Obstruction As Ideology

The spectacular success of Medha Patkar's NarmadaBachao Andolan in making her opposition to the Narmada Dam Project aninternational cause célèbre and the courage and perseverance she hasshown in pursuing this issue are indeed admirable. However, an honest andnuanced account of this movement is yet to be written. It is worth a seriousstudy because the tactics and strategies adopted by the NBA movement has manyimportant lessons to teach -- both positive and negative -- for all of usengaged in battles on behalf of the poor and marginalized groups of our society.

I am no expert on the economic viability of big or small dams. Therefore, Icannot pass a definitive verdict on the Sardar Sarovar Dam Project. My gutfeeling, however, is that mega projects that cause mega displacements tend to bepolitician- and contractor-friendly rather than people friendly. Moreover, our government(no matter which party is in power) has a shameless record of habituallycheating people of their rights, responding to their genuine grievances withcallousness and even brutality, robbing the poor of their pitiful resources andtransferring them to the rich and powerful and facilitating outright loot andcorruption in the guise of development projects. I also believe that our netasand babus are not enthusiastic about low-cost, eco-friendly options for waterharvesting and power generation because they cannot siphon off as much moneyfrom them as they can through mega projects. I myself played an active role fora long period in the campaign against building the Tehri Dam, which I believe tobe far more ecologically dangerous than the Narmada Dam. I share many of themisgivings of those opposing the Narmada Dam. Yet, I prefer that the merits anddemerits of each such project be evaluated in a non partisan manner through apublic audit by genuine experts, rather than adopting a permanent oppositionistposition as a matter of ideology.

Despite my reservations regarding mega-projects, I am forced to conclude thatthe mountains of propaganda material generated by the NBA, including themelodramatic tracts written by Arundhati Roy, are not fully trustworthy. Moreimportantly, the strategy and tactics adopted by the NBA have also often puttheir objectivity and ethical credentials in doubt.

Consider this:

Though NBA never tires of pointing to the real andimagined failures of Relief & Rehabilitation (R&R) as the main reasonfor their opposition to the Narmada Dam, it has actually worked tirelessly toobstruct many legitimate R&R projects. Medha Patkar had started her careerin 1984 with an Ahmedabad based organization called SETU which assigned her thejob of assisting Vasudha Dhargamwar of MARG to survey the affected villages toassess the information available to these people regarding the impact of theNarmada Project, and their rights as oustees. This exercise wasmeant to help ensure that people got a fair and just rehabilitation package. But by 1987, Patkar had developed extensive contacts of her own in the projectarea, and unilaterally parted company with a whole coalition of NGOs sincerelyworking there for R&R to proclaim: "Bandh Nahin Banega, Koi NahinHatega [The Dam Won't Be Made. Nobody Would Move]". Thereafter, she isalleged to have made it so difficult for Vasudha Dhargamwar to carry onwith the work they had started by carrying on a negative campaign against thosewilling to work on R&R as a fall back plan that MARG and SETU had towithdraw from the area.

Her stand became even more uncompromising when, under pressure from the WorldBank, the Gujarat government agreed to give a generous R&R package. Far fromwelcoming it and joining hands with those who began working to ensure that the government'spromise of R&R was translated into concrete action, she declared that theNBA would not accept any kind of R&R package because NBA wasopposed to obstructing the "natural" flow of rivers. Even the name ofthe movement, "Narmada Bachao Andolan", indicates that the NBA is moreobsessed with "saving" the river from human beings than protecting theinterests of poor farmers.

Thereafter she began a sustained campaign by the NBA against all those who wereacting as watchdogs to ensure proper rehabilitation. They were dubbed asanti-poor, anti-tribal, pro-kulaks and hostages to corporate interests. NBA activists were instructed to prevent the entry not just of governmentofficials, but also of independent NGOs into villages for collecting honest,updated data regarding families requiring resettlement. Theyphysically obstructed those who tried to provide accurate information about theR&R package to prevent people from making an informed choice. They even gottribals to take a sacred oath, with water of the holy Narmada in hand, that theywould choose death to relocation.

However, it did not take long for many of their local followers to realize that NBA was denying them the right to an informed choice. Therefore, despite the "sacred" oath NBA administered to them, most of the tribal villages began quietly voting with their feet and accepted the unprecedented R&R package of 5 acres per adult son and Rs.45,000 to each family for building a new house, free transportation of their household goods, including the timber frame of their house, plus truckloads of additional wood from their villages.

The R&R process in Maharashtra and Gujarat is almostcomplete. All said and done, the R&R package offered to Narmada Dam ousteesis by all accounts better than anything we have witnessed so far in part becauseseveral Gandhians and NGOs in Gujarat did a fairly good job of playingwatchdogs, insisting that the government must give the land of their choice tooustees even if it meant purchasing it from private owners. That is one of thereasons that in recent years oustees who have settled in Gujarat and evenMaharashtra have not been seen seeking the help of NBA.

