Case Study 2 - A Night to Remember

The Assam riots of 1996 have bitter scars in the memories about the tens of thousands of lives displaced. There was somebody’s parents shot dead, somebody’s cattle shot, somebody’s family killed,  lands stolen, livestock stolen, houses burnt and so on. It is one deep hole in history where nobody wants to look back into. The acerbic nature of the incidents has been attributed either to selfish greed or wrath of dirty politics. It took the villagers 18 years to survive and recover from the drastic incident of the past.

SeSTA’s Executive traineeship program kick starts with a Village stay followed by a Village study for each candidate. Pratap Das was one such ET who was allocated Hulmagaon for Village stay for 12 days. “It was the first time I was living out of home and in a village. There was lots of NDFB tension in the area. Almost everyone questioned my presence. There was literally a curfew everyday after 6 pm. People used to get up at night every now and then with small noises.” Pratap said. He was staying with a woman associated with SeSTA SHG who took really good care of him. “There was one instance when I was walking home after 6pm with Draupadi who was CRP in that area. When I approached a shop in Subeza Bazaar which was surprisingly open at this time, she caught my hand and pushed me aside. Judging by her terrified eyes and such a reaction, I was certain the meeting in the shop were no safe.”

After the village stay, it was time for a month long village study which is also part of the Executive traineeship (ET) programme. It tests the executive’s blending with villagers, adjusting attitude and opens an immense scope for cross learning for ET and villagers. Pratap was allocated Gorsinghpara for his village study which was situated in the Chirang Reserve forest kand populated mainly with Santhal Aadivasis. This is a migrant community that was initially brought to Assam by the British for Tea estates. Naturally there were conflicts with the native Bodo people in that area. Some disputes were regarding natural resources like share and revenue from forest land while others remain rooted to political issues.

Gorsinghpara was under SeSTA intervention and much more isolated than any other village. “I felt secluded from civilization. Roads were minimum 3 kilometers away, there were no shops nearby and there were no toilets in any of the homes and the paths were completely destroyed in case of rains. I had to walk 1 kilometer every morning for my nature call and bathing” said Pratap.

The village had recently been supplied with electricity and most of the residents were thrilled to own and use electrical appliances. “I used to play volleyball in the evenings with locals and used to sleep early. One day it was a real cold night, I had been sleeping and suddenly got jolted awake. It was villagers playing ‘Kanta Laga’ song at maximum volume at 3 am! That’s was the loudest alarm I had ever heard! I would say not stay the Village study was going good but it was its own kind of experience” exclaimed Pratap.

The people in Gorsinghpara were most poverty stricken. “In the whole village there was just 1 person who had a proper employment in SSB. Out of 67 households, there were 2 motorbikes which was bought on a shared basis. There were no shops. I had to travel 5 kilometers to Runikhata even for a cup of Tea.” shared Pratap. They had small lands, low yields, no technology waterlogged paths, no medical facilities and had completely given up hope for any help from outside. There was no future plans, no plans for growth, no expectations, they just filled their stomachs to live another day. “I spoke to all the households, discussed about their resources, problems, challenges and habits. Even with food, they ate plain rice with just Green chilly. I wasn’t offering any suggestions but simply studying their culture and adapting to it. This was a tough task as their language was Santhali, which was much different than Assamese or Bengali.” said Pratap. 

Though it had been close of 18 years of the riots, the wounds were fresh among the people of Gorsinshpara. It was the gateway village which let the Bodo people access to forests which was a major source of revenue for both the communities. But it was impossible to identify a disguised NDFB. “It was the first time I actually saw a NDFB militant. He was a kid much younger than my age. He asked the villagers the reason for my presence and left.” said Pratap. Almost each individual of Gorsinghpara had stories from the 1996 riots. At the time, the casualties were huge as there was intense violence among Aadivasi Tiger Force and NDFB. But post 1996, the ATF and a part of NDFB signed an agreement with government for peace. But there is one group of NDFB still operational who has not signed for peace settlement.

Pratap Das

It was December 23^rd 2014. A tale of the incidents from Pratap “I was talking to the family that housed me sitting outside. I suddenly received a call from Aswini da asking if I was okay and saw any problems around which I didn’t. Immediately I got another call from my parents asking if I was facing trouble. I assured them it was an evening like any other guessing they saw some bad news on TV. Half an hour passed. Aswini da called again and told me to stay safe for the night and he would vacate me early morning. I had no clue what they were talking about as the situation was peaceful in the village. Another half an hour passed. Suddenly we heard a gunshot. Then another. And more of them. There were outbursts of crying from villagers staying around. Immediately the villagers gathered together. There was shouts, confusion, panic, tension and gunshots. Nobody was sure what was happening. The lady of our house started weeping. ‘We just recovered out of the 96 riots! Oh god not again! They will shoot the cattle, people, steal our lands. God please save us’ she cried. I got another call from Aswini da and I updated the situation to him. He assured me that it would be very risky to travel at night and would extract me out the coming morning. Me along with the villagers decided to put the children to sleep and keep a watch whole night. There were gunshots, shouts and cries and the lady wept all night. The father was terrified but showed good stability and support. I was scared too, but decided to hold it out through the night. Since this was the major villages on the way to forest, it made a good target. Every now and then we used to get news and updates on the situation from neighbors. Slowly when we sat through till the sunrise, I realized the sounds had stopped. When I went to the nearby river to bath, it was deserted. I later heard that most of the casualties were on the villages on the opposite side of the river. There was a house that was burned down and a few killed. I came back and started getting ready to leave. At that moment, the villager said something that made me feel guilty. ‘You being here was a big support for us. Thank you so much. Though you are leaving now, but we have to sit through nights like this everyday. It will only be difficult without you’ they said. I felt embarrassed as they were ready to have me in their house in times of my need, but I was leaving when they needed me. Although I was of no help to them, but I guess they had moral strength in my presence. I felt really grateful to SeSTA, who immediately acted on the situation to retaliate. I came back determined to help with the setting up of relief camp in the affected villages. It was truly one of the nights whose seconds I counted till the end, a night whose sounds are written in my memories, a night which I’ll pray never repeats ever again.”

The riots of December 2014 ended on December 26 when the government ordered an operation all out against the NDFB. A majority of the operatives were either killed or captured or surrendered to the army. Sources said that the dispute started because of a tip off from an Aadivasis, against NDFB which lead to killing of one NDFB militant. But some still argue that it was a planned political execution of riots across BTAD region. Peace is very hard to achieve between these communities and it took 18 long years to break it. One of the key objectives of SeSTA is to establish the stronghold in such communities to sustain peace and harmony across the region.