Skip to main content

South Gujarat tribal social worker stuns Left-supported land rights meet, seeks revival of Gandhi's swarajya concept

Ashok Chowdhury
By Our Representative
The three-day national convention on land rights ended in Ahmedabad with nearly 500 activists, gathered from 15 states, “pledging” to expose illusions around Gujarat “model of development” amidst a top Gandhian tribal social worker from South Gujarat objecting the use of term “Modi's Gujarat” at the meet.
Gandhian social worker Ashok Chaudhari, who leads Adivasi Ekta Parishad, told stunned activists that it is “Gandhi's Gujarat” and not “Modi's Gujarat”, even as insisting on the need to revive Gandhi's concept of swarjya, which requires self-governance as the
mainstay of any developmental activity in the rural areas.
When he spoke, CPI-M politburo member Hanan Mollah, along with other some other senior activists such as Ashok Chaudhury of the All India Union of Forest Working People (AIUFWP), Ashok Shrimali of the Mines, Minerals and People (MMP), and Sunilam of the National Alliance of People's Movements (NAPM).
Refusing to endorse Chaudhuri, NAPM's Sumilam, one of the organizers of the meet, told the convention that the issues raised by Chaudhari on reviving Gandhian ways to fight the challenges of development would be discussed at “some other time.” Top social activist Medha Patkar, who leads NAPM, was not present when Chaudhari made the comment.
A Gujarat-based farmers' leader, Lalji Desai, who came to the meet in his “individual capacity” as he is a Gujarat Congress general secretary, wanted the meet to drop the word “Gujarat” model. “It is Modani model”, he said, pointing towards the alleged unholy alliance of Modi with top industrialist Gautam Adani.
The resolution said, “Many people harbour the illusion that Gujaratis today live in the good old state of Gujarat”, but insisted, instead, that it would be “more fitting” to name of the current Gujarat as a state where a series of special economic zones (SEZs), special investment regions (SIRs) and Delhi-Mumbai Corridor (DMIC) are coming up.
It should be called “SEZ-SIR-DMIC Pradesh”, the resolution, prepared by Anand Mazgaonkar, a well-known environmentalist with the Paryavaran Suraksha Samiti, said. Pointing towards huge corporatization of Gujarat, the resolution added, “The districts can no longer be called Bhavnagar, Jamnagar, Surendranagar etc.”
“They would more accurately be identified as Adaninagar, Ambaninagar, Nirmanagar”, the resolution said, referring to top industrial houses of Adani, Ambani and Nirma.
“Debunking” the myth of Gujarat model of development was also debunked, the resolution said, “That the jamborees called Vibrant Gujarat summits and the thousands of MoUs and investments worth tens of lakhs of crores promised were never going to be realised is an open secret.”
It noted, “Given the absurd number of documents signed, one MoU would have to be signed every 4 seconds and no more than 6 to 10% of the investments promised would materialise”, adding, “The list of lies broadcast by a captive media – whether it is the discovery of trillions of cubic feet of gas discovery by Gujarat State Petroleum Corporation (GSPC), or 7.5% GDP growth, or 14.5% agricultural growth in Gujarat – is endless.”
“The reality is that Gujarat’s public debt stands at a whopping Rs.1,65,000 crore (2016), its performance on social indicators such as gender ratio, female education, infant malnourishment, allocation to health and education sectors, income disparity, collapsing public services etc., can only be termed abysmal”, it said.
The resolution said, it is against this backdrop that people are fighting against the model – “fisherpeople, farmers, cattle herders of Kutch, farmers affected by highway in Junagadh, nuclear power plant in Bhavnagar district, Adivasis in eastern tribal belt from Sabarkantha, Banaskantha, Aravali to Dangs, Valsad and Tapi districts, slum dwellers of Ahmedabad, representatives of the expressway affected of South Gujarat.”

Comments

Unknown said…
Mischievous reporting again on the succesful completion of All India Land Right Conference. Authorship of the report is also doubtful.
Anonymous said…
What was a CPM politburo member doing on the rostrum?
Sunil said…
Strange resolution on Gujarat. Growth rate of Gujarat's GDP was declared at 7.7 per cent for 2015-16 by Socio Economic Review of February 2016. It is lower than many states, and lowest in three decades. Those who prepared the resolution should get facts checked. It gives no credence to organizers of a conference for providing a wrong figure

TRENDING

Importance of Bangladesh for India amidst 'growing might' of China in South Asia

By Samara Ashrat*  The basic key factor behind the geopolitical importance of Bangladesh is its geographical location. The country shares land borders with Myanmar and India. Due to its geographical position, Bangladesh is a natural link between South Asia and Southeast Asia.  The country is also a vital geopolitical ally to India, in that it has the potential to facilitate greater integration between Northeast India and Mainland India. Not only that, due to its open access to the Bay of Bengal, Bangladesh has become significant to both China and the US.

