Thirty years ago, in an act I still feel guilty about, I woke up a very great Indian from his sleep. I was volunteering at a conference in New Delhi, and had been asked to fetch the Member of Parliament from Dhanbad, AK Roy, from his quarters in Vithalbhai Patel House. Roy, a labour leader legendary for his integrity and his wide range of reading, had been elected from the...

Last month, a group calling itself the “Maa Danteshwari Swabhimani Adivasi Manch” circulated a pamphlet in Dantewada district, threatening to kill anyone perceived to be a supporter of the banned Communist Party of India (Maoist). The pamphlet accused Dantewada's oldest journalist N.R.K. Pillai, Anil Mishra, Chhattisgarh Correspondent for Tehelka, and Yashwant Yadav, District Secretary of the Chhattisgarh Working Journalists' Union, of working for the Maoists and threatened them with dire circumstances. The...

Manish Kunjam , a former MLA and president of All India Adivasi Mahasabha, the tribal front of the CPI, is the only politician in Bastar who continues to organise Adivasis peacefully for their constitutional rights. Jyoti Punwani spoke to Kunjam about doing politics while facing police repression and Naxal violence: After a long gap, Chhattisgarh recently witnessed two massiveAdivasirallies.What were your demands? The Chhattisgarh government is running under the writ...

Many poverty-hit tribals in Chhattisgarh are asking why they shouldn't become Maoists and take up arms, pointing to the latest incident in which two civilians were branded rebels and shot dead by police. The traumatised residents of the Koleng area of Bastar district are at a loss over the killings of their co-villagers by police early this week and say the two had simply gone to collect rations for others from...

A senior officer in Chhattisgarh Police admitted Tuesday that two tribal men killed on suspicion of being Maoists were most probably innocent civilians.A day after policemen got a pat for supposedly displaying heroism, a preliminary inquiry has showed that the deceased were local civilians, probably killed in cross-firing.The incident took place early Monday on the outskirts of Jagdalpur town, headquarters of the restive Bastar region.Preliminary investigation indicates that Mahru, 40,...