Marichjhapi Massacre ROSS MALLICK

Refugee Resettlement in Forest Reserves: West Bengal Policy Reversal and the Marichjhapi Massacre Author(s): Ross Mallick
Source: The Journal of Asian Studies, Vol. 58, No. 1 (Feb., 1999), pp. 104-125 Published by: Association for Asian Studies Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2658391 . Accessed: 18/07/2013 11:49
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Refugee Resettlementin Forest Reserves: West Bengal PolicyReversaland the Marichjhapi Massacre
ROSS MALLICK
W HILE BOATING DOWN THE GANGES DELTA on a visitto theReserve Forest Tiger I noticedon the bank some idols overlooking the river.When I asked Sanctuary, about their it was explainedthata tigerhad killedand carried a girl; significance, off theseidols weremeantto ward offfuture attacks.Since I was on tourwith a West Bengal government Secretary who had police bodyguards to protecthim against and tigers, we had noneoftheapprehensions pirates localsexperienced. As thelaunch the conversation continueddownstream, among the government officials took an in the area ofUntouchablerefugees turn.They talkedof a massacre who unexpected the killingsweresaid to number had illegallysettledin the protected forest reserve: in the thousands offamilies. Seeing the area of the massacreand realizingit was also a touristattraction In home the conflict betweenenvironmental and development. brought preservation these naturalsurroundings tourists would neverguess what it had cost to preserve the environment for their pleasure. Whether the sacrificeis worth making is environmentalists will increasingly have to confront as humansettlement something encroaches on diminishing nature thatno investigation had been preserves. Learning I soughtto findout who was responsible. As the investigation led in a undertaken, the Marichjhapi massacre raisedquestionsof secularinstitutional politicaldirection, failures and how Untouchables and othermarginalized peopleswerebeingpresented in Indian studiesby thoseclaimingto represent them.
The Untouchable Refugees
The eventsleadingup to the refugee massacre revealeda trailof communaland that had its rootsmany centuries class conflict earlier.The Muslims were largely Untouchables and lowercasteswho had converted to the moreemancipatory beliefs of Islam while retaining theirBengali culture.The gap betweenthe Muslim and RossMallick is a development in Kanata, consultant Ontario. presently living
TheJournal of Asian Studies 58, no. 1 (February 1999): 104-125.
for AsianStudies, C) 1999 bytheAssociation Inc.

