Vision Paper: Jagruk Yuva Sangathan, Kherwada

Let us unite for the dignity and rights of tribal people

At a time when the dignity, freedom and very survival of Adivasis is threatened by the social, political and commercial interests that thrive on exploiting the poor and unsuspecting tribals. The British tried their best to bring the tribals to the revenue generating ‘mainstream’ population but when they singularly failed at it they described most of the tribes as criminal tribes. While the Maharanas and the feudal lords cheated tribal community by pretending brotherhood, British tried to lure rebels like Ganga Bhil of Jawas by offering monthly allowance. Not only that, British promoted alcoholism, instigated mutual hatred amongst tribals and promoted traditions like Ver. Such tactics have also been adopted by modern day democratic governments. The political leadership has divided the tribal community in such a way that a section of tribal has been patronized in order to help government control the rebellious tendencies of the community.

In recent times we have seen renewed upsurge of tribal movements. While the intention has been that of helping the marginalized get organized for their collective interests, in reality even such opportunities are appropriated by the traditional exploitative leadership and the agents of the rich and influential. Unfortunately this struggle is also rendered ineffective by a section of the leadership that brings it under the shadows regionalism, communalism, and casteism.

On the other hand ruling classes continue unabashed exploitation. Government departments like the Police, Forests and Revenue departments continue to be the tormentors for the common Adivasi. The political leadership has been reduced to mere beneficiaries of the doles handed out by the ruling party. Opposition party members therefore only wait for their opportunity of handing out and receiving such doles. Therefore, it is obvious that the poor would have to organize themselves and cultivate their own leaders if they are to be able to raise their voice in a meaningful manner.

Who is Adivasi?

‘Adi’ literally means Ancient. Many historians believe that Adivasis were the original inhabitants of India. Some of the international organizations also use the term ‘indigenous’ for Adivasis. Anyway, it is worth thinking over as to how the original inhabitants of this country were restricted to forests and hills. Facts such as this have been buried deep under distorted historical analyses that we have to content with in the absence of authentic historical writings on Adivasis. Also, it is important for the new generation to be aware of its roots.

History tells us…

• Idar was ruled by Bhils and the last ruler of Idar was Harka Bhil.
• Juda was ruled by Bhil Jugja until he was attacked and killed by Patta Chauhan in 1398.
• Bundi was ruled by Minas until Hadas killed the ruler and captured Bundi sometimes around the year 1200.
• Mandalgarh fort was built by Mandya Bhil who was overthrown by treachery.
• Champaner, the erstwhile capital of Gujarat was ruled by Champa Bhil who built its famous temple. In the year 1483 Rajputs surrounded and captured Champaner before it ultimately went to Mughals.
• Dungar Barenda Bhil who ruled Dungarpur before Rawal Rajputs killed him by intoxicating him. The incessant struggle launched subsequently by the Adivasis of Bhorai Pal and Mathu Gamda villages is part of the golden history of tribal rebellions.
• Kumbhalgarh was called Kumbhalmer and was ruled by Mer Bhils before Kumbhalgarh fort was built. Maharana Pratap took refuge with the tribals after fleeing from Kumbhalgarh fort in 1579. Brave Adivasis like JaiSingh Kotaria accorded protection and helped Maharana Pratap set up his new capital Chawand.

We could go on narrating such instances where the tribals were rulers before they were overthrown (mostly by treachery) by Rajputs and other rulers. When this happened, tribals were forced to run away into the forests and hills. Interestingly, many ruling classes also took refuge in the forests and hills after infighting within the ruling clans. These people also took over large tracts of land from tribals by hook or crook. Such ruling clans were called Bhomias in the Arawali region. Till date Bhomias are considered to be the second rate Rajputs within the Rajputs.

Another important factor that affected outsiders’ reactions towards tribal community was their rebellious history. This was why the British forced the Mewad rulers to accept the Rana and a Bhil standing side by side in the emblem of Mewad princely state. Many rulers also had marital relations with Bhil women but the Bhil continued to be drawn further to the margins of the society.

1857 rebellion and thereafter

Tribals had led several uprisings against the British in the period between 1821 and 1823, 1823 and 1825, and 1836 to 1841. The British constituted Mewad Bhil Core in 1941 to cope with such frequent rebellions. Tantiya Bhil wielded influence over a number of districts in Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh. He fought against the capitalists and British rulers for more than 10 years after the 1857 rebellion. Bhils of the Bhomat region revolted against the treaty between Col. Tod and Rao of Jawas. Led by Daula Khinchi, Bhils launched coordinated attacks on 14 police stations that had been established as a result of the cooperation between the British and the Rao.

