Pathalgadi movement, a rebellion against government.

Pathalgadi movement, a rebellion against government with opium taint

The word, Pathalgadi, also spelt as Pathalgarhi, hit the national headlines twice in the last eight days. On June 19, five NGO workers were allegedly abducted and gangraped by armed men associated with Pathalgadi movement. They were performing a street play at a school in Khunti district of Jharkhand. The Pathalgadi supporters branded the NGO workers as "dikus" (outsiders).

On June 26, another group of armed Pathalgadis abducted three security personnel posted at the local BJP MP Karia Munda's home in Khunti. Karia Munda is the former deputy speaker of the Lok Sabha and the BJP is the ruling party in Jharkhand.

But this is the not the first time that Pathalgadis have challenged law and order machinery. Over the last one year, the Pathalgardi groups have been active across four districts of Jharkhand - Khunti, Gumla, Simdega and West Singhbhum. All are Maoist-infested districts.

Who are Pathalgadis?

Pathalgadi simply translates into the planting a stone order. Stone plaques and signboards have come up in over 200 villages of Jharkhand in recent months. These stone orders dismiss the authority of the central or the state governments on their villages.

Usually placed at the entry points of tribal villages, these stone plaques have provisions of the Panchayats (Extension to Scheduled Areas) Act, 1996 or PESA written on them. These are meant to serve as warnings to the outsiders. The stone plaques and signboards also contain "orders" prohibiting outsiders from entering the tribal village.

They proclaim allegiance to the Constitution but reject any authority except their gram sabhas (village assemblies). They claim to be the real "Bharat Sarkar" (the government of India). Their fight is aimed to reclaim their rights over "jal, jangal and Zameen (water, forest and land)".

Pathalgadis have their presence in Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Odisha and parts of West Bengal and Madhya Pradesh.

Birsa Munda Connection

The Pathalgadis are most active in Khunti, the district where tribal freedom fighter Birsa Munda was born and took on the British might in 19th century. The Pathalgadis held their biggest ceremony on February 25 this year at Kochang in the district.

The participants were armed with rifles including AK-47. Curiously, the police did not prevent the meeting despite having intelligence inputs.

The Pathalgadis endorsed what was achieved by the Birsa Munda movement - the Chotanagpur Tenancy Act (CNT) in 1908. This law prohibited the transfer of tribal land to non-tribals while favouring community ownership. The Santhal Parganas Tenancy Act (SPT) of 1949 maintained the same position.

What has changed now?

The Pathalgadis have accused the Raghubar Das government of snatching away the rights of the tribal people of Jharkhand after some amendments were made to the CNT and SPT laws. In November 2016, Jharkhand Assembly passed two amendments allowing acquisition of tribal land for developmental projects.

Tribal groups and Opposition parties erupted in vociferous protests. In May 2017, Governor Draupadi Murmu returned the Bills for reconsideration. The Raghubar Das government finally withdrew the Bills in August 2017.

But the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act 2013 (Jharkhand Amendment) Bill was subsequently brought up by the government and passed by Jharkhand Assembly leading to fresh wave of protests. The Bill still awaits approval of the governor.

Tribal groups including Pathalgadis have claimed that the new Bill, if given assent, will undermine the rights of tribal people on forest resources and land.

What are specific demands of Pathalgadis?

The leaders of Pathalgadi movement prepared an 11-point charter of demands that they sent to various authorities including President Kovind on January 16 this year. The demands of the Pathalgadis can be summarized as:

1. The gram sabhas should get all the funds earmarked for the tribal sub-plan
2. The tribal people should not be branded as naxals and sent to jail
3. Changes in the land acquisition laws should be revoked
4. All police and paramilitary forces should be withdrawn from the Scheduled Areas and their camps dismantled
5. A separate education board - Adivasi Board - with distinct syllabus should be created for tribal students.

The Opium Angle

Jharkhand has emerged as one of the big centres of illegal opium cultivation in India. The police have attributed the recent challenge to law and order by Pathalgadi supporters to a bunch of opium cultivators.

According to police, the opium cultivators are instigating disillusioned tribal youths to use them as a shield for their opium cultivation. Jharkhand police have launched a drive to destroy opium crops in the state.

The police have said that around 23,000 acres of opium cultivation have been destroyed this year. Nearly 50 cases have been registered in this connection.

Security agencies say that the Maoists force tribal villagers to do opium cultivation to raise funds. Opium cultivation and trade are illegal in India except under certain conditions. But the contraband has a big international market and the Maoists, security agencies say, fund their operations through illegal trade of opium.

Anything else?

• The Pathalgadis call themselves the followers of Sati Pati cult of Gujarat. Sati refers to mother and Pati to father.
• The cult claims that the tribals were given rights over rivers, forest land and forest produce by Queen Victoria.
• Kunwar Keshri Sinh, the former leader of the Sati Pati cult, gathered a huge number of followers.
• His son, Kunwar Ravindra Sinh is the current leader of the cult that is hugely popular in and around Tapi district of Gujarat.
• The Pathalgadis have been distributing the copies of Heaven's Light Our Guide, a publication associated with the Order of the Star of India.
• It is an order of chivalry of the British empire that was founded by Queen Victoria in 1861.