Naxals, who could establish a foothold in 58 districts, have been facing stiff resistance from two tribes in the country, one in Central India and the other in the eastern part, for the past three decades, resulting in many bloodbaths.
Marhias of Chhattisgarh and Bondas of Orissa have refused to give in to the Naxals despite coercions and threats from them. The Marhia tribe, particularly, has paid a heavy price for defying the Reds, who have killed nearly 650 members of the community and forced hundreds of Marhia families to desert their villages. “Bastar’s Marhia tribe has stood up to the threat of Maoists for the past three decades and have not given in to them till date,” additional director general of police (Naxal operation) of Chhattisgarh Ram Niwas told this newspaper on Friday.
Marhias, who constitute nearly one third of total around 30 lakh population of Bastar, are considered aggressive in nature and abhor any kind of dominance by others, particularly in their religious matters. “Naxals have made many unsuccessful attempts to penetrate the Marhia tribals, who are spread in the districts of Bijapur, Dantewada, Sukma and Narayanpur in Bastar region. But all such bids ended in bloody battles between them, leading to deaths of many Marhia tribals in the past three decades,” ethnologist Niranjan Mahabar, who is considered an authority on Bastar tribals, told this newspaper.
In fact, majority of members Salwa Judum, the anti-Naxal vigilante force, comprised Marhia tribals who were forced to flee their homes and live in refugee camps amidst hostility with Maoists since early 2000.
Mahendra Karma, who belongs to the tribe, had led judum movement in Bastar in 2005 to force the Naxals vacate village after village, till the campaign was put to halt in 2009.
Similarly, the Bondas of Malkangiri district of south Orissa, a primitive tribe having a total population of around 6,600, have foiled the attempts by Naxals to penetrate them in the last three decades.
“The Naxals had cultivated three Bonda youth, who have completed Class 8, in 1998, to create base among the tribe, who reside in two gram panchayats in Bonda hills in the district. But they gave up when the Bondas ostracised the youth for entertaining the Naxals,” former Malkangiri district collector Satish Gajbaye, who was in Raipur, said.