Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday, November 26 asserted that the Bharatiya Janata Party government at the Centre and the states would continue to protect Jharkhand’s ‘Jal’, ‘Jungle’ and ‘Zameen’ (water, forest and land).

The statement comes at a time when hundreds of Adivasis and forest-dwelling communities from Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Jharkhand, Bihar, West Bengal and other states protesting at Delhi’s Jantar Mantar remain unheard.

“The BJP governments at the Centre and the state would continue to protect Jharkhand’s ‘Jal’, ‘Jungle’ and ‘Zameen’ (water, forest and land), no matter what the opposition parties say. The state has made efforts to curb Naxalism in the state and would continue to fight against the menace,” PM Modi said.

Protestors Demands Remain Unheard?

The indefinite protest by the forest-dwelling communities in the national capital is an attempt to remind the government to implement the Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006, also known as the Forest Rights Act. The Act recognises the rights of all forest dwellers’ to live in forests and cultivate forest land up to four hectares. The act prohibits carrying out any activity on the forest land till individual and community claims dependent on it are settled.

The protests are also against the Supreme Court’s February 13 order evicting nearly 10 lakh tribal families across 16 states rejecting their claims to forest land.

Under the Forest Rights Act, Adivasis can retain their forest land by filing claims to authorities. However, the Adivasis protesting in Delhi said that their claims were rejected despite submitting adequate proof. Some of the tribals also said that their claims were accepted, but they got a smaller share of land than they were promised.

Modi’s Imaginary Claims

While Prime Minister Narendra Modi claimed that chief minister Raghubar Das led BJP government has provided good governance in Jharkhand, the demands of the forest dwellers have fallen on deaf ears.

Five days on, the forest communities staging protest are still in hope of some response from the government even as eviction drives across states snatching lands of these communities continues. However, the PM, in a rally in Jharkhand, congratulated the state government for successfully protecting their rights and demands of Adivasis in the state.

Also Read: Delhi: Hundreds Of Adivasis Stage Protest For Their Legal Right To ‘Jal, Jungle, Zameen’