Mobilisation of social movements and the local state in Independent India

Abstract

This article examines mobilisation tactics and the local state in two social movements in Independent India, the Narmada Bachao Andolan (NBA) and the POSCO Pratirodh Sangram Samiti (PPSS) (anti-POSCO campaign committee). The role of customary and elected leadership in villages has been pivotal in mobilising communities in some social movements, but this leadership is susceptible to corruption and divisive tactics employed by the state or private companies. My research establishes that the NBA relied on customary village leaders with titles such as karbharis and patels to mobilise the project-affected community in Maharashtra, Gujarat, and Madhya Pradesh. As in anti-colonial movements, the NBA mapped onto local government structures and effectively ensured the participation of entire villages through ties of local loyalty. However, this tactic had unintended consequences as some karbharis/patels in Gujarat and Maharashtra defied the NBA tenet of not accepting government rehabilitation, thereby splintering the movement. On the other hand, in Odisha, the local elected and customary leaders vacillated over support to POSCO. This created the space for ‘external’ leadership of the Communist Party of India to lead the anti-POSCO agitation. The article discusses the contrasting tactics of the NBA’s engagement with the state and the PPSS’s rejection of its authority and the differential impact on the project-affected communities.