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Untouchable tenants was therefore arguably not as great as that between the Untouchables and upper-caste and in thecolonialperiodUntouchables landlords, and to the Hindu-landlord-dominated Muslimswerepoliticalallies in opposition Bengal CongressParty.In the colonial period the East Bengal Namasudramovement had in been one of the mostpowerful and politically mobilizedUntouchable movements India and in alliancewiththemorenumerous Muslimshad kepttheBengalCongress Partyin opposition from the 1920s. The exclusion of high-caste Hindus from power led to theHindu elite and eventually theCongress Party pressing for partition ofthe at independence, half to their province so thatat leastthewestern wouldreturn control (Bandyopadhyay1997; Chatterji 1994). Partition, however, meant that the Untouchables lost theirbargaining power as a swing-vote bloc betweenhigh-caste in both Hindus and Muslims,and thenbecamepoliticallymarginalized minorities countries. of India it was the upper-caste landed elite who were With the partition the mostthreatened in educationand by theirtenants and who had the wherewithal to India. Even thosenot as well off assetsto migrate had the connections to make a in India. The first wave of refugees fairly rapid adjustment were traditional uppercaste elite. Of the 1.1 millionwho had arrived byJune 1948, 350,000 were urban middle class, 550,000 were rural middle class, a little over 100,000 were and under100,000 wereartisans agriculturalists, (Chakrabarti 1990, 1). Those who in India squattedon public and privateland in lacked town houses and property all attempts Calcuttaand otherareas,and resisted of the to evictthem.The failure to grantthemsquatters' at eviction Congress government ownership and its attempts theCommunist provided opposition witha ready following amongtherefugees, who came to be organizedby Communist-front gradually organizations. Faced with this resistance and the public sympathy theygenerated among theirrelatives and caste in the members, Congress government acquiesced the illegal occupations. Back in East Pakistanthe near-total of the Hindu upper-caste landed departure elite and urbanmiddle classes meant that communalagitationhad to be directed who remained. Laterrefugees therefore came from againstthe Hindu Untouchables thelowerclasses, wholackedthemeansto survive on their ownand becamedependent on government relief. and casteconnections oftheprevious middleLackingthefamily class refugees, themto other theyhad to acceptthe government policyofdispersing was insufficient vacantland availablein West Bengal. states,on the claim thatthere brokeup theNamasudramovement By doingso theCongress government effectively and scattered the caste in refugee colonies outside Bengal, thereby enhancingthe dominance ofthetraditional elite.However, thelandtheUntouchable Bengalitricaste in thetraditional weresettled on in other stateswereforests oftribal refugees territory works of the peoples, who resentedthis occupation.The crops and agricultural wereperiodically or harvested refugees destroyed by tribalpeoples. "The soil is poor and thereis no irrigation. Our cropsare lootedby the local Adivasis[tribalsl, whom we cannotfight becausetheyshootwith bows and arrows, but even moreso because fromthe police, which is anti-refugee" theyget protection (Khanna 1978). Little took place, and the Untouchablerefugees were oftengiven inadequate integration relief whenthesewerenotmisappropriated officials. supplies, by corrupt government in prisoncampconditions Priorto their often resettlement, refugees spentmanyyears under capriciousand corruptcamp administrators. Protestswere oftenmet with areaware killingsbypoliceorwithimprisonment. "Veryfewamongtheintelligentsia that out of the 42,000 families who had been draggedand deportedthere, already nearly haveperished; and onlynow 15,000 families somehowlinger 27,030 families on below sub-humanlevel! " (Biswas 1982, 18). There is virtuallyunanimous
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agreementthat the conditionsin many resettlement camps were deplorable,as numerous inquiries and official documents attest. In thisperiodtheleft-dominated opposition tookup thecase oftherefugees and demandedthegovernment settlethemwithintheirnativeBengal rather thanscatter themacrossIndia on the lands of otherpeoples.The Communist Partyleader, Jyoti Basu, in prophetic wordsstatedthatit would not be "an easy,administrative affair to get rid of the refugees fromtheir colonies" in West Bengal, and a "united movementwould make it impossiblefor the government to carryout the bill's in West Bengal (Chatterjee1992, 279). The sites mentioned [evictioniprovisions" forresettlement wereeitherthe Sundarbans area of the Ganges delta or vacantland in various thestate.In 1976 there scattered places throughout were578,000 acresof vacant land in West Bengal, of which 247,000 could be readilyreclaimedfor agriculture. With 136,000 agriculturalist refugeefamiliesup to that time, the land could haveprovided than the0.321 acrespercapitaland:person reclaimable more ratiothenusedbyagriculturalists (Chatterjee 1992, 185). However, as it wasdispersed it would have requireda greateradministrative effort to relocatethe refugees on in large encampments. surveyed vacantplots than to put themtogether While the of refugee creation coloniesprovidedjobs forthe rehabilitation department (which had refugees been settledon vacantlocal land), the would have quicklydisappeared creation ofcoloniesenabledthe resettlement to go on fordecadeswithout resolution. In otherstates,forovertwenty yearsthe cost of the Dandakaranya Projectalone has been 100 crores(U.S. $30 million),of which 23 croreshas gone to administrative costs (Biswas 1982, 18). Thus, while the creationof new colonies was good for contractors and administrative themwitha vested government personnel, providing interest in nonrehabilitation, real solutions would have soon eliminated theircareers and contracts. weregettingtheir colonieslegalizedand services While theupper-caste squatters provided,the Untouchablesbecame exiled to otherstateswhere theyfaced often action programsfor which, as hostile local populations. Even the affirmative in Untouchables, theywould havebeen eligiblein West Bengal,werenotrecognized the statesin whichtheyweresettled,as theircasteswerenot nativeto thosestates. to obtaina politicalbase among The Leftist could playon thesegrievances opposition both the exiledrefugees and castemembers resident withinWest Bengal. of refugees These grievancesled to the organization within the resettlement had colonies.The movement began in the Mana groupof camps,wherethe refugees of war" and "serfs"undermilitary been held fortwelveyearsas virtual"prisoners The top officialswere embroiled in a labor conflictwith the lower officers. In 1970 the top to the refugees. administrative who were more sympathetic staff, officialencouraged the refugeesto form their own organization,the Udbastu Samiti (UUS), as a way of undermining the demands of the lower Unnayanshil administrative staff. The organization insteadsupported the staff againsttheofficial, but the person who replacedhim proved to be even worse. The UUS, however, to workoutside to presstherefugee demandsfor increased theright continued rations, the camp to supplement and the rightto be consulted before rations, beingdumped in newsites.Theyled a thirteen-day thatresulted in increased strike dole but hunger no say in resettlement, which continuedto place refugeesin dry and unviable A secondboycott in 1974 againstrefugee locations. led to deathsfrom dispersal police The following decided to launcha nationalmovement firings. yearthe organization in the Sundarbans forresettlement area ofWest Bengal. According to a handbillthe organizers put out,
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Samiti went by launch of the Mana Udbastu Unnayanshil In May, representatives fromHasnabad to Marichjhapiin Gosaba police station.Opposite this 125 square mile sand bank risingout of the sea is a 100 year-oldvillage. The people of the village told them that the tide did not rise above 5 feet.If we could have erected whycan't dykes5 feethigh to hold out the salt waterand lived herefor100 years, It would be possible for 16,000 families you? There is greatpotentialforfishing. at Dutta Pasuranother30,000. from Mana to settlejust on the island,and nearby (Chatterjee1992, 376) However, when the refugeesstartedwalking along the railway tracks to West Bengal theywere arrestedby the Congress government. When the leaders were released from jail aftera year they found the Dandakaranya dispersal had been accelerated, but now the Left Front had taken power in West Bengal.
The LeftFrontPolicy
In these new circumstancesof accelerated dispersal and West Bengal Communist governance, it was decided to step up the campaign forresettlementin West Bengal. Contact was made with the Left Front and the Communist PartyMarxist (CPM) front organization for refugees, the United Central Refugee Council. "The exploitative Congress government has fallen and a new popular government has come to power" (Chatterjee 1992, 377). The West Bengal LeftFrontMinister, Ram Chatterjee,visited the refugee camps and is widely reported to have encouraged them to settle in the Sundarbans, which had been a long-held Left opposition demand. However, what the refugeescould not have known was that Ram Chatterjee, who belonged to a smaller party in the Left Front coalition, was speaking for currentLeft Front policies rather than the forthcoming policy reversalthat the Left Front was about to implement now that it was in power. The Left Front was a coalition of smaller parties that included consistent supporters of refugee resettlementin the Sundarbans, and the dominant CPM which effectively decided all governmentpolicies. This made forsome initially contradictory policy pronouncements on the refugee issue as the parties moved from opposition to governance. Having sold their belongings to pay for the trip, 15,000 refugee families left Dandakaranya only to discover that Left Front policy had changed now that the coalition was in power, and many refugees were arrested and returned to the resettlementcamps. The remaining refugeesmanaged to slip through police cordons, reaching their objective of Marichjhapi island, where settlement began. By their own efforts theyestablished a viable fishingindustry,salt pans, a health center,and schools over the following year (Mehta, Pandey, Visharat 1979).1 The state government was not disposed to tolerate such settlement,stating that the refugeeswere "in unauthorised occupation of Marichjhapi which is a part of the Sundarbans Government Reserve Forest violating therebythe Forest Acts" (Refugee Relief and Rehabilitation Department 1979). It is debatable whetherthe CPM placed primacy on ecology or merely feared this might be a precedent foran unmanageable refugee influx with consequent loss of political support. When persuasion failed to appointedby PrimeMinister 'Mehta, Pandey,and VisharatwereMembersof Parliament Desai, despitethe objectionsof the West Bengal government, to visit and investigate Marichjhapipriorto the eviction.
