Ajit Munda (name changed) of Bhandra village in the tribal-dominated Khunti district of Jharkhand, reveals barely any emotion at the prospect of voting for the first time in his life. The 19-year-old is not esure if he can even get to the polling booth on May 6.
A huge green-painted stone plaque, known locally as Pathalgadi, sits at the entrance to Bhandra, about 6 km from the district headquarters. The plaque features excerpts from the Panchayats (Extension to Scheduled Areas) Act, 1996, or PESA, and is considered by the tribal people as an assertion of their rights.
Fear rules
In Khunti district, considered the ground zero of the Pathalgadi movement that lays emphasis on self-rule through gram sabhas, there is little enthusiasm among people for the Lok Sabha election. Rather, an atmosphere of fear looms in the interiors.
A vociferous campaign of tribal assertion, which since 2017 had held that no project or programme could be implemented without the consent of the gram sabha, the Pathalgadi movement has been rendered silent by a crackdown by the Jharkhand police. The movement had at one point spread to four districts of the State.
“The decision to vote, or not to vote, would be taken by village committees, which will meet a few days before the election date,” Mr. Munda says. “If we make any statement about Pathalgadi, the police will surely come searching for us.”
Activists rue the administration’s repeated attempts to threaten villagers.
“There are 29 FIRs registered in five different police stations,” says Prafulla Linda, general secretary of the Adivasi Adhikar Manch. “In those FIRs, 109 persons have been named and there is mention of 15,000 anonymous villagers. All of them are facing grievous charges such as sedition. The police have kept those cases in the investigation stage so that villagers could be randomly picked up,” he says.
“The objective of free and fair elections is defeated if villagers are continually intimidated,” Mr. Linda says.
The Khunti constituency is witnessing a straight fight between former Chief Minister and BJP candidate Arjun Munda and Congress nominee Kalicharan Munda.
