Without Fear Without Shame

Women in Resistance The Research Collective April 2019 The Research Collective, of the Programme for Social Action (PSA), facilitates research around the theoretical framework and practical aspects of development, sustainable alternatives, equitable growth, natural resources, community and people’s rights. Cutting across subjects of economics, law, politics, environment and social sciences, the work bases itself on people’s experiences and community perspectives. Our work aims to reflect ground realities, challenge conventional growth paradigms and generate informed discussions on social, economic, political, environmental and cultural problems.

Women in Resistance: Soni Sori Interview: Vijayan MJ and Aswathy Senan Cover Design and Layout: Media Collective (Musthujab Makkolath)

Published by The Research Collective- PSA April 2019

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For copies: Programme for Social Action G-46 (First Floor), Green Park (Main) New Delhi-110016 Phone Number: +91-11-26561556 Email: trc@psa-.net Stories, Reflections and Dreams of Women in Resistance

Women have always been part of movements and resistance struggles, and historically have been instrumental in shaping and strengthening them. In spite of this, often they are seen as mass cadre or witnesses in the struggles, and not as leaders, in most cases. Understanding the why and the how of this scenario is crucial in today’s socio-political context, with the rise of right wing forces across India, trying to assert their power over women who stand up against authority.

Within struggles, often a systematic practice can be observed, in which separate women’s groups/wings have been formed with women leading them, be it within trade unions or political parties. However, the fact of the matter is that this makes the participation and leadership of women confined or restricted to a separate wing of the group, rather than the head of its core movements, thereby diluting the role of women in strate- gising and decision making.

This can be a convenient arrangement for the men in leadership posi- tions, as several important issues of gender discrimination such as domestic labour, sexual exploitation, and unequal wages can thus be easily avoided in the core leadership discussions and spaces, mostly benefitting the larger capitalist and patriarchal forces. However women have always resisted these practices, exposing these hypocrisies and shredding them into pieces.

Every woman who has stepped out of her traditional confines to join the struggle in the ‘public sphere’ had to first struggle in the private domain to manage housework, convince or defy the husband or father and speak up on many such issues. It is quite common to see that, for women, the struggle of the private domain travels through to the public domain as well; once the struggle in the public domain is over, the wom- an is expected to revert to her roles of mother, wife and daughter. Hence, there is a three-phased struggle that almost every woman in public life goes through – the struggle alongside men against the oppressive and exploitative system, the struggle within their organisation or union against male domination, and the struggle in the private domain: of the family, of domestic labour, of reproduction and sexuality.

Over the past several years, we have witnessed an overwhelming and reassuring uprising of the marginalised and suppressed communities, be it women, Dalits, or people in conflict zones. One of the key strengths of these movements and struggles has been that they are led by collectives of people instead of having individual leaders, and wom- en have played significant roles, promoting strong collective leadership models.

‘Women Leadership in Resistance’ was the theme of Jashn-e-Sang- harsh, a celebration of resistance, of Programme for Social Action held at Chaibasa, in April 2017. The event deliberated on the role of women as witness, participants and leaders of struggles across India, and reiterated the need to acknowledge, celebrate and strengthen the importance of women in leadership positions.

The Research Collective (TRC) brought out a pre-publication copy of Women in Resistance in 2017 for the gathering in Chaibasa. The publication was a collection of conversations on the journey of nine inspiring women who have been part of struggles and movements. It highlighted the way in which these women resisted the patriarchal forces and maintained and developed the question of women’s leadership through their action. This series, ‘Women in Resistance’, aims to continue to nourish and draw out those conversations, to understand the subtle and blatant ways through which patriarchy operates in the minds of the women, and of those around them, and how they have learned to unlearn those patterns of thought. We hope that these stories can also reach readers in vernacular languages and would be open to any collaboration in translation. We hope that these stories inspire, educate and reassure readers to rethink and rekindle our own life struggles and to support and encourage the women leaders we know in our own lives.

Aashima Subberwal Aswathy Senan General Secretary, PSA Coordinator, TRC

Since the 1980s, the Maoist insurgency in India has shifted base from to south , where the Naxals continue to have a hold. Counter insurgency operations by the State against the Maoists came to public attention in 2005 during the UPA government rule, when reports of the , translated from Gondi as ‘purification hunt’, first started appearing. Even today, Adivasis continue to bear the brunt of the State’s counter insurgency strategy.

The State claimed that the Salwa Judum was a spontaneous movement of Adivasis who took up arms to counter Naxal violence. In reality, this was a programme through which the State-trained members of the communities as Special Police Officers (SPOs) to act as a vigilante group against the Naxals. Thus it became a strategy to use civilians, either willingly or through force, to engage in many violent activities such as burning of Adivasi villages, raping women, killing men and evacuating villages.