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maketherefugees abandontheirsettlement, theWest Bengal government started on January 26, 1979, an economic blockadeofthesettlement withthirty policelaunches. The community was tear-gassed, hutswererazed,and fisheries and tube wells were in an attempt to depriverefugees offoodand water. destroyed, werecreating a problemforthe government Journalists by reporting positively on the efforts of the refugees to rehabilitate themselves. The government therefore a move which only servedto declaredMarichjhapiout of bounds for journalists, in the Bengali dailyJugantar alienatethepress.An editorial stated: theleaders Againtoday, ofthestatemadecaustic remarks aboutjournaliststhe is apparently thecreation ofa few are Butjournalists Marichjhapi problem reporters. A journalist andears, we aremerely witnesses. hasno ability to cause society's eyes to occur; canonly it.Butsometimes aresuchthat s/he describe events an something immaculately unbiased description sounds likestrong censure.... The mouths of canbe stopped butnottheflow ofhistory. journalists (Chatterjee 1992,312) thatthemedia was indulgingin However,theChiefMinister, Jyoti Basu, convinced sensationalism and contributing to the refugees' and self-importance militancy by reporting on theiractivities, suggestedinstead that the press should come out in of theirevictionin the nationalinterest. This was accompanied support by attempts at censorship and accusationsagainstthe "bourgeois"pressforcolludingwith the refugees and opposition. Therewas no doubtthe issueserved to dividetheLeftFront coalitionpartiesand could potentially alienate them fromthe 23 percentof the electoratewho were Untouchables. However, these Untouchables were largely illiterate and since the radio and TV were government-owned, the resident Untouchablevotersof othercasteswereless of a problemthanmightbe supposed. In this respect the Untouchables from the upper-caste, refugees wereverydifferent middle-classurban refugees of the immediatepostindependence period,who were and politically influential. educated, well-connected, the The ChiefMinister would find correctly pointedout thatpoliticalopponents forattacking thegovernment, issue useful whichis precisely whathe had done when he was in opposition. The refugee to whichthey leadersbecamedividedon theextent an attemptto solicit should relyon the oppositionto fight theircause and whether The squatters becamesplit into supportwithinthe LeftFrontshould be continued. two factions, with one group underRaiharanBarui opposingnegotiations with the in orderto force it intorecognizing the settlement, and theother government group underRangalalGoldarfavoring talkswiththeLeftto reacha compromise agreement. According to Goldar, "Raiharan antagonized the government by making in the press,by gettingmixed up in Oppositionpolitics. statements inflammatory When we invited thecityto visit,he refused to let representatives ofthe people from Leftset footon the island. It was a terrible miscalculation. You cannotlive in the waterand make an enemyof the crocodile"(Chatterjee1992, 378). Though we do not have Raiharan'sversionof events,the polarization seems understandable given the circumstances the refugees faced. It was unlikely thata centralized like the CPM could have been dissuaded party even if a moreconciliatory by argument approachhad been taken.To have allowed one settlement would have been an invitation forotherrefugees to attempt thesame thing,or formoremigrants to come overfromBangladesh,as the CPM leadership
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feared.The press generallyagreed with this position, but objected to what it considered the excessiveuse of force. That the CPM and otherleftpartieswhile in opposition had arguedforsettlement onlyto changepoliciesonce they werein power it may have been fortheir was not unusual forpoliticians,howeverdisappointing refugee supporters. While previous refugees had beenallowedto remain and evenhad gotten their squatter colonieslegalized,thisprecedent was appliedto influential upper in the Bengali castes of middle-class and influence originwith plentyof relations establishment. The Untouchablerefugees had no such influence, despitethe support of a few officialsand intellectuals.Thus, while the traditional elites were in West Bengal, the much largernumberof lowerclassesand castes accommodated which the government knew it could more easily evict would have been a greater on the state. imposition The refugees werewell awareof theirinherent disadvantage as Untouchables, so thattheyshared theyemphasized thecommonethnicorigins and refugee experiences withmanyelite families. Every daycountless non-Bengalis come tothis state insearch ofwork. TheLeft Front and return does not put themon trains themto their own states. government Thousands ofpeopleliveunlawfully on thefootpaths ofCalcutta andthestations of West Bengalcontributing to an unhealthy But thegovernment does atmosphere. nothing aboutthem. Is it because we areBengalis that there is noplacein thisstate . . . Marichjhapi therefugees in for ofMarichjhapi? is nottheonlysquatter colony thestate. TheMarichjhapi refugees didnotaskfor money from thegovernment, nor thegovernment's did they squaton other people's property, they hadonlywanted harm andmarshy waste lands. So I ask,what did theMarichjhapi do scrub refugees to theLeft Front CasteHinduslivein theother and government? squatter colonies, at Marichjhapi. Is that there there were Scheduled Castes only [Untouchables} why in thisstate? is no spacefor thepeopleofMarichjhapi (Chatterjee 1992,356) The refugees federation BAMCEF led also appealed to the nationaluntouchable its offshoot by Kanshi Ram, but in thosedays it was not the powerful organization the Bahujan Samaj Partysubsequently became(Mendelsohn and Vicziany1998). In Kanshi Ram observedthe on the plight of the Namasudra refugees, commenting uniquelydesperatesituationthis untouchablecaste had been subjected to in the ofpartition. aftermath in 1947,there after theexitoftheBritish wasa sharp andsteep Immediately slump intheNamasudra Thepartition ofIndiaruined a people, Movement. many butthose weretheNamasudra. harmed maximum Not onlythepeopleand thecommunity were ruined,but also theirmovement was completely destroyed. Today the their are in are the rootless roots Namasudra people.Dividedin two countries, in India.Bangladesh is always touproot andbranches Bangladesh government eager areever andhostile. whereas thegovernment ofIndiaandWestBengal them, angry The massacre of Marichjhapi and the sad plightof thosein Dandakaranya, ifthey areexpecting tellitsowntale.After all this andelsewhere Nicobar Andaman, the High Caste Hindus,theyare hopingagainst somehelp or sympathy from hope.... in them. theCPI(M) Government wasunableto see ability Unfortunately They in casteconsiderations, do notbelieve they include peoplein thecabinet say,they
on the basis of theirability.And on this consideration, theyhad not includedany
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ScheduledCaste in theCabinetofWest Bengal. But theScheduledCastepeople still cling to CPI(M), perhapstheyare helplessand [havel nowhere to go. (Ram 1982, 4)2 With no national party prepared to take up their cause, the Untouchables were indeed without powerful allies. Institutions of the central government such as the Scheduled Castes and Tribes Commission that had an obligation to defend the Untouchables' human rights did not publicly intervene (Sikdar 1982, 22). The attempt to interest the media and some intellectuals proved partly successful. They were invited to a feast on the island at which refugeeswho barely managed one meal a day scraped together lavish meals for their influentialguests to get their message to across. Supporters raised funds and supplies, and some officialscolluded in efforts get these to the refugees.In orderto ensure press coverage afterthe blockade, a refugee, Saphalananda Haldar, evaded police patrols and swam to the mainland where he informedthe Calcutta press of police firingin Kumirmari. They published the story along with his name, which resulted in his arrest. Police shooting and killings of the refugees in various places were causing adverse comment in the press. The refugees were not without sympathizers in the outside intelligentsia and even in the government administration and Left Front cabinet itself. Within the ruling CPM there were members who felt the governmentshould have been tryingto rehabilitate the refugeesin order to develop a party base, ratherthan resortingto force. The press reportedpolice tear-gassingof refugees,the sinking of theirboats which they needed to obtain rice and drinking water, and arrestsof people attempting to work on the mainland or sell firewoodfromthe reserveforest.With starvationdeaths occurring among the squatters the situation was taking a desperate turn. On January 27, 1979, the governmentprohibited all movement into and out