Ashoknagar-  "Son... last year, in April 2024... the Mahatmas of Anandpur Dham set fire to our small hut, right on our own farm. We have been farming there for years... we lived there... but they burned it down."

After saying this, she fell silent for a moment. Speaking to The Mooknayak, 70-year-old Bhmaria Bai, an elderly Sahariya woman from Jamdehera village, could not hold back her pain. Her eyes were moist and her voice trembled. She spoke, wiped her eyes with her pallu, and continued—"They tell us to leave the land, or they will kill our children. They have beaten my son, Lalaram, many times... Mahatma Surendra and Preetam. We are poor people, what can we do? Where can we go? Who can we fight? We just want to live on our land... we want to farm."

She added, "We only know this, son... the land is our mother. How can we leave our mother? We would rather die than leave our land."

Shri Anandpur Dham, situated just three kilometers from the Isagarh tehsil headquarters in Madhya Pradesh's Ashoknagar district, has been a topic of discussion lately due to allegations of land grabbing, physical assault, and death threats. Sahariya tribals from surrounding villages, along with other locals, allege that certain individuals associated with the Trust, referred to here as 'Mahatmas' (senior) and 'Bhagats' (junior), are gradually encroaching upon their lands. The villagers state that they are first befriended by being given jobs within the ashram, such as in farming, labor, driving, or gardening, and then their lands are seized through a mixture of pressure, greed, and fear.

There are also varying claims regarding the Dham's size. Some documents and claims mention 315 hectares, while the villagers speak of it sprawling across 20,000 bighas, encompassing about 52 large land parcels which the villagers refer to as 'Chak'. The entire area is covered with boundary walls on all sides.

Locals say that large, opulent events have been regularly held here, and they also mention visits by top leaders, including the Prime Minister and the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) chief. However, the current controversy is not about this opulence, but about the rights of the marginalized.

The Mooknayak investigated this entire controversy on the ground in the villages adjacent to Anandpur Dham in Isagarh. Villages like Jamdera stand as a living picture of the plight of the Sahariya tribals, where economic hardship, lack of education, absence of health facilities, and social neglect are everyday realities.

Upon entering the village, the broken pathways, mud houses, stone walls, and dilapidated huts make it clear that the light of development has never reached the doorsteps of these homes. This very innocence, trust, and lack of awareness of the Sahariya people has now become the biggest foundation for their exploitation, the game of land grabbing, and the politics of pressure.

They provide jobs, then get papers signed and take the land!

In The Mooknayak's ground investigation, several Sahariya families shared similar experiences:

 People associated with the ashram/Trust come to the village and build relationships. They provide seasonal work to a family member within the ashram.

After some time, a documentary game begins. Using terms like partition, sharecropping (batai), lease, mortgage (girvi), caretaking, or donation, papers are created or got made. The villagers allege that the actual meaning is concealed from them. This has been going on for the last 3 decades.

It is alleged that those who oppose face threats, and sometimes even physical assault. And when the matter reaches the police-administration, pressure for a compromise follows.

Allegations against the Trust's Mahatmas

The villagers named Mahatma Surendra and Preetam Bhagat in their allegations. They say that a silence has fallen over the villages due to goondagardi (hooliganism). People report incidents of being beaten without reason and land grabs occurring in the middle of the night. Many said that the employees and supporters associated with the Trust are originally from other states (like Haryana, Punjab, etc.), who come and go, and the influence of an external force is also visible.

In a conversation with The Mooknayak, Lalaram Sahariya, a farmer from Jamdehera village, repeatedly expressed his anguish, saying, "Our land is everything to us... What right do they have to snatch it?"

Lalaram explains, "The Trust people want to capture our 18 bighas of land. They claim that my grandfather and father donated that land to the Trust, but this is a lie. Three generations of our family have farmed that very land. We grew grain there, ran our household from there, our life was sustained from there. How can someone suddenly come now and say that this land is theirs?" Lalaram further explained how the Trust people seize lands...

He said, "I worked as a laborer for the Trust for many years... but when I demanded my rights over my own land, they started beating me. They fired me from the job. Today, they want to forcibly erect a boundary wall on my land, just like they have done elsewhere."

Lalaram claims that his land is listed under Land Survey Number 541, which is registered as 18 bighas.

He said, "I have complained even to the Collector Sahib. He said that once, Trust members reached my house at night... they kept asking my mother about me. When my mother said I wasn't home, they threatened her and left. They have beaten me many times. I informed the police, but the police don't listen to us either..."

While speaking to The Mooknayak, the fear and helplessness were clearly visible in the eyes of another woman, 50-year-old Mankuwar Adivasi. She was speaking slowly.

