Tetes murder triggers tribal resentment

Maoists harming our interests: sentiment in Jharkhand

A day after three Bihar policemen walked free from Maoist captivity,a mood of sadness and sullen anger hung over the tribal belts of Jharkhand.

Of the four men they took hostage,the Maoists killed one Lucas Tete,an adivasi from Simdega in Jharkhand. Tete was also the only tribal among the hostages the very people for whom the Maoists and their sympathisers claim to be fighting their bloody battle.

In Simdega,where Tete was buried on Saturday,schoolteacher Sunil Ekka led his students in a demonstration outside the state government-run Utkramit Vidyalaya. We have been suffering the fallout of Maoist activity silently for long, he said. Now we have to follow the policy of an eye for an eye.

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Not far,next to a paddy field,a group of boys were playing,shooting arrows in the air from toy bows. The next time I see them,I will shoot arrows at their heads, said one of the boys.

Shoot at whom? The boys gave no answer,but Naresh Hembrom,sitting crosslegged on a charpoy outside his home,did.

Chidambaram recognizes our plight, he said. That is why he has begun Operation Green Hunt. We are with him. He wouldnt say more than that; and most other tribals in Simdega wouldnt either.

In the town of Khunti,a group of tribals organised under the banner of Adivasi Saran Samiti burnt an effigy of the ugrawadis. Ugrawadi nahin,rakshas hain, read the banner they were carrying. It was from Hembrom Bazaar in Khunti district that Maoists took away tribal policeman Francis Induwar last September,and returned his headless body a week later.

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In neigbouring Gumla,over 50 youths from the Young Mens Christian Association held a meeting to condemn Tetes murder in Lakhisarai. His (Tetes) supreme sacrifice will not go in vain. We will celebrate the day we get rid of the extremists,said John Ekka,local secretary of YMCA.

They profess to be pro-tribal,and say they raise the issues of land alienation,exploitation and deforestation. But in practice,they are our enemies, John Ekka said.

The politicians of Jharkhand have caught on to this popular mood.

We have always said that the Maoists cannot help the adivasi agenda. They believe in violence,and the adivasis have always had faith in democracy. Now the rest of the world too must take note, said Ram Dayal Munda,Rajya Sabha MP from the Congress.

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Jharkhand Vikas Morcha president and MP Babulal Marandi,whose son Anup was gunned down by Maoists in 2007,was blunt: Let there be no confusion. The Maoists are anti-democracy and anti-people.They must be dealt with firmly.

Even JMM president Shibu Soren,who always been soft on the Maoists,said,We condemn the killing of Tete. We appeal to the Maoists to stop the violence and join the mainstream.

In a statement,Jharkhand DGP Neyaz Ahmad asked rhetorically why the Maoists had suddenly lost their love for the tribals. Simdega SP Anoop Birtharay,who offered a guard of honour to Tete,said,The anti-tribal face of the Maoists is too glaring to be overlooked now.

The divide between tribals and non-tribals is reported to have hit even Maoist ranks. A tribal faction led by its zonal commander Bimal Murmu is learnt to have rebelled against Arvind Yadav,the Naxal leader allegedly responsible for Tetes murder.