The life and death of Dansai Kovachi

January 02, 2011 10:36 pm | Updated November 28, 2021 09:10 pm IST - KANKER (CHHATTISGARH):

On a muggy evening in October this year, three men walked Dansai Kovachi down the path from his home in Karaki village and shot him twice in the head.

A note recovered from his breast pocket stated that Kovachi had been executed by the Manpur division of the Communist Party of India (Maoist), an underground party engaged in a prolonged guerrilla war with the Indian state.

Kovachi, a farmer in his mid-sixties, was one of 143 civilians killed in Maoist-related violence in Chhattisgarh this year, as per government statistics. His execution received wide coverage in the local press, which interpreted Kovachi's death as Maoist punishment for allowing, in 2007, both his daughters to join the police force.

But the story of Kovachi's life and violent death transcends the decisive boundaries between police informants and Maoist sympathisers and illustrates a daily politics of negotiation in territories claimed by both, policeman and rebel.

Karaki is a swollen stream and four hours away from the administrative headquarters of Kanker district. To buy supplies, villagers cross the stream on slender kayaks made of hollowed out tree-trunks, before clambering into taxis waiting at the road head.

Dansai Kovachi was Karaki's largest and most influential farmer with about 65 acres of land to his name. He presided as village headman for over 25 years before losing this year to a younger rival, and was considered close to the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party.

"He just wasn't educated," his eldest son Narayan Kovachi said, "or he might have become a Minister."

Dansai Kovachi's five children studied outside the village in trader settlements such as Bhanupratapur. And while two of his three sons became school teachers, his daughters Uma (27) and Nirmala (20) joined the police.

It is unclear why the sisters chose to join the police force. The constables declined to speak with this correspondent, fearing further Maoist reprisals against their family.

Family members speculated that the girls were drawn to the freedom and independence offered by a permanent government job in a town away from their village.

At the time, the Maoists frequented Karaki, held meetings with the villagers and asked each household to contribute one meal for one person to feed their cadres. When the Maoists learnt that the girls had joined the police, they assembled in the village and called for a hearing.

'In May 2007, the Maoists called me for a meeting in the village and told me to ask the girls to return,' Narayan said. 'But my sisters refused, saying they would never return to the village and would marry and settle down elsewhere in the State.'

Narayan said the Maoists agreed to spare the lives of the family members but decreed that he, his younger brother Nirbhay and the two girls renounce their claim to the family land and never return to the village. Narayan has never visited Karaki since and lives with his wife in Bhanupratapur.

Once the siblings left Karaki, villagers said the Maoists demanded that the Kovachi family only plough 35 of their 65 acres and leave the remaining land fallow. The Kovachis said that they were socially ostracised, and villagers were forbidden from helping them plough their fields.

In a telephone conversation, Maoist spokesperson Gudsa Usendi admitted that 'in certain cases, police informants were exiled from their villages and warned not to return as they [informers] were a threat to Maoist cadres.'

'We do not allow them to till their fields as we have had cases of absentee landlords working for the police and returning only to collect their harvest,' Usendi said.

In 2007, the Kovachis only ploughed 10 of their 65 acres. In subsequent years, Dansai and his third son Narendra cultivated 35 acres, planting rice and small patches of vegetables.

In late 2009, the Central government pledged additional battalions of paramilitary forces to help Chhattisgarh's police force in their battle against the CPI (Maoist). Seven additional battalions of soldiers were moved into the Bastar area, which includes Kanker.

In early 2010, one company (about 100 men) of the Border Security Force (BSF) was deployed in Kodai Kursa, five km from Karaki.

'With the deployment of the BSF, we were able to reduce Maoist activity in the area,' said Ajay Yadav, Kanker's Superintendent of Police.

Bitter harvest

As the BSF broadened its footprint in the area, Dansai Kovachi asked his sons to return. 'He said we could come home and help out in the fields,' said Sangeeta Kovachi, Dansai's daughter-in-law. 'The crops were suffering and we were unable to pay off a loan on a tractor.'

Just before the monsoons this year, the Kovachi clan made the fateful decision to plant an additional six acres of maize.

'We felt the security situation had improved and it was safe to start farming again,' Narayan said. On October 25, three men dressed in black military fatigues showed up outside the Kovachi house and shot Dansai.

The note recovered from his body, accessed by this correspondent, stated that Dansai had been killed for violating the Maoist diktat by tilling his fields beyond the allotted 35 acres. 'No one can till the land,' read the note, 'nor can it be leased out for farming.'

Maoist spokesperson Usendi has questioned the authenticity of the note. While he said he was familiar with the case of Dansai Kovachi and had even met him in the past, he said the Maoist leadership was investigating the circumstances behind the killing.

Mr. Yadav, SP, believes that Dansai was killed to spread fear and re-assert Maoist control over an area reclaimed by the BSF.

As the monsoons give way to winter, the Kovachi family prepares to gather this year's bitter harvest.

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