Beginning in Bargarh on December 6th, the Dil Jodo Samaj Jodo Abhiyan that is coming to the end of its first phase on December 16th successfully traversed through some tense territory in Orissa where the situation is still far from normal, moreso in the interiors of Kandhamal. Performing a thirty-minute play by the same name, Dil Jodo Samaj Jodo, the team of about 20-25 men and women received an excellent response from locals. The play that built on a drama team comprised by a mixed group of people from different caste groups with a monopoly of two over the rest, unfolds to depict the battle for power with each group beginning to demand its rightful share over the group’s actions and interests. While this demand is broken by the orchestration of riots by those gradually feeling the loss of their grip over the group, the play communicated its message to the public through powerful dialogues laying bare the politically motivated agenda of the Hindtuva forces rampant there. As a timely first initiative of civil society in Orissa, the message sent out hit hard attempting to expose the divisive forces that use and create ethnic conflicts for furthering their own agenda.
Along its course the yatra was bound to be met with hostility by those it exposed, and was prevented from performing the play on more than one occasion. While in Kesinga this was done with the help of official support that caused a technical hitch, in Deogaon RSS activists were responsible for disrupting the performance and disallowing it from continuing. The police in Kesinga arrived with an order to pack away the yatra. Claiming that the yatra had no permission to use a mic in a public space, the police was swift in springing into action and sending them off without performing the play. In Deogaon following the public meeting, they were met with the open hostility of RSS activists, who interrupted the play and took to the platform announcing the apparent one-sided nature of the yatra and managing to prevent the play from being performed. The hostility and discomfort of the Hindutva forces and the state towards the yatra was apparent from these attempts at creating obstacles during their initiative at raising and asking uncomfortable questions.
The yatra, besides these two occasions, however, went off smoothly to conclude its first phase on December 16th in Bhubaneshwar. Sending out a clear message of condemnation of the onslaught of violence on Christians in Orissa and elsewhere, the yatra was uncompromising in its message to expose those at the root of the problem and to sensitize those being used as a result.