Maharana Swarup Singh asked his armed men to attack several villages surrounding Kaliwas in November 1985. Many tribal rebels were beheaded and a village was set on fire in addition to large number of arrests. Those were the times when the tribals demonstrated exemplary regional unity. Whenever armed forces were sent to control situation in some particular villages they had to fight their way out of other tribal village en route. This was witnessed in 1982 when Bhorai Pal villagers surrounded the settlement officer of Magra district. Following this, thousands of tribals surrounded Rishabhdev temple where army had to be sent to rein in the rebelling tribals. Finally, Shymaldas, a poet and an officer under Maharana Sajjan Singh, had to agree to cut down the taxes by half.

Anup Maharaj mobilized the tribals against money lenders through his books Jagat Hitkarini and Lanka Ra Dedh around the year 1909. The year 1913 witnessed a massacre bigger than that of Jaliawala Bag where tribals from three neighbouring states had gathered under the leadership of Guru Govind. Frightened by the prospects of an uprising by thousands of Adivasis, Raos and Umraos called in the services of army from Kherwada cantonment that attacked unarmed tribals including the children and women. An estimated 1500 people laid their lives in the hills of Mangarh. The event is commemorated every year when thousands of tribals pay their homage to Govind Giri Maharaj and the martyrs during the annual tribal fair held at Mangarh. Therefore, 19^th century saw tribal uniting to fight the feudal lords as well as the British.

Influence of Biajoliya Peasant Movement

This peasant movement, one of the best known in India’s history challenged the triplet authority of the feudal lords, Rajput Rulers and the British under the leadership of Vijay Singh Pathik, Sadhu Sitaram and Premchand Bhil. Influenced by the movement, Motilal Tejawat subsequently led tribal uprising in Kotra, Jhadol and Kherwada region while Manikya Lal Verma led the movement in the Salumbar-Sarada region known as Magra district then. Bhogilal Pandya and Gauri Shankar Updhyay led the movement in Dungarpur while Mama Baleshwara Dayal mobilized the tribal people in Banswada, Kushalgarh, Pratapgarh and Jhabua. This movement against the feudal lords also caught the imagination of peasants and Garasiya tribals in neighbouring Pali district where Maharaja Ummedsingh had to rush in his army to suppress uprising against unreasonable tax collection. Hinduja Bhil was burnt alive after the tribals refused Begar for the Jamindar in Chanod village of Pali district. Such inhuman repressive measures further strengthened the movement against the tyranny of feudal lords.

Some 1200 tribals were shot dead on 7^th March 1922 in Pal Chitariya village on Rajasthan Gujarat border. Despite this, the tribal farmers continued their agitations in support of 21 demands they had raised. Similarly, the history of Bhula village of Sirohi district is full of inspiring stories of sacrifice and struggle. Birtish had set up a police chowki in Valoriya to control the rebellion. Villagers decimated the chowki after one of the policemen deployed on the Chowki abducted a tribal woman. British responded with maximum force that set the village on fire after surrounding it. More than 800 people are said to have died during this carnage. The village came to life again in the times to come but the police chowki could not be revived again.

Udaipur too had its share of struggle against the unjust laws of Maharana. Bhils led by Motilal Tejawat surrounded Udaipur in 1931. Maharana agreed to 14 of the 18 demands raised by the agitated tribals. People of Udaipur gathered at Piplighat to demand removal of new taxes and corrupt officers. Police resorted to firing, killing one and more than fifty were injured. Similarly, more than 2000 congregated at Rameshwara temple of Gogunda in May 1943. This movement culminated in a collective petition made by the leaders of Mewad Magra that all legislation passed after the year 1900 should be withdrawn.

We would never forget the sacrifices made by martyrs like Kalibai and Bhil leader Nana Bhai Khant who laid their lives in June 1947 to save life of their teacher Senga Bhai.

Struggles after independence….

Tribals mobilized under the leadership of Moti Lal Tejawat, Balwant Singh Mehta and Manik Lal Verma against the government of India’s decision to include Mount Abu in the state of Gujarat. Struggle against money lenders and unjust tax practices continued as well. Peasant movement of Kurabad, anti-displacement movement of Jhadol for last sixteen years and Hadmitiya peasant movement of Salumbar are some of the remarkable ones. Most recent addition to this long list of movements is the Adivasi Mazdur Andolan of Rishabhdev where police unnecessarily resorted to firing, killing 19 year old Luxman on 15^th September 2002.