ofMarichjhapi under the Forest PreservationAct and also promulgated Section 144 of the Criminal Penal Code, making it illegal forfiveor more persons to come together at any given time. However, the refugee supporters appealed to the Calcutta High Court, which ruled in the refugees'movements and in their access to food and water. against interference The governmentthen denied the refugeeswere subject to any blockade and continued the blockade in defiance of the High Court. Since the police union was under CPM control,the court systemhad been effectively bypassed in this instance. Though some of their number died of starvationand disease, the refugeeswould not give up. When police actions failed to persuade the refugeesto leave, the State Government ordered the forcible evacuation of the refugees,which took place from May 14 to May 16, 1979. Muslim gangs were hired to assist the police, as it was thought Muslims would be less sympathetic to refugeesfromMuslim-ruled Bangladesh.3 The men were first separated from the women. "Most of the young men were arrested and sent to the jails and the police began to rape the helpless young women at random" (Sikdar 1982, 2AtulKohli (1996) notesthat the tinytricaste its CabinetcomBengali elite increased underthe Congress undertheCommunists positionfrom 78 percent (1952-62) to 90 percent the weaknessofcasteas a salientpoliticalcategory. (1977-82), indicating However, Attwood to statethat thoughKohli "sees this and Baviskar(1995, 84) utilize the same information 'weakness ofcaste' in a positivelight,we are less sanguineabout it. The majorpoliticalparties in West Bengal are led by members ofa tiny, The bhadralok cannothope high-caste minority. In otherwords,caste is "weak" in to benefit from caste-based appeals to the ruralelectorate. Bengal politics because the dominantminority requiresotherbases of electoralsupportand becausethe majority so farlacks the abilityto challengethe minority." IndianAdministrative Service oftheWest BengalGovernment. 3Interview, (IAS) Secretary
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places . . . and the remaining 4,128 families perished in transit, died of starvation,
23). At leastseveral hundred men,women,and children weresaid to havebeenkilled in the operation and theirbodies dumped in the river.Photographs werepublished in the AnandaBazaar Paitrika, and the Oppositionmembers in the State Assembly stageda walkoutin protest.4 However,no criminal chargeswerelaid againstany of thoseinvolvednorwas anyinvestigation undertaken. PrimeMinister Desai, wishing to maintain thesupport oftheCommunists for hisgovernment, decidednotto pursue the matter.5 The centralgovernment's Scheduled Castes and Tribes Commission, whichwas awareofthemassacre, said in its annualreport thatthere wereno atrocities in West Bengal,even thoughtheirMarichjhapi filecontained againstUntouchables newspaper clippings, petitions, and a listwiththenamesand agesof236 men,women, and childrenkilled by police at Marichjhapi priorto the massacre, includingsome who drownedwhen their boats were sunk by police.6 The refugeesthemselves that 1,000 had died of disease and complainedto visitingMembersof Parliament starvation duringtheoccupation and blockade(Sikdar1982, 23). "Out ofthe 14,388 to theirprevious families who deserted returned [forWest Bengall, 10,260 families
exhaustion, and manywerekilledin Kashipur, Kumirmari, and Marichjhapi bypolice firings" (Biswas 1982, 19). at The CPM congratulated its participant on theirsuccessful members operation that Marichjhapiand made theirrefugee policy reversal explicitstating "therewas no possibilityof giving shelter to these large number of refugeesunder any in the State" (CPM West Bengal StateCommittee1982, 14). Within circumstances theCPM there was somedissatisfaction withthewaytheparty leadership had handled the question.Many CPM cadrefeltthe leadership had dealt with the problemin a "bureaucratic way" when it could have used the issue to developa mass movement which on behalfof the refugees. The Communists had large refugee organizations and broughtthem to West Bengal. Instead of could have organizedthe refugees and in the processdevelopa solid the refugees utilizingthe situationto rehabilitate The CPM cadrewho Communist base amongthem,the CPM resorted onlyto force. no one on theCPM State wereunhappy withthepolicy,however, could do nothing; Committee PromodeDas Gupta,on thisissue.However, opposedtheStateSecretary, in theLeftFrontcoalitionCabinetfavored theeviction, not all Partiesand Ministers to supportthe refugees instead.The Revolutionary SocialistParty(RSP), preferring and was in the LeftFrontgovernment, whichhad a politicalbase in the Sundarbans Debabrata as did other LeftFront The RSP Minister, opposedthedecision, supporters. after was not given a new portfolio the subsequentelectionwhich Bandyopadhyay, "did not showthe CPI(M) in a commendable light"(Bhattacharyya 1993, 134). His in to his efforts to eradicatecorruption exclusionfromthe cabinetwas attributed in cabinetto theeviction CPM-controlled villagecouncils, thoughhis opposition may factor. His successor, thenumber twoCPM Minister, havebeena contributing Benoy about laterwas notrenominated for a party seatafter he complained Chowdhury, years the and Sengupta1996, 89). After how corrupt his party had become(Nagchoudhury CPM had come out in oppositionto resettlement, the refugees were unlikely party
Serviceand West Bengal Civil Serviceofficers. 4InterviewswithIndian Administrative dinationCouncil to Bhola Paswan ShastriM.P., Chairmanof the CommissionforScheduled on theScheduledCasteRefugees Castesand ScheduledTribes,Subject: "GenocideCommitted of Marichjhapi Island." and BackwardClasses EmployeesCoor6Letter from All India ScheduledCastes/Tribes 5Interviews withIndian Civil Service(ICS) officers.
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partiesmighttake the supporters and the CPM leadersmay have feltotherleftist in opposition to them. opportunity to developa base amongthe refugees in so shouldnothaveleftDandakaranya Evenif it is admitted thattherefugees Government a manner after outeverything they had,theLeft Front sudden selling inthe Left's have shown some consideration for those whose total participation should theEstablishment andwhose kithandkinin WestBengal voting struggle against it to hittheWriters' [takestate enabled Buildings concertedly for theLeft Front powerl. (Chakrabarti 1990,434) in Marichjhapi, In a final itsownsupporters twistto theepisode,theCPM settled The issuesof the and utilizingthe facilities leftby the evictedrefugees.7 occupying A Professor theAll and theForest Act wereforgotten. ofMedicinefrom environment in Dandakaranya shortly who visitedtherefugees India Institute ofMedical Sciences, having after theirreturn, told me thatthosewho came back werenow dispossessed, to makethetripto West Bengal,whilethosewho had sold their land and belongings An air ofgloom hungoverthe refugee coloniesand remained behindwerebetter off. Though way withoutenthusiasm. the people wentabout theirlives in a mechanical who of the West Bengal government, Indian Administrative Service Secretaries to me thekillingand workedon a dailybasis withtheLeftFrontMinisters, revealed
raping, the hiring of Muslim gangsters, the resettlementby CPM supporters, and divisions in the Cabinet over the eviction, theydid not have the names of the gangsters and policemen who actually committed the atrocities. The failure of the government to investigate what happened meant that this informationwas never compiled. Had the Left Front governmentfelt it was being unfairlymaligned by the atrocityreports, it could have ordered an independent inquiry to exonerate itself. The accuracy of the allegations and the involvement through acts of commission and omission by the Chief Minister and Prime Minister Desai, among others,make such an investigation unlikely. A journalist of the Bengali dailyJugantar noted: are . . . mainlycultivators, day-labourers, the refugees of Dandakaranya fishermen, the exploitedmass of the society.I am sorry to mentionthattheyhave no artisans, relationwith the elite of society.If it is a matterof any body of the familyof a the stiris feltfrom or engineer, Calcuttato Delhi, but in Zamindar,doctor,lawyer and exploitedsociety, we do not feelanything forthe landlesspoor this classified will remainin the hands and fishermen. So long as the statemachinery cultivators and the of the upper class elite, the poor, the helpless,the beggar,the prostitutes will continue[to be victimizedj. refugees (Sikdar 1982, 23) The subsequent silence in the Bengali academic community about what so many knew happened at Marichjhapi is indicative of the intellectual dominance of certain perspectives and the acquiescence of this intellectual elite in the abuses. For the next thirteen years the only referenceto the massacre in the academic literaturewas in a summary of the West Bengal human rights record by Sajal Basu (1982, 168). in violence-prone to continue Both theCPI(M) led leftparties and Congress (I) prefer localities.As a rulingparty, activities, causingcasualtiesand evictionofcadresfrom evicted middle peasants belonging to non-CPI(M) groups. CPI(M) has forcefully withIAS Secretary of the West Bengal Government. 7Interview
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and SUC on CPI(M-L) [CommunistPartyof India Marxist-Leninistj Police torture at refugees, incidents violentevictionofMarichjhapi [SocialistUnityCenterlcadres, The Congress(I) too has its inner CPI(M)'s violentorientation. Panshilasymbolise its affiliated mastansare again active in troublesbeing expressedin streetfights,
violent activities.
