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Abstract
This article engages with the politics of the production and representation of spatial identity in the light of one of the most violent massacres in the history of refugee rehabilitation in India, post 1947 Partition – the Marichjhapi massacre of 1979. The Marichjhapi massacre has escaped public scrutiny for almost two decades. It came to public attention as recent as the late 1990s. This paper will go beyond recollecting ghastly incidents at Marichjhapi (one of the many islands of Sundarbans) and highlight the relationship between politics, spatial injustice and the vulnerability of the peripheral locations within states.
The first part of the article looks at the ways in which Forest Laws were misused against the refugees. The way international debates on forest preservation appropriated the reality of the massacre of the lives of refugees in Marichjhapi is what this part discusses. The second part of the paper looks at the discourse of social injustice as an outcome of the production and representation of ‘space’ in the context of the events at Marichjhapi. Drawing from Lefebvre's conceptions of organisation of space and its influence on social relations, I have argued that both justice and injustice become visible in the specificities of places. Thus the understanding of the interaction between space and societies is essential to the understanding of spatial injustice. Often, the politics of caste identities are at the heart of such spatial injustice as the Marichjhapi massacre testifies to. I have concluded my article with a discussion of spatial injustice from the perspective of borderlands or places located on territorial margins of the state. The materiality of a state's presence depends on the ways its powers are defined at the borders. Thus the location of a space on the borders and its consequent representation makes it far more vulnerable to the violence of state power than it otherwise would have been. The massacre at Marichjhapi was an outcome of a distortion in the representation and definition of that power.
My main arguments are: first, instances like Marichjhapi challenge and redefine dominant discourses on state–subject relationships, providing, in the process, fresh perspectives to the understanding of such binaries as insiders/outsiders, inclusion/exclusion, us/them etc. Second, creation of a spatial identity constitutes the convergence of multiple, often conflicting, identities as social identities, ethnic identities and institutional identities, mostly with a fatal outcome. Third, geographical location of spaces has a lot to do with the formation of spatial identities and is decisive in shaping spatial justice. Finally, instances like Marichjhapi are subaltern narratives that are neither acknowledged by elite nationalist historiographies nor even by the existing subaltern schools. They need to be understood to be able to understand the process of nation-building.
Acknowledgements
This article owes most of its information regarding the events that unfolded in Marichjhapi as well as regarding the environmental issues to the detailed article by Ross Mallick (Ross Mallick, ‘Refugee Resettlement in Forest Reserves: West Bengal Policy Reversal and the Marichjhapi Massacre’, The Journal of Asian Studies, 58(1), 2009, 104–125). My attempt in this article has been to analyse the events through the lenses of space, identity and territory.
Notes
Ranajit Guha, ‘The Small Voice of History’, in Shahid Amin and Dipesh Chakrabarty (eds). Subaltern Studies IX: Writings on South Asian History and Society. (Delhi: Oxford University Press, 1996).
Ibid., 3.
Ibid.
Ibid.
The word ‘subaltern’ has been used here to indicate those people who find the least space and agency in the so-called dominant historiography and who form the other side of the history coin. ‘Subaltern narratives’, thus, have been used to imply such narratives created by the subalterns. The meaning and nature of these words are still in their formative stages, drawing worldwide debates. For the purpose of this article, I have stuck to the most-commonly understood meanings.
Prafulla K. Chakrabarti, The Marginal Men: The Refugees and the Left Political Syndrome in West Bengal. (Kalyani, West Bengal: Lumiere Books, 1990).
The Bangladesh Liberation War (1971) resulted in the birth of Bangladesh through the renaming of erstwhile East Pakistan. The war was followed by a military coup by Zia-ur-Rahman resulting in the death of Mujibur Rahman (1975). This incident gave rise to widespread riots that made the survival of the existing Hindus in Bangladesh, mostly belonging to the agricultural class, all the more difficult.
Syed Serajul Islam, ‘The State in Bangladesh under Zia (1975-81)’, Asian Survey 24(5), 1984, 556–573
The caste system in India had its roots in the ‘varna’ system of the Hindu scriptures, where people were assigned their castes in accordance with their jobs or professions. Gradually the caste system became a hereditary structure from a purely profession-based classification. Those people who were involved mostly in menial occupations were considered as the lowliest-held caste in the caste hierarchy. With the passage of time and the increasing orthodoxy of the higher castes, the caste system became rigid and the lowest of the castes begun to be considered as untouchables – whom the higher castes were careful not to come in contact with: hence the name. The untouchables constituted a number of lowly held sub-castes, the Namasudras being one of them.
