13–17 minutes
The clips in this section offer comments, insights and personal experiences which throw light on the many strategies and tactics of mass resistance adopted by the Narmada Bachao Andolan (NBA). These select voices include senior leaders, activists and ideologues of the NBA. The clips are mostly excerpts from much longer interviews, comprising of those parts where they talk about their experiences of and observations about the strategies of the struggle and the processes involved in building a powerful people’s movement. A brief introduction listing the key strategies adopted by the NBA is available here.
The list of people with links to the clips is given below.
Kamala Yadav (Kammujiji)
Submergence Village Chotabadada, Madhya Pradesh.
Kamala Yadav is a firebrand woman leader and full time activist of the Narmada Bachao Andolan (NBA). Popularly called Kammujiji, she is the part of the Samarpit Dal (dedicated squad) of the NBA. Her village Chotabadada is one of the 245 villages that fall in the submergence zone of the Sardar Sarovar Project (SSP). Kammujiji has been carrying out several responsibilities on behalf of the movement both within the Narmada Valley as well as outside the valley. The most important of her roles has been to face the rising waters of the dam as part of the Samarpit Dal of the NBA and carry out fasts in support of the demands of the movement.
Interview Duration: 1:22:00
Language: Hindi and Nimadi, Subtitles in English
Rehmat
Submergence Village Chikhalda, Madhya Pradesh (M.P.)
Rehmat, a resident of the submergence village Chikhalda in M.P., and an oustee himself, has been one of the key activists of the Narmada Bachao Andolan (NBA). Rehmat’s contribution to the NBA knows no parallel, ranging from: managing one of the main offices of the NBA in Badwani, exposing the widespread corruption in the rehabilitation of oustees in M.P. (an exposure that once again stalled the progress of the Sardar Sarovar Project (SSP) in the decade of 2000), managing ’Nijbal’”, Baba Amte and Sadhana Tai’s residence on the banks of the Narmada after their return to Anandvan, and last but not least extensive research, analysis and writing about the key issues related to the project. Rehmat’s involvement in the struggle has been multifaceted. He continues to play an important role in the NBA and is also a senior member of Manthan Adhyayan Kendra, an organisation that critically examines water and energy issues.
Interview Duration: 2:43:00
Language: Hindi, Subtitles in English
Rasik (bhai) Gajanand Trivedi
Submergence Village: Vadgam, Resettlement site: Dhefa, Gujarat
Rasikbhai, an oustee himself, belongs to Vadgam village in Gujarat, the first out of a total of 245 villages in the Narmada Valley to be submerged due to the Sardar Sarovar Project (SSP). Rasikbhai has been a full time activist and leading member of the Narmada Bachao Andolan (NBA). As an activist, Rasikbhai took up several responsibilities of the movement, including mobilising people across the more than 100 resettlement sites in Gujarat; data collection; media briefing; and organising field visits to help the hundreds of visitors that came to the NBA understand the issues raised by the movement. Rasikbhai’s work as an NBA activist has been particularly challenging because he has had to work in areas very close to the SSP dam site and in Gujarat State which has remained exceedingly hostile to the movement.
Interview Duration: 0:25:00
Language: Gujarati, Subtitles in English
Manglia Pawara
Submergence village Bhadal, Resettlement Site: Chikhali, Maharashtra
Manglia Pawara, a firebrand adivasi leader of the Narmada Bachao Andolan (NBA) has been at the forefront of the movement for many decades now. Manglia’s village Bhadal is one of the 33 villages in Maharashtra to have been submerged in the Sardar Sarovar Dam waters and he currently resides with his family at the Chikhali resettlement site in Maharashtra. A great orator, Manglia has also been a great mobiliser. Popularly known simply as Manglia, his contribution to the NBA has been phenomenal. He has taken up several responsibilities in the struggle, and for that reason, Manglia’s views provide important insights into the many strategies of the NBA.
Interview Duration: 0:47:20
Language: Hindi & Pawari, Subtitles in English
Amit Bhatnagar
Founding member, Khedut Mazdoor Chetna Sangathan (KMCS) and Adharshila Learning Centre, Madhya Pradesh.
