Twenty-two years after they were banished from their home village, Balichhai, in Odisha’s Ganjam district, 40-year-old Laxmi Naik, finds it difficult to forget her late husband, Jagabandhu Naik’s regret. Driven out by upper caste neighbours, he died without ever being able to go back home. Today, their four children have no idea of what their ancestral village even looks like.
The Naiks are not alone in their banishment. In February 2020, there was a small altercation at a grocery shop in Balichhai. Frequent quarrels between the Dalits and the upper caste people have been a regular feature. “For the next couple of months, we had confined ourselves to our houses. On August 12, we were attacked and our houses ransacked, leaving no option for us but to flee,” said Ms Naik, whose family sought shelter at her mother’s house, about 70 km away.
The hopes of returning to native land after two decades for Naiks were rekindled when a group of dalit families accompanied by social activists mustered courage and sought intervention of Satyabrata Bhoi, Inspector General of Police (southern range) on Wednesday.
Ganapati Naik, another Dalit villager who refused to disclose his location fearing backlash even after two decades, said, “We have taken the help of the police, district administration, National Human Rights Commission, and Orissa High Court.
The district administration mediated, reconciliation meetings were held and a police outpost was established in the village. All efforts, however, proved meaningless in front of obstinate upper caste families.” Up to 300 upper caste families had decided they didn’t want Dalits in the village.
But, Bhagaban Gouda of Balichhai, has a contrarian view. “There has been absolute peace in our village for the past 22 years. We are not against the return of the Dalits. But, they must withdraw the cases registered against us under the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989. They should be settled at least 1 kilometer away from the village. They should be asked to pay all legal expenses incurred by us,” he said. Mr. Gouda was sentenced to undergo six years of imprisonment and has challenged the lower court verdict in the High Court.
In the meantime, a generation has grown up outside their village. The date palms they once tapped for neera have grown dense, and Mr. Ganapati claims that about 40 acres of agricultural land belonging to Dalit families have turned into grasslands. These Dalit families are now scattered in different districts of Odisha and outside.
“Despite a number of reconciliation meetings, the upper caste families had not allowed Dalits to resettle in their own land. A meeting was held in district collector’s conference room on November 26, 2008. Subsequently, Ganjam district collector and Superintendent of Police mediated for return of ousted families in 2013. All efforts proved futile,” said Bhalachandra Shadangi, a social activist who accompanied these families.
Mr. Shadangi said, “In independent India where established governments run administration, it is perhaps rare occasion when families were forced to remain outside their village for more than two decades.”
Mr. Bhoi, IG of Police, assured the dalit families of all helps. “Families have every right to return to their own village. Our society is governed by law. We will deploy armed police at Balichhai till Dalit families return to their homes and start living without fear,” he said.
