The Martyrs Of Palojoree Poem by Pankaj Prasoon

Palojoree is a small village town in Dumka district of Jharkhand, India where in 1980s a massacre happened. The police under the Cong Chief Minister Dr Jagannath MIshra, went berserk and opened fire on hapless armless tribal who had assembled there to demand food. This poem is a tribute to those who died in that anti-people massacre.


The drum kept on beating
Dham…dham…dham..

And thousands empty stomach
came out
Hands on their bellies
From the sad hamlets of the dry hills
Started assembling at Palojoree
On the Dumka-Jamtara Road
The red dawn thickened over the black night.

They had no fear of death
Their only goal was to die
They didn't have anything on
Armless
Not even bow and arrow
Which they carried habitually
Traditionally
They had before them
The example of Siddhu, Kanhu, Chand, Bhairav


…and the government
Committed to remove poverty
Ordered its police
To remove them by force
Ten shots were fired
And a bloody history was created
The first to fell was Girdhari Mandal
Then Barjoo Rai
Then followed Pardhan Murmu,
Sonelal Hembrum
And one who remained unidentified

God-confined within the temples
Remained indifferent
Why should He?
These fate less, hapless people were dying hungry
Their demand was food to eat
They had died since the birth of mankind
So why should he reincarnate as Ram, Krishna or Varah
There was no Ravan, Kans or Hiranyaksh to kill …?

Their oozing blood scattered on the earth
Which it soaked
As it had taken away Sita

The drum died slowly
Dham...dham...dham...! !