Two years ago when Rahul Gandhi visited Ijirupa village, he promised the Dongaria Kondhs and Kutia Kondhs? the two primitive tribal groups?as well as other people living in around Niyamgiri mountains that he would bat for their rights in Delhi.
?When Rahul came in May 2008, he clutched our hands and said he would be our man in Delhi. We believed him. We knew he had power and if anyone could stop the project then it was him. We told him how much we depended on the mountain for our daily living. Now he has kept his promise,? said Kumti Majhi, a Kutia Kondh, sitting inside his hut in Kendubaradi hamlet under the foothills of Niyamgiri mountain.
On Thursday when Rahul Gandhi addresses a rally consisting of tribals and locals just on the foothills of Niyamgiri mountain, the top of which Anil Agarwal-owned Vedanta Aluminium proposed to dig up for the 6 million tonne per annum alumina refinery, villagers like Kumti Majhi will say that the Gandhi scion kept his promise.
Like Majhi, another tribal, Samlok Samaji, from Sanpchanchda village had trooped to Irijupa, a hamlet on the foothills of Niyamgiri, to listen to Rahul. ?He told me he would protect Adivasis like me. I was not very sure. But now I think he has kept his word,? said Samaji, who like other tribals learnt about the MoEF?s rejection of Vedanta?s second stage clearance only around Tuesday noon. Lack of television sets delayed breaking of the news to the Niyamgiri tribals.
So even as rainclouds threatened to envelop Ijirupa, scores of tribals huddled around their tribal God Niyampenu?a stone as well as small wooden logs smeared with vermillion?in Ijirupa, the place where Rahul had promised them protection from Vedanta?s plans to mine Niyamgiri.