The Namasudras were largely a hard-working agrarian community known for their agricultural and artisan skills. It was one of the biggest communities in Bengal, mostly concentrated in the eastern side of undivided Bengal (later Bangladesh) with a long tradition of fighting caste-Hindu domination, voicing their concern against various ignominies of the caste system. The ‘Namasudra movement’ was one of the most politically mobilised untouchables' movements in India in the pre-Partition days. The Partition of India weakened their movement by dividing the Namasudras along religious lines, leaving them as a residue at the lowest rung of the society. In the process, these Namasudras lost their bargaining power as a swing-vote bloc between high-caste Hindus and Muslims, and became politically marginalised in both India and East Pakistan (later Bangladesh). Information from Ross Mallick, ‘Refugee Resettlement in Forest Reserves: West Bengal Policy Reversal and the Marichjhapi Massacre’ The Journal of Asian Studies 58, no. 1, (1999), 105.
The three castes that were considered to belong to the uppermost rungs of the Hindu caste hierarchy are the Brahmins (priests), Kshatriyas (warriors) and Vaishyas (merchants). The Sudras (the Namasudras being a sub-caste within the larger Sudra caste) were considered to be the lowest among the castes. Though in the Vedic ages, these caste categorisations depended on the kind of jobs that the people associated themselves with, later the hierarchy became hereditary and hence rigid. The Brahmin–Kshatriya–Vaishya, thus, became the elite tricaste in the caste hierarchy.
Mallick, op. cit. 105.
The region known as Dandakaranya comprised of parts of Orissa and present day Chhattisgarh.
S.N. Khanna, ‘Dandakaranya Refugees Refuse to Budge’, The Overseas Hindustan Times, 29 June, 2009.
Chakrabarti, op. cit.
The refugees were ‘Bengali’ in their ethnic origin. People of both West Bengal and Bangladesh were of the same ethnic background, that of ‘Bengali’. The Partition was done only on the basis of religion, with West Bengal becoming a Hindu-majority province and Bangladesh becoming a Muslim-majority state.
Mallick, op. cit., 106.
Ram Chatterjee of Revolutionary Socialist Party (RSP), an ally of the Left Front, went to Dandakaranya and asked the refugees to come and resettle in Marichjhapi with assistance from the Left Front.
Sundarban is a delta formed by the Hugli River off the Bay of Bengal and houses a huge mangrove forest. It is home to the Royal Bengal Tiger and several other rare marine and land animal species. It consists of hundreds of islands, separated by narrow creeks and canals. The Bengal–Bangladesh border runs through Sundarban. Marichjhapi is one of the islands in the Sundarban on the Indian side of the border.
The United Central Refugee Council (UCRC) was the council formed within the Left Front specifically for handling refugee resettlement and rehabilitation programmes.
Udbastu Unnayanshil Samity (UUS) was the association formed by the refugees led by leaders chosen from amongst themselves.
The refugees, by virtue of being forced to settle in other states outside West Bengal, were considered as ‘outsiders’ by the Left Front government, the moment they came to power in West Bengal.
The refugees, on coming over from Bangladesh to India, were officially considered as Indian citizens. Mallick, op. cit., 114.
Nilanjana Chatterjee, ‘Midnight's Unwanted Children: East Bengali Refugees and the Politics of Rehabilitation.’ PhD dissertation (Brown University, 2009).
Ibid.
Prasannbhai, Mehta, Laxmi N. Pandey and Mangaldev Visharat. ‘Report on Marichjhapi Affairs’, April 18, mimeographed. Mehta, Pandey and Visharat were members of parliament appointed by prime minister Morarji Desai, despite the objections of the West Bengal government, to visit and investigate Marichjhapi prior to the eviction. Quoted from Mallick op. cit.
Ibid.
Chatterjee, op. cit.
Source: interview with Indian Administrative (IAS) Secretary of the West Bengal Government, in Mallick, op. cit., 110.
Ibid., 114.
Source: interview with Indian Administrative (IAS) Secretary of the West Bengal Government, in ibid.
Ibid.
Chatterjee, op. cit., 312.
Communist Party of India (Marxist). (1982). Rajnaitik-Sangathanik Report (Political-Organisational Report) adopted at West Bengal State Conference 14th Plenary Session. Calcutta: West Bengal State Committee, from Mallick op. cit.
Chatterjee, op. cit., 298–299.
Mallick, op. cit., 110.
Ibid.
Refugee Relief and Rehabilitation Department, West Bengal Government. (1979). “Problems of Refugees from Dandakaranya to West Bengal.” Letter from Deputy Secretary to Zonal Director, Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India. No. 3223-Rehab/DNK-6/79, from Mallick op cit.
Ranjit K. Sikdar, ‘Marichjhapi Massacre’, The Oppressed Indian 4, no. 4 (1982), 21–23.
Mallick, op. cit. 108.
Atharobaki Biswas, ‘Why Dandakaranya a Failure, Why Mass Exodus, Where Solution?’, The Oppressed Indian 4, no. 4 (1982), 18–20.
Mallick op. cit.
