Andher Nagari, Diggy Raja ...

Mr. Digvijay Singh, or Diggy Raja as he is known to his admirers, the current Chief Minister of the stateof Madhya Pradesh (MP) is a darling of the media. Business World describes Diggy Raja's MP as a"Watershed of Empowerment." He has been hailed as an enlightened, new-age leader, one who is in syncwith all that people putatively need in today's world - education, environment, right to information anddecentralization.

However behind the hosannas and the carefully crafted PR image lies an ugly reality, that of a steady butsystematic process of assault on the basic human rights of the most disadvantaged sections of our society,namely the adivasis and the dalits, along with a corrosion of all notions of accountability and even rationaldebate. Consider the following four examples.

On April 2, 2001, in the district of Dewas, under the approving gaze of the Collector of Dewas, theSuperintendent of Police and the District Forest Officer, several convoys of police opened fire on unarmed anddefenseless adivasis in several villages, killing four in the process. Coming in the wake of a series of priorattacks, this time the "law-enforcers" touched a new low of inhumanity by looting and destroyinghomes of the adivasis and even poisoning their food and water in many villages. A committee was appointed toinquire into the violence. A year has passed, nothing has happened. It was quite clear then what the "adivasi-friendly"government of Mr. Digvijay Singh had in store for the adivasis.

On March 28, 2002, the MP state cabinet gave an in-principle guarantee to the Maheshwar project for publicbonds worth Rs. 330 crore to be issued by S.Kumars, the promoters of the Maheshwar Project. This guaranteecame when no less than the CAG of India had pointed out that S.Kumars owes several MP state agencies, such asMPEB, NVDA, MPSIDC, several tens of crores of rupees in payments, and orders had been passed by the districtadministration of Khargone for the confiscation of the movable properties of the Maheshwar project. The IFCIreappraisal note of March 2000 clearly documents that S.Kumars had diverted Rs. 106.4 crore of public moneyadvanced for the Maheshwar project, to agencies that neither had any contracts for the project nor did anywork for it. In fact, the Ministry of Finance had refused to give the project any further public monies fromIndian public financial institutions and banks in light of the fact that S.Kumars as well as the MP stategovernment were persistent defaulters.

On May 17, 2002, the Narmada Control Authority gave the nod to increasing the height of the Sardar Sarovardam from 90m to 95m. This was done on the basis of fraudulent claims made by the MP government thatrehabilitation of oustees at the dam height of 95m was complete. For years now, the MP government has turned ablind eye to the demand for a rehabilitation based on the land-for-land principle - a core stipulation of theNWDT and the Supreme Court verdict. If this principle were to be applied faithfully, the rehabilitation of thenearly 8000 families who will be displaced at the height of 95m is impossible. The illusion of "completerehabilitation" was affected by making a completely baseless distinction between families affected bytemporary and permanent submergence. A preposterous idea sold was that those affected by "temporarysubmergence" need not be rehabilitated now. Not only is this difference an eyewash, as the so-called"temporary" submergence causes permanent damage to standing crops, houses and possessions but it isalso illegal and goes against the Supreme Court verdict.

A most poignant saga has just temporarily ended for the villages which will be submerged by the Maan dam,also in the Narmada valley. On June 18, the MP government directed the Grievance Redressal Authority (GRA) forthe Narmada projects to ensure the rehabilitation of the oustees of the Maan dam. This order came after a 29day fast by four activists and a 35 dharna by hundreds of others in Bhopal. Why did the MP government take solong to respond to the voice of the people?

All that the fasters and many others who were sitting with them in protest have been demanding is that theMP government provide alternative agricultural land to the more than 1200 families to be displaced by the Maandam. The people have even identified the land that would work for them. All that the government needs to dowas to buy the land for the oustees. But the Deputy CM of MP, Mr. Subhash Yadav turned down this request byessentially saying that if they rehabilitated the people of one dam, they would have to do this for others aswell. Instead, the MP government's idea of rehabilitation seems to include bulldozing hand-pumps and schoolsin the adivasi villages and forcibly evicting them. In other words, the state will build its dams, and thedisplaced people can go to hell. Need anything else be said about the MP government's commitment to theempowerment of people.

For 29 days the four fasting activists Ramkuvar, Mangat Verma, Vinod Patwa and Chittaroopa Palit held on tothe edges of their lives, while the government continued to play a cat-and-mouse game with them. Many mutuallyagreeable solutions were scuttled by the nexus between the politician and the bureaucrat. It took intensepressure from all sections of society - popular grassroots movements in India, civil society in India andabroad, and some plain speaking by the Governor of MP, before the MP government agreed to constitute the newcommittee in conjunction with the GRA to ensure complete rehabilitation by June 31. But it is worth keeping inmind that such committees have been constituted in the past and have failed abysmally in their duties. Whetherjustice prevails in the case of the Maan dam oustees remains to be seen. The substantive questions are : Whatcan we expect when submergence begins in the Sardar Sarovar area? Is this the only way to get justice in Mr.Digvijay Singh's MP? Through 29 day fasts?

These examples reveal the true face of Mr. Digvijay Singh and his government. But none of this is new. Ithas been a time honored tradition of all our governments whether of the Congress or BJP or the Left, to erodedemocracy at the grassroots, while diverting public money into the pockets of corporate crooks. Which societywill put up with this naked display of corruption and tyranny? Is it any wonder then, that today we findourselves in the grip of fascist forces who have brought us to the edge of doom?

Dr. Vinay P. Kumar is a research scientist at the Center for Biological and Computational Learning at theMassachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge. He is also a volunteer of the solidarity group "Friendsof River Narmada" and the community organization "South Asian Center" based in the Boston area.