The elusive challenge of 'taming' Bastar

From British rule to the rise of Maoism, this book takes us through the history of a region that remains an enigma

Rebel Bastar: History,Maoism and the Search for Answers in India’s Heartland

By Shantanu Nandan Sharma

Published by

Hatchette India

310 pages ₹799

 This book illustrates a dilemma reporters frequently face when writing a story: What to include and what to leave out. Most of us are greedy and when you have masses of information, you tend to try and cram everything into one story. The result is damage to the structure, with tantalising glimpses of many stories struggling to get out.

 

Senior journalist and author Shantanu Nandan Sharma’s book is masterful for its research on the history and society of Bastar. It draws on years of field reporting, archival records, and colonial accounts to paint a rich tapestry of a slice of India most Indians know nothing about. Bastar — Abujhmad, or as he prefers to call it, Metabhum — was the arena of early foreign incursions. Each one left its mark. Mr Sharma describes the rise and fall of various ruling dynasties through medieval India and then the advent of the British. His description of the teak economy is brilliant. The British needed wood for transportation via rail carriages as much as they needed cotton to feed the mills in Manchester after the Industrial Revolution. When they discovered Bastar, they found not just teak forests but also huge mineral deposits of gold, mica, diamonds, rubies, and bauxite. The Tata group worked at this too.

 

 

The problem, of course, was taming those who lived in those forests. At first, the British tried concessions through the princely rulers, going so far as to arrange marriages and manipulate court bureaucrats. When this did not yield the results they wanted, they decided to go in themselves. Mr Sharma describes, based on historical records, the Bhumkal uprising and the battle of Ulnar (1910). The role played by the great hero of Bastar, Gunda Dhur, still figures in folk songs and local lore.

 

Bested by the tribals who fought with bows and arrows, the British, on the basis that discretion was the better part of valour, decided to reduce the number of police stations in the inner reaches of the forests. This decision proved fateful in controlling the region for decades later. This, combined with the support of some princes —reinforced the endemic restiveness of Bastarhis. The author paints a fascinating portrait of how the last “Raja” of Bastar, Pravir Chandra Bhanjdeo—a hero of the tribals who wanted to build a Hindu nation — fancied himself as a tantrik and led an attack on police stations in the 1960s well after the British had left India.

 

The author then takes us on a long journey covering the rise of Maoism in India, including a long section on Mao himself, the rise of the Chinese Communist Party, its relationship with the Kuomintang Party, its external affiliation and Mao’s treatment of women. The book would have been no poorer if this section had been dropped. He briefly discusses the experiences of Mohit Sen, Communist ideologue and the first Indian to train at Beijing’s Marxism Leninism Academy (International).

 

The really informative section of the book is the discussion on the strategy and tactics of Maoists in India, beginning with the friendship between Charu Mazumdar and Kanu Sanyal. The book has an account of his conversations with modern-day Maoists, including former NITI Aayog Vice-Chairman Rajiv Kumar and teacher and activist Dilip Simeon. But how Maoists made the ideology relevant to Bastar tribals comes alive in the pages of the book. Mr Sharma’s insights include speaking to a schoolgirl in Sukma. When he asked her what the colour of India’s national flag was, her prompt reply was  “kale jhande” (black flag), suggesting Maoist contempt for the Indian state is more deeply ingrained than we realise. Yet, he outlines the Mahua ideology that even Maoists have failed to understand: The complexities of tribal beliefs and culture that bubble up to the fore. The Mahua ideology represents the core of Bastarhi identity — encompassing its language, social fabric, cultural traditions and spiritual beliefs.

 

Although the book has Bastar as its focus, it does discuss why Maoism found no success in other tribal regions of India such as the Northeast. He finds evidence of the militant group United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA) helping to bring the Communist Party of India (Maoist) together but believes that identity played a bigger role in politics in the Northeast than ideology. His assessment is reinforced by another recent book: The biography of former chief minister of Mizoram, Zoramthanga.

 

Mr Sharma notes without comment that despite Home Minister Amit Shah’s assertion that the regime would “completely eradicate Naxalism from the country before March, 2026,” no-go areas in Bastar still exist. Maoists across the country are surrendering their guns. And yet, they live.

 

Although it could have done with some editorial tightening and more rigorous structuring, this book is outstanding for its research and understanding of a region that is still an enigma. In the debate about the Uniform Civil Code, for instance, Bastar tribals continue to represent dissent. Mr Sharma says the culture of Mahua needs to be understood if we need to understand Bastar. Never was a truer word said.