Soni Sori, an Adivasi school teacher from Chhattisgarh is one of the strongest and loudest voices against the unconstitutional human rights violations by the Chhattisgarh government. For more than a decade, she has been working to end the destruction and burning of villages, forced evacuation of Adivasis from their homes, sexual violence and disappearance of thousands of Adivasis in Chhattisgarh. In July 2010, she was jailed, tortured and raped in police custody. She got bail in 2013 from the Judicial magistrate.

In 2014, she joined the and contested the Lok Sabha election. Though she didn’t win, she secured 16,903 votes, which indicates that she has a strong support base among the Adivasis. She has repeatedly received death and rape threats due to her work. On February 20, 2016, she was attacked with a chemical substance, which was thought of as an acid attack. However, in defiance of these threats, she continues her work to defend and support the community she hails from.

This conversation took place in March 2016, one day after Soni Sori was released from a hospital in Delhi.

Who is Soni Sori?

There are so many Soni Soris that people know of: Aam Aadmi party leader, Naxal supporter - I have several such qualifications! But I would want to be known only as a tortured Adivasi woman; an Adivasi woman whom the State and its machinery has repeatedly assaulted. I have always placed myself as an Adivasi woman from Bastar. Since the attack on 20th February 2016, my face has been projected by some media people as the face of Bastar, but there are so many women like me who have been attacked physically and emotionally. There are so many faces in the jails of Chhattisgarh, of men and women who have endured similar torture; violent, unjust and hurtful. Through my face, I want to bring those faces to the fore. Soni Sori is just one of the faces of Chhattisgarh.

But you are referred to as the face of Bastar. How do you see that?

I went to address the students of JNU as part of their Stand With JNU lecture series, right after I was discharged from hospital in Delhi. My face was still purple from the attack, and the wounds had just started healing. The photographs of the event that came out in the newspaper and were shared by students on social media were that of my bruised face under the title ‘The Face of Bastar’. Of course, my face had become what it was because of my resistance to the State atrocities in Bastar. But there are hundreds of faces like that in Bastar, inside the jails, out in the forests fighting against police atrocities - of people who also have endured and survived rape, naked parading, electric shocks, and vaginal injuries. All of them have to come out, and they will, soon. My attempt is to keep my face in the forefront and then show those other faces, the real faces of Bastar; the faces that are subjected to State repression in Bastar; the faces that survive torture.

How should one see the attack by perpetrators, be it police force or others, on women’s bodies?

One year in prison exposed me to all kinds of abuse that a woman’s body and mind can endure. I met several women who have endured and maybe still are enduring bodily torture in prison. The attack on a woman’s body is very different from what a man suffers. A man is shot dead or his body part is chopped off by attackers, but a woman is always attacked through rape. They penetrate her vagina with stones and thorns and cut off her nipples. They strike her body with a sharp blade to leave marks on it.

7 They make fun of her and her body parts after stripping her naked. And all this is done in police lock up! Why do they do that? It is because they think that for a woman, her most precious possession is her body. We ask them, “Why don’t you beat us too? Why don’t you shoot us dead too? Why don’t you see us also as human beings, why do you see us only as bodies that can be violated?”

Earlier, women were scared to talk about the rape that happens in jail; they were ashamed. I was too! I used to think that if a woman gets raped, her life is over; that it is better to bear the abuse silently and not tell anyone about it. But when I was raped in jail, and met hundreds of women who were raped in custody, whose bodies were scarred and violated by the guards, I understood that we had to speak out about it, or else it will never end and more and more women will have to endure the torture for our silence.

It is in jail that I learned that it is not me, but those who commit such heinous crimes who should be ashamed and scared. Today, we file cases against those who attack us; we counter their violence with the legal system.

What was your biggest learning while in jail?

The condition of women in jails in Chhattisgarh is very bad. They are imprisoned for years without even a bail hearing. Let me tell you about the women who were in jail with me. One of them was imprisoned within eight months of her marriage. Her in-laws were very sweet to her and her husband loved her dearly. He used to come to see her every time visitors were allowed and would tell her that he would wait for her until she came out. But after five years of meeting through the bars, she asked him not to come to visit her anymore. She wanted him to get married and start a new life. Usually, people cry in jail when they hear about a family member passing away or someone falling sick. But that day she cried for neither of these. She is still in jail!

Another minor girl, who was not even eighteen, had become pregnant due to custodial rape. When the child was born, she tried to drown and kill the baby in the toilet. She was howling and asking us how she could go back to her village with a child when she is not even married! We had to use physical force to persuade her to feed the child breast milk. We were even scared to leave the baby alone with her. One of us would always stay in 8 the room with her and the child. Slowly, she started loving the baby and now she is proud to call herself a mother. But she remembers how the child was conceived due to rape by an officer in jail!

