When Jindal’s workers first started erecting barriers on Chakradhar’s land, his sons tried telling them to stop. They were beaten, and his son Santosh ended up unlawfully detained in prison for three days. Authorities completely ignored due process. They issued no arrest warrants, and when they released Santosh from prison, they handed him papers to sign his ancestral land over to Jindal. When Santosh refused, police informed him that they would find ways to make him sign.
Chakradhar did all he could to try and appeal the theft of his land. According to Jarnail, “Naveen Jindal has never paid them a single rupee for their land, nor has the government ever listened to their requests for help. They have continuously filed complaints to collectors, Sub-Division Magistrates (SDM), Tehsildars, and the legislators, but have not been granted a hearing.” Tehsildars determine land value, verify property ownership, and collect taxes, and they seem particularly prone to corruption in cases like these. Power brokers like Jindal can offer favors and bribes to authorities with no accountability whatsoever. This places the vulnerable tribal population in a hopeless situation where they have no choice but to submit to “corporate Mafia” types like Jindal. Chakradhar recounts what happened when he threatened to report Jindal’s workers to the authorities.
“They say “Just try and file a case against us!” And when we try, the police won’t listen to us, no one will hold a hearing, and the courts won’t listen to us. The SDM court would not listen to us. We had a decree in SDM court, we went to Raigarh, but they rejected it. I even told them we had registered the land. But they said it was not our land, it was Jindal’s land.” According to Jarnail, Jindal utilizes “Land Mafia” tactics to acquire Adivasi property all the time. He engages in illegal benami property transactions, and then makes sure government officials look the other way.
India’s Prohibition of Benami Property Transactions Act of 1988 defines benami as a transaction or arrangement “where a property is transferred to, or is held by, a person, and the consideration for such property has been provided, or paid by, another person”. The 1988 act passed in an attempt to prevent people like Jindal from manipulating the system and acquiring stolen land through bribery and power-plays. Jindal, and others like him, have built their empires on the backs of the vulnerable through exploitative practices like benami. Unfortunately, laws against the practice are only as good as the ability to enforce them; when the enforcers can be bought off, and those who voice dissent can be easily silenced by threats of murder or imprisonment, abuse happens without restraint. Even though a court ruled in Chakradhar’s favor in 2016 and found Jindal had acquired the land through an illegal benami transaction, local officials ignored the ruling, and higher courts refused a hearing.
Sadly, Chakradhar’s story does not end well. In spite of multiple appeals, he never got his land back from Jindal. Like many other Indian farmers who have lost their land, he had to sell his farming equipment to make ends meet, which led him into a painful spiral of depression and alcoholism. Broken by all Jindal had taken from him, he passed away on December 10, 2023.
This tragic story illuminates the plight of just two of Jindal’s many victims. Plenty more exist, though few have found the courage to publicly speak out due to Jindal’s threats against them and their families. However, Jarnail’s vigilance has inspired many Adivasi to risk everything to be publicly counted as casualties of Jindal’s land-grabbing schemes. This includes Jarnail’s son, Henry, a law-student who has been spending much of his time in Delhi monitoring the cases against Jindal, as well as the wrestler, Sumer Singh. It also includes victims like Kaniram,Tirtho Khadiya, Govardhan, Salikram Khadiya, Ramdayal Khadiya, Phakir Khadiya, Bono Bai, Susila Kishan, Bhagat Ram Khadiya, and Malik Ram Khadiya. All of them have names and families; all of them have been victimized by Jindal; all of them know how dangerous standing up to Jindal can be.
Jindal only cares for human rights when it suits him. He has mastered the ability to use his money and political power to further his own corrupt agenda. His former political party, the Indian National Congress, has already conceded the seat in Parliament to him. His election seems a sure thing. Hopefully, voters in Haryana State will choose to “Avoid the Jindal Swindle” and vote for someone else in protest, if for no other reason than to let Jindal know that as more and more people learn the truth about him, justice will one day prevail. Likewise, as more Americans become aware of Jindal’s connection to Texas Governor Gregory Abbott, perhaps Abbott will be investigated for complicity in transnational repression. The last thing America needs right now is for one of its most powerful political figures to be found in the pocket of a man like Jindal. If Governor Abbott truly thinks Texas shares values with India, and people like Jindal, then perhaps he too has been swindled.
![Jarnail Kaur (Rt.) Interviews Chakradhar Rathia (Lt.) in 2022 on land stolen by Naveen Jindal. [Photo: Assembly for Human Rights]](https://ci3.googleusercontent.com/meips/ADKq_NaJgV65UJBJjc_7GohQTY8sqtKs2M9rWy5YoL0kqew0-0LHumsK3GkVDiO6YY4-Dxs6zcXIVaX1g-bZQ9ztVtv8LmIwsBNqOv9UcHkJbWijYBibTnG1EelnLheB8tyZe9Vh3gVMh-hGloVBkv8sMVYRKrl-GXzLw58=s0-d-e1-ft#https://mcusercontent.com/54fbbdecab83b2a1bbd6f4cdd/images/83ab13f6-ada4-c4b4-32b4-12b74cb2ac98.png)
