The long dark tea time of the soul

<!– @page { size: 8.5in 11in; margin: 0.79in } P { margin-bottom: 0.08in } –>

Kuffir and I had a minor discussion on his blog on the issues of internal migration on India, its root causes and possible remedy. The gist of Kufr’s post is that the problem begins with under development of the backward areas, and for that the respective state governments should take most of the blame. Yet he stands firmly against any kind of priority attention given by the state to develop those regions. More particularly, Kuffir is against unsymmetrical diversion of central funds across regions, and development done by the state as the main conduit. Knowing that the 40 years of Nehruvian socialism did not yield any results in reducing poverty, he advocates a complete u-turn, a turn towards market based solutions, and marginal government role.

Some of his points are absolutely right. Socialism, as it was practiced in India before the pro-market reforms in 1991, is the classic punching bag that is used by all new-liberals/neo-conservatives to attack the liberals. These straw man arguments often take the form of, “since we were not doing great under socialism, hence socialism/socialists are bad and neo-liberal economics is the only way of emancipation of the masses”. What the proponents overlook is the fact that right from the day of independence, the Indian liberals have been in direct conflict with the state and the policies as espoused by Nehru. How and where is Nehru’s economics not a best case scenario for liberal socialism will need a more detailed analysis. While feudalism never truly disappeared from India, in the current phase of capitalism, the state has dropped any pretense of being a welfare state, the chief minister feels proud to be called a ceo, and the business executives are the only ones in the minds of policy planners. Combine this with class and caste dynamics, and you have a plutocracy run in the name of democracy.

Coming back to the original point of this post. Kuffir is right when he claims that people moving from rural areas to the cities is at least a 60 year old phenomenon. However his choice of examples, and more importantly, the trigger for his arguments are eerie. The context was Raj Thackeray’s attacks on the people from Bihar and UP who are working as unorganized labour in Mumbai. The last week also saw large scale attacks by South African poor on equally desperate immigrants to that country. Without justifying the xenophobic attacks, Kuffir tries to deflect some of the criticism on the respective state governments, from the places from where people migrate the most. But does it warrant criticism of state led development, of backward areas or otherwise?

Migration is a complex phenomenon. All migration can be classified into two broad pattens. Those due to aspiration, and those due to desperation. When the skilled labour (like engineers or doctors of India) migrates from one country to the other, he/she does so in hope of better returns for his skills. It is purely a market driven phenomenon. Similarly, when the people of Kerala go to the gulf or those from Punjab move to the west, or the marwaris open their shops in different parts of the country, they are doing so to get the maximum value for their skills. Although there is a social costs associated with such immigration, there is a net benefit for the economy and is usually not discouraged.

The other kind of migration occurs when life becomes so hard for someone, that he/she has no option other than to move. This can be through political, social or economic oppression. Ignoring the natural causes like floods and droughts, this category includes the East Germans moving to West Germany during the offensive communist period, Iraqis going to Syria after US invasion, Afghans going to Pakistan to escape the Taliban and Hindus moving from erstwhile Pakistan to India. There are the direct state driven displacement due to construction of dams and large public sector companies, and then there are those whose income shrink with time and have little or no social security net and are indirectly forced to leave their homes. These economic migrants should be understood and discussed within the same framework as we do for those displaced forcefully by the state.

As noted elsewhere, population statistics regarding migration is never reliable. NSS data, although implying an increased migration due to poverty, has its own limitations, as it does not take into account the seasonal migration. To understand the role of the state, we need to define the kind of rights guaranteed to every individual in the country. If we recognize food, health, education and dignified labour as basic human rights, there is a role of state in each of these areas. These rights have to be guaranteed not in selected physical locations, but in every inch of the country wherever there are social rural or urban structures. No matter where an individual lives in the country, he/she must have affordable (and if possible free) access to schools and hospitals. The state must protect the individual from going destitute by not only skill improvement, but also ensuring minimum availability of well-paying work. The market can fulfill some of this role. But the market, when means of production are in a few hands, has an inbuilt advantage of over-supply of labour. That ensures not only lower wages and thus reducing the input costs, but also snatches from the workers any means to get organized and bargain collectively. A destitute population (and a lot of money in few hands) is a boon for market efficiency.

A large section of rural youth migrate to the cities in search of work during the dry months. As Kuffir notes, a 12 year old assistant to a chaiwala earns more than his parents in the village, employed in traditional jobs. The role of the state is to end this kind of anomaly. That’s why the national rural guarantee act is a shining example of legislation in recent history. NREGA not only allocate funds and defines the precise nature of the job, but also goes a long way in improving the delivery system by decentralization. By giving power to the gram panchayats in selecting jobs, and doing away from the contractor based delivery system, NREGA has a lot of potential.The legislation for creating avenues to ensure minimum wages to the masses also gives them an added bargaining advantage, which is then reflected in increased wages given to the construction labour in the cities. There are some just critics of the scheme, and the cag report did compile large evidences of leakage, albeit the performance of NREGA is far better than most other targeted government schemes. The role of the state does not end with mere legislation. Law is just the beginning, while the state also has to ensure that the funds reaches the intended beneficiaries. An effective delivery system is as much a responsibility of the state as passing of laws.

The perceived and real wage differentials and job availability in different parts of the country cannot be fixed without direct state intervention. Some regions in the country attract more industries because of past and current investment done by the state in those regions. Take the example of Sardar Sarovar dam on Narmada. The river was dammed to provide irrigation benefits to the rich farmlands of Gujarat and Western Maharashtra, at the expense of MP. There have been a just struggle for last 20 years by the adivasis and dalits of Madhya Pradesh against the dam and displacement caused by it. Mumbai is a zero power-cut zone of India, at the expense of much larger part of the state. New Delhi attracts the largest number of immigrants now because of massive infrastructure investments made in the capital on the pretext of commonwealth games. Without mentioning these kinds of pandering, and criticizing Lalu Prasad Yadav’s decision to locate a central government factory in his home state is an exercise of futility.