None of these atrocities were questioned; instead people like Inspector General Kalluri1 were rewarded for allowing such ‘disciplining’ of jail inmates. We started getting timely meals and clean drinking water only after holding strikes in jail. I gained the will to fight and the courage to resist during my jail term.

I.G. Kalluri gave a statement that JNU students were responsible for the attack that happened to you in February 2016. What is your take on the government and its officials targeting students for the way they are dissenting against the current regime?

That is absolute nonsense! I hadn’t even met most of them before my JNU visit. I don’t even know if they have come to Bastar. Even if they had mentioned my name in their JNU speeches, how does that translate into any of them being involved in the attack on me?! Kalluri has said so many times on record that he is here to kill Adivasis. We are fighting against him, against this attitude of the state. And he is the one who is investigating the attack that happened against me! How will the truth come out then? This is all part of the government’s conspiracy to divert attention from the real problem, and split resistance struggles that might come together. Through such allegations, they want to intimidate resisting voices.

Look at how the whole system worked to murder Rohith Vemula. They are using the same tactics in the case of JNU students as well. Many of the students support our struggle in Bastar, and when they voice that support, they are called anti-nationals.

The word anti-national is used so casually these days! If you criticise the government or comment on its working or even joke about it, you become an anti-national! All of us, you, me or anyone watching or reading this interview could be counted as an anti-national. As citizens of this country, don’t we have the right to criticise the government’s actions? In cases of atrocities committed by the State, they target those who raise those

1 Inspector General SRP Kalluri came to public notice as human rights activists reported an unusual hike in the surrenders and deaths of Naxals in Bastar after he became the IG there. He is also one of the instrumental figures in training and giving arms to the SPOs. Though alleged to be involved in in various human rights violation and illegal activities, he has always been favoured by the various governments in power. 9 concerns or resist such action. Why is the State so terrified of any kind of resistance? As Adivasis who are constantly tortured and hounded by the police force, don’t we have the right to hold the government responsible for the atrocities that we have to bear? Does our responsibility in the democratic process end the moment we cast our vote in the election?

If the State officials are so patriotic, why don’t they stop the Maoists raising the black flag on August 15th and January 26th in Chhattisgarh? This is something that happens every year in Bastar. Even the media never reports it. The flag remains up till the end of the day and no one from the thousands of police or CRPF officers take it down! It is taken down only in the evening, by the Maoists themselves. Isn’t this shameful for the government?

We have understood that the State is not trying to curb Maoist activities. They want these activities to continue so that they can use it as an excuse to repress us! If they really wanted to end the Maoist struggle, they could have, but they don’t. This is only to end Adivasis here.

Some students raise certain slogans in a university campus, and the State machinery is up in arms to arrest them and charge them with sedition, but they can’t do anything against what these Maoists do!

So, are you saying that the State and Maoists are working in the same fashion?

See, Maoists believe in armed struggle, they don’t believe in democracy or constitution or even the process of election; they want to end capitalism through radical methods. We don’t agree with their mode of resistance. The government talks about the need for peace and is supposed to work as per the Constitution, and the police always refers to the law. But we don’t see any difference between what the Maoists do and what the police does. As far as we are concerned, the Maoists who talk about violence and the government that talk about fundamental rights are doing the same. The government is also holding arms to kill us, like the other party. Innocent Adivasis are branded as Maoists and threatened, urged to surrender to police custody, while the Maoists attack those who get arrested saying that they are traitors. Adivasis suffer in between both these groups!

10 The government is spending crores of rupees in the name of curbing Maoist activities: for arms, training of the forces, their maintenance, etc. However, there is hardly any information available on how this money is spent. The police declare someone a Maoist and quote some two or three lakhs for his or her head! Sometimes, this person hasn’t even been mentioned in any case or linked with any extremist activities. The police kill the innocent Adivasi on the pretext of an encounter killing and share the prize money. No political party or government is keen to resolve this issue.

Look at how Hidma, who was the father of seven children, was killed recently. He was shot dead, later dressed in Maoist uniform, after which the prize money of one lakh rupees or so was declared. If they didn’t do this, the inflow of money into their pockets would stop, right?

The truth is that the struggle is for the land we live on. The government wants us to leave the land so that it can be handed over to companies for mining and other such activities. For that, they want us evicted from this place. They say that we will benefit from these big companies being here, but honestly, how can we give up our land which is the source of income for us and our future generations? Our life and livelihood is based on forest resources; we can’t have that taken away from us. Once, some company people were clearing the land of an Adivasi family. A man from that family walked up to the people and said that he will wipe them all out if they do anything with his land. The police reached the spot immediately and arrested him on the charges of being a Maoist. He was hardly one! He was just resisting his land being taken away without his permission. This happens often!

