Orissa – Statement protesting against state repression on people’s movement in Narayanpatna

November 23, 2011

On 20 November 2011, we, the undersigned, were heading towards Podapadar village in Narayanpatna block of Koraput district where the Chasi Mulia Adivasi Sangha (CMAS) was to organize a public meeting to pay tribute to the sacrifices made by two of their frontline leaders, Wadeka Singana and Nachika Andrew, who had fallen prey to state terror two years back on the same day. On 20 November 2009, hundreds of ‘unarmed’ adivasis had assembled at the Narayanpatna police station to register their protest democratically against untold excesses committed by police and paramilitary forces on them in the pretext of combing operations. But, the police – in the most undemocratic and barbaric manner – indiscriminately fired at the people in which Wadeka Singana and Nachika Andrew fell dead inside premises of the police station and several were wounded.


As we were travelling in a vehicle passing through Bandhugan and then Narayanpatna, the expected buzz in the atmosphere on this important day was somehow conspicuously absent. However, no one could miss to notice the heavy, intimidating presence of armed BSF men along the road in the adivasis heartland: some of them roaming about with fierce, suspicious eyes and some standing on guard waiting to fire at some dreaded ‘enemies of the state’ about to appear somewhere. We drove past a BSF camp in Bandhugan and another in Narayanpatna, and no sooner we sighted yet another at Basnaput village, we bumped into a roadblock. At least a dozen gun-trotting BSF men were standing on our way, besides the road being clogged-up with logs and stones by them. Podapadar was still two kilometres away.

The BSF men stopped our vehicle and asked us to turn back, despite them being introduced to the team that comprised media persons, social activists, and writers. We tried to convince them for hours that the forces had no constitutional right to curb free movement of any citizen and that the public meeting called by the CMAS at Podapadar was well within democratic sanctions and, therefore, they had no right to stop or intimidate people coming to attend the meeting. We were, in turn, kept engaged by the BSF men and the thana in-charge of Narayanpatna in meaningless discussions without them giving any appropriate reason for not allowing us to proceed. They kept repeating some hollow explanations: “We are instructed from higher authorities not to let anyone go beyond this point” or “Maoists have laid landmines on the way” and so on. The district collector on phone expressed ignorance about any such order ‘from above’ to stop people while the Koraput SP did not pick his phone. Interestingly, right at that point, a tractor was allowed to go ahead on the way where ‘Maoists had laid landmines’, and about an hour later, the same tractor came back unscathed. After more than three hours of debate, we had no option other than returning from Basnaput village.


Having witnessed firsthand a day of intimidation and terror in the Narayanpatna block, the stark images of a ‘police state’ and repression on people’s democratic voices only came clearer to us at the end of the day. And, from that, arise many a question:

* The CMAS and the people of Narayanpatna are fighting to restore their due rights over land and resources, which the state should rather be facilitating to ensure. Why is the state treating them as dreaded criminals instead? Has the state already decided to abandon the Constitution?

If the state claims to have any respect for the Constitution, we expect it to meet our following demands IMMEDIATELY:

* Withdraw the entire paramilitary forces from Narayanpatna.
* Release all the people of Narayanpatna who have been illegally put behind bars.
* Withdraw all the cases falsely registered against hundreds of adivasis in the Narayanpatna area, including those against CMAS leader Nachika Linga.
* Settle all land disputes in the area after duly consulting the local people.
* Scrap all the MoUs with corporate and government entities relating to mining on the Deo Mali range.

And we appeal to all democratic forces to join us in condemning and protesting against such atmosphere of terror being unleashed by the state in Narayanpatna.


RABI DAS, Senior Journalist and Editor, Ama Rajadhani

PRAFULLA SAMANTARA, Convenor, Lokshakti Abhiyan Odisha, and Convenor, NAPM

DANDAPANI MOHANTY, Convenor, Odisha Jan Adhikar Manch

LENIN KUMAR, Writer, and Editor, Nisan

SUBRAT KUMAR SAHU, Independent Filmmaker and Journalist