Populism, development, and indigenous resistance: some reflections from Jharkhand

Abstract

The twenty-first century is marked with immense global warming and climate change. This can be seen as an anthropogenic crises, the result of almost three centuries of colonization, industrialization, and extractive scientific development. This all gets accentuated with the rise of right-wing, conservative leaders and regimes, whose sole goal seems to be to harness more fossil fuel-led development. Yet there are several indigenous peoples around the world who resist such extractivist development. This article looks into indigenous resistance in the tribal state of Jharkhand in India. Despite winning a majority in the tribal state of Jharkhand in the 2014 elections, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) could not amend some critical and historical land laws that have been designed to protect tribal land from usurpation. This article offers an analysis as to how tribal/indigenous peoples’ resisted a major populist force like the BJP in the state of Jharkhand.