At the time of the killings the opposition made unfavorable comparisons with the British massacre at Jallianwallabagh. Their argument was that the Marichjhapi massacre may have exceeded in numbers the Jallianwallabagh massacre and the massacre of eighty Communists in West Bengal in 1958, but the refugees had no influential backers to publicize their cause in movies and history books. Jallianwallabagh was investigated by the Hunter Commission, but Marichjhapi was soon forgotten, except by the Untouchables themselves.The "crime was white-washed and most culprits went not only unpunished, but remained in service and . .. in some cases were even rewarded" (Guha 1989, 279). Though M. K. Gandhi refershere to Jallianwallabagh, it could just as easily apply to CPM and Congress massacres. While the massacre of nationalists or communists elicits the reaction of powerful constituencies with an intellectual community to publicize their cause, in this case the refugeeshad virtuallynothing. Afterthe massacre of Communists by the Congress government, JyotiBasu stated in the Assembly that therewas nothing but dead bodies between him and the government benches. This incident has been commemorated ever since on "Martyr's Day." The Communists' own massacre created a much more muted reactionand was soon forgotten.When Congress faced a similar situation with refugeesthey cut offaid, but unlike the Left Front they did not resort to blockade, eviction, and police firing.In this comparable respect the CPM was more repressive. Whether this reflected a party ideological difference between self-avowed Gandhianism and Stalinism or simply the different personalities of the responsible to determine. The CPM supported the Tiananmen Square massacre, leaders is difficult which has some parallels with its own practice, but given the marginalityand isolation of the refugeesthere was limited domestic and no internationalpublicity. thedespatch In 1961 whenDr. Roy [West Bengal Congress ChiefMinisterl ordered to movehe and when 10,000 ofthemrefused ofthe camp refugees to Dandakaranya ofcash to transport themtherealthoughhe suspendedthepayment did not use force He did not theamenities enjoyedby thecamp refugees. and drydoles and withdrew to live at theex-campsites continued also force themout ofthecamps.The refugees withoutanygovernment got themselves and to fendforthemselves help and finally had no into the economyof the region. But the MarxistGovernment integrated in drivingout preciselythose refugees who, accordingto theirown compunction evaluationof the amountof surplusland availablein West Bengal,could statistical have been absorbedin West Bengal. (Chakrabarti 1990, 434) The CPM succeeded where the Congress Party failed because it was prepared to kill men, women, and children. Neither the Congress nor the CPM was a good practitioner of their respective idols' philosophy and practice, but ideology even in the context of Indian politics may make some difference.However, as the record indicates, police killings under Congress regimes were not uncommon, and the numbers who did die through the neglect of Congress regimes may well exceed those killed in the Marichjhapi eviction. The lack of an investigation means that various estimates of the killings continue to circulate years afterthe event. While Atharobaki Biswas is very specificin stating
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that 4,128 families died in transit from starvation, exhaustion, and police firings, Nilanjana Chatterjee indirectlycorroboratesthis figure.Dr. Chatterjee states that by the time the eviction was completed on May 17, 1979, at least 3,000 refugeeshad secretlyleft Marichjhapiand scatteredacross West Bengal.... At theend ofJuly 1979, a spokesman for theDandakaranya Development Authority announcedthatofthe nearly15,000 families who had "deserted," around 5,000 families(approximately 20,000 refugees)had failed to return.The final withtheprojectwas extended deadlineforthemto re-register yetagain to 31 August 1979 and the matter was considered officially closed. (Chatterjee1992, 300) From these figures(20,000-3,000) it can be estimated that as many as 17,000 people died, and if based on her calculation of fourper family,this represents4,250 families, which is almost exactly the figuregiven by Atharobaki Biswas. Though these people are missing and presumed dead, no breakdown of how or where they died was ever undertaken. An IAS Secretaryof the West Bengal Government who worked with the Ministers involved in the eviction decision said the bodies of the victims at Marichjhapi were dumped in the river to be washed out by the tide. This will make the exhumation of bodies as was undertaken in Bosnia and Cambodia impossible, and in this macabre sense the refugees' selection of the Sundarbans was to prove not only unfortunatein their lives but in uncovering their deaths as well, since there were no human settlementsdownstream to observe the bodies. The Marichjhapi massacre raises a number of disturbing ethical and legal questions. As a democratically elected government, the Left Front undoubtedly had the obligation to implement laws and enforceforestprotection. As the refugeeswere not residentsof their state, though Indian citizens, the state governmentwas arguably less obligated to the refugeesthan to their own voters,who had prior demands on the state's limited resources. However, in ignoring the Calcutta High Court ruling their right to evict might be questioned. It is unlikely anyone would put on paper an order to rape and kill the refugees;however,under the circumstancesof West Bengal it was entirelypredictable that this could result froman attempted eviction. Certainly the hiring of Muslim gangsters indicated a willingness to use extra-legal methods. As it is common knowledge that the police rape and torturepeople to death with de facto immunity from prosecution, and over 6,000 political murders have been calculated to have taken place under the Left Front, the likelihood of significant abuses was foreseeable (India Today, 31 August 1995, 31; Amnesty International, March 1992, 2).8 The killings were already occurring and being reported in the press well before 8The use of torture was indicatedwhen a CommunistParty-Marxist informant warned me that attemptsto obtain publicationsof Maoist insurgents could lead to my torture by to keep police and being a scholarwould not save me. He had used his rulingpartyinfluence Maoist friends there out of jail becauseeventhoughtheywerekillingeach other, mightcome a timewhenthey would oncehavebeenin theold undivided would be on thesameside,as they of Communist or untortureable Party.I neverdid findout ifI was in the tortureable category with the police is interesting. society.The Communistrelationship They reinstated police theirmutinywas put mutineers who had been dismissedby the Congressgovernment after down by the army.When the second United Frontgovernment took powerand JyotiBasu was appointedMinister-in-Charge of Police, one officer to advancehis career handedoverthe in theCommunist in thedeathsofabouta hundred namesofpolice informers Parties, resulting of them.Though an investigation was conductedno action was takenand the officer subsequently becameCalcuttaPolice Commissioner and Inspector GeneralofPolice(RoyChoudhury
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the main massacre; therewas ample opportunity forthe stateleadersto stop further abuses had they so desired. As this was an evictionorderedby the CPM state committee and the LeftFrontcabinet,theirfailureto ensurepropersupervision of theoperation so thatexcessforce would not be used makesthemmorally and perhaps legallyculpable forrape and mass murder.9 Their failureto investigate the abuses after thefactmeansthatnotonlydo theactualrapists and killers remain unpunished, but the cover-up thatfollowed implicates thosewho ordered the evictionin the first place.
Environmental Priorities
The Chief Ministerdeclared that the occupationof Marichjhapiwas illegal encroachment on ReserveForestland and on the state-and World WildlifeFundsponsored Basu statedthatifthe refugees tigerprotection project. Jyoti did notstop cuttingtreesthe government would take "strong action." "Enough is enough.They have gone too far"(Chatterjee1992, 298-99). The World WildlifeFund (WWF) and otherconservationist groupsappear not to have takenany official positionson the subject,whichwas expedient thatmighthave arisenfrom giventhe controversy interference. The brutality foreign of the illegal blockadeas well as the self-avowed Stalinism of the rulingCPM (Stalin'srather thanGorbachev's portrait was displayed at their1989 Congress) madeanypublicdeclaration ofsupport for theactionunlikely. Thereappearsto be nothing on record on thegovernment indicating anypressure for eviction from anyenvironmental nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) orother nonstate groups.No lobbying seemsto have been necessary to makethegovernment undertakethe eviction on behalf of intereststhat included the environmental movement.While not involved in the eviction, the environmental movement achieved a victoryfrom the result, though the massacre was not nevertheless the environmentalists something publicized. It was widelyknownthat indigenous peoples were being evicted by conservation projects,but as this population was at 600,000 (of whom two-thirds estimated wereuncompensated), it was unrealistic to expectenvironmental on this scale (Fernandes, NGOs to providerelief Das, and Rao 1989, 78). The West Bengal government had asked the central for government the refugees; the centralgovernment refused. Had funding fundingto rehabilitate been forthcoming alternate forthe Marichjhapirefugees arrangements might have been undertaken. Since persuasion was unlikelyto make the refugees leave, vacant land in the state would have been requiredto induce them,but such innovative solutionsappear neverto have been seriouslyconsidered, perhaps because of the administrative burdenthisdispersal would have entailed. cametopower in 1977they retained theservices ofpolice 1977,225). WhentheCommunists torturers whocontinued thepractice, eventhough theLeft Front had evidence government I wasoffered hadtortured other leftists. an interview with onewell-known torturer they police whoreputedly took intorturing anintermediary butwhen mentioned special pleasure women, that hadproved till theofficer useful to theChief whoretained thePoliceportfolio Minister, and theinvitation sincemyresearch nothavebeenappreciated May 1996,I declined might hadmore than I had. he apparently connections powerful 91talked to onecivilservant whotoldmehe hadtaken than leaverather follow orders to takepartin theeviction. Whilethismayhavebeentheethical to do, ifsomepeople thing couldavoidparticipating it mayhaveled to those more andprejudiced ruthless taking part
