Madhya Pradesh lynching of Adivasis: Govt 'mute spectator', hate groups on prowl

Counterview Desk
Organising an Adivasi protest against the recent Seoni lynchings in Madhya Pradesh, the civil rights group Jagrit Adivasi Dalit Sangathan (JADS) has said what has happened is nothing but outage committed by certain extremist groups in the name of religion.
Demand that the government should take action against such hate groups, JADS said in a media communique, shockingly, youth are being handed weapons instead of books, regretting, the government has remained a mute spectator as "Constitutional rights of Adivasis, Dalits and minorities are being brazenly violated."

Text:

Adivasi organizations across Barwani, Burhanpur and Khargone district of Madhya Pradesh came together to oppose the midnight attack on an Adivasi home a brutal murder of two Adivasis in Seoni, Madhya Pradesh by activists of Bajrang Dal and Shree Ram Sena.
Protestors gave a memorandum to the Governor and the Chief Minister opposing the politics of “gundagardi” in the name of religion and demanding a ban on organizations that engage in violence in the name of religion and are blatantly anti-Constitutional.
The attack, which took place on the night of 2nd May, led to the deaths of Dhansa Inawati of Semariya village and Sampat Batti of nearby Sagar village. According to the family members of the deceased, around 2.30 at night, 15-20 members of Bajrang Dal and Shree Ram Sena barged into their homes and started beating up the two men.
Women in their households who tried to protect them were also beaten up and had their clothes torn. Brajesh Batti also suffered injuries in the attack. It was later confirmed by the Thana Official of Kurai Thana, Mr. Uikey, that 3 of the accused were members of Bajrang Dal and 6 people were associated with Shree Ram Sena.

Protesting Adivasis unequivocally stated that such brazen violation of law and brutal attacks on people in the name of religion and 'gauraksha' are completely unacceptable. They pointed out that for them their cattle are like members of their family, but they strongly oppose the way people are being killed in the name of “cow protection” -- mostly by those who have never actually looked after a cow in their entire life!
Why, they said, are youth being provided with weapons instead of books? The responsibility of such attacks rests solely upon the administration and the government, who are tacitly supporting such attacks.
Similar instances of attacks on Adivasis have been reported from Madhya Pradesh in the past year. In September 2021, Bisan Bhil of Khargone and Kishan Nihal in Khandwa were beaten to death in police custody. No action has been taken upon the perpetrators so far.

In May 2021, a family of five Korku Adivasis was killed in Nemawar by one Surendra Rajput, claimed to be a member of the ‘Hindu Kesariya Sangathan’. Later, in August 2021, Kanhaiyalal Bhil died after being brutally beaten and dragged by a vehicle on the road.
Protestors pointed out that Adivasis, along with other common people of the country are already suffering greatly due to skyrocketing prices; farmers and labourers are being forced to migrate in search of work and are being reduced to bonded labour. To make matters worse, opportunities for education and employment are rapidly becoming out of reach of Adivasis, and now Adivasis are not even safe in their own homes.
Protesting Adivasis, led by Harsing Jamre, Nasri bai Ningwal, Antaram Alawe, Shivram Kanase, Prakash Bandod and many others all demanded that the government take immediate steps to curb such incidents and to ban organizations that engage in such unconstitutional and extra-legal activities.
Organizations such as Jagrit Adivasi Dalit Sangathan (JADS), Jay Adivasi Yuva Shakti (JAYS), Bhim Army, Adivasi Chhatra Sangathan, SC-ST-OBC Ekta Manch, etc. participated in protests across Barwani, Burhanpur and Khargone.

Comments

Plastic burning in homes threatens food, water and air across Global South: Study

By Jag Jivan In a groundbreaking study spanning 26 countries across the Global South , researchers have uncovered the widespread and concerning practice of households burning plastic waste as a fuel for cooking, heating, and other domestic needs. The research, published in Nature Communications , reveals that this hazardous method of managing both waste and energy poverty is driven by systemic failures in municipal services and the unaffordability of clean alternatives, posing severe risks to human health and the environment.

