Thread by @TalhaGulbargavi

How many of Us remember #SonbhadraMassacre where Deep-rooted Corruption Took 11 Adivasis' Lives in UP's #Sonbhadra.
here are some excerpts from Frontline Magazine
Link: frontline.thehindu.com/social-issues/…
@HansrajMeena @TribalArmy @BTP_India @Chhotu_Vasava @Arjun_Mehar

On July 17, Gond tribals of Ubbha village, some 60 kilometers from Robertsganj, the district headquarters of Sonbhadra in Uttar Pradesh, were busy tilling the land they had farmed since pre-Independence days.

Around noon, close to 300 men belonging to the dominant Gujjar community, led by the village headman, Yagyadutt, arrived in 32 tractors. Without any provocation, they fired bullets in the air and ran the tractors into the fields with the intent to cause damage.

Hearing the commotion, farmers working nearby ran to the spot. “We thought Yagyadutt had come to talk about the land dispute and we gathered under the jamun tree to resolve the matter,” said 75-year-old Ramlal.

But to their utter shock, the mob, carrying guns and sticks, fired indiscriminately at them. The farmers were caught completely off guard. Some of them tried to run while others used their lathis (sticks) to defend themselves.

Ten Gonds were killed, including three women, and some 30 people were injured. Villagers say that the police, which had been forewarned that such an attack might occur, came an hour later and only after several calls were made to them and the local administration.

This was not the first time that Yagyadutt had tried something like this in a bid to force tribal people to give up their claims on the land. Last year, he came with strongmen and attacked the villagers.

He apparently also poisoned the crops to intimidate the Gonds into submission, but they resisted a forcible takeover of the land. “When nothing else worked, he resorted to murder to get his way,” said a survivor.

Relatives of those who were killed told Frontline that the local administration was aware of the situation but did nothing.

Yagyadutt belonged to an influential family and owned hundreds of bighas in the area. He was the headman of three villages—Sapahi, Murtiya & Ubbha—in the Sonbhadra district. Of these, Murtiya and Sapahi are Gujjar-dominated while Ubbha has a predominantly tribal population.

In the political barbs that followed, Yogi Adityanath put the blame for the problem on the Congress, which was in power when the land was transferred from the tribal people to the society. He claimed that the Samajwadi Party had given patronage to Yagyadutt.

Meanwhile, Bahujan Samaj Party president Mayawati held both the Congress and the BJP responsible for the Sonbhadra firing. Terming it “genocide”, she said the BJP government was trying to hide its failure by imposing Section 144 in the area.

Echoing her sentiments, Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav tweeted: “The BJP government in Uttar Pradesh which bows down before culprits has allowed a genocide. Deaths in the Sonbhadra firing is an example of terror and suppression under the BJP rule.”