The role of respective state governments is obviously not beyond reproach. Bihar is a classic case of misgovernance, which again can be attributed to the feudal assertion of upper classes. Feudal rulers don’t like their turf being encroached by anyone else, including the modern capitalists. In other parts like Maharashtra and Gujarat, the feudal lords molded themselves smoothly into the property owning capitalist class. The rich peasants in Bihar and UP resisted this kind of transformation, and thus denying the state not only any kind of industries, but also keeping the population low on all kind of social indicators. Feudalism is a historical phenomenon and can end in three ways. In europe capitalism helped in a big way in uprooting feudalism, but there imperialism and colonialism went hand in hand with the growth of capitalism. Without imperial order, either the oppressed classes can join hands in uprooting the rulers (as in China in 1949), or the state can play a top-down role through its assertion of basic human rights and equality for all citizens alongwith proper executive and judicial intervention. India chose the second path after independence, but the upper and middle classes/castes showed remarkable ingenuity in joining hands and are in total control of the state apparatus now. As long as these oppressing classes have the control over state power and resources, things are not going to change. Until and unless this changes, all kinds of state sponsored schemes in the country is bound to have limited success.

Kuffir ends his post by asking a rhetorical question, “if there wasn’t any india, wouldn’t you see large migrations from bihar to mumbai in a completely different light?”. Ignoring the fact that by virtue of our birth/citizenship we have been granted some basic rights by the constitution of India, that the federal nature of our country ensures that the only entity we are tied to is the central government. The taxes we pay are in lieu of this promise that the state will protect our rights. Federal state governments are an artificial creation, and any attempt to restrict our movement within India is against the basic foundation of the country. The migrants must enjoy the same kind of economic, social and political rights as any other section of the society. Personally, I also support free flow of people across national boundaries, but that is beyond the scope of the current post.

The election results of Nepal came as a surprise to almost everybody, including the maoists of Nepal who won more than 50% of seats. Although the reason behind their remarkable performance and how they will behave in power is left to much speculation among the experts, we can make a good guess of at least some aspects of a future Nepalese society. That the monarchy will be done away with is a foregone conclusion. Also the fact that the maoists will pursue Mao’s ideological goals, probably with a human touch, particularly with regards to land reforms and nationalization of resources. The relationship with India will also be overhauled, where both countries deal with each other on equal terms. There are apprehensions about how the feudal class of Nepal react to their loss of power, and there indeed is a very real danger of ideological deviation by CPN(Maoist). One can only hope that the new communist rulers of Nepal not commit the same kind of mistakes as some of their ideologues of 20th century, particularly with respect to establishment of one party state, intraparty democracy and the cult of personality. From the signs of it, and extrapolating from the public comments by CPN(M) leaders during the interim period, we can all be optimistic about Nepal’s future.

Where does that leave their ideological kins in India, particularly the CPI(Maoist). Will they take the lead from their nepalese counterparts, give up arms and join active democratic politics? Many mainstream politicians from India have already appealed to them to do so. Or, now with a friendly government in the neighborhood, the Indian maoists will renew their armed offensive on the Indian state with added vigour? What will be the shape of CCOMPOSA, the amalgamation of extreme left revolutionary parties of south asia? Can the CPN(Maoist) be bold or capable enough to support the insurgents in India, given the fact that the Indian state regards the maoists as a virus, as the gravest threat to internal security? In the absence of any communication from the CPI(Maoist) and with their mouthpiece People’s March being banned, we can all make a guess. What makes it more complicated is the recent setbacks that the movement has suffered. With at least three of its central committee members including the spokesperson Com. Azad killed in police “encounters” within past few months, and many of its senior leaders arrested and safe havens busted, information will be more difficult to come by. CPI(Maoist) will be extra cautious particularly in its interaction with the media. In the following days, we might see a press release from the party, detailing their reaction to the Nepal situation, but that will take some time.

Although the class and caste dynamics remain the same in both India and Nepal, the objective conditions are very different in both countries. Unlike Nepal, India is a very large country, with a very strong army. The state and the economy are firmly ingrained with the global capitalism, and their is a very active and vocal middle class have over the past two decades tied their interest to the success of its ruling capitalist class. The mass perception of India as a democratic state, however flawed, has acted as a safety valve to the anger and resentment of the oppressed classes. The illusion of a free media and activist judiciary further dampens any kind of revolutionary spirit. Most importantly, the politics of masses ensure that the state maintains a socialist face. At least once every five years, the government is forced to react to the most pressing people’s issues. Even the reactionary party like BJP is forced to cherish social programs like NREGA. And while at the time of their return to peace, CPN(M) was controlling more than 53% of the country with massive popular support, CPI(maoist), regardless of what the defence hawks say, have a dominant presence only in few of the Indian states. Again these gains are temporary, and the moment these regions form part of imperial designs as in South Bastar of Chhattisgarh, the Indian state is capable of destroying them using tremendous force. All these factors combined with the very basic difference between the nature of the two parties, ensures that their can’t be any objective parallels between Indian and Nepalese situations.

Unlike CPN(maoist) which is highly centralized chiefly woven around Prachanda, all decisions in CPI(maiost) is taken on the basis of collective leadership. Even a obligatory letter to the media from the chairman, needs to reviewed and acquiesced by a majority of the politburo. CPI(maoist) derives its strength from dogmatic perusal of ideological positions, widely following Marx, Lenin, Stalin and Mao, and to a large extent from its own experience and that of the fellow ultra-left parties in past forty years of struggle. In that respect, it is lot less pragmatic than the CPN(Maoist), which has barely existed for a decade and half. The indian maoists have faced much bitter persecution at the hands of the state right from its inception. From the original spark at Naxalbari, to the death of its founder Charu Mazumdar, to massive crackdown during emergency, the maoists have reasons enough not to trust the state and the reactionary ruling classes. That was their reaction to the Nepal peace process of 2006. In an interview, a couple of months after the maoists joined the government there, spokesperson of CPI(maoist) Com. Azad writes,

One may bring some reforms from above and satisfy certain deprived sections of the people but it will never solve the basic problems of the people as you cannot smash feudalism and throw out imperialism from the soil of Nepal by utilizing the old state whatever embellishments one might do to give it a refurbished image. Nothing short of a revolutionary upheaval of the masses can achieve the above objective.

