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Following Chhattisgarh victory, BJP 'allows' mining in Hasdeo Aranya, protesters held

Counterview Desk 
 Seeking to stop the move to revive “rapacious” mining in Hasdeo Aranya, Chhattisgarh, civil rights network*, Forum Against Corporatization And Militarization (FACAM), has demanded the release of those who have been protesting against the mining project.
According the FACAM, the mining , which was stopped by the previous Congress government, has begun right after the BJP won the state elections in Chhattisgarh, even before the High Court verdict, where the case is pending. “Adani began its operations cutting trees en masse”, it claimed.

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On 21st of December members of Hasdeo Aranya Bachao Sangharsh Samiti (HBSS), Ramlal Kariyam (Hariharpur), Jainandan Porte (Saroanch, Ghatbarra) and Thakur Ram along with others was arrested. It was done in the wake of Parsa East Kete Basen (PEKB) project i.e. second phase of Parsa and Kete extension, which is owned out by Rajasthan Rajya Vidyut Utpadan Nigam Limited (RRVUNL) and operated by Adani Group.
This project was halted last year after the protests from the locals. The Chhattisgarh assembly unanimously passed a resolution on 26 July 2022, that the mining activities will not be carried out in Hasdeo area. Also, these projects are not sanctioned by the Gram Sabha, which we can trace as a pattern that is being followed by the government in other projects as well of Bastar region. The Supreme Court was also petitioned, and it sent the case back to the High Court, along with a 3 week stay order. The order expired soon, and the first High Court hearing dates started in November 2023.
It is important to mention that right after BJP won the state elections in Chhattisgarh, even before any High Court verdict, Adani began its operations cutting trees en masse. The electoral victory has emboldened and intensified Brahmanical Hindutva fascism in its servitude towards big corporates for which it will supercede any purported democratic institution like the judiciary. This intensity can be easily traced from the fact that, nearly 5,000 CRPF have been posted in the area to ensure that cutting happens at the most rapid rate, with high tech equipment being brought in to increase the output for the company as much as possible while the police and CRPF serves the goons who thwart the resisting people.
We can notice a chain of events in a small period of time, in which the leaders of different mass movements going on in this region are being arrested and the protests have to face brutal crackdowns. The arresting of the leaders of Orcha Jan Andolan and the arresting of 8 leaders of Damkondawahi Bachao Sangarsh Samiti are a couple to mention. As we have always focused, these arrests are another crackdown coming out of the quiver of Operation Samadhan-Prahar leaving the masses leaderless and no one to speak against the loot of natural resources by the state.
FACAM strongly condemns these arrests and demands immediate release of Ramlal Kariyam (Hariharpur), Jainandan Porte (Saroanch, Ghatbarra) and Thakur Ram along with others of Hasdeo Aranya Bachao Sangharsh Samiti (HBSS). We also appeal to civil society members, democratic rights activists and organizations, students, professors, progressive democratic mass organizations, peasant, and working-class organisations as well as all democratic and peace-loving people to oppose these malicious attacks on the masses. FACAM also urges all such people to carry out demonstrations at various places of country and rally along with the people struggling against such loot and displacement.
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*All India Students Association (AISA), All India Revolution Students Organization (AIRSO), All India Revolutionary Women’s Organization (AIRWO), Bhagat Singh Ambedkar Students Organization (BASO), Bhagat Singh Chhatra Ekta Manch (bsCEM), Collective, Common Teachers Forum (CTF), Democratic Students Union (DSU), Mazdoor Adhikar Sanghathan (MAS), Nazariya Magazine, Progressive Lawyers Association (PLA), Trade Union Centre of India (TUCI), Vishwavidyalaya Chhatra Federation (VCF)

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