R Krishna Das
Raipur, October 11
Clad in camouflage clothing, carrying a dish and serving food to the villagers, 2003-batch Indian Police Service (IPS) officer Sunderraj P is carrying forward a custom that Chhattisgarh police has set in Bastar to tap the aged-old practice on the eve of historic Dussehra.
During the festival, Manjhis and Chalkis (the village elder-men from various Parghana’s of Bastar Range) assemble in Jagdalpur, the divisional headquarters of Bastar. The tradition has been continuing for decades and has been a highlight of the 75-day-long Bastar’s enchanting Dussehra that has found a spot in the global tourism map.
The villagers perform many rituals to mark the event in a traditional convention. And when a large number of villagers had mobilised, how can Chhattisgarh police miss the opportunity? Thus started a new operation for the Bastar police battling the red army in the region.
For the last couple of years Bastar Police hosted “Bastar Tha Matta” in honour of the tribal elders, who gathered in Jagdalpur for the historic event. Sundarraj P, posted as Inspector General of Police Bastar Range along with Senior Superintendent of Police Jitendra Meena, IPS official Ankita Sharma and other senior officials and functionaries performed the practice with pomp.
Sundarraj P explains, “Bastar Tha Matta” in local Gondi parlance means “Voice of Bastar.” During the interactive session, Manjhis and Chalkis, the tribal elder-men and social leaders discuss various issues related to security, peace and development of their region with senior officials of civil and police administration.
In the given situation in Bastar, a piece of information coming from the pocket tucked away unobtrusively is the biggest weapon for the security personnel to design strategy for combating the red army. The program also turns out to be a sort of confidence building and grievance redressal platform for the tribals from interior areas of Bastar.
This year “Bastar Tha Matta” event was organized in “Mava Alsana” the Police auditorium in Jagdalpur. “Mava Alsana” is again a Gondi word which means let us meet and deliberate.
In the sidelines of the festival, Chhattisgarh police have taken a big leap forward to build confidence among villagers—a major strategic move.
Sundarraj, who has spent a major tenure of his service in the insurgency-hit pockets of Bastar, has created a niche for himself in innovation in policing to reduce the rift with the villagers. The efforts have started giving the desired results.
The villagers are now so open and close to Sundarraj that they demanded a treat from him. The officer readily accepted and threw a party for them in Akkabeda, a village that rebels once considered under their liberated zone.
