or perhaps crores) of rupees on them? If the original inhabitants of Madhya Bharat are moving towards extinction, it certainly is not the fault of the Government. There is something wrong, basically wrong.

Yes, there is certainly something wrong. The middle-class 'babu', a typical creature of modern India, is an example. The babus simply don't know what is happening to the good old world. why the 'price index' is galloping. But they are too self-centred 10 mind the business of other people. 

One of the other sections of these people, mostly engaged in frustrating non-productive labour, is always in some sort of 'agitation'- strike, work to rule, dharnas and whatnot for their economic demands.

Almost every evening the offices of local newspapers are bombarded with the press statements of different class III employees' unions, accusing and counter-accusing each other. 

A peep inside, and it is a dirty-dirty world. The upper class is only too happy to have a progressive Chief Minister, the 'faithful' follower of Indiraji, who spends half his time visiting New Delhi off and on.

They are too happy to have a 'socialist' Government which goes out of its way to open joint sector industries in collaboration with the big monopoly houses in the country. 

(The State Government recently went ahead with its joint venture with Bajaj for an electric lamp MP factory on a plot of 'agricultural land', despite the reluctance of the Agriculture Department, and bypassing the adverse remarks of the Finance Department, just "to stick to its word of honour", as the Chief Minister, Mr P. C. Sethi, put it).

Speaking of politics the 'gulabi channa' politics - It stinks. Right from the top brass to their petty chamchas, all are busy making hay while the sun shines. If the Congress goes, Jana Sangh is too ready to replace it.

One instance of vulgar politics, Madha Pradesh style. Recently, a "galaxy" of Congress leaders descended upon Bhopal from their heavenly abode in New Delhi: dozens of top Union ministers and Congress office-bearers. They came in a huge plane, stayed in the town for hardly two hours, and flew back to Delhi. 

The purpose was tamasha, the presentation of a commemorative volume in honour of the Congress President, Mr S. D. Sharma, who unfortunately belongs to Bhopal.

Heavy police 'bandobast' and all that goes with it, some arrests of slogan-shouting opposition youths too. More than one lakh rupees was spent, according to a modest estimate, to honour the ruling party president'. 

Better not mention the administration, or lack of it. If in other parts of India, criminals commit a crime with the connivance of the police, here it is vice versa. The police have become notorious for their long record of dacoity, loot, murder, theft etc. 

But perhaps the forte of the Madhya Pradesh police lies in rape. The last session of the State Assembly was rocked with at least one dozen cases of rape by the police, most of them taking place right inside the police station.

After the mass surrender of dacoits last year, the Government hit upon a novel plan to eliminate the dacoity problem. It has taken up a huge project, in collaboration with the USSR, to level up the entire Chambal ravines. 

It will serve a two-fold purpose improve the socio-economic lot of the farmers and deprive the new generation of dacoits from their choicest and most convenient hiding places.

However, they have not evolved any such plan for a change of heart, let alone the total elimination, on the part of their criminals-in-uniform. The IG of Police, MP, played his humble role in this regard. 

According to reports, before the commencement of the latest Assembly session (December 24-30) the IG issued a circular to all the police officials to the effect that special care should be taken to see that no policemen are involved in crime, especially rape cases just before the commencement of the Assembly session or during it for it gives a bad name to the department. 

By implication, according to the Assembly-fearing IG, the rest of the time is all right. 

Recently there was a report about some armed adivasis attacking the luggage van of an express train and looting it. There was quite a furore in the State, a special police force was deputed for passengers' safety and scores of Adivasis were arrested from villages near the place of occurrence.

After two days there was another report --- widespread drought in the area and consequent starvation might have forced the Adivasis to commit the crime. 

We are still waiting for a spark.

Frontier

January 12, 1974