Looking back at Khejuri: Our men, their men – the straw men

This eyewitness account appeared in November 2007, and presents an alternative first-hand view of the highly publicised Khejuri camps. It has been translated by Atreyi Dasgupta, Sanhati.

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Khejuri Camp

As a member of the Department of Applied Psychology in the University of Calcutta, I had the opportunity to visit Khejuri and Tekhali to assess the mental health of the dispossessed people in the camps there. I went with three others – an ex-student of the department like myself, and two professors – one male (referred to hereafter as Sir) and one female (referred to hereafter as Madam). A teacher of a local primary school, who was a supporter of the ruling CPI(M) party, took the responsibility of taking us to the camps, showing us around, and arranging our boarding etc. He went on and on about his position in the party, and asked in roundabout ways whether we could assure him of a recommendation to the higher-ups.

On our way to the camps, we noticed that the streets were deserted and there were red flags flying almost everywhere. We went there on the 23rd of April, 2007, and stayed for a night. The first day we were taken to a camp in Khejuri – a construction like area with a small alley surrounding a house. Here, about 30 men, 25 women, 4-5 young girls, 2-3 young boys and around 20-22 children under the age of ten were put up. I do not know if there were others, we could not see anyone else. Our job was to ask questions according to a general health questionnaire. We learnt that they were not well. They asked why they had not been kept in better conditions.

One of the little ones, when asked his name, immediately parroted, “We need industry, or else how can we have development”. He was ten years old. His sister was just beside him, and she said, “We don’t know how long we have to stay in this condition. If we ask these people, they say, everything will go back to normal in a few days. But where is that happening? You know didi, our friends in Nandigram told us that they have resumed their studies. What will we do?” I asked her in surprise, “How did you get to know what your friends are doing?” Even more surprised, she replied, “Why, by phone calls!”

She was about to say more but as soon as a dada like person came and stood by silently, she started saying, “We do not want land, we want industry. Are we going to eat land? Industry will come, it will generate work for so many people – isn’t that so, didi?” I was wondering what to say. Another person, a mother of two, asked from the side, after looking around carefully – “Are we going to get our land back, didi? Else, how are we going to eat, didi? So many days have gone by, my sons do not smile like they used to – I ask their father, what made you come here? He did not say a word then, and now he says that the party would do whatever is necessary. And now there’s no education, no food, and every evening we have to be at the rally. If we fail to go, the party-people tell us, “We’ll see how you survive when they come to kill you!” You tell us didi, what do we understand of all this! We just want to have some food to eat and some clothes to wear – we do not like it here anymore.”

Seated, scattered around, were many others. Nobody was coming forward to say anything. Everybody had a cautious look about them. As if they were in imminent danger. It took some time to warm up to them, although it seemed that the leaders who took us there (I can not say for sure what their position was to the villagers) had already briefed them about us. They knew who we were and where we had come from. We asked in indirect ways about the problems they had been facing regarding food and stay. They were all disappointed, as if they had not expected anything like this. They said, “There’s so little room here, it’s difficult with men and women sleeping almost side by side…. and food? Do you suppose we get fish and rice everyday? Sometimes in rotation maybe…” “So, what did you have today?” “Today? Rice, some pumpkin, and fish. That’s it, nothing else.”

While we were talking about all this, there was a growing commotion around us. We looked around to find a woman of around 30 being brought to us. When we enquired who she was, a little boy sitting close by the lap, blurted out, “She has been raped… Trinamool workers raped her.”

I was surprised at how comfortable such a small boy was in uttering those words. The woman was brought in front of us, and Madam started conversing with her … those who were sitting around were asked to move out. They stood at a distance with curious eyes. The conversation between Madam and that woman was kind of like this - “How are you now?” Silence. “Where are your family members? Here?” Silence. “See, we have heard that you have been tortured a lot… do you want to say anything about that?” “Yes, they have inflicted a lot of torture on me…. I was lying at home… they entered my room… my husband was also in the same room… they molested me… I have been molested… what will happen to me?” “Did you report it to the police? Members of the Women’s Commisson came few days ago, did you tell them all this?” “I did. But will I get back my home? Will I ever get my honour back?” After this, Madam took her to a room inside… where standardized psychological tests were done. Later, on our way back, we learned that the tests had not revealed any evidence of rape – she had not shown any symptoms of a rape victim. But what she had was trauma regarding whether she would be accepted back in her own family; it become clear that as news of this constructed rape case had spread, she herself had become worried whether she’d be accepted back in society.*(please see footnote).

We came to know of another strange fact. Many of these people had maintained communication with the people of Nandigram, taking care to avoid the eyes of the outsiders brought to keep vigil on them… this became clear, when we directly asked a girl whether she had contact with them. She replied quite casually, yes, and that she and her friends regularly visited their home in Nandigram to have a meal. But they always came back before dusk, since they had to be present in the rally…the guards at Khejuri do a head count before every rally. They disliked their life in Khejuri, and had even decided once that they would go back to the village using a way unfamiliar to the guards. I asked if these guards are local, she answered no, never, they had never seen them before. When we asked how the guards had been behaving with them, she said overall, not too bad… but they threatened them if they did not participate in the rallies…they kept saying that when Trinamool workers came to get them nobody would save them. The harassment does not end there; a fine of Rs. 1000 is imposed if one stays away from the rallies.

