Chitramu became the first village in Khunti block of the district to pull down the pathalgadi plaque on 19 July.

Editor's note: Pathalgadi are stone slabs bearing inscriptions that villagers in Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh have, over the past year, appropriated to declare their "independence" from the state and central government, and as signposts to mark tribal agitation. This has led to state action against the rebellion. Firstpost will run a series of reported pieces from the region to understand the concerns of locals and the government's position.

Read all parts of the series here

Chitramu (Khunti), Jharkhand: On the morning of 19 July, Arjun Munda’s sleep was disturbed by the revving of engines of buses and light-armoured vehicles of security forces, who had blocked the only way to Chitramu village in Jharkhand’s Khunti block. He lives just a kilometre away, in Latarjang, a sleepy hamlet of around 40 predominantly Munda households.

Chitramu became the first village in Khunti block of the district to pull down the pathalgadi plaque on 19 July, put up a year ago, on the same day as neighbouring Barudih, Ganeor and others, after sustained efforts by district administration, directed by BJP-led state government to contain the movement. In fact, Amit Shah, who toured Jharkhand on 11 July, held prolonged meetings with top BJP and tribal leaders to placate the community's anger towards controversial decisions like attempt to amend CNT & SPT act and Land Acquisition Act.

“We came to know in the evening that Pathalgadi installations in Chitramu had been demolished. No one was allowed to enter the village. We also heard that Khunti SP Ashwani Kumar Sinha and deputy commissioner Suraj Kumar were present,” says 20-year-old Arjun, a history graduate from Ranchi’s Doranda College.

Apparently, the gram sabha of Chitramu itself removed the stone slab inscribed with the constitutional rights of tribals guaranteed under Fifth Schedule of Indian Constitution. The plaques mark the Pathalgadi movement raging across India’s tribal belt, aiming to empower the villages in scheduled areas, and in Jharkhand, challenging the Raghubar Das government.

New dawn for the tribals?

Enter Arjun’s village of Latarjang and one is still greeted with inscriptions on walls talking about the Fifth Schedule of the Constitution that deals with the administration of scheduled areas. Some also mention land revenue rules and slogans such as “दिकू अंग्रेज़ी विदेशियों टांय टांय बाय बाय” (outsiders, get out).

“The government will have to give back the decision-making power to our gram sabhas. We simply cannot let corrupt machinery go on looting the money promised for development,” says Shanti Munda, a village elder.

Similar views were being echoed for the past one year at the gram sabha meetings in Chitramu — but the scene is markedly different today.

Labourers drawn from the village pool can be seen digging for new borewells sanctioned by commissioner Kumar. Construction work on a new dam to irrigate fields has also commenced.

“Pathalgadi has only brought outsiders and trouble,” Madhur Suwasi, a para-teacher in Chitramu, says cautiously. “Ever since Pathalgadi work began, government officials were finding it difficult to visit and sanction development work. The administration has promised us jobs, solar lights and a new borewell. We are confident this would be a new dawn.”

Yet, Chitramu is situated amid villages which are not quite willing to take the road to development through government sops.

Interestingly, while the population of other villages in Khunti block mainly comprises Munda tribals who have been practising Pathalgadi for ages, Chitramu also has a sizable population of Suwasi, Lohra and Mirdhas who are categorised as scheduled castes and don’t subscribe to the tradition.

The block hasn’t got any sizeable population of tribals converted to Christianity – a group that has been blamed by right-wing organisations for fanning the Pathalgadi movement across the state.

“The Sarna tribals are dominant here. Though we have seen outsiders (referring to self-appointed Pathalgadi leader Yusuf Purti and others) passing through, that is it. We have been demanding empowerment of gram sabhas but the government is interested in vote-bank politics,” says resident Simone Munda.

The crackdown

Otherwise a peaceful movement, Pathalgadi earned a bad name after the gangrape of five social activists in Kochang on 19 June. The police blamed the incident on Pathalgadi “masterminds” and arrested John Jonas Tidu, Balram Samad, Krishna Hansda and Purti — leaving the movement rudderless.

Also arrested was Laxman Munda, headman of Latarjang gram sabha. While the police accused him of instigating naive villagers towards anti-national activities, locals tell another story.

“Installing Pathalgadi slabs was the gram sabha’s decision. Laxman was arrested for resisting corruption. Recently, an irrigation project was awarded but the gram sabha was not informed. The contractor brought labourers from outside, stealing villagers’ jobs. Laxman was implicated for resisting this nexus, not because of Pathalgadi,” Arjun Munda said.

Social activists blame the crisis on the lack of understanding between the state and the people.

“The Mundas have always been an autonomous tribe but were denied the rights for which Birsa Munda fought. Granted under the Fifth Schedule and the Panchayats (Extension to Scheduled Areas) Act, 1996, these rights were never implemented fully in Jharkhand even after having three tribal CMs,” says Vasvi Kido, tribal scholar and former member of Jharkhand State Women’s Commission. “Instead of the PESA Act, governments have taken interest in empowering a parallel electoral system that has pitted tribal headmen against elected gram pradhans.”

Ratan Tirkey, of the tribal advisory committee, also alleged that the BJP government was targeting Christians “by giving Pathalgadi a communal angle after the gangrape, in which the administration is yet to produce conclusive evidence”.

He pointed out that the Christian community has been providing health and education facilities in Khunti, Simdega and Seraikela regions for decades.

Referring to ‘dikus (outsiders) not being allowed’ clause on the Pathalgadi slabs, Tirkey explained that Khunti has become a hotbed for human trafficking. “What is the harm in tribals enquiring the purpose of outsiders’ visit then?” he asks.

Police take heart

The police are upbeat after the removal of Pathalgadi slabs in Chitramu, and have reportedly drawn up a list of 22 other villages where this can be repeated.

“We know for a fact that villagers were being misled by anti-national elements. Now that they have begun to understand the plot, they are willing to remove the plaques on their own,” says commissioner Kumar.

The alleged leadership of Pathalgadi is now behind bars or on the run, and many think the autonomy movement is finally losing steam. Arjun Munda, is however, defiant.

“Pathalgadi was carried out by the mandate of our gram sabha and is there to stay. We’ve had enough of promises by the administration. They may arrest me too but I want to tell them that I'm not afraid,” he says.

(Manmohan Singh is a Lucknow-based freelance writer and a member of 101Reporters.com, a pan-India network of grassroots reporters.)