Stories of their struggles

"I HAD to stop school after standard ten as my father could not afford to pay my fees," began Shobhapathi Jamatiya, an AIDWA delegate from Tripura. "A group from the All Tripura Tiger Force convinced me that my problems, and those of the tribal population of Tripura, would be solved if I joined their organisation." Shobhapathi related her experiences with the group - the camp in Bangladesh where she was given training in the use of guns; the indoctrination sessions; her growing disillusionment with the moral and financial corruption of the leadership. She surrendered in October 2002, after two years with the militant outfit, and later joined AIDWA. "I realise now that there is no short cut - you have to be in the democratic movement."

Jamatiya was one among a few delegates at the AIDWA conference who were asked to relate the stories of how they fought the system.

"My story is good for a movie, except that it is true," said D. Rani, a Dalit peasant from Bandlagudam village in Krishna district of Andhra Pradesh. Almost all the small farmers of the village had lost their land to two landlord brothers from whom they had borrowed money at extortionate rates of interest. "The landlords took a girl from one such poor family to Hyderabad as a virtual slave. She was repeatedly raped by them and finally returned pregnant to the village." The brothers had grabbed almost 100 acres (40 hectares) of land for prawn cultivation. When a small boy fell into an open well on the land of the landlord and died, there was an explosion of pent-up anger. Led by Rani, and with the help of AIDWA's organisation, the village's residents held dharnas and protest actions until one of the brothers was arrested and was forced to return 20 acres of land. "We will fight till we get the remaining 2,150 acres back," declared Rani.

Damayanti, AIDWA secretary of Sivaganga district in Tamil Nadu, was an active participant, along with 20 other organisations, in a campaign to prevent a coke-manufacturing plant to be set up in the district. "The plant was to produce 600 bottles a minute and they were planning to dig a 3,000-foot-deep borewell," said Damayanti. The company had already started manufacturing club soda, the waste from which had polluted the surrounding land. In the face of the sustained protest campaign, the company was forced to drop its plans.

For Salma Rahman, a block panchayat president, it was the vitiation of the atmosphere of amity that had prevailed in the small fishing hamlet of Marad in Kozhikode district, Kerala, by Hindu and Muslim fundamentalists that galvanised her into action. With the help of AIDWA and other democratic groups, she has been trying to restore peace and confidence in Marad, which has seen several episodes of communal violence in the last three years. "Marad's wounds have not healed," she said.