in the eviction.
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That schoolchildren in Britain,Belgium, Holland, and Germany were raising a matter A former moneyforProjectTiger was already ofsomeIndianconcern. Chief of Forestsdefended aid forProjectTiger Conservator thispracticeof takingforeign in financial by downplaying its contribution termswhile arguingforits political importance."The WWF's money utilised in India so far is a mere 35 lakhs per centof the Project'sbudget.Even thispittanceof 35 lakhs fU.S.$100,0001;five in the to have a senseof involvement was acceptedto enable the worldcommunity campaign to protecta 'World Heritage"' (Shahi 1978, 14). However, the Chief notedthatthegreatest werebeing made by the forest Conservator sacrifices dwellers "It was therefore laudableforEuropeanchildren to raisefunds forsaving themselves. ifnotmore,has been thesilent continent tigersin another but equallypraiseworthy, theircentury-old and untrumpeted sacrifice of thosewho have shifted villageslockstock-and-barrel and of the thousands of tribals who forsooktheir sources of livelihood"(Shahi 1978, 9). Dr. Karan Singh,Chairman oftheProjectTigersteering of tigersahead ofpeople,as were was criticized forputtingthe interests committee, othersupporters of indigenouspeoples' displacement. The prosecution of a villager who killed a tigerwith an oar when it attackedhis companions raisedquestionsof the relative value of humanlifeversusendangered species.That Europeanchildren wereraisingmoneyto preserve animalsthatate poorThirdWorld children probably "WWF literature escapedthe noticeof animal rights campaigners. started to blame the poor forbeing the 'mostdirectthreat to wildlife and wildlands" '(Chatterjee and Finger1994, 70). "WWF founders originally chose the rhinobecause theydid not wantpeople to thinkofWWF as just a 'save a cute animal'organization. What they apparentlyquickly learned was that, although the principle may have been it was not politically The panda-and, and ethically ecologically correct, expedient. the Bengal tiger,the gorilla, the elephantand many others-were subsequently, call foraction,and, not least,supportthe organization" to rallyattention, necessary (Princen and Finger 1994, 150). Inevitably, such organizationalimperatives and ignoringthe human costs paid by poor people for necessitated downplaying A typicalexamplewas the NationalGeographic environmental preservation. Explorer to speakforthemselves on this television whichdid not allow thevillagers program, issue. Instead,a narrator statesthat the man-eating "tigerdoesn'tjust mean death, the tigermeanslife,becausethe tigerprotects the forests whichgives themfoodfor theirfamilies. forthe worldto be whole,and the They know the tigeris necessary tigeris a priceto be paid." The factofthematter would be better is thatthevillagers offif the tigerswere nonexistent so that the villagerswould be able to exploitthe in safety. forests Tigers can onlyprovideforest protection againstdefenceless people of the dangers.Tigers who have to go into the forest fortheirlivelihood, regardless are no matchagainstpoachersor the forest For poor people thereis no contractors. to havingtigersforit is theywho pay thepricewiththeirlives,whilethe advantage This is not touristoperatorsand the politicians they financereap the benefits. NationalGeographic is likelyto say on television, so a folklore is invented something thatmakesthe lives lost seem a necessary to pretendthereis a mutual dependency and acceptedpriceto pay forconservation. It is the poor thatpay the priceand the but thisis not something thatis palatablewithwestern richwho benefit, audiences, who like to thinkonlyabout how muchbenefit theycan provideby savingthetigers in a win-win situation. Though Marichjhapi was coveredin the Indian press,it apparently receivedno international coverage, and the onlyacademicstudycame overa decade laterin an unpublisheddoctoral thesis by Nilanjana Chatterjee.The World Wildlife Fund
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escapedassociation with the eviction, but the contradictions inherent in its policies subsequentlycame to international attentionwhen it was found to be aiding Zimbabweanand Kenyan authorities to purchasehelicopter gunshipsand assault weaponsto enforce shoot-to-kill policies againstpoachers."This case demonstrates thatvery different standards are proposedin theThirdWorld to thosethatwould be acceptedin the NGOs' northern homes. Again, when technicalconsiderations are allowedto displacemoralones,somevery contentious policiesarise.WWF's actions, once publicized, an outcry in Britain"(Yearley1996, 217). generated The practices ofenvironmental organizations do notappearto havebeenchanged While "the Burmesearmyis razingentire Karenvillages,killing, by thisexperience. raping, enslaving, to makewayforthe biggestnature reserve ofits kind in theworld ... to attractmillions of tourists,"the deaths of thousandsof villagershas not prevented environmentalorganizations from cooperating with the military and Harrison1997, 5). In defending their dictatorship (Levy,Scott-Clark, workwith theBurmese government, theNew York-based WildlifeConservation Society science director stated,"We do not sanctionforcedrelocation, torture or killings.But we have no control overthe government." The Smithsonian Institution spokesman has in Burma:"We arethere said abouttheir to do important presence conservation work. We may disagreewith a regimebut it is not our place to challengeit." A WWF director stated"Sometimes we have to deal with repulsive regimes.... We have to theconservation benefit theriskofbeingseen,directly weighup whether is worth or indirectly, to be supporting thoseregimes"(Levy,Scott-Clark, and Harrison1997, a regimeby providing or substituting for 5). Since all aid supports foreign exchange it in goods and services, these programsneed to be verycarefully consideredto thatthedonorinterests arenotsuperseding theinterests ofthepoorpeople determine mostaffected by it. If conservation groups are currently willing to associate with a military it and forced labor to createwildlife massacres dictatorship undertaking sanctuaries, ofWest can be assumedthattheirattitude to thedemocratically electedgovernment Bengal would not have been any different, thoughin Marichjhapitheymanagedto "The lives of media coverage. As a Bengali newspaper avoid international observed, the treesin Sundarbanare certainly of value but surelythe lives of these shelterand their seekersare not withoutvalue" (Chatterjee1992, 338-39). The settlers as a protectorof the supporters questioned the bona fides of the government to developtheSundarbans and tourist environment. as a nature Anyattempt preserve and inefficiency with attraction would lead to the usual bureaucratic corruption the squandering of World Bank fundsand littleto show forthe "armiesof experts, to complaints effort ofreports" exceptmountains (Chatterjee 1992, 340). Responding that the refugeeswere destroyingthe experimentalcoconut plantations on to theForest "misuseofgovernment Marichjhapi, theycalled attention Department's createdtwelve funds."In a fewmonths, by contrast, theyhad by theirown efforts laid out roadsand drainagechannelsto prevent waterlogging,as well settlements, a pottery, a bakery, seven as builta school,dispensary, smithies, cigarette workshops, boat buildingyards,170 boats,fourmarket fisheries, places with 300 stalls,and the of a majordike system to hold back the tide (Chatterjee beginning 1992, 340-41). there While thismightappeal to thosemoreinclinedto development, was no doubt thatthe statepositionwas closerto an environmentalist agenda,even if in practice their systemwas inefficient and corrupted. This conflict between environmental and peoples' rightsgoes to the heartof the trade-offs betweenhuman preservation rightsand ecologicalpreservation. There are costsfromenvironmental preservation
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to peoplewhoaredisplacedas a result orwho lose opportunities for lifeimprovements through denial of land access. In the case of Marichjhapiit was the poorestpeople whopaid withtheir lives,whilethebenefits wentto theanimals,tourists, and tourist forbig operators. Tourism,in requiring pristine environments, createsan incentive businessand the stateto set aside areasthatmightotherwise be used by poorpeople forsubsistence. While thismaygenerate economicbenefits theyrarely are realizedby the people being displacedand certainly not by the Marichjhapiinhabitants. Even were later this benefitmay be debatable since the facilitiesleft by the refugees inhabited by followersof the ruling CPM, which means the environmental improvement was notrealized, evenifa potentially moreenvironmentally detrimental influx of refugees mayhave been prevented. The environmentalists have not takena positionon the massacreand were not implicatedin it, but on the otherhand noneare knownto have opposedit or taken workon behalf whichdid theunpleasant up theissue.The West Bengalgovernment, ofenvironmental werealone in beingblamed.That Congress had failed preservation, to use force to evicttheir predecessors mayhaveencouraged therefugees to thinkthe Left Frontwould be at least as tolerant.Without attractive alternatesettlement arrangements as an inducement, only forcecould have succeededin achievingthe eviction. It is difficult to riskdeath, to remove thousands offamilies who areprepared evenwhenthey areunarmed. Suchdetermination, whichat one timewouldhavebeen considered heroic and pioneering, had become antistate, subversive, and environmentally unfriendly. As resourcesdiminish there are likely to be more with environmentalists. struggles by poor peoples that will place them in conflict are prepared to spreadthe costsof preservation