Naxalite Threat

When Hanuman Prasad Tiwari (HPT), Additional Superintendent of Police, North Bastar barged into his office one afternoon in April, 1985, the Additional Collector and Additional District Magistrate (ADM) feared the worst, and braced himself for bad news - maybe a mobile police party had been abducted or even killed by the Naxals somewhere in the remote area.

Mukhbirs (informants) of police reported periodic movement in remote forest villages of Naxalites who travelled on foot after nightfall and avoided confrontation unless chased or cornered by armed police parties. For these nocturnal visitors, the tribal people had a name in Gondi which in Hindi meant raat wale log. A few months ago, HPT had led an encounter in which Ganapati, a senior Dalam leader had been killed.

‘SP Saheb, sab khairiyat toh hai?’ he asked. ‘Aap kafi pareshan nazar aa rahe hain.’

HPT liked to be addressed as SP Saheb. This was his last posting, he would retire in a few months and seemed to regret that he had not been made SP of a district, but derived some satisfaction from being the de facto SP of North Bastar, a vast area including Kanker, Kondagaon, Narayanpur, Pakhanjur, and Bhanupratappur.

He was not very tall, but stocky and well-built. A little paunch notwithstanding, he was a strong, muscular man. A nose-to-the-ground, hardworking police officer, he had moved up the ranks from his first appointment as Assistant Sub Inspector, a Class III position.

‘DM Saheb, I was selected under the Sports Quota,’ he had once mentioned with justified pride, ‘I was a State-level hockey player, a pehelwan with several wrestling trophies, and an excellent football player.' The young officer was not yet District Magistrate; but ADM, Kanker in charge of North Bastar!

He thrust a thin, yellow piece of paper, a little bigger than a postcard, on the table and said, ‘Yeh toh zyadati hai.’

ADM picked up the paper - a pamphlet in an unfamiliar script.

‘What is this, SP Sa’ab,’ he asked?

HPT was leading step-by-step to the terrible news he wished to share with his young colleague. He now placed before him a type-written sheet. ‘That pamphlet is in Gondi. This is the Hindi translation.’

ADM read it – a brief, unambiguous message with a dire warning.

तेंदूपत्ता का संग्रह दो हफ्तों में शुरू होगा। सरकार द्वारा निर्धारित न्यूनतम खरीद दर तीन रुपये प्रति 1000 पत्तियों के लिए है। अगर कोई संग्राहक ठेकेदार को न्यूनतम दर से कम कीमत पर पत्ती बेचता है, तो उसका हाथ काट दिया जाएगा। 

न्यूनतम दर से कम भुगतान करने वाले  ठेकेदार या उसके मुनीम का हाथ भी काट दिया जाएगा ।।

The threat was possibly for chopping off the palm, not the whole hand, mused the ADM; but he kept his thought to himself.

As expected, the pamphlet did not carry the name of the issuer of the notice, publisher, printer, or distributor.

ADM knew the answer, yet asked, ‘SP Sa’ab, who has circulated these pamphlets?’

‘Who else but the Naxals?

‘Have the miscreants been nabbed?’

‘The pamphlets had been pasted at dead of the night on the fencing wall of Durgu Kondal High School. No one saw who did that. Thana has registered an FIR against unknown persons for threatening physical violence against the adivasis and the patta buyers and attempting to disturb public order and peace.’

‘Why did they print the pamphlet in Gondi? Very few tribals are literate, and Gondi script is known only to a few.’

‘How could they print this in Hindi? The publisher would read the matter and alert the police.’

‘Why on the fencing wall of the High School?’

‘The boys in the school would read it, and they would relay the message to their families and villages. A smart way to quickly disseminate the message!’

‘SP Sa’ab, what do you think we should do?’

‘I have already sent wireless message to SP Saheb at Jagdalpur with copy to DIG Saheb. All Thana Prabharis in North Bastar have been put on high alert.’

HPT had long experience of thirty-seven years in police service; ADM was a green-horn and only in the fourth year of his service; and the kindly veteran considered it his duty to mentor and train the young officer on management of law and order.

‘You may please urgently send the following wireless message to DM Saheb and Commissioner Saheb.’

HPT had already mentally drafted the message that required to be sent!

"नक्सलियों ने उपद्रव करने के धमकी दी है, परंतु चिंता की कोई बात नहीं। पुलिस प्रशासन चौकस है। सख्त निगरानी रखी जा रही है। स्थिति संवेदनशील पर नियंत्रणाधीन है।

डीएफओ को भी हिदायत दें कि उनके मैदानी अमलों को चौकन्ने रहने हेतु दिशा-निर्देश जारी कर आपको और मुझे भी आदेश की प्रति दें।"

HPT was from Jabalpur, also known as sanskardhani, the cultural capital of Madhya Pradesh; he spoke excellent Hindi and was proud of it. In MP, all official correspondence was in Hindi.

ADM assured HPT that swift action as suggested by him would be taken, and necessary wireless messages would be dispatched right away to all concerned on Top Priority.

HPT had calmed down after their conversation, and a cup of tea with a few cookies.

As he rose to leave, ADM asked, ‘By the way, SP Sa’ab, do you know of the minimum rate fixed by the government for purchase of tendu patta this year?’ ADM didn’t expect him to know, and he didn’t.

"यह तो वन विभाग का काम है, डीएम साहब; इससे पुलिस का क्या लेना देना?"

‘The rate mentioned in the yellow pamphlet is three rupees for a gaddi (bundle) of 1000 leaves. That, in fact, is the minimum rate fixed by the government for which the circular was received last week. The government has directed the Collectors, SPs, Conservators & DFOs of all tendu-patta buying districts to strictly ensure that thekedars pay no less than the minimum rate fixed by the government. District administration has been instructed to give wide publicity to the minimum rate by beat of drums in the weekly haat-bazars. Strict action is to be taken against thekedars and munims if found paying less than the minimum rates.

Thus, the Naxals are doing what I and you are required to do under orders of the government – to ensure payment of minimum rates and prevent exploitation of tribal tendu-patta gatherers by unscrupulous traders.

Except that we are not authorised to chop off anyone’s hand!’

Thankfully, no hand or palm was severed in North Bastar or South Bastar during that tendu patta season. HPT retired a few months later without any blemish in his impeccable service record. The minimum rates were paid. 

It was a story with a happy ending. Maybe, the yellow pamphlet in Gondi had a lot to do with that!

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Note:

Leaf of the Tendu tree (Diospyros melanoxylon) is the most suitable wrapper for beedi. The wide-scale use of tendu leaf in beedi industry is owing to its voluminous production, agreeable flavour, flexibility, resistance to decay and capacity to retain fires (when the beedi is lighted).

The beedi industry is valued at 15000 crores, and provides part-time employment to  about five million people. Tendu patta collection provides gainful employment to millions of rural workers, most of them adivasis, for the six-week long season usually beginning in the second fortnight of April.

Bhanupratappur Forest Division in North Bastar produced the best quality tendu-patta in undivided MP.

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