Submergence Village Jalsindhi, Madhya Pradesh
Pervi, a senior Adivasi leader of Narmada Bachao Andolan (NBA) and Khedut Mazdoor Chetna Sangathan (KMCS) belonged to one of the 193 villages to submerge in the Sardar Sarovar Project (SSP) in Madhya Pradesh (MP). As part of KMCS and NBA, Pervi’s struggle was on multiple fronts. Initially in the 1980s it was against the forest department in MP for establishing rights of scheduled tribes over forest lands and against indescribable state repression; later, against the SSP as part of the NBA. Pervi’s interview is therefore unique to understand the many struggles of both the KMCS and the NBA.
“The River Narmada is our mother and the forest our father”, these words of Pervi who is sadly no more, resonate with the Adivasi way of life and beliefs about rivers and forests across the country. In her interview here, Pervi explains how and why the scheduled tribe communities living on the banks of the River Narmada consider the River Narmada their mother (the giver) and the forest their father (that helps sustain the Adivasi way of life). Pervi further explains why she considers the building of a gigantic dam on the River Narmada a death noose that choked to death the once free flowing river and turned her into a bloated and stinking carcass. She explains how the building of a dam is not just killing of a River but all living things- the big and small – sustaining in her belly. Pervi also narrates the battle the people on the banks of the Narmada fought to stop the SSP, to stop the cutting of the forests that sustained them and against the state repression they have had to endure as a consequence.
The translation of this interview needed special expertise as it is in Bhilali language, which has no written script and spoken only in a limited region of the country. I therefore wish to specially acknowledge Rahul Banerjee for the translation of this interview.
Interview Duration: 0:59:30
Language: Bhilali, Subtitles in English
Subtitles can be switched on and off by clicking ‘CC’ button at the bottom right of the video