Submergence Village Chotabadada, Madhya Pradesh.
3–4 minutes
“Everyone would sit together and have meetings to discuss what should be done in the future… (Medha) Didi asked us these three questions. Some replied in writing but I did not know how to write. However, I scribbled the way I could and gave it in writing. I have written in clear words to didi that we do not have to undertake jalsamadhi. If we will take jalsamadhi, the movement will end…Therefore, I frankly said that we should not take jalsamadhi…We will face baton charge, firing, even if we lose life, we will face them…I have written this too, didi should have that letter, she will get it out sometime…Our struggle is still very small but, in the future, like a fountain wets a lot of land, this (movement) will also become very big…And like the clouds, our movement will spread across the country. I have written this. I remember this…Had jalsamadhi happened, how would the movement have grown so big?”-
Kammujiji
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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 for the movement both within the Narmada Valley and outside the valley representing the NBA. Her most important role has been to face the rising waters of the dam as part of the Samarpit Dal of the NBA and to carry out fasts in support of the demands of the movement.
Kamala Yadav (Kammujiji)’s interview here is unique because she is one of the few who are part of the Samarpit Dal of the NBA and has also been at the forefront of NBA’s strategies of jalsamarpan and indefinite fasts. As someone in the frontline of these strategies the views she expresses about the key strategies of the NBA are especially important, particularly about jalsamarpan (giving up life by drowning as a mark of protest and demanding stoppage of the dam construction). Kammujiji faced the rising waters of the dam right from the time the waters entered Manibeli, the first village in Maharashtra to be submerged. She has undertaken an indefinite fast as part of the NBA program in the early nineties to put pressure on the government in Madhya Pradesh to call for the stoppage of the dam construction. In her interview here she gives an eyewitness account of the determination and grit with which the people in the tribal villages faced the rising waters of the dam with the slogan, “Doobenge Par Hatenge Nahi” (We shall drown but not move). She also talks about the significance of the day-to-day struggles of the people in the tribal areas near the dam site in the early years when they had to face extensive police intervention and harassment.
Although it is important to listen to the entire interview since the issues Kammujiji speaks about are all interlinked, for those interested in any specific strategy or issue, here is a list of the relevant sections and their time stamps which will take you directly to that topic.
| 0:00:00 to 0:11:30 | Kammujiji’s life and role in the NBA |
| 0:11:30 to 0:19:40 | Manibeli village and its day to day struggle |
| 0:19:40 to 0:26:30 | Manibeli and its encounters with police |
| 0:26:30 to 0:50:21 | Jalsamarpan. |
| 0:50:21 to 1:06:30 | Fasts and ‘Our Rule in Our Village’ as strategies: |
| 1:06:30 to 1:09:00 | ‘We Shall Drown but Not Move’ as a strategy: |
| 1:09:00 to 1:11:00 | Legal strategies: |
| 1:11:00 to 1:22:00 | Collective strategies and alliance building |
Interview Duration: 1:22:00
Language: Hindi and Nimadi, Subtitles in English
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