What about the media? What role have they played in bringing out the story of your struggles to the outside world?

The media is supposed to bring out the truth, but that is hardly practiced. We have a video of a woman exposing her body and showing the bruises on her breasts and other parts which were inflicted by the police. When we showed it at a press conference, the people present bowed their heads. I told them not to turn away their faces and that these women are speaking up so that they would tell the world about this. I told them they should surely take the pictures of the bodily bruises of these women and share it with the entire world. We know that if we are ashamed of showing our 11 body parts, which have been abused, then we won’t ever escape this. We are fed up of such torture and we want the world to know about this. We have circulated the video widely on Whatsapp and used other mediums too.

This scares the government because it is not only the voice of one Soni Sori; it is the voice of several women across Bastar. And these women are not carrying any weapons, except the bruises that have been inflicted upon them. And this scares the government even further.

I don’t know about national or other regional media. But in our land, when journalists report the truth, they are charged and jailed. Several journalists like Somaru Nag, Santosh Yadav have been jailed under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA). We are fighting to get them out on bail. Such actions scare journalists who want to come to such areas and report the truth about the atrocities and violations.

During the times of Salwa Judum, several people left Dantewada and many moved to Andhra and other parts of the country. What has happened to their land?

The government has confiscated all that land. It was a planned violent mode of eviction. So many houses were burned down, so many people were killed and so many women were raped during those times. Several people who were angered by this joined the Maoist groups too. When one is tortured and hounded to this extent, when one is not allowed to live peacefully, when one sees one’s own family, friends and villagers being brutally attacked, for no fault of their own, why wouldn’t they choose that path? Several people also fled to other parts of the country fearing for their lives. The government has taken over all their property. They have declared that land as forest land and confiscated it.

Salwa Judum was a manipulative tactic of the state to make the Adivasis kill their own brothers and sisters. Those who were killing didn’t know why they were killing, nor did those who were being attacked know the reason behind it. Adivasi men who acted as Special Police Officers (SPO) find it very difficult to go back to their villages now. They feel very insecure about living on their land. The Communist Party of India (CPI) has taken up the issue strongly and they have put up a rigorous fight against this unfair persecution of Adivasis. The Supreme Court also gave an order 12 demanding the stopping of Salwa Judum2.

In spite of the order, the violence and repression continued. It now seems like they are going to re-start Salwa Judum. Those who have left Maoist activities and want to lead normal lives are made SPOs. They are being sent to the same areas where they used to work in the hope that they will be able to give more information. I have a huge issue with this trend. These people should be given jobs as clerks or school teachers or the like; instead they are once again given guns, which they had just recently chosen to give up. They are trying to replicate what was declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court, in another form!

So, are you saying the law of the land doesn’t operate in Chhattisgarh?

Yes, in Chhattisgarh, the law is only on paper. For instance, consider the Provisions of Panchayats (Extension to the Scheduled Areas) Act, 1996 (PESA), which states that the land of the Adivasis can never be taken by the government, and that this land belongs to the people. PESA is applicable in Chhattisgarh as well but the government doesn’t abide by this law. They put up camps on our lands, confiscate it to build airports, give our land to corporations, and completely ignore the demands and rights of the people. They use their weapons to threaten us, to suppress us. If we resist too much, and demand that our land rights be honoured, they brand us as Maoists and put us in jail. Since they feel that we are unlikely to move from here, their best move is to charge us under terror laws and imprison us, or scare us so much that we leave everything and move to safer places. Either way, it is the company and the government that benefit from our misery.

Who is the anti-national here - the Adivasi farmer whose land is taken away forcefully or the government officials who confiscate the villagers’ land violently? Well, the State ensures that the former is made the anti-national, this person is put in jail, and tortured for demanding her rights, while the latter is allowed to carry on committing atrocities.

2 Based on the petition filed by Prof. Nandini Sundar and others, the Supreme Court passed an order calling Salwa Judum illegal and unconstitutional on July 4th, 2011. It also stated that all firearms issued to any SPO should be recalled and that necessary security be given to all those who were appointed as SPOs. 13 What about the Forest Rights Act? Is it implemented in Chhattisgarh?

We all are people who live by natural resources. The law states that forest dwelling communities are entitled to forest produce. However, forest officials distort the law and exploit people who go to cut the produce to make ends meet. They threaten the people saying that they have taken more than they should and grab some of their catch. The people now collect much less produce as a result. It is ok if the forest wood is taken up by the timber mafia and used to make fancy sofas and almirahs, but if the Adivasis who are entitled to it for their livelihood take such resources, they are put in jail on the pretext of stealing forest property. They are trying to tell us that the forest doesn’t belong to the Adivasis! But our slogan is “Jal, Jungle Humara Hai” (Water and Forests are ours). But, in reality, it is hardly ours!

