The Chhattisgarh Story

Deforestation in Chhattisgarh

Kerala’s Catholic Church is teeming with rage these days because of the arrest of two nuns in Chhattisgarh on false charges. No one seems to understand the real politics behind the Modi government’s enmity towards Christian missionaries in Chhattisgarh as well as other backward states in its neighbourhood. Modi is selling the tribal areas and forestlands to the corporate sector part by part, his friend Adani being the chief benefactor. The Christian missionaries are a severe hindrance in that commerce.

Let us get some facts right, at least.

The Adivasi villagers allege that Gram Sabhas (local governing bodies) were forged or manipulated under pressure from Adani and the BJP government officials in order to take away their lands. In Hasdeo Aranya, minutes of the local body meetings were altered to show the villagers’ consent for land transfers. Also, the Chhattisgarh Scheduled Tribes Commission found that Panchayat secretaries were detained and coerced into signing falsified consent minutes that included nonexistent approval clauses.

A district-level administration probe confirmed that land rights of at least 32 villagers in Ghatbarra were illegally acquired by Adani. Locals were made to sign affidavits and given cheques, violating provisions of the Forest Rights Act and the Land Acquisition Act.

The Parsa East-Kanta Basan [PEKB] coal project, whose mine-developer is Adani, led to the decimation of no less than 2000 hectares of forests. The irony is that at the same time Modi was asking Indians to plant one tree each! “A Tree for Mother” was his slogan when the mother was being smothered by his own bosom friend in Chhattisgarh’s forests.

Diseases like tuberculosis spread rapidly among the Adivasis whose habitats were devastated and water sources depleted. Traditional crafts and forest incomes were all snatched from them. The Christian missionaries rushed to their assistance. And now you know why Modi Inc won’t like that.

India is being sold to certain cronies of its current Prime Minister who has donned the mantle of Viswaguru. In the case of Chhattisgarh, Adani is the prime beneficiary. Adani Enterprises holds a 74% stake in the Parsa Kente Collieries Ltd. Adani has invested INR 7,465 crore in the Gare Palma II coal project near Raigarh, where 14 tribal villages were displaced.

So, the arrest of the two nuns from a railway station in Chhattisgarh is just the tip of a Himalayan iceberg. There’s a lot more catastrophe lying unseen or unnoticed. When bulldozers crush sal groves and tribal homes, it is convenient to hide all that behind the media glare on two aging nuns whose rheumatic arthritis is killing them slowly on a cold prison floor in the heartland of India’s cultural nationalism. Have you forgotten Stan Swamy?