Farewell to Kaluram Dhodade, who fought for tribal rights
After decades of service to tribals and the environment, Dhodade, affectionately called “Kaka”, died at the Seven Hills Hospital in Mumbai at 10:52pm on Thursday, due to age-related complications
Mumbai: Ashik Gagad, who describes himself as “a small youtuber from a small village,” posted a video of a funeral ceremony in the midst of a forest in Palghar district, not far from Mumbai, on Friday. The camera captured a crowd assembled around a body that had been placed on a bed of leaves, on a bamboo cot. As part of a ritual, the mourners lifted the body and placed it down a few times, before taking it on a procession through the village.
The tadpa, an adivasi musical instrument, and drums played in the background, blending with the sound of mourners wailing. The body was wrapped in a red cloth that bore the words ‘Adivasi Ekta Parishad’ in bold Devnagari script.
The deceased was Kaluram Kakadya Dhodade, 88, one of the most powerful voices among adivasi leaders in Western India. After decades of service to tribals and the environment, Dhodade, affectionately called “Kaka”, died at the Seven Hills Hospital in Mumbai at 10:52pm on Thursday, due to age-related complications.
In recent times, Dhodade led protests in Palghar against the Vadhavan Port, which will submerge parts of Dahanu and displace tribals. He also led agitations against the Mumbai-Ahmedabad bullet train, which threatens to displace adivasis in 73 villages in Palghar. He campaigned against the fallout on the tribals of projects such as the Mumbai-Vadodara Expressway, Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor, and the pollution of the Paaneri river, among other issues.
Dhodade set up the Adivasi Ekta Parishad in 1993 as a collective of adivasi movements across various states. It was the successor to the Bhoomi Sena, a group he established in 1974 to campaign for tribals and the right to ownership of their lands.
“An adivasi himself, Dhodade started working with adivasis when he was still a student, helping them file police complaints and documents with the authorities,” said Sachin Satvi, founder of the Adivasi Yuva Shakti (AYUSH), which worked regularly with Dhodade. “After independence, he focused his struggle on retrieving adivasi land usurped by sahukars, or moneylenders, and landlords who kept the adivasis tied to them through bonded labour. This was a ‘land to the tiller’ movement,” said Satvi.
Restoring adivasi cultural identity was also a focus area for Dhodade. He was saddened by the cultural fracturing of adivasi children studying in boarding schools, then going on to colleges in cities, only to find themselves unable to get jobs, and having to return to their villages, where they weren’t equipped either.
“Common adivasis should start a movement to protect our culture and not depend on leaders,” Dhodade can be heard saying in a video from 2011. His appeal to the government to set up cultural connections in boarding schools did not bear fruit, said Satvi, but he ignited a resurgence of pride among adivasis in their heritage.
A large part of Dhodade’s body of work was focused on the rights of tribals in the Sahyadri Hills, or the Western Ghats, which have been under threat from government projects that have engulfed large swatches of land. This has resulted in widespread deforestation, loss of tribal villages, and the disappearance of wildlife.
“He was a committed and devoted tribal activist but was not extreme or aggressive,” said Kumar Kalanand Mani, central coordinator of the Save Western Ghats March. “We first met in 1986, when we were preparing for a march which he headed in Palghar in 1987-88. He was also present at a conference held at my home in Goa in 1988,” said Mani. “What stood out was his humility and simplicity. He influenced many adivasi youth, who would go onto to lead movements in their own villages.”
Politics was not Dhodade’s cup of tea but in an effort to give adivasis a stronger voice, he contested the Lok Sabha elections once and state elections three times. He never won. Yet, he emerged victorious in ways that mattered most, passing on a powerful legacy to his successors and empowering them to keep up the fight.
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