…. One cannot rule out the possibility of the reactionary ruling classes carrying out a coup and reestablishing their monopoly over political power at an opportune moment when the revolutionary forces have been effectively disarmed or weakened. ….. But, of course, if the Maoists do not pose a threat to the interests of imperialism and the comprador bureaucratic bourgeois (CBB) and they get accommodated and incorporated into the system then they too would be received with warmth by the ruling classes.

Clearly dismissing any chance of Indian maoists participating in multiparty democractic elections and giving up arms, he goes on to say that,

The problem with the theorization by the CPN(Maoist) lies in making the fight against autocracy into a sub-stage of NDR and, a tendency to make the sub-stage overwhelm (dominate and determine) the very direction and path of the revolution. The programme and strategy of NDR drawn up by the Party prior to its launching of the armed struggle, its targets to be overthrown, and even the concrete class analysis made earlier based on which the revolution had advanced so far, are now made subordinate to the needs of the so-called sub-stage of Nepalese revolution

Comrade Azad went on detailing his party’s vision with regards to the nature of society after the “seizure of power”. This vision was further elaborated in his article published in EPW, May 31 2006 edition and a couple of communications from Com. Ganapathy.  Their party was never against participating in elections as a matter of principle, or to provide tactical support to ideological brothers. What it is worried about is either brutal repression by a reactionary state, and/or an eventual dilution of its strictly left ideologies as a fallout of participating in elections. And they have enough empirical historical data to be apprehensive. There is little indication that the views of the party have undergone any change after the Nepal elections. What we need to understand is that CPI(maoist)’s call for armed struggle comes from deeply deliberated theories of Marxism-Leninism-Maoism. To say that a mere election victory in a neighboring country will lead them to abandon the path of protracted people’s war is being unwittingly naive. However there is a welcome chance that Indian maoists will make more and more use of the legal, overground and mass mobilization to achieve their aims. But a war against the state will always remain its central agenda.

The only thing that can lead to any kind of rethinking is if the CPN(maoist) in power is able to implement its ultra-left programs. But then, that will anger a lot of people, including the governments of India and China. These are indeed interesting times in India and Nepal.

A number of film personalities have signed a petition demanding the gag order placed on Raj Thackeray be lifted, and affirming their support for his campaign. Some bloggers have also supported this call, in the name of freedom of speech. The logic is “if he wants to make an ass of himself, the state should allow him to do so” and thus preserve the fundamental right to act like an idiot. Nothing wrong in talking about preservation of fundamental rights, but the problem is that when Raj Thackeray talks like an ass, some people die. Other people loose their livelihoods. And the people who loose their lives and livelihoods, are not the ones who blog or the ones who are megastars. They are ordinary people, given minimal of state support either in their native place or the big city. When he says, “If they refuse, then we will raise our hands“, and the state refuses to do anything about it, the state is basically rewarding hate speech in the name of free speech. Besides, the gag order on the kid is entirely temporary as a security measure. He will be able to talk his heart’s desire in not so distant time in future.

While Raj was arrested for half a day, P. Govindan Kutty found himself in jail for more than two months. He blogs at People’s March and is the publisher, owner and the editor of the magazine People’s March. He was arrested on December 19th in Kerala. Despite the inability of the Kerala police in producing any evidence against him, his bail was repeatedly rejected for more than a month in both the trial court and the high court.  The only charge against him was that he wrote an article that hailed an attack on then AP CM Chandra Babu Naidu by CPI(Maoist) in 2004. Mr. Kutty was finally released from prison on 24th February 2008, more than two months after his arrest. During this entire duration, he was on a hunger strike, protesting against the detention, the denial of basic prisoner’s rights and professional losses incurred on account of not being able to send two consecutive edition of his magazine to the small number of subscribers.

The issue of Mr. Kutty’s detention has been raised in various fora, and there is (was) an online petition to secure his release. The issue was also raised in prominent newspapers across the country, and some magazines like tehelka carried a feature. Other than some left leaning and pro-maoist blogs, there was not a single blog that talked about this denial of freedom of speech.

On 14th Feb 2008, the district collector of Ernakulam has prohibited the publication of People’s March, citing it to be “seditious in nature“, and “bringing about contempt and disaffection against the Government of India by projecting ideologies and activities of CPI (Maoist)“. One can judge it by reading the past issues of People’s March on its website. The final authority lies with the Registrar of Newspapers of India. His website and blog was also mysteriously blocked by google at least twice in two months prior to his arrest.

The magazine does report the views and activities of CPI(Maoist). But that’s what most of the media in India is doing. Ever since the maoists have gained prominence, their articles, their interviews have appeared in a variety of media outlets. EPW carried one unedited article from CPI(maoist) spokesman, Comrade Azad. Some stringers have made money by selling exclusive maoist pictures and articles to the mainstream media.

If the maoists are talking to the people that is a very welcome step. It is important to know their views, and it helps in both to counter them and fight them. An informal dialogue with them is what is being desired by many state governments. Recently in Chhatisgarh, the local newspaper Daily Chhattisgarh, managed a coup out of sorts when the DGP of the state addressed the maoists directly, and the underground party replied back. This dialogue through the pages of the daily was termed a positive state by the DGP. Many rights activists, who have spoken out against human rights violation by both the state and the rebels, concur that the rebels are more receptive of their criticism.

Indeed, its not the magazines like People’s March that are bringing contempt against the Government of India. It is the GoI, that through its dubious actions like Salwa Judum, SEZs, arrest of rights activist and crony capitalism, that is encouraging disaffection against itself. Does it mean that the district magistrate will now go ahead and ban the Government of India?

