Blame it on misplaced policies and priorities
The sun had just set in this village of Tikamgarh district in Madhya Pradesh. The sudden darkness engulfed us as our car was about to hit the well-carpeted single-lane road at the end of a nearly 2.5 km dirt track. Our vehicle came to a screeching halt. As the dust began to settle, 10, 50, 60… over 100 faces emerged in the yellow beam of the vehicle’s headlights. They were signalling us to stop. While a few men were standing in the middle of the road, some were even sitting there blocking more than half of the road.
“Sir, let us move out of this place,” said a local who was traveling with us as a guide till the nearest main road, lest we lose our way. “They are from the colony of scheduled tribes from the village that we just visited. We have already heard them.”
Yogendra Yadav, who was leading a volunteer team of Swaraj Abhiyan (a political group he and Prashant Bhushan formed after quitting AAP) that I was accompanying to study the impact of rain deficit in Bundelkhand region, asked the driver to stop.
As he rolled down the window, we could hear women, children and elderly requesting us to listen to their story. I could easily identify Om Prakash whom I had spoken barely 20 minutes ago during our visit to Kodiya village earlier in the evening. He seemed better off than others and was motivating others to speak up their concerns without fear during our visit at the village.
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