What do you think about the rising intolerance in the country now, be it about eating habits, dressing patterns or religious practices?

If you look at Adivasi culture, we are used to eating everything, including cows, chicken or whatever we get. But now the way our country is going, things have become very strange. Even in our area something like what happened in Uttar Pradesh (the mob lynching of Mohammad Akhlaq) happened; our elders were shocked to see the way things are changing. They say that rice or other grains were unavailable earlier and that they used to eat meat mostly. Our eating habits are totally dependent on our culture and ecology. How can the government tell us what to eat or what not to eat?

Speaking of festivals, Adivasis are not followers of Hindu culture. We only consider ourselves human beings and we have our own local rituals, practices and idols. We never used to celebrate Diwali by bursting crackers, which also causes a lot of pollution. But our younger generations who have been exposed to urban life come back and try to practice those rituals here too. We don’t celebrate Rakhi either. These are festivals during which lots of money is spent and we hardly have money to spare. And when we point out these differences, the right wing people and even the media call us anti-nationals.

Even our struggle for life and livelihood is seen in that light. When Adivasis protested the government’s move to build an airport in Raigarh by clearing our forests to make way for people to fly in and out, they were arrested

14 and put in jail immediately. Adivasis had protested against this move strongly and said that they will not stay silent. We don’t even go to , how will we benefit from an airport coming there?! It is the wealthy and the powerful that need the airport, but they can’t make it at the cost of our livelihood and natural resources! If someone takes away our land illegally, by force, how can we not do anything about it?

If we raise our voices, we become anti-nationals, those students who study these issues become anti-nationals, those journalists who report these issues become anti-nationals, those activists who speak out about this, become anti- nationals. This is not how a democratic country should function!

What has been your experience of being part of electoral politics, as a candidate of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) in the 2014 Lok Sabha election? What has been people’s response to movement groups working with political parties?

I didn’t have hope or belief in the working of political parties. But I wanted to inform the people of the country about the situation in Bastar and the horrors of our everyday lives. When I lost in the parliamentary elections, people asked me if I regret joining AAP. Not for a second have I regretted that. Contesting elections allowed me to gain a wider audience to talk about a range of issues: how the state and the police wrongly arrested me on charges of being a Maoist in 2011, how they repeatedly abused me and several women in prison, by giving electric shocks, inserting metal rods into my vagina and sexually molesting me, and how the Maoists brutally kill Adivasis. It also let me talk widely about how politicians and those whom we elect to power allow this brutality to continue. I got access to platforms to talk about those who falsely charged us with sedition and other such grave charges.

I also talked a lot about the harassment and abuse faced by women in the region. For example, one day, the police came and arrested this young girl, Sukudi, from my village, alleging that her husband, Ayeda, is a Maoist. They said that she will be released only if her husband surrendered. Ayeda said that he is an Adivasi leading a normal life with his family and not a Maoist. He declared that he wouldn’t surrender for crimes that he had not committed. The villagers held a three-day dharna against the police illegally keeping her in custody. Finally, they had to succumb to our resistance and set her free. The police claimed that they found her 15 unconscious in the forest, while she said that they took her by force when she was feeding her baby. There are several cases like this that we have brought to light. Legal support for such cases is being provided by a group called Legal Aid Group (JagLAG). The electoral platform gave us space to inform the wider world about such violations in Bastar. That is a huge victory as far as I am concerned.

People think that I joined AAP so that I could become a politician and lead a comfortable life, but that is not true. I contested elections against the very same government that jailed me on false charges. This is my first victory.

The government has spread so many lies about me, saying that I am a Maoist, that I take bribes from companies and that I am working against the government, etc. But getting around 18-19,000 votes made me realise that so many people love me. This is my second victory. I was not keen on being in power, but being in politics has made it possible for me to work and move freely in my land; that is my third and greatest victory. So I believe I have not lost, I have won!

People keep asking me how can you fight against such a huge power like the government or the police and win. I tell them, winning or losing is not under my control, nor is it my priority. My work is to fight and I will keep fighting. If a revolutionary, someone who resists, worries over how she can fight one lakh armed forces, she can never fight earnestly. My duty is to fight and I will. I want to be with the people and live in their love and care. My people are my power and strength. They are everything.

Could you elaborate on the role of JagLAG in Bastar? There have been several news reports about how they have been attacked. Why is that?

Jagdalpur Legal Aid Group is a group of women lawyers who primarily work in the areas of Bastar, Dantewada, Kanker, Bijapur and districts. They work mostly on the unjust and illegal police actions targeting Adivasis, and to bring out the truth with the help of the law. They also concentrate on highlighting police atrocities against women, especially physical abuse and sexual violations inside prison. The State and its legal machineries are so threatened by their work that the Chhattisgarh Lawyer’s Association

16 even passed a resolution prohibiting them from practicing in the court3. When this move was countered, they tried to evict the lawyers from Bastar by threatening the house-owner of their rented place. The police falsely charged him in a case and put pressure on him to evict them from the house. Because of this the women’s collective of lawyers are now staying elsewhere and are struggling to find a house for themselves.

