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 of the movement both within the Narmada Valley and representing the NBA 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 to actualise the demands of the movement.
Kamala Yadav (Kammujiji)’s interview here is unique as she has been the part of the Samarpit Dal of the NBA and has been at the forefront of NBA’s strategies of jalsamarpan and indefinite fasts. She throws light on the key strategies of the NBA as someone in the frontline of these strategies. Kammujiji has faced the rising waters of the dam right from the time the waters entered Manibeli, the first village to submerge in Maharashtra. She has undertaken indefinite fast as part of the NBA program in the early nineties which pressurised 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, “Dubenge Par Hatenge Nahi” (We shall drown but not move). She has also talked about the significance of the day to day struggles of the people in the early years in the tribal areas near the dam site with extensive police intervention and harassment.
Although it is important to listen to the entire interview put up here as the issues Kammujiji speaks on are interlinked, those interested in any specific topic could go directly to the section as marked below.
Kammujiji’s life and role in the NBA: 0:00:00 to 0:11:30
Manibeli village and its day to day struggle: 0:11:30 to 0:19:40
Manibeli and its encounters with police: 0:19:40 to 0:26:30
Jalsamarpan: 0:26:30 to 0:50:21
Fasts and ‘Our Rule in Our Village’ as strategies: 0:50:21 to 1:06:30
‘We Shall Drown But Not Move’ as a strategy: 1:06:30 to 1:09:00
Legal strategies: 1:09:00 to 1:11:00
Collective strategies and alliance building: 1:11:00 to 1:22:00
Interview Duration: 1:22:00
Language: Hindi and Nimadi, Subtitles in English
Subtitles can be switched on and off by clicking ‘CC’ button at the bottom right of the video