How does it makes sense in banning the publication of an eight year old magazine, at the whims and fancies of a district administration? Who will speak out against such blatant violation of freedom of speech by the state, if not the bloggers and other independent citizens? Why is it that a blogger is arrested, tortured and force-fed by the state, and there are very scant protests against that? Will the Indian blogosphere be able to speak out for the freedom of one of their fellow bloggers?

The story of Sunil and DGS Society, Plot No 6, Sector 22, Dwarka, New Delhi (011 42804054)

While I was away in the US between the months of september to november 2007, two things changed in the suburb of Dwarka, New Delhi. Big Bazaar opened its nth retail store in the new ambience mall off NH24. Reliance fresh is all set to open the first of its six stores of Dwarka in Sector 22/23. Simultaneously the biweekly haats, so long a common place where the residents of Dwarka used to shop for their fresh vegetables, a source of employment for at least a thousand employees, have been closed down by Delhi police. The thelawallahs have also been asked to move elsewhere within a couple of months. These two events are related, obviously the first triggering the other, rendering many people unemployed within a month, the state snatching citizens of their choices. If there ever is a more compelling reason against entry of big business houses in retail, it is this. Reliance is not banking on pure capitalist competition with the local vegetable vendors to turn his Rs 2500 crore into profits. Its investment is accompanied by a healthy dose of state terror, arbitrariness and brutality. Activities which were going on for nearly a decade are suddenly termed illegal, because reliance needs profits. There are a hell lot of people who think reliance retail is a bright idea, the argument being the state should not interfere in citizen’s right to trade, but don’t expect people like these to speak against state power when it is favouring the big businesses. They are also the same people who won’t know what is wrong with random ID checks by police in New Delhi.

Now, part of the reason why I have not bought a house in any of the sprawling localities in our metros is my inability to fit in what is termed as a ‘civilized’ society. Previously while staying in Noida, I tried to organize the housemaids to demand weekly paid holiday, with very little success. As I said elsewhere, dignified employment in the unorganised sector is the real labour reform that India needs. This time in DGS Society, Sector 22, Dwarka, things went a bit further. Although I have lost most of my proactive edge because of work and marriage.

Sunil is (was?) a sweeper employed by the DGS society, and is (was?) working here for more than three years. DGS (Directorate General of Security) is mostly housed by retired or servicing personnel of the security agencies. There lives one Mr. Bannerje, IAS, ex-secretary to the Government of India in apartment number D14. IAS Banerjee had a towel worth Rs. 1400 which one day somehow fell down from his apartment. Sweeper Sunil found the Rs. 1400 towel on the ground , kept it with him for a couple of days for some claimant, and in the end decided to take it with him. Now I know that Sunil didn’t (and couldn’t) steal the Rs. 1400 towel, IAS Banerjee knows it for sure, and all the executives of the society know it for a fact. Still Sunil was thrown out of his three year old job, without any notice, without any formal police complaint, and without releasing his last month’s salaries and provident fund. This was clearly against the established law. Sunil rightly went to the labour court. All of this also happenned when I was in the USA.

When I came back to India, I was told of this incident by Sunil’s brother (also working as a sweeper in DGS), ‘saab bhai ko bina baat ke nikal diya, aap kuchh kar sakte hai kya?’. He told me this because earlier I had exhorted them to get organized and demand minimum wages for their jobs. All to make sure that the urban ‘civilized’ societies follow the law, in letter and in spirit. I asked Dheeraj to talk to IAS Banerjee, and ask him to withdraw the complaint. I also gave him a copy of labour laws of New Delhi. They talked to the IAS, told him about their loss, and he was sensible enough to talk to the society officials.

Here it stopped going according to the script. The society officials refused to hear any pleas. Similar to “goods once sold will not be taken back”, Sunil’s brother was told “people once thrown out will not be taken back”. Courts would anyway take a lot of time. I decided to talk to the society officials and explain to them the relevant labour laws and take necessary guarantee on Sunil’s behaviour, reimburse for any theft. My inference was that the people connected with security agencies will be interested in upholding the laws of the country. How wrong was I!!

The office clerks were clear on this matter, “kisi ne uske against mein, aise hi anaap shanaap complaint kar diya tha“. So were the security guards, “ham to bole rahe the ki chori nahi kiya hai Sunil. koi suna hi nahi.” These people were working with Sunil for more than three years. I had barely moved in last year and half of the time I was out of town. I decided to talk to the secretary of the society,, Mr ARNP Sinha who had different ideas. A decent man, a retired bureaucrat, the first question he asked on knowing that I am a tenant in the society, “agar aap yaha rahte hai to uski (sunil ki) taraf se kyu bol rahe hai?”. That comment underlines the notion of “civilized” India. Its not a question of right or wrong, legal or illegal. Its all about “hamari taraf, hamare jaise log” vs “unki taraf, unke jaise log”. Anyways, the secretary told me that Mr. Banerjee is a respectable IAS officer, ex secretary to the government of India, a respectable man who can never be wrong. (now what kind of respectable IAS officers use towels worth Rs. 1400, towels that they deem worth more than a citizens job and his dignity?). I didn’t speak out these thoughts aloud, but explained to Mr Sinha that if Sunil has indeed been a thief, they should refer him to the police, and most people in the society think that he s not a thief. I explained to him the law which states that anyone working for more than three years must be made permanent, and he/she cannot be thrown out of job (and must be given a three months notice) without serious misconduct allegations. Such allegations must be filed in the form of an FIR to local police station. The secretary explained to me that they will not take back Sunil in his job at any cost, and I should not poke my nose in this affair, “aapki family hai yaha, aap in sab pachro me mat pariye”. I told him that it is for the labour courts to decide now. Then we moved on to other small talk regarding Dwarka, his job, his son’s career, software companies and Chhattisgarh.