While leaving Khejuri, the questions to which I did not get any answer were:

1)Those who have left home in the fear of their lives should have been happy at any refugee camp provided for them. Then why were these people so dissatisfied with the conditions of the camp? Did they have some other expectations? To people fleeing to save their lives, the hope of life and some food should have been enough. At least when the official or the CPI(M) party version was that there was firing going on everyday?

2)People are claiming that they have daily telephonic contact with their friends (in Nandigram), that they want to go back…and that to their return, the people of Nandigram also do no have any objection (agreed, this is only a statement from children, but the adults must have given their consent. Otherwise it wouldn’t have been possible for these children to keep in telephonic contact, in these times of emergency). Who, then, is the judge here? When both the parties are willing, why can’t they return home? Is it because there would be less number of heads in the rally?

3)Are these guards also part of the head count in the camps? If that is the case, that is, if the guards are one of them, then how come the villagers do not know them?

4)Why is there so much coercion to take part in the rallies?

5)Why was no medical test done, even after the allegedly raped woman gave her statement?

6)We have heard ad nauseam that thousands of people rendered homeless are now in the camp of Khejuri. Even if I cannot provide an accurate number, it can be said with certainty that the number of people there is between 150-200, not more than that, simply impossible. Then why this false propaganda?

7) Is what Ms. Swarnamayi Devi said then true, when I met her at the SSKM hospital, admitted after being hit by bullets on the 14th of March? “Didi, nobody forced them out of the village. They took money from the CPI(M) and betrayed us… they themselves have left the village… at the advise of the leaders…”

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Tekhali Camp

The place we visited after leaving Khejuri around afternoon is known as Tekhali camp. It is across from Sonachura village, just a canal between them. Tekhali on one side, Sonachura on the other… some questions remain here too.

After spending the night at Kontai, we reached Tekhali early in the morning. Here we met some more people, driven away from Nandirgam. The relief camp in Tekhali is a total disservice to its name. Why? 1) Very limited space has been allotted for these people to be put up. 2) There are no arrangements for normal humane conditions regarding light, air, and temperature (it was April then). 3) No medical provision was made for little children who were sick due to the heat. The teachers of Tekhali have made no arrangement for education of these children, even when they cannot go to the school. 4) There were lots of complaints regarding meals provided. 5) The biggest problem was, Sonachura village was right across from Tekhali, only a canal between them. Lined up sand bags could be seen on the other side, same scene on this side too. The villagers looked visibly traumatized as we learnt that soon after dark, firings would start. They had to spend their nights and days under the protection of only a fence. And who knows how many more such nights and days they have to spend like this. 6) Out of the 60-70 people there, one woman was under hysteric attack, two had major depression, and one had developed schizophrenic symptoms. In a relief camp like this, the same rules apply, that is, however sick or unwilling you are, you have to be present in the evening rallies, otherwise there would be indirect pressure.

I felt sad looking at the faces of the small children there. They have forgotten to laugh.

We heard a strange word here too. I will come to that – when we were talking, sitting inside the room, regarding the complaints about food etc., I wanted to know, if the meals are similar to what they get at the Khejuri camp. I was told – “Didi, actually they get special treatments, as they are more CPI(M). We are treated differently” When I asked the meaning of “more CPI(M)”, the apparently angered answer was, “You will not understand, and you have already understood enough. We’ll manage even if you do not understand any further.” When she said “you”, I did not know which political party the sarcasm was directed at.

At Tekhali, political cadres constantly tried to draw our attention to the mercenaries in Sonachura. It really was terrible. But still, after witnessing all this, one thing was not clear to me, either now or then – why did the government make the relief camp right in front of the firings? If the government says that it has been done by the CPI(M) party, even then question remains, did not the party want the villagers to be securely placed inside the village, away from the range of the firings? Or did they want to let one or two die, so that a more juicy description of the torture on these villagers could be publicized?

People both in Tekhali and Khejuri have been attacked, but to know how and by whom, it is imperative that we come come face to face with these dispossessed people of Nandigram and then ask questions. Otherwise gray areas will remain gray. Whether you want to put on any party color or not, you have to confront humanity sooner or later.

This article first appeared in the Bengali webzine Guruchandali

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Footnote

* Theoretically, it is not possible to say if someone is raped or not by a standardized psychological test. But the question that arose around this woman was elsewhere. Since she brought the complaint that she had been raped, and others also echoed it, naturally the question arose as to why she had not gone for a medical test and obtained a medical report. Even after asking this question several times, no answer was given. We were sent to examine the mental status of these people. Any kind of mental or physical abuse traumatizes people to some extent. A standardized psychological test can assess this trauma. That is what we tried to do. The result of which was, that she was not traumatized at all. Rather, she was very worried whether she would be accepted back in the family. She was a normal scorer on the trauma scale (which generally a rape victim is not).