"Jharkhand Jhukega Nahi, Adivasis Will Fight Back"

In an exclusive interview with Outlook’s Abhik Bhattacharya and Md Asghar Khan, the newly-appointed chief minister of Jharkhand, Champai Soren, says that the Union government has been trying to attack the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) due to its Adivasi leadership.

Quoting historical references where Adivasis had been silenced, he says that they will not buckle down under any pressure. Excerpts:

Hemant Soren said that he was arrested because nobody can accept the emergence of an Adivasi leader. What do you think?

India is a multilingual and multicultural country and Adivasis are definitely part of it. But we have separate lifestyles and customary laws. We celebrate and worship nature. We are aware of the history from the days of Tilka Manjhi who fought against the British in 1784. But our history spans across millennia.

Our ancestors fought for their cultural, lingual, social and political rights. Still, it was never documented. Rather, history witnessed the suppression of Adivasi leaders. Whenever an Adivasi figure becomes prominent, some way or the other they try to implicate them using different laws.

In every decade, one can find Adivasi faces who have gone through it. The founder of our party, Shibu Soren, fought against the exploiters and took back lakhs of acres of land from Mahajans. They even tried to limit his growth. But Adivasi leaders have never compromised. The latest example of an uncompromising Adivasi is Hemant Soren. He is none other than the son of that leader who devoted his entire life fighting exploitation. All their efforts are to suppress the Adivasi voices.

What about land grabbing allegations?