Mobilizing Citizens’ Support for the Alienated and the Oppressed
The people of Bihar and Jharkhand, of the then undivided Bihar, have not once but three times, just in one century, have thrown themselves in the fire in order to lighten up, transform and shape Indian national conscious, raise it from slumber so that India can face the challenges that came on its path. Early last century Champaran satyagraha of Mahatma Gandhi, his inaugural nonviolent action in India, transformed the very nature of national freedom struggle, brought the plight of the peasant to the forefront. Immediately after independence, Bhoodan (the Land Gift Movement of Acharya Vinoba Bhave) was a most unique social experiment of love-force and compassion. Whereas, over a smallest piece of land people shed blood; even the Mahabharata was created because of Kaurav King Duryodhan’s refusal to give away even an inch of land to the Pandavas; landholders in thousands gave away ownership over part of their land so that the landless can live a life of dignity. 24 hundred thousand acres of land was donated under the leadership of Acharya Vinoba Bhave. The people of this misunderstood land of Bihar showed how high they, ordinary human being, can morally rise. Last but not the least; when Indian democracy faced its biggest challenge of survival in nineteen seventies, it was once more the same Bihar which came to the rescue of the nation under the inspiring leadership of Jaiprakash Narayan. We were saved entering into an dark era of dictatorship, democracy was restored. Rest of India’s experience with Bihar has been liberating, though it is hardly recognized.
It is in this land of what is now Jharkhand and Bihar that a part of its people, who are under distress and desperation feel that only the gun can protect them. It is a sorry state of a society that the pain in one part of it is not felt by the other parts of the same body. People of Bihar and Jharkhand , who have uplifted national awareness at major turning points and steered the nation on the course of righting the wrong through moral means, today need to rise for none but themselves. It is a call of Jharkhand to Jharkhandis and Bihar to Biharis; It is a call to respond with moral means to their own pain and alienation within. Vital difference can be made if the disconnected parts of the society are reconnected; if the people in distress and desperation find rest of the society sensitive to their plight and ready to stand by them when in need; when they extend their brotherly and sisterly hand to their less fortunate brethrens and mobilize social awareness on the path of seeking justice for the deprived and the dejected, for nutralizinzing violence through mobilizing nonviolence.
Swarajppeth is thus engaged in an experiment in
1) Sensitizing the educated, the youth and every section of society in general in order to-
Re-connect with the disconnected, deprived and the dejected, spare some time and resources to go to them, listen to them, talk to them, understand them, build brotherly/sisterly relationship.
Mobilize voluntary intellectual, professional and other recourses in their service.
Become the voice of the voiceless; stand by them when in need; make them feel protected by social goodwill and concern and active support at times of need.
Develop a methodology of mobilizing social affection, which can be called, in other words, spiritualizing social action.
2) Build cadres of Gandhi Shanti Sainiks or peace keepers for intervention in the times of social need, disharmony, tension and violence. We already enlisted 31 Shanti Sainiks who participated in two levels of non-violence training. Another batch of 23 was trained in March 2013 in Delhi A group of 50 energetic tribal youth, many of them with a leadership back ground and earlier militant training will be gathering for a two day meeting with Rajiv Vora in one of the villages in the deep forest area of Banka district., and about thirty in Jharkhand in june-July 2013.