Most of the new villages for oustees have been provided with better schools andprimary health facilities and better connectivity with urban centers than theyever had before. This is not to suggest that the rehabilitation package isflawless. According to Prof. Ghanshyam Shah of the Surat based Centre for SocialStudies, who has closely followed the R&R in Gujarat, while 80 percent ofoustees in Gujarat have been given a fair deal, about 20 percent have notreceived their full due. All this because of sustained pressure rather than dueto an innate desire of the Gujarat government to give a fair economic deal.Activists of Arch Vahini who played a vital role in this were so worn out in theprocess that they withdrew from the Resettlement and Land purchasing Committeeafter resettling villagers from 19 uprooted villages spread over 155 Gujaratvillages. Maharashtra government too played a lot of mischief with the awards,and the Madhya Pradesh government has also done all it could to wriggle out ofits commitments. The Monitoring and Evaluation Committee of the Project as wellas the Supreme Court have at various times expressed dissatisfaction at theveracity of their Action Taken Reports and forced the state governments toimprove their performance.

However, those in the know have numerous sad but truestories of how, even in this part of the rehabilitation effort, NBA activistsput all manner of hurdles in the way of those working for R&R, including theuse of outright violence. More than 200 criminal cases have been filed in MadhyaPradesh against NBA activists for engaging in violent attacks. As per newsreports, as recently as April 6, NBA activists were reported to have beaten upand torn the clothes of government officials who visited Bajrikheda for surveywork. One would have dismissed this reported instance as an example of the repressive policy of the state government -- except for the fact that it isnot just government officials who have alleged obstructionist attacks by theNBA; honest NGOs working for R&R narrate similar accounts. The IndianExpress of May 1, 2006 also reported how when they tracked down some of thefamilies in Madhya Pradesh whose case the NBA took to the Supreme Court, theyfound these families had actually bought land of their choice with thesettlement money provided by the government but the NBA activists werepressuring them not to move from their original villages so that they couldcontinue to argue in the Court that R&R was incomplete.

Such tactics are not new. They date back to the early days of NBA. This is howAmbrish of Arch-Vahini describes one among many reported episodes of NBA'stechniques: When a large majority of tribals from Manibeli wanted to move to thenew land sites offered to them in Gujarat, the minority who were still alignedto NBA declared they would not let those who wanted to move take theirdismantled houses with them. Since tribal homes are built with a lot of valuabletimber, no one who was ready to accept the government offer was willing to letthe minority NBA activists take forcible possession of their houses. Governmentfunctionaries sent to assist in helping those willing to relocate to carry theirbelongings and construction material were stoned and prevented from entering thevillage. Finally, those keen to move sought the intervention of Arch-Vahiniof Gujarat, since it had worked for long years to pressure the Gujarat governmentto implement honestly its promises of R&R. When Arch-Vahini personnel werealso attacked, the entire operation had to be carried out under policeprotection. However, the NBA successfully manipulated the mediacoverage of this event to project an image that Manibeli was razed to the groundby police action and goons acting on behalf of the Gujarat government toforcibly oust the poor tribals from their village.

Another method used by NBA to obstruct R&R was to demand that, since tribals are forest dwellers, they should be given forestland for resettlement. For years the Ministry of Environment resisted the idea because the new environment laws are against allowing new settlements in forest areas. However, when, under World Bank pressure, the government of Maharashtra was persuaded to make forest land available for oustees, the NBA decided to create a big furore by reversing its stand without explanation. They objected to this deal on the plea that this would destroy the already depleted forest cover in Maharashtra, proving yet again that for NBA keeping the "movement" alive has become more important than protecting the rights of vulnerablecitizens.

Maneka Gandhi, who is an ideologically compulsive supporter of the NBA, gave the following account from a whole repertoire of stories about Medha Patkar\'s obstructionist strategies with regard to R&R. In the year 2001, when Maneka Gandhi was appointed minster for social welfare, she approached Medha Patkar and asked for a list of the project affected families in Madhya Pradesh so that she could help in providing a comprehensive plan of action for rehabilitation. When she found that the NBA had never prepared a list of those requiring rehabilitation, she offered to get that job done by sending the most honest among her officers to do a survey. However, she requested Patkar not to let this be known publicly, so that the survey could be kept a quiet affair since her own party bosses were not keen on such an exercise. However, as soon as the team reached Bhopal, Medha Patkar gave a press conference denouncing the survey team and dissociating NBA from it. As soon as BJP leaders got to know of it, Prime Minister Vajpayee ordered Maneka Gandhi to recall the survey team. As a junior minister in the cabinet, she had no choice but to comply. That was yet another opportunity sabotaged for preparing an accurate list of people requiring rehabilitation.