She said, "The Trust people have already taken over our 18 bighas of land. Now they don't even let us set foot on that farm. They say, if we step on the land, they will tie us to a tractor and drag us across the entire field... This is the kind of fear they spread among us."

As she spoke this much, Mankuwar Bai's voice choked up. After staying silent for a few moments, she spoke again, "Those people tell us that if we come to this land, they will cut our legs off. Tell me, what kind of justice is this? That land belongs to our ancestors... for 80 years we have been farming there. Our home is there, our bread grows there, our future is there."

Mankuwar Bai alleged that most of the people associated with the Trust are from outside the state and that they are "trying to spread terror in all the surrounding villages" so that no one dares to raise their voice.

The pain and story of these people is not just a matter of land. The socio-economic condition of the Sahariya community is already weak; lacking education, employment, health, and legal understanding, the complexities of paperwork become a trap for them. The difference between a document of rights and a document of possession often gets lost somewhere in the red tape.

A Crack of Rights in the Centre of Faith!

Anandpur Dham is considered an important centre of the Paramahansa Advait Mat sect. Its institutional structure was established with the formation of the Trust in 1954, and over time, satsang centres spread across the country and abroad. Along with claims of being a centre of devotion and charity, community service and spiritual events have also been regularly held here.

But in the Dham's recent chapter, the dignity of faith and the fight for rights seem to be facing each other head-on. The villagers ask - "Why this intimidation against us?"

They ask, if the Dham is a centre of charity, then why this burden on the land, honour, and security of the most marginalized community, the Sahariya community?

The discrepancy in area claims also fuels doubt and noise. The villagers say that a transparent audit of demarcation and land records is essential. Their main demand is an open investigation into revenue records, the Patwari's copies, map-land records (naksha-khasra), history of produce, and recent mutations.

Is the Administration Also Weak?

When The Mooknayak's team proceeded with its investigation and reached the Isagarh tehsil office, we stopped upon seeing an unusual crowd in the tehsil campus. We asked – "What happened?" The people replied in unison.

"The Mahatmas of Anandpur Dham Trust have captured our land… they beat us, they give threats."

Their voices had anger, but more than that, there was a mixed tremor of helplessness and fear.

Before this, we had received information that Ashoknagar Collector Aditya Singh and SP Rajeev Kumar Mishra had gone to Anand Dham to resolve the dispute. However, despite discussions with the villagers and the Mahatmas of Anand Dham, the matter could not be fully resolved.

According to sources, Anand Dham assured the administration of removing the accused, but legally, given the allegations the tribal villagers are levelling against the Mahatmas, the police should have registered a case under the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act.

We listened patiently to the pain, the perspectives, and the personal accounts of many villagers. Before this, we had already visited Jamdera village and met with the residents... Afterwards, we went directly to the Sub-Divisional Magistrate (SDM) office to understand the administration's side. However, in response to our questions, SDM Trilochana Gaur flatly refused to give a statement on camera or a recorded conversation. Not a single word of clarification, no official reaction, just silence.

From there, we proceeded to the Isagarh police station. We tried to get a detailed response from SDPO Shailendra Sharma, but he also declined to give a recorded statement and consistently avoided formalizing the conversation on record.

This entire experience was making one thing very clear: somewhere between administrative willpower, fear, and influence, the courage to speak the truth seemed to be suffocating. Against the grandeur, access, and influence of Anandpur Dham, the voice of the system felt muted, and the voice of the victims felt even more suppressed.

In a conversation with The Mooknayak, local leader Ranveer Singh Adivasi said, "The exploitation our ancestors faced during the British era is the same history being repeated today. The only difference is that the name then was the British, and now their name is Trust. Then our labour was taken, today our land is being taken."

Ranveer Singh alleged that the Mahatmas associated with the Anandpur Dham Trust are involved in incidents of assault, intimidation, and land grabbing against tribals in the surrounding villages.

He further said, "We have complained at the police station many times, appealed to the officers, but the police are not taking action. From registering a complaint to taking action, at every step we see evasion and pressure. This is why the situation is extremely critical today. People are both angry and afraid."

Where is the Administration?

The villagers allege that the speed at which alleged land grabs have emerged in the villages should have been matched by the speed of administrative restraint, but this has not happened. Many say that getting a hearing at the police station is difficult; instead of an FIR, an entry is made in the daily diary stating that an inquiry is ongoing.

On the other hand, the Trust has consistently presented its image as an institution engaged in service, spiritual work, and providing employment to local people. The Trust management has long claimed that it acquires land only through legal processes and is engaged in "social and religious work" in the area.

The Mooknayak attempted to get the Trust's side of this dispute by going directly to Anandpur Dham and trying to speak with the Mahatmas, in order to get their clear reaction to the allegations. However, security personnel present at the main entrance gate stated that no journalist or outsider is permitted entry into the ashram premises without permission.