That conversation was in the third week of December. I lost interest in Sunil’s case, as there was nothing more that I could do. His application was still pending in the labour court. The arrival of the new year brought some good news. In the last week of December the court sent a notice to our society, which they ignored. A second such notice arrived within a week, and the society had to reply that Sunil was never fired from his job. In fact, and it is true, they had not given Sunil any written dismissal order. All they had done was to ask him to stop coming to work from the next day onwards, and ask the security guards to stop him from entering the society premises. Now that was positive. It means that, using the court’s order, Sunil can come back to his job from the next day. By now. for him it was more a matter of dignity than to get his old job back.

But the “civilised” society cannot digest the fact that their servant could defy them, that they had to bow to someone much inferior to them in caste, education, finance, and social status. They could not fathom how the constitution of India guarantees equal rights to every individual, how the rich are sometimes forced to eat their own words, that our broken systems sometimes work in unexpected ways. And for them, I was clearly the villain. They somehow convinced themselves that it was not Sunil that they lost to, but the young, educated, software engineer, Anoop Saha living in apartment number H25 who turned out to be a real gaddar. Sunil was still not allowed to enter the society premises, despite him being an employee, and I was summoned to the office on Sunday, 6th January 2008.

Initially I refused to visit the office (“woh kaun hote hai mujhe bulane waale, zarurat hai to khud yaha aaye”), but Sonali wanted me to not take any more pangas with the society. I went and this time the moment I entered president’s office, he started shouting at me. “aap samajhte kya hai khud ko? yeh sab undesirable activities me aap shamil hoge to achcha nahi hoga. Is sunil maamle me aapka kya interest hai? aapko chain se rahna hai ki nahi society me? aap jaante nahi ho mujhe.” The retired IG of BSF, Mr RK Sharma, claimed to be a people manager for more than 40 years. I told him the truth. That, unfortunately, I could not play any more proactive role in Sunil’s case, but would have definitely presented myself as a witness to his integrity in the court. That I had talked to the secretary only to explain to him the law of the land. That it is the responsibility of every citizen of the country to uphold the laws. “bazaar me pocketmaar ko kisi ki pocket maarte hue dekhoge to shor machana aapka bhi farz banta hai”. This last comment seemed to unnerve President Sharma along with the secretary and cashier, who were also present in the room. The retired IG of BSF also added some casteist slurs on Sunil (aap in chamaaro ke baare me kya jaante hai?), but again claiming that Sunil has not been thrown out of his job. But now their position is that he has himself stopped coming to his job since October. I said that it is not right and both of us know that, and then added in full measure that the president should enroll himself in a “shishtachar ki class” to learn good manners on how to talk to the people, and if needed I can spare a couple of hours in a week to teach him. (har insaan dusro se kuchh na kuchh seekh sakta hai. umar matter nahi karti. ek mai hi aapka sachcha hamdard hu.)

That was the end. This time the cashier said, “ab aap dekhiye ham kya karte hai. aap jaiye“. Nothing much happenned after that. I know that they cannot do anything and told them so. I did the normal weekend activities as Sonali comes to Delhi only during the weekends and we get very little time together. I am still waiting for the “dekh lenge” part. Thankfully I am well conversant with law, have contacts in Delhi police and media, and share a excellent relationship with my landlord, who is also an IITian and an IPS officer. I am already looking for a house in Noida.

I regret not recording the interesting piece of conversation that I had yesterday in the society office. (note to myself: always carry mobile phone.) I regret the manners of our civilized society, and the prevalence of the notion of caste and hierarchy. More importantly I wonder what kind of people were manning the most important chairs of our government for the last 60 years. What kind of people did my parents feed with their taxes? Why were such creatures mad in their power, why do they love to exert their authorities in seemingly illegal ways?

Have things changed with time? Are our new age IAS/IPS officers different? Do they understand the citizens’ rights? Do they have more respect for the law and the constitution? Can we be sure that 20 years from now, no permanent employee will be thrown out of his job without adequate notice and compensation? Something tells me that it is so. That the state is more ready to respect individuals more in the 21st century. That there is hope. But how do I reconcile that hope with the events mentioned in the first paragraph? Isn’t the Delhi police’ and administration removal of vegetable vendors, seemingly to satisfy reliance retail, not an extension of the very same attitude? Wasn’t their previous ban on fish vendors in the haats a reflection of brahminical attitudes that treats non-veg as dirty and impure? Why are all of us being shown our place repeatedly by the state? Does state violence denying citizens of their legitimate rights jutisfy counter-violence by the citizens to assert those? These are the questions that will always keep me occupied.

Blogbharti, on its anniversary has started a spotlight series, featuring essays from the Indian bloggers. Read on my essay, on the need to recognize education as a fundamental right in India, stronger government role and need for strict regulation on the private
education sector. Market is not a solution to guarantee human rights, state is the only institution to provide them to every individual.

Please sign this petition against IIT’s continuing collaboration with DOW. Got this email from Harsh, who got it from another friend in IITK.

“Students of Bhopal came to know of this conference sponsorship by DOW. They tried to get in touch with IITK and student body to screen their documentary on Bhopal Gas Tragedy history and current conditions. After being ignored for some time, they finally got an invitation. They were given a very short notice. The poor people had to rush. The SFS movie poster was a low-key one, put up for just one day before the screening, no publicity whatsoever. Only 40 students turned up. And the best part, the smart ass SFS secy censors the movie, telling the person responsible for screening that at no time in the movie should the word DOW appear. Can you guys believe that. And then he puts the condition that there will be no post-discussion!! fuck who is he to say that. The Indian Govt and State Courts have no problem in using its name, giving it the summons and so on. Its not like Voldemort or whatever the Harry Potter villains name is. And here is a kiss-ass 3rd yr student who thinks he has better chances of getting a job in DOW if he censors the movie. ok ok that was taking it too far. The DOSA also made it clear that there would be no post-discussion. Whatever happened to free speech, whatever happened to character, whatever happened to self-respect and fairness.”

ps: SFS = Student Film Society, IIT Kanpur; DOSA = Dean Of Student Affairs

Some images from a protest march in New Delhi on October 2nd supporting the call for democracy in Burma. It is absolutely shameful how the India government, at the behest of its army has not only hobnobbed with the Burmese military junta but actively supported it while the army was massacring the people of the country.

