Doanti (name changed), aged around 16, has
been making desperate calls to her cousin sister Kalawati (not the one who shot
to fame after Congress heir apparent Rahul Gandhi made a surprise visit to her
house in Maharashtra about a decade ago).
The tribal girl, who so far was proud of
her independent life in her sleepy village tucked away in dense forests of
Chotanagpur Plateau, just wants to run away from the place now. Not that Doanti
is in love with a boy with whom her parents would not allow a nuptial tie or
she is being forced to earn a living as a condition to continue in their house.
The red terror, locally dreaded as “party”, has forced her to look for avenues away
from home to lead a decent life.
“The situation was not that bad till a few
months ago as the area commanders would only seek volunteers to join their
outlawed outfit, asking each household to part with one young family member or
would even spare them after having getting little contributions in cash, food
or shelter. But the villagers aren’t given a choice these days,” says Mayanti,
who also hails from Jharkhand and works as a domestic help in Gurgaon, after the
telephonic conversation of her friend Kalawati with the latter’s cousin.
Probably Maoism is not a movement anymore,
as it happened to be when it was still recognised as Naxalism, which fought for
social equality, not through democratic means but with guns.
Though Prakash Jha’s Chakravyuh painted
Maoists as ideologists, who even compelled Kabir (Abhay Deol) – planted by
Nandighat SP Adil Khan (Arjun Rampal) as an informer – convert into Azad for locals’
cause to resist government-sponsored land grabbing leading to mass displacement,
the reality seems to be far from the movie. Doanti, a resident of Jharkhand’s Latehar
district, requested Kalawati find her a job of domestic help as she wants to
run away from her village (name withheld) fearing she might be forced to become
a Maoist cadre.
Doanti, who happens to be the daughter of
Kalawati’s stepfather’s elder brother and dropped out of school after spending
early years in state capital Ranchi, hopes to be rescued by her cousin.
Many other girls her age, who were saved
from the tentacles of child traffickers so far, now want to be employed as
domestic helps or labourers in brick kiln from this tribal-dominated state out
of the Maoists’ fear.
The creation of Jharkhand has certainly not
helped these people of remote area which have been under the influence of red
terror. Things have rather aggravated. It would be an irony if the Narendra
Modi government, which came to the power after a thumping victory on the
promise of security and respectable life to women and girls, doesn’t take note
of the disturbing trend in Jharkhand and other similar tribal-dominated states.