Unless environmentalists so thatthe poorestpeople are not the only ones to pay the price, therewill continueto be resistance to theimposition ofalienvalueson thesemarginalized people.All too often the environmental movement uses its influence with Third World elites to obtain on thesenatural preservationist policiesdetrimental to thepoorest people dependent for alternate livelihoods are made and resources.Unless prior arrangements compensation paid, the pursuitof a preservationist agenda will result in human tragedies. As with Marichjhapi, human rights abuses can result from tourism and on governments for environmentalism without direct pressureby these interests a businessinterest in preservation, a lobby eviction. ecotourism creates By developing forgovernment policies thatplace new value on theseareas,whichwould otherwise be seen as wastelandssuitable for settlementand more conventionalformsof theirvalue as a tourist Once the West Bengal government development. recognized than anotherrefugee moreattractive influx. attraction, this potentialwas certainly The stateultimately failedto realizethetourist potential through poorinfrastructure tourist development (Montgomery 1995, 27-28), but even withouta significant it could influence industry, as an idea forfuturedevelopment government policy without being implemented.The successfulpreservation could be seen as an forenvironmentalism was not exposed. as long as the massacre unambiguous victory Much of the environmentalist literature portrays indigenous peoplesin harmony and government overtheir withnature and resistant to encroachment by big business allies forenvironmentalists livelihoods. This portrayal offers poorpeople as potential is oftenmore a againstmegaprojects. This indigenouseco-consciousness, however, technologicalconstraintnecessitatedby poverty.Poor people who degrade the environment to thewayenvironmentalists need to portray do not conform them,and therefore tend to be ignored in the literature. The Marichjhapi refugeeswere
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fornationalor environmentally unfriendly and so offered no campaignopportunity international conservation groups.The government, byadhering to an environmental agenda,did not have to facethe oppositionthatcame from movements such as that environmental againsttheNarmadadam,whichoperated within dominant paradigms and could make international environmental linkages(Baviskar1995). In fact,the tribalsto be displacedby theNarmadadam werejust as environmentally destructive who organizedthemagainstthe dam wereable to as the refugees, but the outsiders themto the outsideworldas environmentally and therefore falsely portray conscious in the allies and victims suitable struggleagainstmegaprojects. They were able to tap into an international environmental lobbythatended World Bank funding and whatever influence the Bank mighthave brought to bear on the Indian government The refugees, to providethe tribals withadequatecompensation. despitea resistance that surpassed anything the environmentalist died unknown movements mustered, to external in Indian deathsbecausetheydid not conform and interests perceptions in in or the western world. What were society lobbies they successfully undertaking in to the the over was insufficient overcome dominant development stigma society environmental destruction. thetraditional Theywerefollowing pathto development, in frontier whichwas no longerconsidered fashionable had drawn areas.Governments a borderline aroundthe forests and nothingmorewas to be converted to farmland. In thesecircumstances it is difficult to see how the refugees could have "packaged" theircausein terms thatcould haveappealedto dominant domestic and international opinion.
Untouchable Representation
in centralIndia and seeing that they After visitingthe Dandakaranya refugees werein no positionto makean international about theMarichjhapi protest massacre, I soughtto put it on record.However,the United Nations Commission on Human wereflooded ofcomplaints, Rightsin Genevatoldme they withthousands indicating nothingwould be done. Amnesty International did not respondto my letters, and Human Rights Watch respondedwith formlettersthat gave no indicationthe material in London had been read.A visitto theAmnesty International headquarters in adviceto emulatethestrategy resulted ofgay rights' activists ofenrolling members in the organizationto boost its priority, an approach Untouchablesand other ThirdWorldpeoplesareunableto follow. In Washington marginalized withthehelp of a contactI was able to receivea personalized letter from Human Rights response the material was reador actiontaken.Submitting the Watch,but still no indication or attempts at refutation. case to academicjournalsdid not resultin anyevaluations The editorofone leadingacademicjournalwroteme "thatafter all thistime . . . we have yet to obtain one solid outside referee We have reporton your manuscript. and some have even acceptedthe task,onlyto have the ms solicitedseveralreferees returned to us in a fewweekswitha terse thatthey felt statement unable [manuscript] to providethe promisedreport." After severalyearsthe directapproachof exposing the humanrightsabuse was deferred to placing it withina framework thatmight threeversions aimed at a rangeof academic journals. appeal to academicsthrough I had suggested Withouta receptive outletforsuch material, to a Harvardprofessor, thatsinceUntouchables whohad researched Untouchable 140 numbered movements, millionpeople,representing nearly 3 percent ofhumanity, a journalon themmight
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be started, but he rightly pointed out that even if fundingcould be obtainednot enoughpeople would writeforit to be sustainable. Books offered thealternate venue in the fieldnone were but when I sentan Untouchablememoirto eight specialists willing to facilitate publication.Since 68.6 percentof university press books are subsidized by subventionsfrom outside sources, and the publication rate for "to unintroduced manuscripts is, accordingto two surveys, 0.38 and 0.57 percent, an informal circleor network recommendation is close get a book published, through to being an absolutenecessity" (Powell 1985, 230, 169, 171-72). The obstaclesto while what is publishedby Untouchablehumanrights publicationare considerable, is oftenof littleinterest or use to Untouchables, scholarson untouchability raising collaboration is worthwhile. questionsofwhether These failedattemptsat representation are significant because it indicatesthe in presenting rather problems humanrights abusesfrom thepointofview ofvictims thanofintellectuals. At thesame timeacademicoutletsareparticularly in important It is knownthatinternational the absenceof otherforums forredress. agencieshave in preventing been largely ineffective or punishing humanrights abuses,but at least and receive manyabusesget put on therecord somedegreeofinternational publicity. a significant Forreally marginalized groupssuchas theUntouchable refugees, without western is notforthcoming, middle-class diasporato takeup their case,suchattention devotedto uncovering evenfrom groupsspecifically humanrights abuses. are constrained not to criticize thatprovidethemwithresearch Scholars regimes in thatstaterequired not access.One scholarofWest Bengal notedthathis research the rulingCommunist visa but permission from as onlyan Indiangovernment Party that well. The Shastri Indo-Canadian Institute evenwarnsacademicgrantapplicants in strategic areasor on sensitive "the Government of India does not permitresearch Institute regional, politicaland socialthemes" (Shastri Indo-Canadian 1998, 5). There is a history of some intellectuals ignoring the humanrightsabuses of "progressive" regimes,but in West Bengal press coverageof these abuses makes ignoranceor and discrimination omissionless excusable.Rural Untouchable is hardly segregation are given without Land redistribution touchedon in the Bengal literature. figures how many beneficiaries lost theirland. A West Bengal mentioning subsequently land thanbeing foundmorebeneficiaries werelosingtheir government samplesurvey thatthe land reform was a fiasco. newlyrecorded, indicating Though thisdeficiency to scholars, is undertaken, no suchsurvey making is too obviousnotto haveoccurred however beneficial theirresearch uselessforseriouspolicyimplementation purposes, Ifbusinesses it maybe for and never their academiccareers. losses onlyreported profits but analogousland reform research would lose credibility, they usingonlycumulative to the regime redistribution is undertaken, perhapsbecause it will be inoffensive influence granting access.On theother hand,marginalized peopleshaveno equivalent cannotreadtheir intellectual overscholars unlikethedominant elites. sincethey work, thatit maynotbe possibleto continue Frankassessments therefore require acceptance in the in thefield, an approach investment manyscholars havingmade a considerable thatappearvery differently subjectwill wishto avoid. Not a fewsaythings privately in print,indicating research mayhave been compromised. but withoutan to academicinterests, Human rightsabuses may be tangential can be untenable. Forinstance, as recently oftheseabuses,academicanalysis awareness theLeftFront as 1996 a Princeton described as providing professor "goodgovernance" T. J. Nossiter, (Kohli 1996, 121). The LondonSchoolofEconomics politicalscientist, withJyoti Basu stated"If,and I believeit, Rajiv Gandhi,did sayat his first meeting after becomingprimeminister thatthe chiefminister was morefitforthe role,the