Why hasn’t Soni Sori joined the path of violence?

You know, when I was in jail and was shaken by the violence I was subjected to, I cried every day. The guards clicked our naked photos and threatened us, saying they will put them up in public places. They asked us questions such as how many men raped us and how they touched us and how they undressed us, merely to break our strength. The guards, including women prison guards, would grope my body parts. I cried so much and even thought of ending my life.

One day, two women took me aside and asked me if I thought that these brutalities were done only against me. They showed me their breasts: one woman’s nipples were bitten off and the other one had blade marks all over her breasts. They told me about how they were electrocuted and raped in the prison. I was shocked. They looked so healthy from the outside; I never knew that this was what was going on inside them. They told me that I shouldn’t be weakened by this. They gave me courage and told me that I should fight for all of them since I am educated. When I asked them where they would go when they were released, they said that they would join the Maoists. I asked them why. They told me that fighting is their only option. They asked who would marry them, after all that they have gone through. I still search for these women wherever I go, since I heard that they have been released. Several men and women take the path of violence because they have undergone such torture and they have nowhere else to go. The State is actually preparing them or rather training them to join the Maoists! I know of several people who have gone away like that.

For instance, Hidma has a Voter’s ID, Aadhar card, ration card, all sorts of documents to prove his identity. How then can there be prize money declared in his name? I asked the government about this. We told them

3 The Bastar Bar Association passed a resolution in 2015 barring JagLAG from practising law in the state. It passed a second resolution saying that it would not be responsible if something untoward were to happen to the lawyers. In March 2019, the State Bar Council of Chhattisgarh annulled this, responding to an appeal made by Shalini Gera and Isha Ghandewal. 17 about his family, his children, submitted his address proof, none of which are secrets. He was released from jail after two years of imprisonment because the court found him innocent. How can you declare him a Maoist again? Even if he is guilty, he should then be arrested and produced in a court of law. Who gives the police permission to kill people like this? Doesn’t the constitution and law of the land apply to these perpetrators, regardless of who they work for? Aren’t such police officers who are guilty of false encounters and fabricated cases, and who spread lies, rumours and hatred, the dangerous ones?

I also have gone through such torture. Of course, I feel angry with the government, I feel wronged, and I feel like taking revenge, I also feel furious about the fact that someone like Ankit Garg4, who has physically and mentally tortured me so much, is felicitated by the government! Maybe the government feels that they should honour the work of someone who has hurt, humiliated and tortured an Adivasi woman.

I want to fight the government, through the democratic system, as per the constitution, highlighting, challenging and pointing out the atrocities and wrongs that it perpetrates! My thoughts are not any less strong than revolvers or bullets. The government has handed over these arms to me; it has given me the bullets to shoot. But the government doesn’t want non- violent struggle.

We, Adivasis, are also part of this country and we will work as per the constitutional rights that we are also entitled to. I. G. Kalluri constantly tells me to my face that I am a Maoist - I tell him, yes I am. I am not the Maoist of the forest; I am a Maoist of the city. I fight on the grounds that you have prepared for me. Both the police and the Maoists have arms to fight us. But my fight is through the arms of the constitution. So, tell me who is the violent one here? Me or the state?

People keep asking me if I am a revolutionary or a Gandhian. I also think about where I stand. The truth is, when we are fighting in a democracy with constitutional principles, I feel that I am a Gandhian. Other times,

4 SP Ankit Garg was the leader of the Special Task Force that led the counter insurgency in which six Maoists and two civilians from Mahasamund district of Chhattisgarh were killed in controversial circumstances in October 2010. Later in 2011, he was appointed as the Superintendent of Police of Dantewada and is alleged to have supervised the torture of Soni Sori. In 2012, he was awarded the Police Medal for Gallantry which was widely protested by human rights and gender activists. 18 when I am taking out a dharna or a rally and mobilising people, I feel like a revolutionary. I believe that both these methods are needed in the struggles that we are in. We can’t be Gandhian all the time neither can we be a revolutionary all the time. I don’t know where the Gandhian in me ends and the revolutionary in me begins. I feel that both are there within me.

What would happen if you were taken out of this struggle?

The government is surely scared of Soni Sori, as they are of several people who are with her now. Many have joined this non-violent struggle against the wrongdoings of the State, and the government is scared of this movement. I am getting stronger and stronger with each attack they unleash on me. While saying this, I am also speaking for the movement and the people in this area, since the spirit is the same in them too. I talk openly about how the government has tortured me and tried to end our struggle. This makes people recount the injustices they have faced and they also feel strengthened to fight against this.

