CPI(M)’s Laxman Munda, Leader of Bonai’s Masses

Giving the country its first tribal minister, Bonai constituency of Odisha didn’t gain much from the contribution. As per census 2011, the four blocks of Bonai assembly constituency, Bonaigarh, Gurundia, Lahunipada, and Koida, together have a population of 215,736. The constituency has 988 females in 1000 males. Approximately 56% of the population is scheduled tribe. Literacy rate is 61.2%, much less than the state and national average. Out of the entire population, only 47.49% are employed as regular and marginal workers. The main occupations of the people of the area are agriculture and working in mines situated in Kalta.

The major issues of the area are low literacy rate, unemployment and improper implementation of the Forest Rights Act. Also, the area is not well connected to the rest of the state. It doesn’t have a railway station and the nearest railway station, Rourkela, is 61.9 km away.

After making a leader out of Jual Oram, the area saw the development of the leader. The MLA became MP and minister later and settled around the capital to fulfill his political ambitions. It was only after 2004 that the place actually had a chance to get direct contact with their MLA. The 2004 election results brought the alternative as Laxman Munda, the man who led movements with the people for the overall development of Bonai.

The area is rich in mineral reserves and has numerous mines. However, there is a still huge number of unemployed youth in Bonai. Six loading sites having high employment opportunities have not given any employment. The farmers had to depend purely on the monsoons for irrigation until recently. Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Biju Janata Dal (BJD) haven’t spoken about a single issue yet.

The sitting MLA Laxman Munda joined the Communist Party of India (Marxist) [CPI(M)] in 1997, attracted by its ideology, collective decision making and regular movements for the working class, tribals and peasantry. He is a mass leader and has led movements since then for each and every development-related issue. He was elected as an MLA for the first time in 2004 and second time in 2014. As he didn’t belong to the ruling party, getting funds was always an issue. He was on a hunger strike in front of chief minister’s residence for repairing of NH215 and other demands related to railways and roadways.

In the words of Laxman Munda, “There are lot of things to be done for Bonai. The funds are present, however, they aren’t sanctioned easily. The biggest hurdle in sanctioning the funds is that the MLA doesn’t belong to ruling party and the state and central government do not see much personal gain in doing so. BJD shows up only during elections and is least concerned about the problems at the grassroot level. BJP on the other hand is just concerned with playing the communal cards. Starting from demands to sanction funds for making canals to getting water supply to each gram panchayat, the people had to lead agitations. The agitations, protests and movements have been proven to be successful today.”

“Today, each gram panchayat has drinking water supply under a mega water supply project. The movements compelled the sanction of 700 crores for establishing RO water filter in every gram panchayat from the District Mineral Fund. Solar water pumps have been set up in most of the villages. Solar lights have been provided to most of the villages. Agitations have led to initiation of construction of a dam in Rukuda, which would provide water to 74 villages. A blood bank has been finally started in the Bonai hospital. Jangla Bridge had been made over river Brahmani connecting Bonai to Lahunipara. However, many of the demands have not been fulfilled yet, which includes opening of cold storage in 4 blocks of Bonai, pattas have not been provided to most of the people under the Forest Rights Act and the age-old demand of extention of rail lines to connect Talcher and Bimlagarh”, said Munda.

It has been seen that even during elections the other political parties like BJP and BJD don’t speak about the problems that Bonai faces, most probably because they do not have the faintest idea of their problems. All they do is boasting about certain central and state government schemes which have never been of any use to the people there. At a time when farmers are not being paid the right price for their crops, the BJD’s Kalia scheme stands as a joke to the farmers. Similarly, all that the BJP tries to do is create certain communal tensions to strengthen its vote bank. It didn’t do anything for the people of Bonai even when it was in power.

Munda views the fight as a battle between ideas to achieve the development of Bonai.