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Jharkhand in a tizzy as ultras
strike with impunity

Lawless Texas is being re-enacted in one of India's newest states, giving its nascent government serious points to ponder over.

Increasing forcible occupation of cultivable land by armed extremists in the hilly districts of newly-created Jharkhand has thrown the Babulal Marandi government into a tizzy, with few clues about tackling the growing menace.

"Of course, I will crack down on lawlessness which has no place in a civilised society. But I will also find out the genesis of their (extremists) problems so that something can be done about it," the chief minister told rediff.com.

Extremists of the Maoist Communist Centre, People's War Group and Party Unity no longer restrict themselves to looting cars and trucks on highways in hilly districts. They are now forcibly occupying cultivable land and have 'banned' its sale, striking terror in the hearts of wealthy landowners.

"My family has more than 300 acres in Koinjra and Berwa villages of Gumla district. We were living comfortably, cultivating land and making money out of the produce. Now, MCC activists are claiming 50 per cent of the rice, wheat and vegetables. We cannot even sell our land because the MCC has banned it at the cost of shooting anybody who resists," lamented Bibhuti Shankar, an advocate who makes a modest living in Ranchi.

"We are looking forward to the Marandi ministry discouraging these extremists. That's why we have been voting for the Bharatiya Janata Party. Only it can tackle this deadly menace. The Rabri Devi government in Bihar, of which Jharkhand was a part till November 15, has turned a blind eye to growing extremism for political expediency," pointed out S S Ravi, a lecturer of history at St. Xavier's College.

Ravi possesses over 100 acres in Hazaribagh district.

Like the neighbouring districts, Gumla and Hazaribagh have hilly tracts and thick forests, which provide a virtually safe haven for the MCC, PWG and PU activists. With their activities growing since 1990, the extremists have become increasingly bolder, occasionally attacking even police stations to snatch arms.

"Give the Marandi government time to settle down, you cannot expect miracles since extremism is nothing new," said senior superintendent of police (rural) Umesh Kumar Singh. At the same time, he did not want to 'abuse' the Bihar government, contending that "extremism here is a complex social problem''.

Although extremism in Jharkhand witnessed an upswing in the early 1990s, the intelligentsia in Ranchi pointed out that surfeit land possessed by landlords in various district coupled with their atrocities on the landless labour, including tribals, sparked off extremism with a vengeance.

However, Ravi acknowledged that unlike West Bengal where former chief minister Jyoti Basu had distributed land among the landless peasantry, the tyranny of the landlords, particularly Rajputs and Bhumihars, formed the basis of retaliation by poor peasants who had taken to extremism.

Even today, people talk with awe about the doings of the fabled landlord in Hazaribagh, Jagdishwarjit Singh who earned the infamy of being the Man-eater of Manatu.

According to the records in police stations in Hazaribagh, Jagdishwarjit Singh unleashed his pet cheetah on a bangle-seller who had dared to peddle his wares on the landlord's residential premises.

Jagdishwarjit earned further notoriety for reportedly trying to recoup the affections of his concubine, which his son and grandson were vying for!

"Such shocking incidents are not uncommon among feudal landlords and they are not confined to a community," said Parvati Horo, a teacher of Gossner school.

Tucked away in police records are shocking incidents pertaining to how rich landlords in Jharkhand force young, scheduled caste and scheduled tribe women to sleep with them on their wedding night. A police inspector under the former Hazaribagh SSP P K Siddharth, speaking on the condition of anonymity, told rediff.com that he knew of 27 cases about which precious little had been done because of the landlords' clout.

Extremism in West Bengal disappeared largely because of Basu's land distribution among the poor peasants (no wonder Basu ruled for almost 24 years, being the longest-serving chief minister) and former Congress state chief minister Siddhartha Shankar Ray's no-holds-barred crackdown on them.

The extremists, in the mid-1970s, quickly penetrated into the interiors of largely feudal Bihar and were welcomed with open arms by the state's poor peasants and downtrodden.

The Jharkhand landowners' atrocities on the poor peasants ensured the quick growth of extremism in the region. As if by poetic justice, MCC and PU activists are illegitimate off-springs of the wealthy landlords who had forcibly sired them and are retaliating with awesome ferocity on their illegitimate sires.

According to Inspector General of Police (south) Rameshwar Oraon, the problem of extremism is serious but with the installation of the state government, efforts are on to tackle the menace.

He pointed out that MCC, PWG and PU activists had penetrated even rural areas of Ranchi. The Gurmuh, Khelari, Chahnoh, Bundu, Beru, Hapon and Silli police stations report extremist entrenching themselves in the area with alarming rapidity, Oraon pointed out.

They are armed with AK-47s, sten-guns, self-loading rifles and old rifles, apart from grenades and home-made bombs which have wreaked havoc. That many of these weapons have been snatched from policemen in the state is a fact local cops are wary of admitting.

The problem confronting Marandi is that he does not know with which extremist leader he could initiate a dialogue to end the menace.

"First let Marandi end the violence which is increasing by the day. Only then he can talk about holding a dialogue with oppressed victims who have taken to arms and are fighting the state," contended Rajiv Murmu, a tribal leader.

Jharkhand, it seems, took birth in troubled times.

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