Harvest of Hate

But while the programme began rather smoothly, as the government speeded it up and more than 2.38 lakh hectares were distributed among 2.87 lakh people, it ran into trouble. On August 5, the high court quashed the allotment programme and, over the next week, till the government obtained a stay, in village after village, cattle were deliberately herded out to graze on the first crop sown by the beneficiaries. The worst affected was Rajgarh district, Digvijay’s own political homeground, where his brother Laxman Singh is the MP.

In some places, the upper castes clashed with Dalits, in others with the police. Just in that one week, over 500 people were booked for offences against Dalits in Rajgarh. The worst case was reported from Latahedi. Bapu Lal’s narrative of what happened is straightforward:

‘‘Twenty-nine pattas of land, over 80 bighas in all, were handed out in the village. Many of us sowed our own crop for the first time. They didn’t want that, this was land where their cattle used to graze. They said access to the shamshan had been cut off, their traditional village paths lost …none of this was true.’’

One night soon after the court decision, Bapu Lal recalls, ‘‘a meeting was held in the village — the local MLA reportedly attended — where they decided to herd their cattle to our fields. This had already happened in several villages, so in the morning, we went to file a report at the thana and only the women went out to the fields… More than 150 armed men came herding the cattle. They started beating up the women, who fled, and then pulled out Ghisa Lal from his house and beat him to death. Fourteen of us were badly injured, some of the women still have their arms in plaster.’’

The police booked 32 men from the village for the murder of Ghisa Lal. But there was a surprise: a few of them were Dalits. According to the villagers, these men had questioned the allotment of pattas and so had been named in the FIR. They say the process of allotment is flawed, that many who benefited already had a substantial amount of land and bribed the patwari to get more. Makhan Singh, a Yadav, says: ‘‘No more than a handful fulfilled the criteria for allotment of land…Why should we be deprived of our grazing lands because of this?’’

In Latahedi, it was clear by July that the allotment wasn’t going well. After eight Dalits complained about the beneficiaries, villagers say the SDM announced on July 11 that 12 of the 29 pattas were being cancelled and the patwari suspended. Ghisa Lal’s name topped the list of men whose patta was to be cancelled. According to the complainants, he and his brothers had been allotted pattas twice over. They also alleged that the patwari was demanding between Rs 3,000 and Rs 10,000. A few of the eight signatories were later booked for the murder of Ghisa Lal.

While caste tensions are a harsh reality, what is also clear is that much of the violence has occurred in villages where the process of handing out pattas faces similar allegations. After Latahedi, the worst affected was Seelapani, where villagers clashed with the police, and 150 people were booked. A Dalit from this village, Biram Singh, committed suicide on July 23 reportedly after the patwari demanded Rs 5,000 above the Rs 2,800 he had already taken for allotting a patta. The patwari was arrested, but by then the distribution of land in the village was over.

Today the situation in Seelapani is the same as in Latahedi, and the Dalits are ostracised. The collector, however, says: ‘‘There were complaints, but the patwari was absolved. In fact, he had been complaining of threats from the sarpanch. Even in Seelapani, no complaint was received before the suicide. And it’s a fact that cattle were sent out to graze the crops of the patta holders even when there were no complaints against the process. Even now I have received complaints only from 70 of the 1,664 villages in the district.’’

The government is now considering a samuhik zurmana (community fine) on non-Dalits in four villages, including Latahedi, to compensate the patta holders for loss of their crops.

While it is meant to deter other villages contemplating similar action, it is unclear how it will bridge the gap between communities essentially split along caste lines. Also, despite the fact that the high court has stayed fresh allotments till it gives a final verdict, the violence continues unabated.

The latest incident came just a few days ago. Gajua from Khushipura village had received a one-hectare plot under the programme. On October 1, three men who occupied the land earlier attacked Gjau, beat him up with lathis, and cut off his thumb.