jan 9, 1970 - BEGINNING
Description:
The mahajans were haunting peasants, usurping them of their land rights, taking away their crops. A young Sibu Soren in his 20's arrives. He waits for the crops to be harvested and then raids the granaries. These were then redistributed among the tribals peasants. This was repeated for some more crop cycles, the fields would be harvested and Sibu would raid them. This smothered the mahajans who now slowly receded. The land was then redistributed among the tribal.
The challenge for Sibu was to rejuvenate among the descendants of Birsa, the old tribal pride. Confidence is key to any movement which thrives on natural justice rather than the rigged state's justice system. Here too many afraid of the legal actions would defect to the side of the mahajans. Sibu was a practical man who knew this would derail the entire movement. He challenged the defectors in his firm voice, chided them for the impotency and explained to them how he has nothing personal to gain from this. His logic was simple,' I am anyway going to go to jail and you are given the same sentence whether you kill one or ten'.
What follows a successful revolt is just as important as what happens during it. Here too the challenge was stability. What were these tribals supposed to do with land sans any of the factors of production? Sibu here too organised them in guilds and ensured that the bullocks and labour were shared among everyone.
Added to timeline:
The Robin Hood of Jharkhand
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