Adivasi workers and organisations across Bengal are mobilising outside party politics to press demands on wages, forest rights and dignity
Tea garden workers in north Bengal and protestors in Kolkata highlight shared experiences of precarity and exclusion
Alliances of social organisations and traditional institutions are reshaping collective representation
Women workers play a central role in sustaining movements and negotiations with the state
The fog was so dense that Dooars Kanya, the administrative building of Alipurduar district in north Bengal, was barely visible to a group of Adivasi women camping a hundred metres away. The previous night, Migni Oraon, a worker from Hantapara tea garden, fell seriously ill due to the cold and was rushed to hospital. Earlier that day, Mahakal Oraon, a worker-negotiator, attempted to jump from the fifth floor of Dooars Kanya, believing his death might awaken the administration.
More than 750 kilometres away, thousands of Adivasi women and men from the south-western districts of Bengal braved the cold to reach Kolkata for a Bikhob Sammellan, a grievance-gathering held on January 6. Although these groups never met, their shared experiences of struggle, resilience, despair and hope converged in the winter air, forming a powerful narrative of resistance.
The United Forum of All Adivasi Organisations (UFAAO), an alliance of fifty Adivasi social organisations, convened the Sammellan. Its joint convenor, Tapan Sardar, asked, “What have we not demanded for education, forest rights and dignity?” Once again, the forum presented a charter of nine demands. Sardar remarked, “Adibashider dhamsha madol chai na, chai amra shikha (Tribal communities don't want performance, we want education),” criticising the state’s reliance on symbolic gestures, arguing that substantive access to education had been denied while hundreds of Adivasi hostels have remained closed since the COVID lockdown.
The Chief Minister is often seen on stage with Adivasi instruments such as the dhamsha and madol, dancing alongside Adivasi performers. Speakers at the Sammellan contrasted these public displays with unresolved structural issues. Several also raised concerns about fake Scheduled Tribe certificates. One leader described this as “jati churi”, or caste identity theft, drawing parallels with allegations of electoral corruption.
Rajeshwar Tudu from Purulia and Dileshwar Mandi from Bankura, members of traditional Adivasi institutions and the recently formed Prakriti Bachao Adivasi Bachao Maanch, criticised the state’s failure to implement the Forest Rights Act, 2006, which was intended to address historical injustice. Through the Maanch’s efforts, Gram Sabhas have been constituted under the Act. In the Ayodhya Hills, Adivasi communities are resisting the Turga Pumped Storage Project, while in Mukutmonipur they are opposing illegal tourist lodges. Several speakers referred, often sarcastically, to the ruling party’s slogan Jangal Mahal Hasche (Jungle Mahal is smiling/laughing).
UFAAO had planned to submit its demands to both the Governor and the Chief Minister. Despite prior intimation, the police informed the delegation that only one representative would be allowed to meet the Chief Minister. The forum rejected this condition, viewing it as an attempt to undermine collective representation. No one eventually met the Chief Minister, while a team of five submitted a deputation to the Governor.
Meanwhile, from December 29, nearly 200 tea garden workers began the Chai Shramik Ekta Andolon outside Dooars Kanya. Workers from six gardens owned by FMCG giant Merico Agro Industries demanded payment of four months’ pending wages after repeated negotiations failed. Tripartite meetings scheduled for December 31, January 2 and January 5 were cancelled. An hour before the final meeting, Merico stated it would engage only with Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)- and All India Trinamool Congress (TMC)-affiliated unions and sought another fifteen days to arrange funds. Political unions had earlier cited their unavailability, a position workers said revealed their alignment with management rather than workers.
Lakshmi Mahali, a worker, said political leaders approach them during elections but disappear during crises. Another woman described how Merico selectively paid wages in some gardens to weaken the movement. Hematao Oraon spoke of hunger deaths and children dropping out of school. Just a week earlier, however, TMC General Secretary Abhishek Banerjee had promised that the daily wage of tea garden workers would be raised from Rs 250 to Rs 300.
The crisis has its roots in decades of instability following the collapse of major companies such as Duncans. In 2024, the state issued a standard operating procedure for sick and abandoned estates, allowing longer leases after compliance monitoring. Merico welcomed the policy, but the current movement highlights how managerial security does not translate into protection of labour rights.
The Paschim Banga Chai Majdoor Samiti, formed in 2020, emerged from women workers’ rejection of male-dominated, undemocratic political unions. Now active in forty gardens, the organisation’s solidarity has strengthened the current Andolon, drawing support from workers across multiple estates.
Late on the night of January 6, while Adivasi groups from south-west Bengal were returning home from the Sammellan in Kolkata, events unfolded outside Dooars Kanya. At around 11 pm, TMC Rajya Sabha MP Shri Prakash Chik Baraik and Alipurduar’s Joint Labour Commissioner, Gopal Biswas, handed over a letter from Merico to the protesting women. The letter assured that all pending wages would be cleared by January 31, and promised another meeting with the Chai Shramik Ekta Andolon in February to discuss remaining demands.
As Rabin Soren of Dishom Adibashi Gaonta in Burdwan district said earlier that day at the Kolkata Sammellan, “Adibashider jonyo adibashideri rastaye namte hoi (For Adivasis, it is Adivasis themselves who must take to the streets).”
Mrinalini Paul is a research scholar at Tata Institute of Social Sciences Public university in Mumbai, Maharashtra and volunteer with the RIght to Food and Work Campaign, West Bengal. Views expressed are the author’s own and don’t necessarily reflect those of Down To Earth.