The Maoist insurgency has exposed the people of this region to such a spiral of violence that now nobody wants to go back to it. People want to look beyond the struggle between the government and Maoists.
The Burkapal case is a symbol of the grave injustices being done to the adivasis of Bastar on a daily basis in the name of anti-Maoist operations.
Bastar has seen innumerable instances in the past of innocent Adivasis being framed in false cases, lodged in jail, killed in fake encounters, abused and raped.
Bastar has seen several Adivasi protests in the last few decades, but they have mostly remained short-lived and localised. The protests that began in a small...