Anoop Saha
anoopsaha_AT_gmail_dot_com

Responding to a petition filed by Nandini Sundar and Ramchandra Guha, the Supreme Court has issued a notice to the Chhattisgarh government asking them to explain the rationale behind Salwa Judum. However the article in The Hindu quotes the Supreme Court bench as saying, “What is wrong in arming the local people to counter the naxal menace?” Let us try to find out what is wrong in forming a civilian militia by dispelling some of the myths associated with Judum, and propagated shamelessly by the state government and certain sections of the (state) media.

MYTH: Salwa Judum (SJ) is a spontaneous movement of adivasis against the tyranny of the naxalites.

FACT: It might be a mere coincidence that the first public meeting of Salwa Judum was on June 4 2005, the very same day the state government signed an MoU with Tata steel to set up a steel plant in Bastar. What is not is that the policy of creating and arming local resistance groups is the bedrock of India’s anti-insurgency strategy. In its analysis of the naxal problem, the annual reports of ministry of home affairs mentions “creation of local resistance groups at grass root levels” and “encouraging local resistance groups” as potential counter strategy. These lines are repeated in its 2003-04, 2004-05, and 2005-06 reports with the assurance that the ministry is actively encouraging such methods. (interestingly no such mention is there is in 2006-07 report which is quiet heartening) It is not the first time that village defence commitees were formed in Bastar. Similar attempts were made unsuccessfully in 1993-94 and then again in 1999. They were tried in Bihar, Jharkhand and Orissa as well to counter the naxalites. Salwa Judum was not limited to forming a civilian militia. It went beyond that, employing the classical techniques of ’strategic hamletting’, so (un)successfully adopted earlier in the North-east. The well known strategy involves emptying the people from remote villages to designated camps, cutting the supply line of the rebels, and launching fresh strikes in their strongholds. Once the villages are emptied, all those who are left behind can be identified as enemy combatants and any force used against them can then be justified.

The state’s propaganda highlights adivasi dienchantment with the naxalites. Of course there is some truth in the contention that some adivasis do want the naxalites to be driven out of Bastar, out of their lives. It is true that the naxalites can be as exploitative as the state or the thekedaar. The people do have a right to feel that their lives would have been better in the absence of the naxals. Before driving to any conclusion, it is also important to analyze the events of last 20 years. When the first batch of naxalites came to Bastar, it was a fertile ground for revolutionary mobilization. The only visible face of state was the attrocious police and forest guards. Health and educational standards were low, and are still very bad. The naxalites got popular support by their small acts, like beating up the guard or ensuring better wages for forest produce. After they were firmly established and gained confidence of the adivasis, the naxals started implementing basic principles of their ideology. These included among other things, a redistribution of land by force. Like all societies in India, the tribal society also had a feudal character. This implementation-of-ideas phase alienated a section of the adivasis. It is this very “class” of people who lost their land and power in the process, who form the backbone of Salwa Judum. In camp after camp, the most common grouse of SJ third rung leaders against the naxals were, “woh bolte the zameen baant do. Kyon baant de?” (they asked us to distribute our land. Why should we?). Bu this does not mean that the popular support for naxalites were on the wane. The land redistribution earned them far many supporters than enemies. A significant portion of these people are still with the naxalites, and form the part of large coordinated attacks as that on NMDC.

The leaders of SJ are all non-adivasis. Salwa Judum also finds popular support among the industrialists of Chhattisgarh (CII, CG chapter), the local thekedaars, RSS, and of course with the Union Ministry of Home Affairs.

MYTH: Salwa Judum is a peaceful gandhian movement.

FACT: Both leader of opposition in CG assembly, Mahendra Karma, and ex-adviser to Chhattisgarh government, KPS Gill, along with many others have termed SJ as a peaceful Gandhian movement. It is not just a question of etymology. Gandhian definitely does not mean forcing people to leave their homes, creating a unaccountable armed vigilante group, killing all those who dosn’t agree with them, and letting a small group of people in charge of huge funds to manage the camps. The charges of rape/murder against Salwa Judum gangs and the paramilitary fores which augment/support the movement, has been well documented in numerous fact finding reports. Salwa Judum was also accompanied by the draconian law, CSPSA. Some of the provisions of CSPSA is even harsher than that much hated act AFSPA, and it directly targets activists and journalists who report on the maoists activities. CSPSA perfectly gels with the philosophy that anyone who is not with the tyranny of the state is essentially a naxal sympathizer.

One of the most ardent human rights activist of Chhattisgarh, and someone who has been closely involved in public health programs of Chhattisgarh, Dr. Binayak Sen is in jail since May 2007. The fabricated charges against him under CSPSA were found serious enough by the Chhattisgarh high court that denied bail to him. An alumnus of CMC Vellore, Dr. Binayak Sen played a pivotal role in exposing the true face of Salwa Judum. Cajoled and compromised, most local media outlets in Chhattisgarh parroted the lines of state in reporting his arrest. He is not the only one who is being charged with this draconian act. CSPSA is direct linked with the Salwa Judum campaign. The act is designed to prevent any unwanted criticism of the ‘movement’, especially by the local people and the local media. Despite this, some have taken a courageous stand in exposing the brutal violence unleashed by Judum militia.

CPJC (Campaign for Peace and Justice in Chhattisgarh) had a convention on 4th september in New Delhi on the civil war situation in Dantewada. One of those who came from Dantewada had been shot at his testicles because he refused to participate in the Salwa Judum rally. Another person from Vechapal village told us that two women from his village were raped by the Salwa Judum. They were frced to wear naxalite uniform; their hair cut, and were taken to Jagdalpur jail.  Such cases are repeated in almost all the villages in Dantewada district.

