The CPI(ML) Sangharsh Yatra from Ulihatu to Ranchi culminated in a Sangharsh Sabha in front of the Raj Bhavan on 8 February 2017. Thousands of people including adivasis, Sadans (non-adivasi original Jharkhandis), and urban poor participated in the yatra, to protest against the amendments to the CNT-SPT Act and to demand ownership rights to gair-majurwa and forest lands. A 7-point charter of demands with 50,000 signatures was submitted to the Governor.
The meeting began with tributes and a 2-minute silence for late Comrade Srilata Swaminathan and the martyrs of the Bundu, Gola and Badkagaon police firings. The meeting was addressed by former Bagodar MLA Vinod Singh and other leaders. The speakers said that the BJP government in the state has perpetrated the most number of attacks on adivasis and their land – Tapkara, Koyalkara, Khunti, and Bokaro incidents being some examples. The CNT-SPT Act had come into being after long struggles such as the Santhal agitation and the Birsa Ulgulan, and protesters asserted that they would not allow the Raghuvar government to snatch away the lands, water and forests of Jharkhand and subsequently hand these over to corporate houses. The government’s ‘Global Investment Summit’ is a fresh chapter in the series of land loot, the speakers pointed out. The displaced receive police batons instead of employment and compensation. The issues of workers and farmers are absent from Raghuvar-Modi’s “achhe din”. MNREGA wages are far from the state’s minimum wages. The domicile policy of the state government is a cruel joke on unemployed locals. Scams are rife in recruitment and appointments. The Union budget proposes to give tax benefits to big companies. Those who died due to demonetization must be compensated before toll tax companies are given compensation. The government’s policies are anti-poor, as is evident from the increase in holding tax, LPG cylinder prices, electricity, water and other services. The government is snatching away peoples’ ownership rights by denying receipts to “dakhalkars” of gair-majurwa lands and forest lands.
The speakers said that if the Raghuvar government does not take back its anti-people policies and stop working in the interests of corporate companies, the people of Jharkhand would throw them out of power in Jharkhand.