I ask people to raise the issues in the same way with the government authorities, and file cases against those who torture them. I tell them that I will be with them, if they speak about the atrocities; and that I won’t be there, if they don’t. This makes them want to speak about all that they have endured, rather survived. The women of the forest, who have not spoken in public platforms, or had formal education, are now speaking in front of 10-15 TV channels about the physical torture they have been through, how they have been raped and abused; and this scares the government. They are shocked to see that those women who used to sit silently and not utter a word—even if they get beaten up or abused or raped—are now speaking up fearlessly against the government. They speak about how their bodies have been mutilated, hurt and abused. They speak against these atrocities without fear, without shame. But women ask me why there is no action taken against whom we have filed cases; why has there been no inquiry against those people on whom FIRs have been filed. The law of the land and the constitutional provisions are the same for all. It is not meant to be different for government officials, or the police or those who are workers of the ruling party. The arms-carrying-sarkar-ki-sena is perpetuating all kinds of atrocities against the people of the country. How long can we go on like this?

I do realise that they get rid of anyone who speaks up against state

19 repression and unlawful activities. That is why they threw out Himanshu Kumar5 from here; that is why they threw out Binayak Sen6 from here; that is why they attack Bela Bhatia7 and Malini Subramaniam8, who exposed these atrocities. But they can’t remove me from here; I belong to this land by birth and I have a right to this land. That is why they attack me in this fashion, by scaring and intimidating me. But I get stronger with each attack. And it strengthens the people here too! They tell the government that we will continue our fight as per constitutional rights.

Displacing me from Bastar is difficult, impossible even. As long as we are alive, we will stay there and continue the fight. But yes, killing me could be a possibility.

They might think that ending my life would end this struggle. But that will not happen. The struggle will continue. The government always does this. Look at how they arrested CPI comrades and tortured them in jails during the Salwa Judum years. They try to break the strength of the leaders by jailing their friends and comrades for years and torturing them. It is the same with me. They keep attacking me and if they find that I am not relenting, they might kill me.

You see, the government keeps saying that I am friends with the Maoists. So, if I ever get killed, it wouldn’t be by them; it could have been only done by the government! If that happens, there are many faces like Soni Sori. All those faces will come forward, whether I am there or not there! The government might think that there is only one face, but they are wrong; there are thousands of faces like this.

5 A human rights activist and Gandhian who ran an ashram for almost two decades in Chhattisgarh, Himanshu Kumar was part of several fact-finding missions in Chhattisgarh and moved the Supreme Court demanding the ending of Salwa Judum. 6 A doctor by profession, is a member of People’s Union of Civil Liberties. He was convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment for sedition by Raipur Sessions Court in Chhattisgarh in 2010. He was later granted bail in April 2011. 7 Bela Bhatia is a human rights lawyer based in Chhattisgarh who has been helping Adviasi women to register complaints against security personnel for raping and attacking them. She and other lawyers were threatened to move out of Bastar. 8 Malini Subramaniam is a freelance journalist with Scroll.in who reports extensively on human rights violations. Having relocated to Bastar a few years back, she covers stories on Adivasis in Chhattisgarh. Like all the above mentioned activists, she has also been constantly targeted and attacked by the State and vigilante groups. 20 So, your wounds have healed now. Are you going back to Dantewada?

Yes, indeed. People here tell me to go back only after I have healed fully. But I feel that I will be fine as soon as I return to nature.

These injuries and wounds won’t scare me or stop me from going back to Chhattisgarh. I do wish at times that I would get scared, honestly! When they attacked me and poured that black burning liquid onto me; when I was taken from Raipur to Delhi with my face burning with pain; when I was in the Delhi hospital ICU without meeting anyone for days and not knowing if my face will be the same again; all those times I would wonder why I didn’t feel scared. I know that I will not be able to fight, the moment I feel scared. I don’t feel scared at all, nor is there any fear within me.

Last year on 31st March, on Shaheed Diwas, on Bhagat Singh’s death anniversary, we carried out a march in our place which saw huge participation of people who have been part of the struggle. There is this feeling that we are also revolutionary fighters like Bhagat Singh. We remember all our sisters and brothers who are in prisons like Bhagat Singh was. This time, I was leading the march, but it was stopped midway. But we declared that the march will go on. I told the police that if we have taken up the fight, if we want to do the rally in the name of Bhagat Singh, if we have to raise the issues faced by our brothers and sisters in the jail, if we have to give our memorandum to the Collector, whatever means they adopt to stifle our voices, we will ensure that our message reaches outside and beyond Bastar.

