Click to play videoFor four years, industrial development has been on top of the BJP government's agenda since it came to power. In July 2005, the government signed two of its biggest agreements with Essar Steel and Tata, only two days after the Salwa Judum was formalised.
The timing raised many questions, especially since the plants called for the displacement of thousands of tribal villagers. Since then, farmers have stalled land acquisition for both the Essar and Tata plants. They say their land is not for sale.
"I have kids, where will they go? After giving my land, where will I stay. Money will last for only one or two months, land lasts forever,” says an adivasi from village Belar Mungli.
But increasingly, farmers in Lohandiguda are finding that in official records, their lands have been marked as sold and the compensation they are entitled to, collected by somebody else.
“I have seven acres of land, one hectare and 55 dm someone else took the compensation. I have reported it to the thana (police station). They are making fool of the adivasis,” says a small farmer from village Belar Sugaram Randavi.
The local gram sabhas village panchayat can turn down requests for land acquisition but before every meeting of the Lohandiguda gram sabha, vocal protestors like Madda Ram are put behind bars on charges of instigating villagers. Madda Ram has been jailed three times, most recently when he tried to meet the state governor.
"My family tried to get bail for me if we had told that them that we will give the land they would have let us go. Tell me, can the government give us land like this? We will let them go only after they accept compensation,” says a small farmer from village Badangi Madda Ram.
Villagers say that when the men are in jail, the local administration pressures the village women to sign their land away.
“Our food comes from the land, why should we give our land,” says wife of Madda Ram, Gamli Bai bowing before the camera.
“They told us to accept the compensation. We will leave your man, we refused. What jobs can we get are we born to be just domestic labour,” adds Gamli Bai.
Put off by the BJP’s strong arm tactics and aware that the Congress is unlikely to be very different, tribal in these areas have swung from right to left. Their votes, they say again and again will go to the communists.
“We slept here. All villagers were disappearing into the jungles. Things are quiet because of elections villagers are saying after elections things will start again. This year we are going to vote for the communists, they stood by us. Our BJP legislator never came even once,” says a small farmer from village Belar Gangadhar Kashyap.
Everything about these people revolves around land - their songs, their dances and in fact if you take away the land from them they will be left with nothing.
"The government is not thinking tribal welfare. Many have fled it was oppressive in Essar are in Tata and there is enormous pressure from the administration. People must be made stake holders, they should benefit,” says CPI leader Ramnath Sarfe.
The tribal vote could decide the fate of Chhattisgarh's government, and the course of future development in the area.
It could decide too the future of one man whose life has come to symbolise all that is harsh and undemocratic about Chhhattisgarh today.
Dr Binayak Sen took the road rarely taken, practising medicine in rural Chhattisgarh for over a decade, living a modest life with the immodest dream of transforming people's lives.
For over one year, though, Sen has been behind bars, on charges of being a link between known Maoists. The evidence, his supporters say, is slim and many feel it's been a conviction without trial.
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“As the hearings progress, the court realises that there is very little evidence,” says advocate SK Farhan.
Dr Sen is also the secretary of the People's Union for Civil Liberties in Chhattisgarh. His supporters say he was made a target because of his harsh criticism of the Salwa Judum and the fake encounter killings it carried out.
“It is directly linked to the fake encounter killings at Satoshpur and is another new phase where every dissenter is labeled as the state tries every means to hide its dark deeds,” says sociologist Bela Bhatia.
Campaigns across India and the world haven't helped Binayak Sen. Neither has the doctor's winning the prestigious Jonathan Mann award. This is one issue where the Congress and the BJP have diverged.
Raman Singh has said time and again that the law will take its course, but Ajit Jogi has promised immediate relief for the doctor.
“We will provide some immediate relief to Binayak Sen. He is a good man,” says Congress leader Ajit Jogi.
Binayak Sen's story has echoes of each of Chhattisgarh's challenges today - the Maoist threat that still holds large parts of the state in its power, the near-collapse of government aid to poor villagers, and the disputes over the state's vision of development.
For the BJP and Congress, this crucial election holds immense political importance. For Chhattisgarh itself, the way it votes will decide which way it's headed for the next five years.
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