Amit Bhatnagar left his study of Architecture to move to a life of struggle and mobilisation for social justice. He has a keen interest in tribal resistance, art, music, culture, history and economy, and in acquiring and disseminating knowledge about all aspects of adivasi life. A founding member of the extraordinary tribal movement in Alirajpur district of western Madhya Pradesh, the KMCS, Amit is also a founding member of Adharshila Learning Centre. Many villages which were a part of KMCS were also on the banks of Narmada and in the submergence zone of the Sardar Sarovar Project. KMCS became an integral part of the Narmada Bachao Andolan (NBA). Amit has played a critical role in the founding of KMCS as well as in the formation of the NBA in its early years. Many activists of KMCS continue to play an important role in the NBA.
Interview Duration: 2:10:00
Language: Hindi, Subtitles in English
The Late Girish (bhai) Patel (1938-2018)
Lok Adhikar Sangh and Narmada Bachao Andolan, Ahmedabad, Gujarat
Girishbhai Patel, popularly known as the Public Interest Litigation (PIL) man of Gujarat, was a renowned human rights lawyer of Gujarat. Importantly, Girishbhai was into the thick of all the important people’s movements of Gujarat since the time of India’s independence; be it the Adhyapak Movement or the Maha Gujarat Andolan, the Navnirman Andolan or the Narmada Bachao Andolan (NBA). A founder of the Lok Adhikar Sangh, Girishbhai filed over two hundred public interest litigations for the rights of the marginalised and for the protection of the environment during his life time. His involvement went beyond just legal actions, and he actively and directly participated in many struggles of the marginalised communities of Gujarat. A founding member and an ideologue of the NBA, Girishbhai’s role in the movement has been phenomenal. In this clip, Girishbhai reflects on the different strategies of the NBA.
Interview Duration: 0:31:30
Language: Gujarati and English, Subtitles in English
Doctor Sugan Baranth
National President, Nai Talim, Malegaon, Maharashtra
Doctor Sugan Baranth, a leading Sarvodayi and at the time of writing this (July 2020), the National President of Nai Talim, which promotes an education system inspired by Gandhian thought. Before he took up social causes [as a full time activity], Dr. Baranth was a successful medical doctor with a social conscience. He was influenced by Jayprakash Narayan’s call to the youth, and was an active member of Chatra Yuva Sangharsh Vahini. Later, influenced by the Sarvodaya ideology of constructive work and struggle, Dr. Baranth became active in the Maharashtra Sarvodaya Mandal and became the president of the State and National Sarvodaya Mandals. Dr. Baranth has been an active member of Narmada Bachao Andolan (NBA) and also a leading member in managing the constructive work of the NBA, particularly the Narmada Jeevan Shalas. He continues to be active in the NBA as well as the Sarvoday Mandals and Nai Talim. In his interview here, he throws light on the many strategies of the NBA.
Interview Duration: 2:26:36
Language: Hindi, Subtitles in English
Rukmani (Kaki) Patidar
Submergence Village: Chotabadada, Madhya Pradesh
Rukmani Patidar, popularly known as Rukmikaki or just Kaki is an outstanding woman leader of the NBA. An oustee herself, she was one of the first women from a submergence village, who came forward and not only joined the movement against the Sardar Sarovar Project (SSP) right from its early days but also took upon herself the task of mobilising other women across the Narmada Valley.
The Narmada Valley Development Plan (NVDP) consists of 30 large, 135 medium and 3000 small dams to be built on the Narmada River and its tributaries. One of the important strategies of the NBA has been to initiate and strengthen movements of people affected by the dams that will be built as part of the NVDP. One among these, the Maheshwar Hydro Electric Project, was one of the first privatised hydro power projects in the country. With the coming together of the sixty-one villages in the submergence zone of the Maheshwar dam, the anti-dam struggle gained enormous strength and succeeded in eliciting international solidarity that forced international financial institutions and companies to step back from the project. The powerful people’s struggle and the issues raised by the NBA, finally forced the Madhya Pradesh government in April 2020, to terminate the power purchase agreement (PPA) of the project owned by S Kumar, a private company, 25 years after the agreement was first signed with the company and an expenditure of Rs 3,000 crore had been incurred on the project.
In her interview, Rukmikaki shares many details of the anti-Maheshwar dam struggle and also helps us understand how the experienced activists of NBA working in the submergence area of SSP helped build the resistance movement against the Maheshwar dam.