Economic superpower’s social failure? Inequality, malnutrition and crisis of India's democracy

By Vikas Meshram India may be celebrated as one of the world’s fastest-growing economies, but a closer look at who benefits from that growth tells a starkly different story. The recently released World Inequality Report 2026 lays bare a country sharply divided by wealth, privilege and power. According to the report, nearly 65 percent of India’s total wealth is owned by the richest 10 percent of its population, while the bottom half of the country controls barely 6.4 percent. The top one percent—around 14 million people—holds more than 40 percent, the highest concentration since 1961. Meanwhile, the female labour force participation rate is a dismal 15.7 percent.

The greatest threat to our food system: The aggressive push for GM crops

By Bharat Dogra Thanks to the courageous resistance of several leading scientists who continue to speak the truth despite increasing pressures from the powerful GM crop and GM food lobby , the many-sided and in some contexts irreversible environmental and health impacts of GM foods and crops, as well as the highly disruptive effects of this technology on farmers, are widely known today.

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.

Urgent need to study cause of large number of natural deaths in Gulf countries

By Venkatesh Nayak* According to data tabled in Parliament in April 2018, there are 87.76 lakh (8.77 million) Indians in six Gulf countries, namely Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE). While replying to an Unstarred Question (#6091) raised in the Lok Sabha, the Union Minister of State for External Affairs said, during the first half of this financial year alone (between April-September 2018), blue-collared Indian workers in these countries had remitted USD 33.47 Billion back home. Not much is known about the human cost of such earnings which swell up the country’s forex reserves quietly. My recent RTI intervention and research of proceedings in Parliament has revealed that between 2012 and mid-2018 more than 24,570 Indian Workers died in these Gulf countries. This works out to an average of more than 10 deaths per day. For every US$ 1 Billion they remitted to India during the same period there were at least 117 deaths of Indian Workers in Gulf ...

UP tribal woman human rights defender Sokalo released on bail

By A Representative After almost five months in jail, Adivasi human rights defender and forest worker Sokalo Gond has been finally released on bail.Despite being granted bail on October 4, technical and procedural issues kept Sokalo behind bars until November 1. The Citizens for Justice and Peace (CJP) and the All India Union of Forest Working People (AIUFWP), which are backing Sokalo, called it a "major victory." Sokalo's release follows the earlier releases of Kismatiya and Sukhdev Gond in September. "All three forest workers and human rights defenders were illegally incarcerated under false charges, in what is the State's way of punishing those who are active in their fight for the proper implementation of the Forest Rights Act (2006)", said a CJP statement.

Jayanthi Natarajan "never stood by tribals' rights" in MNC Vedanta's move to mine Niyamigiri Hills in Odisha

By A Representative The Odisha Chapter of the Campaign for Survival and Dignity (CSD), which played a vital role in the struggle for the enactment of historic Forest Rights Act, 2006 has blamed former Union environment minister Jaynaynthi Natarjan for failing to play any vital role to defend the tribals' rights in the forest areas during her tenure under the former UPA government. Countering her recent statement that she rejected environmental clearance to Vendanta, the top UK-based NMC, despite tremendous pressure from her colleagues in Cabinet and huge criticism from industry, and the claim that her decision was “upheld by the Supreme Court”, the CSD said this is simply not true, and actually she "disrespected" FRA.

Stands 'exposed': Cavalier attitude towards rushed construction of Char Dham project

By Bharat Dogra* The nation heaved a big sigh of relief when the 41 workers trapped in the under-construction Silkyara-Barkot tunnel (Uttarkashi district of Uttarakhand) were finally rescued on November 28 after a 17-day rescue effort. All those involved in the rescue effort deserve a big thanks of the entire country. The government deserves appreciation for providing all-round support.

'Restructuring' Sahitya Akademi: Is the ‘Gujarat model’ reaching Delhi?

By Prakash N. Shah* A fortnight and a few days have slipped past that grim event. It was as if the wedding preparations were complete and the groom’s face was about to be unveiled behind the ceremonial tinsel. At 3 PM on December 18, a press conference was poised to announce the Sahitya Akademi Awards .

Search This Blog