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comment was not onlya graciouscourtesy but a propertribute to Basu's standing" (Nossiter 1988, 139). As long as abuses such as Marichjhapicannotget into the academicliterature, this may seem plausible. When justice institutions are largely nonfunctional, academic exposureof injusticeis that much more important. With 230,000 cases pending in the Calcutta High Court alone, justice is virtually impossible, with the resulting increasein lynchmob killings(Banerjee1995, 137). In theabsenceofinterest in thehumanrights abuses,politicians get awaywithmass murder.The Marichjhapi massacrewas not that much different from Bosnian but at least in Europe the politiciansresponsible massacres, got indictedand had to go into hiding.The West Bengal ChiefMinistermakesfrequent tripsto the West a questionbeingraisedaboutthemassacre in public meetings. In theabsence without of this issue,Jyoti Basu was able to make a bid forthe PrimeMinistership of India in May 1996, whichwas onlyprevented by his CPM central committee voting35 to 20, in what he called a "historicblunder,"to refuseto lead a minority national government (Nagchoudhury 1997, 29). The CPM has since reportedly had second thoughts,and Jyoti Basu could become Prime Minister if another favourable arises. conjuncture What eventually tarnishedthe Left Front image was not a massacreat the oftheregimebut thecorruptions thatwereperhapsinevitable in anylong beginning ruling government (Sen Gupta 1997, 905-17). The powerful middleand upperclasses did notlike to see theirtaxesmisappropriated, and regime imagechangedmorefrom elite corruption thanhumanrights abuses againstthe lowerclasses.A veteran party leader and former ChiefMinisterof Tripurawas expelledforcriticizing the Chief in a pattern Minister's son's businessacquisitions of similarto the businessactivities the familiesof ChineseCommunistPartyleaders.Press investigations foundfunds froma Rs 2,500 crore ($US 757 million) Personal Ledger Account had been Government-subsidized residential appropriated by theCommunist Party. plotswere ofmarket illegallysold at a smallfraction value to CalcuttaHigh Courtjudges(Plot No. FD429, FD434, GD346, CL16), relativesof the Chief Minister(FD452), of the regime, Ministers(IA29, FE145, AL210, BH97), and scholarssupportive of the AdvocateGeneral includinga coeditorof the subaltern seriesand son-in-law (Plot. No. FE14), and the husbandofJyoti Basu's authorized biographer (EE block, to Sector2, Plot 5) (Banerjee1997, 22-23). Though thesepeople cannotbe expected theirown illegal land occupation, investigate given theirsubaltern class perspective influence to investigate or at least theycould have used theirprovengovernment at Marichjhapi. That thiselite offellowillegal land occupants publicizethemassacre and seculargovernments gets away with what poor people are killed fordiscredits to the rise of caste, regional,and institutions with the electorate and contributes whichhavecometo dominate Indianpolitics.The postindependence religious parties yearswere markedby not only the dominanceof the secular CongressPartyin but the secularCommunistPartyin opposition.This is no longerthe government case. The governance problem that corruption presentshas been attackedby the that have attemptedto bring Supreme Court and elementsin the bureaucracy from senior politicians to justice, and the fact that I could get information a part of this effort. administrators about the Marichjhapi massacre represents would resultin theattention However,anyhopestheymayhave had thatmyefforts or academicpublication ofinternational humanrights organizations havinganyeffect are yetto be realized. in the stateseemedto haveheard intellectual politically informed Though every about the massacre, it neverappearedin the subaltern seriesor any otheracademic
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about the massacre, but most foreign publication.Nossiterwas informed scholars probably never readtheIndianpressoftheperiod,and local reticence to myquestions on the subjectindicatedmostforeigners mightnot have known.Theirpraiseof the regime is therefore based on ignoranceof what went on ratherthan deliberate and governance deception. This would indicatethatwhenit comesto humanrights thanacademicliterature the Indianpressrather is themoreinformative. The absence from the subaltern seriesof subaltern voicesthatexposehumanrights abuses by the regime indicatesthat despite a theoretical adherenceto grantingan autonomous in practice voice free of intellectual subaltern substitutions, onlyvoicesthatconform The factthat a human rights to certaindominantintellectual normsare tolerated. a fair abuse had to be put withintheguise ofissuesthatappeal to scholars is perhaps compromise between subaltern victims and the need to reach intellectuals. it is a significant in perspective thathas to be noted.Representing shift Nevertheless, with the dangersof misrepresentation, but with marginalizedpeoples is fraught can be veryclear.However,eventhemost humanrights abusestheserepresentations in the hope of obtainingjusticefor straightforward exampleof exposinga massacre victimsis no easy matter given the inadequateinstitutional avenuesforredress and the inclinations of scholars with otherpriorities and perspectives. Academicoutlets as publications ofrecord can at mostbe onlya first but without stepto obtainredress, the inclusion ofhumanrights abuses in them,muchofsocial scienceand humanities analysiswill misrepresent the societiestheystudy.The virtualabsenceof reports on in the academicliterature humanrights violations showsgrossmisrepresentations of what goes on in the societyand servesto discreditthe academic community as marginalized peoples become aware of how theyare being portrayed. As the Allin 1929, "It has been Bengal NamasudraAssociation put it to theSimonCommission oftheIndianCivil Service, on account seenin morethanone case thatBritish members of theirlivingin thiscountry fora long time,and by comingintocontact withonly a sectionof the people, are mentally capturedby the ideas of thosefewpeople who are in the positionof social aristocrats" (Simon Commission 1192911998, 93-94). to influence the academiccommunity, This distortion continues and thoseenamored of India have often a misleading of subaltern presented representation groups. The Marichjhapi massacre was soon forgotten by nearly everyone exceptrelatives of the victims.However,it did have an influence on Untouchableactivistswho to theCommunists from their failure to desegregate developedan antipathy resulting and their ruralareas,to implement successful land reform and educational programs, human rightsviolationssuch as Marichjhapi(Mallick 1993, refusalto investigate 1994, 1998). Despite much of the academicliterature praisingLeftFrontprograms, a lot of people outsideacademiccirclescame to knowbetter, and the absenceof the in other from theliterature from did notprevent Untouchable activists states massacre the CPM could calculatetherewould hearingabout it. At the time of the massacre be no consequences from theevictionbecauseno one could havepredicted thatthose who had mostvociferously takenup the cause of the refugees Untouchableactivists would takepowerin India's mostpolitically stateofUttarPradeshin the important 1990s. Though the Untouchable governments the movement were short-lived, to ignore. retained a vote base thatin fractured coalitionpoliticswas too important an The riseofUntouchablecastepoliticswas being widelycondemned, but without of how the secularpartieshad let down the Untouchablesthrough understanding humanrightsabuses and corruption, it is not possible to realizeone of the reasons it wereused forthedeclineof secularpoliticsin India. Justas othermassacres before to symbolize the oppression ofcolonialor Congress rulers, Marichjhapi was used as a
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and thefailures ofsecularIndian politicaltool to showtheabusesoftheCommunists A consciousness ofthemassacre continued amongUntouchable activists government. elite wereawareof, intellectual and in publications whichveryfewin the dominant let alone read. That discussionof the massacredid not appear in academically respectable publicationsdid not mean it never happened or was not to become in the Untouchable politicizationand rejection of secular parties. noteworthy and the failure of these Untouchables werethe most naturalallies of secularparties, parties to provide to theriseofcastepolitics.Until secular parties justicecontributed are willing to come to terms with their past treatmentof and institutions inroadsinto the Untouchables, theyare unlikelyto be able to make permanent of Given the nature Untouchableelectorate. increasingly important and autonomous India and Indian studiesthis sea changewill have to await the Dalit occupationof to further Untouchable state power,when state largessewill then be appropriated will "Those who worship As KanshiRam observed, dogs,cats,evenstones objectives. once the Dalits come to social reformers like Periyar, lose no time in worshipping ofthetreatment is a result power"(IndiaToday,15 October1995, 11). This cynicism at the handsof secularpartiesand governments, and by have received Untouchables process currently inference of the academic community.The democratization in India will bringmoreof theseantagonisms out in the open. Until the underway forthese state and societyprovideenhancedhuman rightsand life opportunities cannotbe successful. One small stepin this marginalized groups,castereconciliation the Marichjhapimassacreand sending those processmight include investigating CriminalCourt. responsible fortrialto the SupremeCourtor International
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Refugee Resettlement in Forest Reserves: West Bengal Policy Reversal and the Marichjhapi Massacre Author(s): Ross Mallick

for AsianStudies, C) 1999 bytheAssociation Inc.

INDIA TODAY. 1995. 31 August.

Hindustan Times, 29 June.

S. N. 1978. "Dandakaranya Refugees Refuse to Budge." The Overseas

The Washington Crossroads." Quarterly 19 (4): 115-27.

1997. "Save the

1994. Indian Communism: Opposition, Collaboration and Institutionalization.

. 1998. Development, Ethnicity and HumanRights in SouthAsia. Delhi: Sage

1998. The Untouchables.

W. 1985. GettingintoPrint. Chicago: Chicago University Press.

RAM, KANSHI. REFUGEE

1982. "Editorial: What Happened AND REHABILITATION

1997. "The 1995 Municipal

Election in West Bengal: The

Guide: 1988-1999. 1998. Programme

Calgary: Shastri Indo-Canadian

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