When Development Echoes Colonization: Adivasis and the Silent Conquest

When Development Echoes Colonization: Adivasis and the Silent Conquest

In the grand narrative of modern India’s progress — mega dams, mines, smart cities, industrial corridors — there is another, quieter story: that of the Adivasi, displaced, unheard, and often betrayed.

We may claim this is the price of national development.
But ask yourself honestly —

Is this really development, or merely colonization under a different flag?

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The State as Colonizer: Have We Repeated History?

Once, it was the European colonizers who landed on distant shores, declaring foreign lands “terra nullius” — empty, available. They deemed indigenous peoples as “uncivilized,” and seized their territories in the name of “progress,” “God,” and “Empire.”

Today, in Jharkhand, Odisha, Chhattisgarh, Telangana — and through the Narmada Valley — it is often our own democratic institutions that invoke national interest to push Adivasis off their ancestral land, branding them “backward” or “obstacles to growth.”

What’s the real difference between a British Company and a modern corporation aided by state power, if both uproot communities for resources?

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True Development Is Not Conquest

The irony is profound:
The same nation that once fought foreign rule with slogans of Swaraj now tells its original inhabitants to vacate their sacred lands — for aluminum plants, steel mills, dams, highways.

Let us be clear:

True development is not the conquest or dominance of the privileged over the marginalized.

When tribal land is taken without true consent, it is not progress — it is internal colonization.

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Can There Be a Middle Path?

Yes. But only if we:

• Stop treating Adivasis as passive recipients, and see them as active partners.
• Offer genuine consultation, not tokenism.
• Ensure rehabilitation is not a formality, but a restoration of life and dignity.
• Acknowledge their knowledge systems and preserve their cultures as part of India’s identity — not relics to be exhibited in museums.

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Conclusion: Development Must Be Rooted in Justice

Even Lord Krishna told Arjun to fight — but not for power, for righteousness.

Even Mahatma Gandhi, though peaceful, chose strategic resistance over passive suffering.

Similarly, India today must choose justice over mere GDP, and dignity over displacement.

If we continue down a path where modern India treats its Adivasis the way Europe once treated Native Americans —
we do not rise as a civilization,
we simply become better-dressed colonizers.

Let our strength serve dharma.
Let our progress be shared, not stolen.

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