Unfortunately, such threats, repeated over the last three decades, did not deter the government from constructing the dam. And this was despite a report of a team of experts from the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MOEF) exposing how the project had disregarded several ecological factors. The fight is now against corruption in compensation for the displaced and increasing the dam’s height. A number of rallies, dharnas, indefinite fasts, agitations, public meetings and padyatras have been held during this period even as the government tried to hush up the matter.

The movement has had its share of victories. Owing to it, rehabilitation of the displaced prior to launching such projects has become a subject of debate. Other social effects of the projects have also been highlighted by the movement. Its greatest achievement is that it questioned the environmental and current development model at an intellectual level and brought it to the international forum for discussion.

Under the Narmada Valley Development Project, 30 major and 135 medium sizeddams were planned on the river, which included giant projects such as the Sardar Sarovar and Maheswar dams. In 1985, the World Bank announced a loan of $450 million for the project. Four years later, the Narmada Bachao Andolan (NBA) erupted in the form of a mass movement. It brought the project under the scanner and demanded reconsideration.

Over 30 years, the movement, along with rehabilitation and resettlement issues, it has continued to raise several other environmental and biological concerns about factors affecting public health.

In 1994, a World Bank expert team conducted a survey of the Narmada Valley and reported several irregularities. It found that the impact of the project on the environment had not been properly assessed. Moreover, it said, displacement and rehabilitation could not be efficiently carried out with the existing methods. As a result, the World Bank withdrew the loan. This was a major victory for the movement. The Union government, however, went ahead with the original plan of dam construction despite the C also raising environmental concerns.

The Sardar Sarovar project was completed in December 2006 and inaugurated byNarendra Modi, then Gujarat chief minister.

The NBA claims that the project affected nearly 3,20,000 lives. The submergence area of Indira Sagar dam covered 255 villages, including the 700-year-old districtof Harsud near Khandwa in Madhya Pradesh. Harsud was feared to be submerged during the monsoon of 2004. Therefore, the village was evacuated on 30 June without prior rehabilitation of the displaced.

Hundreds of activists from across the country — human rights crusaders,environmentalists, writers, intellectuals, film and media personalities, students, women, tribals, farmers and many others — have joined the Narmada Bachao Andolan. Booker Prize winner Arundhati Roy, who is also part of the movement, debated the issue in depth in her book The Cost of Living. In 2006, Aamir Khan lent support to Medha Patkar in her struggle for rehabilitation and resettlement of the project-affected. He personally went to meet the activists, after which he was widely criticised. Gujarat even imposed a state-wide ban on his film Fanaa.

Despite differences, the movement’s leadership has never resorted to petty politics or indulged in a blame game. They treat different approaches with respect and call it a division of labour.

Stellar Achievements

How far has the movement succeeded in achieving its goals? And though the demands have been toned down over the decades, can the issue be trivialised?

Rehmat, a member of Manthan Adhyayan Kendra, a research organisation monitoring water and energy issues in Madhya Pradesh, has been part of theNarmada Bachao Andolan for the past 11 years and has been personally affected by the project. He says, “In totality, an evaluation would reveal that even though the construction of the dam could not be stopped, the movement has had a comprehensive impact. It is no longer easy to forcefully evict people from their land. Prior to NBA, there was no policy for land compensation. The extent of insensitivity was such that when the issue of rehabilitation was raised by NBA, the government did not even have the figures for people affected by the project. The movement forced the government to offer land as compensation to people displaced by the Sardar Sarovar project, though several lacunae remain. The Andolan has had a larger impact as it created awareness about several other issues. People have learnt to fight for their rights.”

Abdul Jabbar, who has been a crusader for the Bhopal Gas Tragedy victims for decades, shares Rehmat’s views. “The dam was built but it has opened debates surrounding other such projects. The harm of such giant projects has become a subject of debate internationally. It is a major achievement. People in hundreds of villages now know the importance of a movement and how to stand up for their rights even if it means fighting the system,” he says.

“The movement has united activists across the country and inspired other movements,” says Shankar Tadwale, convener of Khedut Mazdoor Chetna Sangathan. “It brought the tragedy of displaced lives to the country’s notice and forced the governments to change their attitude towards rehabilitation.”

Former chief secretary of Madhya Pradesh, Sharad Chandra Behar, who has also been part of the nba says, “The movement that raised its voice against the so-called model of development is the first example that shows how to protest against such major projects which were earlier accepted without question.

The NBA has created awareness about the widespread harm of such projects not restricted to the people of the affected area but on a wider canvas. It changes the land, its flora and fauna, its environment, its culture as well as its history. It has brought issues of human, social, cultural and environmental impact of such projects into popular discourse. Thanks to NBA, protests against nuclear and mining projects have also been launched. The international community acknowledged it when Medha Patkar was appointed as a member of the World Commission on Dams.”

Dam(n)ed by the State

Quoting Jawaharlal Nehru when he spoke to the villagers who were to be displaced by the Hirakud dam in 1948,Arundhati Roy begins her essay ‘The Greater Common Good’ thus: “If you are to suffer, you should suffer in the interest of the country”. In the context of expensive projects, governments continue to function under this impression of serving the ‘greater common good’. In fact, they have gone a step further by alleging that such movements are a hurdle in the path of development. For instance, recently a group of farmers protested against the increase of water level in the Omkareswar dam in Khandwa region by standing in waistdeep waters for over a month. Madhya Pradesh cm Shivraj Singh Chouhan accused the protest of being “anti-development” since the project would benefit the whole country.

According to Rehmat, the government has not meted out such autocratic treatment to NBA alone. It has, in fact, been equally insensitive in other matters like land acquisition. Despite knowing how the land bill in its present form curtails farmers’ rights, the State ignored all the protests and agitations against it. The Modi government’s keenness to pass the bill is “very disturbing”. On the one hand, governments are doling out land and other facilities to industrialists for free by organising investor meets. On the other hand, farmers are protesting non-violently, sticking to the principles of satyagraha. But no one is ready to listen to them.

“It has become a one-sided affair now,” says Tadwale. “Governments no longer heed mass movements. Activists are labelled anti-development, anti-national and even Naxalites.” Explaining the reason behind this, he says, “There is a section which wants to monopolise and control all the resources in the country to exploit it for their own profit.”

“The government and the administration firmly believe that if some of the people have to sacrifice for the development of the country, it is justified,” says Behar. “Politicians also tend to believe that such movements have no constitutionallegitimacy since they are the real public representatives.” Sharing one of his experiences, he says, “While I was part of the administration I often heard politicians say that they knew what people really want better than the activists.”

Democracy beyond elections

The political nature of mass movements has long been debated and there are several opinions surrounding it. While some prefer to believe that they are social movements devoid of politics, others hold that the issues raised by them arepolitically motivated. A third section has a contrary view, claiming that they have an active engagement in politics. The emergence of Aam Aadmi Party (aap) on the political scene sparked off the debate strongly. Later, several activists who were earlier part of the Narmada Bachao Andolan joined aap and contested elections. Alok Agarwal is one such member of aap who is now the convener of the party’s Madhya Pradesh unit.

“There has always been confusion about politics and electoral politics,” says Rehmat. “Earlier people involved in mainstream politics used to accuse us of playing politics in the guise of mass movements — to which we replied that we were not indulging in party politics,” Rehmat recalls. This caused further confusion. In 1995-96, it began to emerge that for meeting their objectives, social movements are needed to participate in electoral politics. However, electoral politics is typically exercised on the cards of caste and community appeasement, money and mafia. The popularity of Anna Hazare and the rise of AAP made clean politics seem possible and the 2014 Lok Sabha election saw several activists entering the fray.