Earlier this year on March 31, 12 people from Ponjer and Santoshpur villages were murdered by the SPOs in Santoshpur. The sarpanch of Santoshpur (himself an SPO) who was in one of the assaulting parties did a tell-all-interview explicitly stating that the SPOs and district force people killed 6 of his fellow villagers in front of him and that 2 of the killed were just mahua collectors. The rest were sangham members. Sangham is the unofficial body created by the naxalites in the villages. They are not armed, and merely check the events in the village. The Santoshpur encounter was highlighted accidentally, because one of the media teams from abroad happened to be in Dantewada at the same time. They managed to talk to the scared villagers of Ponjer, who had taken refuge under a tree after evacuating from their village. 

Perhaps nothing exemplifies the gravity of the situation than the story of this unnamed female inmate of Jagdalpur jail. The Independent Citizens initiative (ICI) in its report says this about her, “We met a female inmate of the Jagdalpur Jail who said she had been picked up while accompanying her brother in a cycle, to visit their sister. Her brother was shot dead in front of her and she was first gangraped by the CRPF near the roadside and then sent to the local thana where she was held and gangraped for another ten days, after which she was sent to Jagdalpur Jail. The other women in jail corroborated that when she first arrived, she was so swollen from the sexual torture that she could hardly walk. This woman (whose identity we cannot reveal) is currently charged under the arms act and dacoity.”

MYTH: The displacement of adivasis from villages to camps is inevitable, of their own free will, and is to ensure their safety.

FACT: Again a cursory glance at the pattern of displacement belies this argument. Salwa Judum was officially started on June 4, 2005. Not accustomed to any voice of dissent, the naxalites killed 8 villagers in Kotrapal village on June 14 2005. This provided the much needed excuse for the state, and the first camps were established almost immediately. Although, june 14 incident had a limited influence, by July, at least 15000 tribals were forced to migrate to the camps. What made whole of villages suddenly move to the camps? How was this mass transfer accomplished in flat 15 days? The largest movements of villagers occurred in significant chunks. On diwali eve of 2005, people from at least 100 villages were moved to the camps.

What was happening to those who stayed back in the villages. Reports kept coming out about the violent actions by the salwa judum cadres, the SPOs, the police and the reserve batallions like crpf, naga and mizo jawans unleashing brutal violence on them. Women were raped, men were killed, children were maimed, and large amounts of grains and vegetables grown by the adivasis were destroyed. Despite mounting evidence, not a single FIR was lodged against all those associated with SJ. In a more serious lapse, all health and educational facilities were stopped by the state in the villages considered to be rebel strongholds. The sarpanches of some villages have sent a letter on 24^th May 2007, reiterating this fact. They claim that all essential services have been suspended in these thousands of villages since the launch of Salwa Judum. If anybody tries to cross the Indravati River and tries to go to the haats, he/she is severely beaten by the SPOs and CRPF men. They walk 80km one way to get a packet of salt. Incidentally, most of the haats, which were the main instrument of social and economical exchange of these villagers have been shut down.

The state claims that the people had to shift to the camps to save themselves from the murderous assaults by the naxalites. The naxalites did react violently to the Salwa Judum campaign and the people associated with it were brutally massacred. But the number of persons killed by them still pales in comparision to what has been done in the name of Salwa Judum.

Today, more than 50000 people are living in 22 camps in south Bastar district. The conditions of these camps are dismal. Around 60000 adivasis have migrated to the neighbouring states and are facing an acute humanitarian crisis. The entire society is in crisis, and it might take a long time to undo the mistakes committed.

MYTH: Salwa Judum is only possible strategy to counter the increasing threat of naxalites.

FACT: Some Indian states have successfully tackled the left wing extremism in the previous decades. The ideological bases of these movements have also surfaced in almost all parts of the world. The surefire way to tackle such insurgencies is to isolate their legitimate demands, strengthen the panchayati raj institutions, have transparency in all government schemes, and most importantly, empower and address the non-violent grievance mechanism in the country. The increase in naxalite presence in recent times is directly correlated with the increasing inequality in the society and the mad rush to exploit the limited resources. We have a lovely document that can be our guide to face such scenarios. It is called “The Constitution of India”. One of the most tried and tested method to counter the maoist principles is to simply ensure the rights guaranteed by the constitution to each individual. A very basic first step can be to sincerely implement land reforms all across the country. It is possible to isolate some basic demands of the maoist party and they are not dissimilar to what many other political parties and social movements are asking for. Land reforms are one. The other is to amend the ‘Land Acquisition Act, 1894′. The third is public ownership of all natural resources. Fourth is to look into the agricultural distress. These are very easy steps but require tremendous will power in part of the state. What is also required is to ensure delivery of basic services like education and health in these regions and improvement in quality of governance..

As a military strategy also, there are variety of ways to engage the naxalites in battle. Salwa Judum, the entire campaign, represents the abrogation of the responsibility of the state and its security apparatus. The  SPO’s are kept in the front during each armed action. It  is the who die in largest numbers in any naxalite counter-attack.

MYTH: Salwa Judum is accompanied by development initiatives by the state government of Chhattisgarh and the government of India.

FACT: As mentioned before, the SJ campaign was started on the very same day on which the state government of Chhattisgarh signed an MOU with the tatas for them to set up a steel plant in Lohandiguda in Bastar. Essar is also setting up a steel plant in Dhurli/Bhansi region of Dantewada. Both these parties have also demanded lease and mining rights for the vast iron ore reserves in Bailadila. The interest of both these groups lies in the success of the Salwa Judum campaign. According to annual report of Dantewada district collector, Essar has contributed large sums to establish the Salwa Judum relief camps as model villages. This will ensure that the villages are permanently emptied out, which can be exploited for their mineral wealth at a later date.

