This song is a true story based a Bhagwan Maaji (fisher man) who is a leader of the Adivasi (indigenous') struggle against Bauxite mining in Kashipur, which is also famous on the name of "Kashipur Anti-Bauxite Mining Movement"
Gaon Chhodab Nahin (We will not leave our Village)
We will not leave our village
Nor our forests
Nor our mother-earth
We will not give up our fight!
Nor our forests
Nor our mother-earth
We will not give up our fight!
They built dams
drowned villages and built factories
They cut forests and dug out mines
And built sanctuaries
Without water, land and forest
where do we go?
Oh God of development, pray tell us,
how to save our lives?
The Jamuna River is dry
The Narmada River is dry
And
The Subarnarekha River is dry
Ganga river is a dirty drain
And
Krishna river- but a black line
You may drink your Colas and
Bisleri bottled water
How shall we quench our thirst
with such polluted waters?
How shall we quench our thirst
with such polluted waters?
Were our ancestors' fools
that they conserved the forests?
Made the land so green
made rivers flow like honey?
Your greed has charred the land
and looted its greenery!
The fish are dead, the birds have flown,
who knows where?
The minister has become industry's broker
snatched away our lands!
And
They bring Nepal's platoons to protect them!
The officer is king and
the contractor is a millionaire!
Our village is their colony!
Birsa (legendry indigenous leader) calls
upon you to unite and break this silence!
Fisherman, Dalits and Adivasi (indigenous) unite!
From fields and mines arise!
Sound the nagara (drum)!
Listen, people of the country
struggle is the only way out!
We will not leave our village
Nor our forests
Nor our mother-earth
We will not give up our fight!
