They shout out the numbers as badges of honour. Three times, for a total of two months, one says. Twice, but for three months. Then comes the voice of a woman, Somari Bai. “They kept me in jail for 29 days,” she says. Thirteen years after they first heard that their land was to be acquired by Tata for a steel plant in Lohandiguda, and 10 years after their land was officially changed in records, the new Congress government in Chhattisgarh recently issued orders to begin the process of returning the land to farmers.
Since then, memories of their time in jail have not been quite so oppressive. “We are proud. Because we fought. And we have won,” says Somari.