ADIVASI farmers organized an effective and spirited rally on 4 February 2019 at Dharampur Taluka in Valsad District (Gujarat).
Two decades of BJP rule in Gujarat and 5 years of Modi rule at the Centre have rendered the people of Gujarat, especially the adivasi population, destitute. Instead of giving adivasis the right to forest lands which they have traditionally cultivated as per the Forest Rights Act 2005, the government is forcibly evicting adivasi families from their lands. The CPI(ML) has been leading struggles over the past decade in Valsad District to reinstate adivasi families on their lands. In this series of struggles, this rally was the Party’s first protest in Dharampur Taluka, and the first program under the red flag in the history of Dharampur.
The rally resounded with slogans such as ‘Oust Modi, Save the Country!’, ‘Stop Oppression of Adivasis!’, ‘Give Adivasis Land as per the Forest Rights Act!’, ‘Return to Adivasis Land Grabbed Forcibly by Government or Land Mafia!’, ‘Stop the False Claim of 100% Swachhta Abhiyan, Build Proper Toilets for 50% Adivasi Families Deprived of Toilet and Bathroom Facilities!’. The protesters submitted a memorandum with their demands to the Taluk Head Office.
