Narmada Bachao Andolan (NBA) leader Medha Patkar who was protesting against inadequate rehabilitation and resettlement of families affected by the Sardar Sarovar Dam on the Narmada River was removed by police from her protest site in Madhya Pradesh’s Dhar district and shifted to a hospital in Indore.

The demands of the Narmada Bachao Andolan (NBA) are perfectly legal, nothing radical and in fact just asking for the Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh to implement the Supreme Court’s order. But instead of listening, the Chief Minister reacts in the most erratic manner, by tweeting with empathy and then acting quite the opposite intimidating protesters with violence and police force. This pattern runs through the BJP led government and their leaders, leaving people thoroughly confused. They tweet one way and then act the other or don’t act at all. It’s like India have two governments, one on social media and other sitting in Delhi.

NBA was started in Khadwa, Madhya Pradesh in 1989 as a reaction to the construction of the Sardar Sarovar dam, the massive displacement of vulnerable communities and destruction of the environment that would come along with it. It has been over two decades and their fight continues. Even while they might fade in and out of your memories, they continue to stand for issues and have forced several governments to listen.

While few could see the injustices that the initially funded World Bank Project would cause, NBA was one to have the foresight and sensitivity to understand the damage.  In  1993, the Indian government   cancelled   the  

remaining World Bank’s Independent review and the Morse Commission exposed the violation of its policies. Despite the cancellation of the loan from the World Bank, the Indian government continued with the project undeterred by the huge cost to people and the environment.

NBA pursued with its fight and won with a Supreme Court judgment ensuring people some compensation. But corruption and lack of accountability run so deep in Indian governance that fake land registries allegedly did not allow the beneficiaries to get what was rightfully theirs. NBA’s determination saw the Madhya Pradesh High Court set up the Jha Commission to look into this corruption. Unfortunately, this report was not made public and the Madhya Pradesh government was directed to take actions on the findings of the Commission’s report.

In the last 30 years, little action has been taken by the Madhya Pradesh government and allegedly out of the 40,000 odd people displaced only 40-50 have received land. While many await justice, 18,000 families are further displaced, post the gates of the Sardar Sarovar Dam being closed, the ruling party celebrated this as a victory of development.

While many battles have been lost by the Andolan, some important one have been won, which keeps the Andolan together. Increase in compensation for the landless laborers, readjustment of land rates and complete halt to the Maheshwar Project combined with legal redressal have proven to be crucial in keeping up the morale.

There have,  over the years been several forces that sought to malign the NBA. The motives  have  

been  questioned  and  the leadership criticized. ‘Anti-development’ and ‘Anti-national’ are just some of the labels thrust on it. Even the means of protest have been questioned.

For people in Narmada valley, it is not just their houses and farms; it is their history, their culture, the land where their ancestors waked and prayed to Mother Narmada.

Medha Patkar’s 12 day hunger strike put the Madhya Pradesh government on the back foot, prompting it to forcibly shift her away from the protest site, where thousands of people had gathered and admitted her at a hospital in Indore.

In the last few weeks, Project affected families have organized jail satyagrahas, Kafan (shroud) sataygraha, ChulhaBandh (no cooking for a day satyagraha), blocked bridges and gheraoed officials surveying the villages in the submergence area. The NBA and many Project Affected Families also question why the Madhya Pradesh government is pushing the project when it is not gaining anything substantial. They also ask how the submergence area is shown to have decreased when the dam height has been increased over the years.

Medha Patkar told that Sardar Sarovar Project primarily benefited Gujarat while Madhya Pradesh will be worst affected. “Madhya Pradesh doesn’t need power, it is already power surplus. Madhya Pradesh is not getting much water for irrigation or drinking water from Sardar Sarovar Project. Over 40,000 families in 214km stretch upstream Narmada are at the risk of drowning… but due to the Modi factor, the agencies concerned are pushing the project, without addressing concerns of 

project  affected  families” she said.

The Sardar Sarovar Nigam Ltd., Gujarat which is implementing the Sardar Sarovar Project, says the project will provide irrigation to 18.45 lakh hectares in 312 villages of Gujarat, 2.4 lakh hectares in Rajasthan and 37,500 hectares in Maharashtra. Sardar Sarovar Project will provide drinking water to 9490 villages and 173 urban centers in Gujarat and 1336 villages in Rajasthan. The power generated by Sardar Sarovar Project is shared by three states Madhya Pradesh (57%), Maharashtra (27%) and Gujarat(16%).

Nobody has made a greater contribution to building such grassroots movements than Medha Patkar. NBA opposed the displacement of lakhs of people by the Sardar Sarovar project and other giant dams on the river Narmada and demands their just rehabilitation. The agitation, relentless but always peaceful, highlighted the project’s ecological, social and economic irrationality and horrendous  human costs and led to the world Bank pulling out of the Sardar Sarovar Project and the creation of an independent complaints mechanisms in the bank- a major gain for the global ecology movement.

Patkar was physically attacked, maligned, dragged into fighting fake cases and demonized by her opponents, especially the Gujarat government. But she took the fight for the people through vigorous protests, satyagrahas, fasts and public education campaigns, solidly backed by in-depth documentation and analysis of the disastrous impact of the dam projects, including the inevitable loss of the livelihoods and destruction of the Narmada Valley’s rich natural resource base and its archaeological heritage.

Patkar never lost sight of the central issue of equity: the Narmada Projects would benefit the already 

privileged and further impoverish the poor. As it became clear that the very magnitude of the projects  precluded an accurate assessment of the hydrological damage and natural resource loss and that genuine rehabilitation would be impossible, NBA moved towards challenging their very basis and claims to development. It began to demand alternative human model of development.

Patkar refused to accept defeat. She is present in and joins people’s struggles all over India.

Recently, renowned American Historian and Philosopher  Noam Chomsky has come out in support of the  Narmada Valley’s project affected people. Chomsky has endorsed an online petition seeking Prime Minster Narendra Modi’s intervention in ensuring the justice for those “threatened” by submergence due to the Sardar Sarovar in Madhya Pradesh.

The only Indian celebrities who showed the guts to support NAB are Booker Prize winner Arundhati Roy and actor Aamir Khan.

Indian Politician Binoy Viswam has opinioned that the Indian media is not considering the strike in the way it needs attention. ‘They are giving less consideration to struggles like this’ he said.

Nobody  like   a  journalist,  an intellectual  or  an artist  from India, come  forward  to register an opinion.  Still  she  is  leading the battle.In India  unlike  in other nations,  people  fears  the government.   We can’t   blame those who  not  responded,       since   those who  oppose   will   be suppressed.

Even though nobody supported her, Medha Patkar and her team struggled for Narmada. Nobody knows what is going to happen after her arrest. But everybody knows one thing, the struggle will continue until her last breath.