Interview Duration: 0:38:00
Language: Hindi, Subtitles in English
The Late Shanta (Ben) Yadav
Submergence Village Pipri, Madhya Pradesh (M.P.)
Shantaben Yadav was one of the key woman leaders of the Narmada Bachao Andolan (NBA). She was one among the seven who sat on an indefinite fast at Ferkuva during one of the early programs of the NBA called the Sangharsh Yatra. In the interview here, Shantaben describes in detail how the Padma Visbhushan Awardee, Late Shri Baba Amte came to the Narmada valley, joined the NBA, strongly advocated that the Sardar Sarovar project should not be built and pledged that he will not leave the place and stay on the banks of the Narmada and allow himself to be drowned if the dam came up. She also narrates the events leading up to Baba’s departure and return to his home in Anandvan (Maharashtra) after living in a house on the river bank in the submergence village Kasravad (Madhya Pradesh) for over a decade. This interview helps us understand that while a well-known and iconic figure joining a people’s movement may give it a tremendous boost, the departure of such a figure from the movement can also cause irreparable damage to the movement, particularly if the event is not handled delicately by the movement. Shantaben also explains what impact cash compensation has on the social fabric of a submergence village.
Interview Duration: 00:36:52
Language: Audio in Nimadi, Subtitles in English
Reflections on the strategies of the Narmada Bachao Andolan
For any mass or civil rights movement, decision making processes, strategies and tactics are of prime importance. The people’s movement in the Narmada valley against the Sardar Sarovar Project (SSP), the NBA, arrived at the ‘No Dam’ position in the late 1980s. Since then, it has not only challenged the gigantic SSP, but also the very development paradigm it represents. Through creative strategies of mass resistance, it managed to stall the Sardar Sarovar dam from being built for many years, forced the three party states to resettle thousands of project affected families with some modicum of proper compensation and rehabilitation, and challenged successfully the involvement of the international financial institutions like the World Bank in the project. It also initiated and led several other struggles against the large dams being built on the River Narmada and its tributaries in Madhya Pradesh.
The NBA managed to achieve the many milestones it crossed and realising the many demands of the people’s movement that it could fulfil over the past three decades by adopting various strategies like: ‘Koi Nahi Hatega, Bandh Nahi Banega’ (literally, ‘No One Shall Move, The Dam Shall Not Be Built’; ‘Doobenge Par Hatenge Nahi’, (‘We Shall Drown But Shall Not Move’); ‘Hamare Gaon Mein Hamara Raj’, (‘Our Village, Our Rule’); ‘Jalsamarpan’, ( ‘Sacrifice by drowning’); legal actions right up to the Supreme Court; rallies, sit-ins, road blockades; fasts, non-cooperation; anti-corruption drives; conducting surveys; running novel, pro-people grass-roots schools; demonstrating renewable energy projects; participation in electoral politics; and in a few cases, active participation in choosing as good a rehabilitation site as possible.
Each of these strategies was adopted after great deliberation, and carried out with sincerity and steadfastness by the people of the Narmada valley and it is important to understand people’s views on how far each of these actions helped NBA realise many of its demands, how far were these successful and what were the difficulties faced in implementing them. As a beginning, excerpts from selected interviews of senior members of NBA have been put up here, where they reflect on the different strategies of the NBA and the decision making processes of the organisation. The interviewees also talk about the important processes involved in building a movement like the NBA and the challenges they posed.
This collection helps us understand how many of NBAs senior members, as insiders, view the people’s movement in the Narmada valley. Quite often the views expressed by one person about the processes in the NBA and the strategies it has employed may differ [sometimes in detail and sometimes in substance] from the views expressed by others. Therefore, the information shared here is rich and diverse, offering insights into the many shades of thinking within the movement. All the persons interviewed here have played extraordinary roles in various people’s movements and organisations, including the NBA and the Khedut Mazdoor Chetna Sangathan. Hence their interviews offer valuable learnings, for people’s movements in general as well as for students of developmental, environmental, social and political sciences.
From time to time, I shall add further excerpts or interviews from senior members of the NBA relevant to the issue of strategies employed by the NBA, and the processes and challenges involved in building this powerful people’s movement.