“Being Neutral is Our Biggest Crime” - Global Coalition to Protect ...

health care. 17 Census data from 2001 for these districts shows that there are no
primary schools in 214 villages, and 1,161 villages have no access to health care. 18
Prior to the Naxalite intervention, tribal communities living in this region had no
rights or control over the forest, were forced to sell their produce to non-tribal
contractors and money-lenders at low rates, and tribal women were at a high risk of
sexual exploitation at the hands of money-lenders and contractors. Many observers
believe that Naxalite initiatives resulted in improved living and economic conditions
for many tribal communities. 19 The Naxalite agenda continues to include struggles for
tribal rights to land, water, forest produce, better wages, health care, and
education. 20
While many villagers in Bijapur and Dantewada districts confirmed that Naxalites
assisted tribal communities, they stated that their methods had gradually become
increasingly authoritarian, undemocratic, and marked by human rights abuses
including extrajudicial killings, beatings, and extortion. 21 Over time, this has created
resentment among some villagers. Typically, the disaffected group consists of nontribals,
sarpanches (village official), village headmen, priests, and many people from
the Dorla tribe, which is socially and economically better placed than the Maria Gond
tribe. 22 Villagers who have been pressured to support Naxalites also say they have
faced police harassment because they were perceived to be Naxalite supporters.
Naxalites have de facto control over large parts of Dantewada and Bijapur districts.
With a network of sangams in this region, they have set up what they call janata
17 Government of India, “Dantewada Data Sheet.”
18 Ibid.
19 Human Rights Forum, “War in Dantewara,” p. 24; Asian Centre for Human Rights, “The Adivasis of Chhattisgarh, Victims of
the Naxalite Movement and Salwa Judum Campaign,” p. 14; People’s Union for Civil Liberties, “Where the State Makes War on
its Own People,” pp. 10-11.
20 Nandini Sundar, Subalterns and Sovereigns, An Anthropological History of Bastar (1854-2006) (New Delhi: Oxford
University Press, 2007), p. 11; Human Rights Forum, “War in Dantewara,” p. 24.
21 Human Rights Watch interview with a teacher in an ashram school (who chose to remain anonymous), Dantewada, January
28, 2008; group interview with Oyam Suresh and Kadti Soman (pseudonyms), camp residents, other details withheld; See
below, section VII, Abuses by Naxalites, for more details.
22 Human Rights Forum, “War in Dantewara,” p. 24; Independent Citizen’s Initiative, “War in the Heart of India,” p. 36. The
Independent Citizen’s Initiative report states: “The leaders of the Salwa Judum in Konta [block], like Soyam Mooka, are from
the Dorla tribe.”
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