These are some of the highlights of the rich history of tribal rebellion and movements against the exploitative rulers and their unjust system. History has been purposefully distorted to suppress the voice of tribals and the poor barring which, those benefiting from the exploitative system would be exposed. However, one wonders, what happened to the revolutionary party of Prajamandal? Why couldn’t it redistribute the massive wealth of feudal lords after it transformed into Congress? While we got rid of the East India Company hundreds of new multi-nationals are exploiting our national resources even today. We are not even talking of the RSS whose Khakhi and black cap reminds us of the British police and the army of Musolini.

Modern Reformers and Social Workers

Far away from the history of struggle for a dignified and just life, tribal leadership of these times is busy securing government hand outs for their families and amassing wealth from wherever they can. Such leadership would never represent the interest of the common tribal. Several NGOs and voluntary agencies also claim to work towards the development of the tribals but in reality they are rarely effective. Whatever good they have achieved has also been limited to influential and relatively better off people within the tribal community. Several other forums, committees and groups have been constituted to purportedly work towards social reforms within the tribals. Many of the people active in such committees lack a proper understanding of the situation while most others just pretend to be committed to social reforms. Most importantly, if all such forums share similar objectives, why so many of them should exist and work parallel to each other. On the other hand, there are also movements for demanding separate statehood for the tribal region on the lines of Chattisgarh, and Jharkhand. While such demands may be genuine, but the motives and means of such movements should also be examined carefully to find out who actually benefited out of them.

One has to remember that no revolutionary movement is now possible based on narrow criteria of caste, tribe and religion. Discussions on tribal self rule to constitute Bhilkhand or a Bhilistan should therefore focus on regional strategies rather than sectarian strategies. Other backward and marginalized communities have to be invited to be part of the movement to ensure its success. In the times when movements against imperialism and exploitation are increasingly coordinating with each other, any such movement for regional autonomy would also have to be coordinated in the context of other movements against exploitation.

We have to guard our movement from those attracted to it because of expectation of gaining power and leadership. At the same time our actions have to stand the scrutiny of justice, equity, and humanity. Also, our purpose would not be solved by removing a few people from the positions of power. We have to change the unjust system that perpetrates exploitation and injustice for the masses.

Point to Ponder Over

• We have to carefully understand the socio-political and economic circumstances prevailing in the region between 1200 and 1600 when this region was subjected to external aggression. Understanding land relations and agricultural practices of the time would be critical in this.
• The way towards better and just society would arrive only out of serious deliberations amongst the common people. It would be a continuous process of learning by doing rather than expecting some sort of a magic solution.
• Economic development and abolition of all sort of economic disparities has to precede social, political, and cultural development.
• At the same time we would have to think of alternatives to the present system that has been designed to exploit the poor at all costs.
• Evolving leadership or poor women is a critical link in the march towards a just system and we would have to work hard on this.

Responsibilities of the Youth

Developing new leadership out of the youths is possibly the most important task before us. Such youth leadership has to be unlike to usual get-rich n famous tendency crowd that is often seen following the corrupt leadership of our times. The new youth leadership that would be defined based on its intent rather than age, would have to have a vision of leading the society and common people into an era of just and equitable socio-political systems.

On the other hand, challenges before the youths seem insurmountable indeed. Unemployment reaches a new peak every other day and education has become more of a business as more and more youth are unable to afford higher education. Amidst such circumstances youths also try to earn their livelihoods by whatever means possible. Common people have to cutback on their basic minimum expenditure on food, clothing and health. Consecutive droughts in the region have wrecked havoc on the farmers and majority tribal population with women and children being the worst affected sections. At the same time corrupt political leadership and bureaucrats are busy usurping the resources that rightfully belong to the common people. The issue of so called encroachment of forest lands is there for us to resolve. Mines have been handed over to the rich and influential to help them make as much wealth as possible while contributing insignificant proportions to the state treasury.

In these troubled times, rather than beating around the bush and cribbing helplessly about the system, we will have to act collectively to help ourselves. If we could show some success in Kherwada tehsil, people’s movement all across the country would benefit from our experiences. While we know that the present systems of constitutional rights have been achieved only after hard fought struggles, we have to fight again to make sure that the justified rights of common people are implemented in letter and spirit. If we want to work towards getting our due from the system we have to decide if we want to come together as an independent non-partisan youth organization. If we decide to be part of such a youth organization, we must decide:

• What form the organization and leadership should take?
• Who will readily take the responsibility to run such an organization?
• What other precautions should be taken and how we would initiate the action?
• How would be the resources for such an organization be collected and managed?