Walter Fernandes, J.C Das and Sam Rao, ‘Displacement and Rehabilitation: An estimate of Extent and Prospects’ in Walter Fernandes and Enakshi Ganguly Thukral (eds) Development, Displacement and Rehabilitation. (Delhi: Indian Social Institute, 1989), 78.
Pratap, Chatterjee and Matthias Finger. The Earth Brokers (London: Routledge, 1994), 70
Ibid., 340–341.
Mallick, op. cit., 118.
Sy Montgomery, Spell of the Tiger (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1995), 27–28.
Akhileshwar Pathak, Law, Strategies, Ideologies: Legislating Forests in Colonial India (New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 2002).
Mallick, op. cit., 120.
Kohli Atul, ‘Can the Periphery Control the Centre? Indian Politics at the Crossroads’, The Washington Quarterly 19, no. 4 (1996), 121.
Simon Commission, Indian Statutory Commission: Selections from Memoranda and Oral Evidence by Non-Officials (Part II), (Delhi: Swati Publications, 1929, reprinted 1988).
Henri Lefebvre, The Production of Space (Oxford: Blackwell, 1991).
Ricky A. Allen, The ‘Socio-Spatial Making and Marking of “Us”: Toward a Critical Postmodern Spatial Theory of Difference and Community’, Social Identities 5, no. 3 (1999), 249–277.
The island of Marichjhapi was located near the West Bengal–Bangladesh border and hence was in close proximity to some of the places in Bangladesh from where the refugees had migrated.
Allen, op. cit., 250.
Edward Soja, Postmodern Geographies: The Reassertion of Space in Critical Social Theory (New York: Verso, 1989).
Allen, op. cit., 259.
Edward, Soja. Thirdspace (Cambridge, MA: Blackwell, 1996).
Lefebvre, op. cit.
Ibid.
Allen, op. cit., 260.
Soja, op cit.
Soja, op. cit.
N. Fraser, ‘Rethinking the Public Sphere: A Contribution to the Critique of Actually Existing Democracy’, in H. Giroux and P. McLaren (eds) Between Borders: Pedagogy and the Politics of Cultural Studies (New York: Routledge, 1994).
James C. Clad, ‘Slowing the Wave’, Foreign Affairs, 95 (1994), 139–150.
Chatterjee 356.
Achintyarup Ray, ‘Bullets and Hunger’, The Times of India, Kolkata, 17 May, 2010.
Ibid.
Ibid.
The Partition of Bengal was done on the basis of religion. East Pakistan (which, in 1971 became Bangladesh) was carved out of Bengal as a territory for a Muslim-majority population and West Bengal was officially shown as a Hindu-majority province. However, the population of both West Bengal and Bangladesh was historically of the same ethnic background – that of ‘Bengalis’. Thus religion, and not ethnicity, was the only dividing factor behind the creation of Bangladesh.
John Rawls, A Theory of Justice (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1971).
By the representation of allocated resources, I indicate the conflicting perceptions of the space underscored by identity politics.
Iris Marion Young, Justice and the Politics of Difference (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1990).
Jean-Francois Lyotard and Jean-Loup Thebaud, Just Gaming (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1985).
Andrew Sayer, Realism and Social Science (London: Sage, 2000).
Ibid, 4.
Michel Foucault, Security, Territory, Population (Basingstoke: Palgrave MacMillan, 2007).
H. Van Houtum and T. van Naerssen. Bordering, ordering and othering. Tijdschrift voor Economische en Sociale Geografie, 93, (2002), 125–136, as quoted in David Newman, ‘The lines that continue to separate us: borders in our ‘borderless’ world’, Progress in Human Geography, 30, no. 2 (2006), 143–161.
P. Ganster and D. Lorey (eds), Borders and border politics in a globalising world (Lanham, MD: Rowman and Littlefield/ SR Books, 2005), 354.
Newman, 147.
J. Castellino, S. Allen and J. Gilbert, Title to Territory in International Law: A temporal analysis (Aldershot: Ashgate, 2003).
Newman, op. cit., 147.
David Hardiman, ‘The Bhils and Shahukars of Eastern Gujarat’, in Ranajit Guha (ed) Subaltern Studies v: Writings on South Asian History and Society (Delhi: Oxford University Press, 1987).
The Tiger Project, which began in 1973, was a World Wildlife Fund-sponsored project aimed at the preservation of tigers of which certain islands of the Sundarban was a part.
Revolutionary Socialist Party (RSP) and Forward Bloc (FB).
Ranajit Guha, ‘Chandra's Death’ in Ranajit Guha (ed) Subaltern Studies v: Writings on South Asian History and Society (Delhi: Oxford University Press, 1987).
Guha, op. cit.
Hastings Donnan and Thomas M. Wilson, Borders: Frontiers of Identity, Nation and State (Oxford, New York: Berg, 1999).
Hastings Donnan and Thomas M. Wilson (eds). Border Approaches: Anthropological Perspectives on Frontiers (Lanham, New York, London: University Press of America, 1994).