'Patthalgadi Movement' Enters C'garh, CM Calls It Conspiracy

Raipur, May 4 (PTI) The controversial 'Patthalgadi movement' which started in tribal areas of neighbouring Jharkhand has spread to some tribal pockets in northern Chhattisgarh, a police official said today.

Eight people, including a former IAS officer, have been arrested in connection with the movement in Chhattisgarh so far, the officer told PTI.

Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh has termed the movement a conspiracy to provoke the tribal population in the election year.

The main feature of the movement is placing of huge stones or plaques, with messages declaring "sovereignty" of the village body or 'gram sabha' written on them, outside the village.

A police official from Jashpur district said that Joseph Tigga, a former ONGC employee, and H P Kindo, a retired IAS officer, gathered tribal people of the area and organised a 'gram sabha' at Bachhraon village on April 22.

Plaques, painted in green and white, were put up outside the village, declaring the gram sabha as the only "sovereign authority" under the provisions of the Panchayats (Extension of Scheduled Areas) Act (PESA), 1996.

The text inscribed on the plaques included excerpts from the PESA and declaration of "self rule" and "control" over the area, the police official said.

Further, the slogans on the plaques also said that laws enacted by Parliament are not applicable in the scheduled areas where the gram sabha is supreme, he said.

During the event, Tigga and Kindo allegedly said the gram sabha had the powers to prohibit a government or police officials from entering the village.

The incident came to light when the local media reported it, the police officer said.

There was a clash in two groups on April 28 over this issue in Butunga village, and when district officials and police reached there, some villagers allegedly gheraoed them and pelted stones at their vehicles, he said.

"So far eight persons, including Kindo and Tigga, have been arrested in this connection under the Bagicha and Narayanpur police stations area of the district," Jashpur Superintendent of Police Prashant Singh Thakur told PTI.

Kindo and Tigga were accused of misinterpreting the Constitution and provoking tribal people against the administration, he added.

Meanwhile, Patron of the Sarva Adivasi Samaj (an umbrella body of tribal groups) Arvind Netam said the tribal population have been feeling cheated because the laws enacted to protect their interests have not been implemented properly.

"Patthalgadi programmes had been frequently held in the villages of the scheduled areas, which has been a tradition there. Huge stones are put up outside the village where they declare the rights and powers of the gram sabha," Netam, a former MP, said.

PESA has not been implemented effectively. Lands in the scheduled area are given to corporate firms. This leads to an "uprising to fight for their rights" but it should be under the ambit of the law, Netam said.

Chief Minister Raman Singh termed the movement as "unconstitutional" and said it was a conspiracy hatched in view of the coming assembly election in the state.

"How can anyone be prohibited from entering a village in any part of the country? How can anybody try and suppress the democracy," the chief minister said, speaking to reporters in Raigarh district yesterday.

"It was a conspiracy in view of the election (due by this year-end). There were the forces involved in encouraging conversions (behind the movement)," Singh said.

Opposition Congress has constituted a 17-member committee to ascertain the situation in the area. "The government has failed to discharge its constitutional duty in scheduled areas, which has resulted in these uprisings," state Congress spokesperson Shailesh Nitin Tirvedi said.

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)