Patkar & Co. are 'outsiders' in Chhattisgarh

A group of angry tribal people this evening staged strong protests against a rights group led by activist Medha Patkar and Magsaysay award winner Sandeep Pandey, who had visited Dantewada to attend a public hearing convened by Vanvasi Chetana Ashram (VCA).

The Ashram, run by Gandhian activist Himanshu Kumar, had convened the hearing to air people’s view on the reports of atrocities by security personnel in the Naxal-hit areas. Kumar had invited Union Home Minister P Chidambaram to the hearing, but the minister did not turn up.People in Chhatisgarh’s Naxal-infested district of Dantewada no longer want social activists, whom they call “outsiders”, to interfere in solving the insurgency problem.

The tribals alleged that the activists were supporting Naxal sympathisers, who were trying to stall the anti-Naxal operations in the restive Bastar region.

As Patkar, Pandey and other social activists from different parts of the country reached Dantewada, they faced strong resistance from the tribals, who demanded that the activists should leave Dantewada immediately.

Dantewada is one of country’s worst Naxal-infested districts.

Sources said the protesters even tried to manhandle the activists and they pelted stones and eggs. The security personnel escorted Patkar, Pandey and others to the office of the district superintendent of police, where they resorted to dharna.Dantewada SP Amresh Kumar denied that the social activists were manhandled. “The police escorted them (activists) to my office before the people got violent,” he said.