A“historic” ceremony outside the small suburban village of Kodur transfixed India over the weekend. Announcements were made days in advance, some journalists flew in for the occasion, and police drones circled the blue skies. The police in the southern Indian state of Andhra Pradesh had amassed a year’s worth of seized cannabis: over 200,000 kilograms from 1,363 seizures. Together, they said it was worth over a whooping $66 million. They burned it all. 

On Saturday, the red carpet event was filled with thick plumes of smoke as the “first of its kind” stash went up in flames. The images went viral. “It was a spectacle,” admitted Gautam Sawang, the Director General of Police in Andhra Pradesh, who lit one of the piles himself. 

Far from the spectacle are tribal farmers who live in remote parts of the Visakhapatnam district, hundreds of miles away from where the seizures and the burning ceremony took place. Many belong to a “Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Group”, a government classification for communities that depend on farming or gathering for sustenance, and have little to no access to development. 

Over the years, journalists investigating the cannabis trade in the region have reported (www.thenewsminute.com/article/ground-report-why-andhra-cops-are-destroying-ganja-crops-they-ignored-years-158457) how the survival of indigenous tribes was closely linked to cannabis cultivation. Police interventions were sporadic, so much so that it seemed allowing the tribes to cultivate cannabis was a part of police strategy, reports said. 

But something shifted recently: India’s war on cannabis. 

“We wanted to send across a message about the kind of resolve we have taken to curb this menace plaguing the country,” he told VICE World News. “Generally, things happen quietly. But this [ceremony of this scale] was a record of sorts. We wanted people to sit up [and take notice]. It may be dubious but we wanted to send the message across.”