Unlike other revolutionaries, Hindutva icon wrote 5 mercy petitions to British masters

By Shamsul Islam*  The Hindutva icon VD Savarkar of the RSS-BJP rulers of India submitted not one, two,or three but five mercy petitions to the British masters! Savarkarites argue: “There are no evidences to prove that Savarkar collaborated with the British for his release from jail. In fact, his appeal for release was a ruse. He was well aware of the political developments outside and wanted to be part of it. So he kept requesting for his release. But the British authorities did not trust him a bit” (YD Phadke, ‘A complex Hero’, "The Indian Expres"s, August 31, 2004)

Swami Vivekananda's views on caste and sexuality were 'painfully' regressive

By Bhaskar Sur* Swami Vivekananda now belongs more to the modern Hindu mythology than reality. It makes a daunting job to discover the real human being who knew unemployment, humiliation of losing a teaching job for 'incompetence', longed in vain for the bliss of a happy conjugal life only to suffer the consequent frustration.

Buddhist shrines were 'massively destroyed' by Brahmanical rulers: Historian DN Jha

Nalanda mahavihara By Our Representative Prominent historian DN Jha, an expert in India's ancient and medieval past, in his new book , "Against the Grain: Notes on Identity, Intolerance and History", in a sharp critique of "Hindutva ideologues", who look at the ancient period of Indian history as "a golden age marked by social harmony, devoid of any religious violence", has said, "Demolition and desecration of rival religious establishments, and the appropriation of their idols, was not uncommon in India before the advent of Islam".

'BBC film shows only tip of iceberg': Sanjiv Bhatt's daughter speaks at top US press club

By Our Representative   The United States' premier journalists' organisation, the National Press Club (NPC), has come down heavily on Prime Minister Narendra Modi for recent "attacks on journalists in India." Speaking at the screening of an episode of the BBC documentary “India: The Modi Question,” banned in India, in the club premises, NPC President Eileen O’Reilly said, “Since Modi came to power we have watched with frustration and disappointment as his regime has suppressed the rights of its citizens to a free and independent news media."

Chinese pressure? Left stateless, Rohingya crisis result of Myanmar citizenship law

By Dr Shakuntala Bhabani*  A 22-member team of Myanmar immigration officials visited Rohingya refugee camps in Cox's Bazar to verify more than 400 Rohingya refugees as part of a pilot repatriation project. Does it hold out any hope for the forcibly displaced people to return to their ancestral homes in the Rakhine state of Myanmar? Only time will tell.

China ties up with India, Bangladesh to repatriate Rohingyas; Myanmar unwilling

By Harunur Rasid*  We now have a new hope, thanks to news reports that were published in the Bangladeshi dailies recently. Myanmar has suddenly taken initiatives to repatriate Rohingyas. As part of this initiative, diplomats from eight countries posted in Yangon were flown to Rakhine last week. Among them were diplomats from Bangladesh, India and China.

40,000 Odisha adolescent girls ask CM: Why is scheme to fight malnutrition on paper?

By Our Representative  In unique a postcard campaign to combat malnutrition, aimed at providing dietary diversity, considered crucial during adolescence, especially among girls, signed by about 40,000 adolescent girls from over 10,000 villages, have reminded Odisha chief minister Naveen Patnaik that his government's Scheme for Adolescent Girls (SAG), which converged with Pradhan Mantri Poshan Shakti Nirman  ( POSHAN ) 2.0 in 2021, is not being implemented in the State.

Natural farming: Hamirpur leads the way to 'huge improvement' in nutrition, livelihood

By Bharat Dogra*  Santosh is a dedicated farmer who along with his wife Chunni Devi worked very hard in recent months to convert a small patch of unproductive land into a lush green, multi-layer vegetable garden. This has ensured year-round supply of organically grown vegetables to his family as well as fetched several thousand rupees in cash sales.

Over-stressed? As Naveen Patnaik turns frail, Odisha 'moves closer' to leadership crisis

By Sudhansu R Das  Not a single leader in Odisha is visible in the horizon who can replace Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik. He has ruled Odisha for nearly two and half decades. His father, Biju Patnaik, had built Odisha; he was a daring pilot who saved the life of Indonesia’s Prime Minister Sjahrir and President Sukarno when the Dutch army blocked their exit.