Today, despite the obstructionist tactics of the NBA, Gujarat and Maharashtrahave almost completed the R&R process. Madhya Pradesh is the only state thathas not fulfilled its entire commitment. However, most of the 35,000 familieswhose cause NBA is currently espousing with a view to stopping work on the Damare not tribals, though they are paraded as adivasis. Tribal lands weresubmerged long ago; the adivasis have mostly been settled despite NBAobstructions. The present day "oustees" are mostly from Patel andother Patidar castes. There are serious differences between the government'sestimates of families requiring total relocation and that of the NBA. How do weknow what is the accurate ground reality when all along NBA activists havesteadfastly opposed the entry of government officials and even independent NGOsto carry out an accurate updated assessment?

Even those who disagree with NBA's methods cannot deny that by building a sustainedand relentless campaign on the issue of rehabilitation, at the national and international level,making Narmada Dam an international cause célèbre and tirelesslydrawing attention to the many real and imagined bunglings, it has undoubtedly played an important role in forcing thegovernment to offer a decent R&R package. While determined interventions by theSupreme Court and the ground level work by Arch-Vahini and other concernedcitizens doesn't ever get due acknowledgement, even the NBA's detractors admitthat pressure from the World Bank after NBA lobbied hard to get them to withdrawfrom the project played a significant role in ensuring a fair deal for thedisplaced.

However, by their mixing untruths, half-truths and overstatementsand their consistent obstructionist attitude towards R&R while cynicallyusing the issue to stall the dam construction by defaming those who took up thetask seriously, NBA has compromised its own credibility and ended up being anextremely divisive movement. It often gave the impression that keeping alive themovement became an end in itself and the oustees were being used as mereinstruments toward this end.

The NBA has also harmed itself by making light of the drinking water needs ofGujarat and making it seem as if the dam was going to cater only to the urbanelite. It was this total lack of acknowledgement, this total lack of compassionfor those deprived of water that would make anyone feel, if not demonized, atleast dismissed and totally blanked out of the picture. It is this rigid andinflexible stand, with no compassion shown or alternative offered for drinkingwater needs of the people of Gujarat who saw the dam as the only panacea onoffer, that made this into a 'us versus them' divisive battle.

So on one hand you had Medha Patkar's rigid stand against the dam, with noviable alternative on offer, and, on the other, you had Modi standing absolutelyfirm in support of the dam promising water and development - just as Chiman BhaiPatel of the Congress had at one time. Medha Patkar, one could conclude, has made no smallcontribution in polarising the society, deepening the divide, thus helping Modiget people to forget his part in the killing of thousands, enabling him toreinforce his image as a symbol of Gujarati pride. The high profileinternational campaign by NBA also easily lends itself to the fears and phobiasbeing cultivated by their leaders that there is an international conspiracy tohalt Gujarat's march towards a prosperous future. It is a combination of allthis which evoked and aroused chauvinistic feelings which in turn were exploitedby Gujarati politicians—both from the Congress and BJP—allowing them to getaway with their own quota of lies and half-truths regarding the potential costsand benefits of the dam.

While the NBA has been successful in winning support for its cause amonglarge sections of national and international NGOs, the Gujarat government hasbeen eminently successful in convincing the people of the state, cutting acrossalmost all divides, that the Sardar Sarovar Project is their lifeline and answerto all their problems with regard to water and power needs. Gujaratis are socharged on this issue that they are willing to overlook all the lapses,including evidence of corruption and lies being peddled by their government. Forexample, so far only 10 percent of the available water from the dam is reachingGujarat because the network of canals required to transport the full load hasnot yet materialized. Gujarat has stretched its budgetary resources to such alimit that it does not even have the money to build the required canal network.And yet, it insists on raising the height of the dam. In the process, the statehas almost bankrupted itself by sinking more and more money in theever-escalating costs of this project, justifying it as a matter of Gujarati swabhiman.

Another important reason for NBA losing a lot of goodwill it had initiallygarnered is that it appears to have made a religion out of opposing all kinds ofdevelopment projects without examining the merits of each case. NBA definesitself mainly through negative agendas – anti-dam, anti-liberalisation, anti-globalisation,anti-WTO, anti this, anti that. The alternative development paradigm MedhaPatkar claims to represent has not yet offered any practical and positiveworldview or agenda for action. That is why even those of us who have seriousmisgivings about the Sarkari Paradigm of Development feel sceptical of thePatkar-Roy Politics of Non-Development. They have made the single theme ofobstructionism into high ideology. One expects a more constructive approach inpolitics from those who claim to draw inspiration from Mahatma Gandhi.

Madhu Purnima Kishwar is Senior Fellow at the Centre for the Study ofDeveloping Societies, founder editor of Manushi, and author, mostrecently, of Deepening Democracy: Challenges Of Governance And GlobalisationIn India