Letters of blood and India’s most controversial diamond mine

How the fight to save the Buxwaha forest in Madhya Pradesh came to be synonymous with the movement for the recognition of Bundelkhand state.

The latest in the batch of 17 letters, all written in blood, reached Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s office shortly after 5 June, which is celebrated every year as World Environment Day. Whether the letters were ever opened we do not know; what we do know is that the crimson-hued communique was the handiwork of four organizations vying for Bundelkhand statehood: Bundelkhand Rashtra Samiti, Bundeli Samaj, Bundelkhand Kranti Dal and Bajrang Sena.

The movement for establishing a separate state for the Bundelkhandis—those who inhabit the semi-arid region spanning seven districts in Uttar Pradesh (Mahoba, Jhansi, Chitrakoot, Hamirpur, Jalaun, Banda, Lalitpur) …

Author

Roshni P. Nair

Roshni is a features writer and former editor of The Morning Context's Chaos team. Her career spans The Ken, Reuters, the Hindustan Times and DNA. She is a recipient of the UNFPA Laadli award and was shortlisted for the RedInk Awards 2016 for her story on Mumbai’s leprosy colonies. Her far-flung ideas would sometimes drive our editor-in-chief Ashish up the wall, but he wouldn’t have had it any other way (even if he didn’t admit it).

roshni@mailtmc.com