A meeting of tribal youth was held in Kherwada on 24^th November 2002 where Jagruk Yuva Sangathan was constituted after detailed discussions and deliberations. A nine member coordinating committee was constituted on the occasion and Prem Limbat was handed over the responsibility of being the convener of the Sangathan.

Jagruk Yuva Sangathan and its purpose

Owing to paucity of time for detailed discussions during the meeting held on 24^th November, a day long camp was held on 27^th December 2002. The camp attended amongst others by the nine member coordination committee discussed organizational issues and immediate plans. A summary of the discussions held during the camp is presented here:

Common people are thoroughly disillusioned from the partisan political system that promotes corruption and nepotism. While people are losing confidence in the systems, it is important to work towards evolving a just and fair system wherein the youth have to take lead in listening to the poor and the marginalized. A disciplined youth organization would give shape and direction to such efforts.

What about partisan politics?

Since all that the political parties do is to fret about their vote banks and coalitions of convenience, adopting a partisan line would divide the people and weaken any movement towards economic and political empowerment. Moreover, political parties have sold themselves off to the rich and the influential to get election funds. Therefore, we would have to keep ourselves independent of political parties in order to constitute a viable social and political power that would challenge the corrupt and short sighted political parties.

What should our leader be like?

Our leader should be honest, punctual, reliable and committed to the values of justice and equality. S/He should be able to work by consensus with patience and perseverance. S/He should be able to articulate, should be studious and should have a vision. In addition, he should be able to make best use of Sangathan’s resources to further objectives set forth by collective decision making of the core group. Most importantly, he should be able to practice before preaching.

What form the Sangathan should take?

• Membership of the Sangathan would be open to disciplined youth agreeing to the principles of Sangathan provided that they pay the due membership fee.
• Once a membership of ten is reached in a particular village, a five member village committee would be constituted one of whom will represent the village in Panchayat committee. He would also inform the other members of the decisions made by the Panchayat Committee.
• Ten panchayats would collectively form a regional committee with one member from each Panchayat. The member represented on the regional committee would similarly inform the Panchayat Committee of the decisions and deliberations of the regional committee.
• On similar lines one member from each regional committee would be represented on the Tehsil committee and would act as a link between regional and Tehsil committees.
• Tehsil committee would take decisions on tehsil level matters as well as other disputes at lower level. Decisions would be taken on the basis of majority opinion within the Tehsil and such decisions would be binding on the entire Sangathan.
• Convener of every committee would be elected to be represented on the committee at the higher level.
• Office bearers of every committee would be elected through elections in the due course as the Sangathan expands throughout the Tehsil.
• At each level decision of higher level committee would be binding on the lower level committee and the decision of the majority within the committee would be binding on the minority as well.
• Internal disputes of the committee would be deliberated upon and criticized within the committees and none of these discussions would be made public.
• Anybody going against the spirit and values of the Sangathan would be considered a serious indiscipline. One responsible for violation of moral values and found indulging in corruption, immoral behaviour and the one not representing the opinion of the concerned committee would be dealt with disciplinary action.
• In the case of indiscipline the concerned member would be explained the committee’s opinion and decision and s/he would be given opportunities to improve before issuing a written warning and suspension of membership if required depending on the seriousness of the violation. However, member concerned would have a right to appeal to the committee at higher level against the decision of local committee.
• Expenses of the Sangathan would be managed from contributions collected as per the decisions of the committees. Every contribution would be accepted with proper receipts and anybody would be free to ask for the detailed accounts of the expenses incurred against the collection.

This document has been regarded as the basic document that would guide the activities of the Sangathan. The document would be enriched from time to time with experience of the members and the committees. Once the Sagathan takes strong roots in the Tehsil, a Tehsil level camp would be organized to finalize the document as per the opinion and experiences of the members.

This document is open to discussions and critique. Please contribute your suggestions and thoughts on the document and Sangathan strategy. For this and more information on any other aspect of Sangathan kindly contact:

Prem Limbat (Convener)

Jagruk Yuva Sagathan, Kherwada

Village and Post- Badla,

Tehsil- Kherwada,

District- Udaipur, Rajasthan