Tribal rights activists and scholars in Jharkhand will soon document the developments that led to the first “tribal massacre” of free India and throw light on the atrocities inflicted upon tribal farmers by landowners in a 1971 incident in unified Bihar wherein over a dozen Santhali farmers were killed in indiscriminate firing.
On November 21, 1971, a private army of landowners had allegedly attacked a settlement of Santhal sharecroppers in Purnia district of Bihar, thereby killing at least 14 Santhali farmers, said Ranendra, the director of Dr. Ram Dayal Munda Tribal Welfare Research Institute in Ranchi, popularly known as the Tribal Research Institute (TRI).
However, the incident, despite being of such huge magnitude and gravity, did not find mention in research works of great historians and researchers of those times, added the TRI director. While some researchers did dig into the incident, it never found any mention in most of the history books that highlighted the situation of West Bengal and Bihar during the 1970s.
“In remembrance of the incident, we have decided to hold a seminar on November 22 at TRI and also document the various developments that led to such incidents of massacre,” said Ranendra, who goes by one name. “Scholars who have done extensive research on this incident will also share their work during the seminar,” he added.
The seminar will be organised jointly by Jharkhandi Bhasha Sahitya Sanskriti Akhra and Dr Ram Dayal Munda Tribal Welfare Research Institute.
“That was the first massacre of the tribals in free India in connection with land-related issues, but is was mostly ignored by the writers, researchers and media persons,” said Vandana Tete, the secretary of Jharkhandi Bhasha Sahitya Sanskriti Akhra.
While there are several conspiracy theories about the involvement of political forces in the bloodbath and how landowners and politicians worked hand in glove, the truth remains buried in history, said a tribal rights researcher at TRI.
According to him, the 1971 massacre in Bihar was not an isolated incident. “It was the beginning of a series of such massacres that continued till the one that took place in Araria about a decade ago,” he said.
The local zamindars occupied new stretches of fertile land created by shifting the course of the Koshi river and the Santhals settled there about a century ago for cultivating the area, he said about the background of the tribal settlement there.
“Our primary aim is to bring to attention the injustice done to the victims fifty years ago and also to motivate litterateurs and researchers to dig into the evils leading to such massacres and suggesting remedies,” said Vandana Tete.