I called up some people, a few from my party as well, and we marched for around seven kilometres. Again, in the middle of the streets, the police tried to stop us. We ignored them and marched to the Collector’s office and submitted our memorandum. There is a police officer who tells me whenever I meet him that he (I won’t tell his name) salutes us for the courage and conviction that we displayed that day. He asked me how I was not scared to march in spite of the huge crackdown. I told him that it is a fight for a large section of people, for all those who are in jails or have been in jail. The media covered this march extensively. So, whether the fight is a lonely one or with hundreds alongside, if it is a fight fought strategically with revolutionary ideals, it can never be lost.

I am not saying that I was born fearless. I was a normal woman with all the fears and shame that society and family trains us to have. It is life in jail that

21 made me shed all that. The violence, the pain, the tears, the violations, the stories that I heard, saw and felt there made me shed myfear and shame!

If you lose your fear once, it will never come back. As far as bodily pain is concerned, it has a threshold. My body has endured electric shock, lathis, stones, blades, toilet water, undressing in front of people - all these have all been a part of my life in jail. How can anything hurt me again? How can they scare me again? Look at the skin that has peeled off from my face, look at the puss that has formed on it, and look at how it becomes blue when I apply medicine. I will go back to my land as soon as I am discharged and continue my work.

Today they are just scarring faces, but they have done much worse in jails to both our bodies and minds. Now, the only thing left is my voice. I don’t know what they will do to my voice. But I won’t be silent.

How does your family view your political and social activity? As a woman, wife and mother how have you negotiated your role with them?

My family has suffered a lot as a result of my activities. My mother died with a broken heart after hearing about the kind of abuse and torture I faced in jail. When I was in jail, my three children grew up in three different places. I still get phone calls saying that they will be attacked and killed. My father was attacked and killed by Maoists. Sometimes my children ask me if I could stop my work. I also think at times, what if I stop and just try and live a life, without interfering in any issues. But I can’t!

You know… after the attack, my daughter called and told me that I shouldn’t be scared for them, because they aren’t scared themselves. Being a mother, my children’s safety could make me worried. Honestly, when I was in the ICU and had time to think, I was thinking of my daughter and how I would feel if she is attacked and violated. That thought worried and hurt me. I was hoping that I would feel scared and that would make me leave the struggle. But it didn’t. I have never felt scared. I don’t dream of a happy life nor am I scared of death and pain. My children say that they have given their mother up for the people. Sometimes they don’t even call me if I leave home for work. I ask them why they don’t call; they reply that their mother is hardly theirs once she is out of the house. Once she is working, she belongs to the people. 22 Does talking about the same issues, about Bastar, make you tired?

You have seen how iron is heated up and beaten repeatedly to make it into a good sharp knife or sickle, haven’t you? I see myself as that iron rod. I have been enduring that heat and beating and now I am used to it. Interestingly, I got prepared in the jail itself. The jail staff used to mock my struggles in the prison and challenge me, saying that they wanted to see how I continued the struggle in the outside world. But I would tell them that they have prepared me to do that. I keep thinking that I could be brutally raped again; I wonder if I will be able to endure that. But I tell myself that I would have to tolerate that. Then I think that I could be gunned down by several bullets; how would it be dying with those bullets piercing through your head, suffering through that pounding pain. What if they chop off my legs or some other part of my body? Will I be able to endure that? But I know that I need to endure all that. All these are possibilities because they are clearly angry and want to stop me from making public the atrocities perpetrated by the State and the police.

One is not sure if one can dream in a place like Bastar, where people are constantly living in fear. But if you do, what are your dreams about Bastar?

When I was a teacher, my world was only my children, my husband, my job, and my house. I was living like a middle class woman who wanted to get good clothes and ornaments, or wished for a bigger car. I was leading a happy life. But after I was jailed, my dreams of such a life completely changed. That life is so far away now. Also, now I feel that those dreams and thoughts were inconsequential. I feel that my life now is more real and my dreams now are much clearer. My biggest dream, which may sound selfish, is to save Bastar, save the humanity in Bastar. I want to see happy, smiling faces in my land. I dream of a tomorrow when my people get justice. I don’t know if I will be able to do it or even see it happen, but that is my dream.

I want to bring women stronger than Soni Sori from Bastar to the forefront. That is my mission. I would like to bring forward those faces for the world to see, and show that they are stronger and more courageous than I am.

I am not a leader. I am an Adivasi woman and the strength of the Adivasi women should be seen by the world.

23 How many can the government kill? If they kill one Soni Sori, it will create more and more similar women leaders. And I will feel happy when that happens. And I, along with those women, will keep talking to whoever asks us about the State and police atrocities—be it students, activists, journalists or even a curious citizen. We won’t let these tales end with us; we want them to be reminders of what shouldn’t happen in a country like ours.

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