Sonbhadra, UP: Brutal Murder of Adivasi Gorakh Gond
THE Yogi government in Uttar Pradesh continues to protect the mining mafia, who in cahoots with the administration, are killing adivasis in Sonbhadra in order to loot natural resources without obstruction. A CPIML fact-finding team visited Sonbhadra on 14 June 2020 to enquire into the brutal killing of a adivasi person Gorakh Gond. After a visit in Pipardih village in Sonbhadra where the killing was perpetrated on 12 June, and meeting with the family members of the deceased CPIML State Secretary Sudhakar Yadav said that the killers were still roaming free even after three days of the incident. The administration remains passive. Sonbhadra is fast becoming a place noted for the killing of adivasis. Just last month, adivasi Ramsundar Gond was killed in Pakdi village. He pointed out that attacks on dalits and adivasis have escalated in the Yogi regime. Dominant, criminal forces and mafia are very confident of themselves because they have the protection of the ruling powers.
The fact-finding team spoke to the deceased Gorakh Gond’s father Madan Singh, younger brother Kunwar Singh and to the villagers present on the occasion. They told the team that the sand mining mafia has been active for a long period of time in Pipardih. This mafia is forcibly digging Gram Sabha lands as well as lands for which the villagers have papers. The villagers have informed the administration about this loot and illegal mining, but no action was taken against the mafia because of their nexus with the administration. The villagers have been consistently protesting against the illegal digging of sand at night, and Gorakh Gond was leading the voices of protest. Therefore the mafia was gunning for him and he was killed in order to keep the villagers terrorized.
Sudhakar Yadav further said that land and mining mafia are capturing adivasi and government lands by tampering with government records and papers. The Gram Pradhan is also implicated in this. If the adivasis protest, they are attacked. It appears that the administration has not learnt any lesson from the ill-famed incident of the Umbha adivasi killing which took place in the same District.
The CPIML demands a judicial enquiry into the killing of Gorakh Gond, compensation for his family, immediate arrest of the perpetrators, a probe into the role of the gram Pradhan in the entire incident, a government job for one family member of the deceased victim, and an end to illegal mining.
The mining mafia is active in other districts too with the complicity of the administration which is glaringly evident in the recent arrest of a CPIML leader in Lakhimpur Kheri.
CPIML Leader Jailed for Speaking against Mining Mafia
CPIML leader Kamlesh Rai was arrested at Lakhimpur Kheri for speaking out against the mining mafia in that district. The allegation against him is that he violated Lockdown rules, but ironically the police violated all Lockdown rules during the arrest.
Kamlesh Rai and other activists were arrested while they went to give a memorandum to the SDM against the illegal sand mining going on, following all Lockdown rules including physical distancing. Even women who were accompanying in the delegation were made to sit for 5 hours without masks and without physical distancing. They were released only after public pressure forced the administration to do so. The CPIML demands immediate release of Kamlesh Rai and other activists slapped with false cases and arrested baselessly.
Speaking on the arrest of CPIML leader Kamlesh Rai, his wife and AIPWA State Vice President Arati Rai said that she would not be sad even though the government is throwing into jail those who raise their voice for people’s rights. She said that voices for people’s rights will be raised from prisons also, and these voices will transcend prison walls and cage bars. Voices of protest will continue to be raised from inside as well as outside jails.
The Yogi government is protecting the mining mafia and harassing activists and women under the guise of Corona and Lockdown.