The people in both these cases are dead against any forced acquisition of their farmland. All the 10 villages of Lohandiguda and 2 villages of Dhurli and Bhansi fall under fifth schedule, and any land acquisition without the express permission of the gram sabha is illegal. Given that a majority of the farmers (mostly adivasis) were not ready to part with their land, the state devised a unique way to subvert the guidelines. On the day of Gram Sabha, heavy security forces were deployed and the villagers were asked to remain at their homes. A few educated elder leaders were put in jail. Accompanied by police, the people were called in one by one in the panchayat building and asked to sign on the document there. None of them were allowed to read out the contents of the document. Furthermore, section 144 was clamped in some villages during the whole period. Although all outsiders were banned, the grram sabhas were attended by the resident directors of essar steel and tata steel respectively. What is noteworthy is that all the villages, where such drama was played out, have never had any naxalite presence. (The documents are available in www.cgnet.in)

If education and health are identified as basic developmental indicators, Dantewada is is in a much worse shape now than a few years back. There is massive malnutrition among children in the camps. The medical facilities are virtually non-existent, and the state has stopped all health care activities in the villages which have not endorsed Salwa Judum.  According to a recent team of doctors who visited the camps, “People living in camps suffer from significant untreated morbidity, and seem to receive only periodic or occasional health services. People living in villages on the ‘other side’ are not being provided services at all by the public health system.” I must point out that a couple of years back I met a top district official of Dantewada. According to him, the only redeemable feature about the naxals is that they have never harmed any government campaign on “shiksha and swasthya” (education and health). So the excuse that the health services had to be stopped for the fear of naxalites is bogus at best.

Education is in a far worse shape. A large number of paramilitary forces are stationed in government school buildings. Among them are, like Rani Bodli, residential schools where even the girl’s hostel buildings are shared by the security forces. A majority of schools remain closed, and the state govt. granted a general promotion to all students of many villages, because even the examinations could not be conducted. If development means roads and well connectivity, while eight lane wide roads are constructed to join the sites of tata and essar steel plants with state capital, the status of roads connecting many villages have become worse and are in a state of disrepair. The funds under Gram Sadak Yojana remain largely unutilized, or mismanaged in a very large scale.

MYTH: All the displaced adivasis are living in camps. Although the camps have bad living conditions, the people are still living better than in their villages.

FACT: The state government claims that 644 villages out of a total of 1350 have supported salwa judum wholeheartedly. Approximately 50000 villagers have taken refuge in the 22 relief camps as of August 2007. The state also claims that these 644 villages are targeted by the naxalites, and that is the reason for such large exodus to the camps. A quick tour of the relief camps leads us to believe that the actual number of people in these camps is far less than what is claimed. The back of the envelope calculations show that the total population of these 644 villages ought to be nearly 3.5 lacs. The big question is, where are the rest of 300000 villagers? Either they are in their village, engaged in farming, bothering least bit about the naxalites. Or they have sided with the naxals, at a whopping ratio of 6:1. Or they preferred to migrate to neighbouring states, away from the ghettoish camps. Indeed, a large number of adivasis have have crossed the borders and shifted to AP and Orissa. Since they are not formally recognised as ‘Internally Displaced People’ (IDP) by either the state or the international humanitarian existence, many of these are facing life of acute subsistence. There have been repeated calls from people living in these districts to provide some sort of support to these refugees.

They chose to take the risk go elsewhere, rather than stay in the camps. These camps, which are supposed to be run very efficiently with massive funds being poured out, are claimed to be dens of vice. The adivasi women are least safe in these camps. The standard of food and medical facilities are awful in a majority of camps. It is important to enquire the massive amounts of relief package being siphoned away. The only source of employment in these camps is working as contract labour on daily wages, or to enroll as an SPO. While a majority of adivasis were engaged in agriculture and collecting minor forest produce, now they are reduced to nothing more than coolies.

MYTH: Salwa Judum is sucessful.

FACT: The metric of success for the Salwa Judum campaign is, in the words of state DGP that the naxalites have themselves admitted to the killing of 500 of their cadres in the salwa judum campaign. But then they have also claimed to have recruited more number of people in last two years from Bastar, than in the previous 20 years. Far from weakening it, this campaign has given more ammunition to the naxals both in form or personnel and human rights issues. While a large number of ’sangham members’ have indeed died, the naxals retain their ability to carry on massively coordinated strikes of forces and civilians. Forget central committee, state committee, zonal committee or its district committee, even a dalam commander (which is the lowest hierarchy among the naxalite armed wing) is not there among those ‘500 naxalites’ killed by SJ. The organs of the state have claimed repeatedly that the top leadership of naxals has taken refuge in the forests of Dantewada, yet none of them were captured from that region. This most brutal suppression of human rights for seemingly fictitious successes has few parallels in the world, most notably in Darfur, Peru, Sierra Leone and Congo. Salwa Judum fits with the union home ministry’s idea of “aiding local resistance groups”, that has never shown any success in any part of the country and yet shamelessly employed in all regions of direct conflict for apparent quick results.

On November 14 2006, there was a large rally of nearly 70000 adivasis in Dantewada, shouting slogans against Salwa Judum. If there ever was a popular support for SJ, it had disappeared completely within a few months. A similar rally was taken out in July this year in Cherla village near Konta.

The reason that is now cited in some sections for the continuation of SJ is that a quick withdrawal will mean a loss of face for the state government. Given a choice between ‘loss-of-face’ and large scale societal annihilation and the kind of brutality mentioned in this article (that is merely a tip of the iceberg), it is not very hard to choose.

Salwa Judum is continuing, and the violence is showing no signs of abatement. The policy of arming civilians to counter insurgency has never been discussed in the parliament. Proving once again that famous Edmund Burke hypothesis, “All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.”

Although confirmation bias, or the inability to see facts that contradict one’s preconceived ideas, is not treated as a serious defect in individual cognition, it can produce very significant errors in perception. Like the fact that many people take credence in the weekly horoscope by simply recognizing the parts that fit their case and ignoring the bits that don’t. Most people, including bloggers and editors, are not immune to confirmation bias.

Two recent examples are that of Mr. Ram of Hindu and Mr. Shekhar Gupta of Indian Express. While it is not clear whether Mr. Ram writes the way he does because of the instructions received from Alimuddin Street which he is unable to refuse, and hence any analysis of his articles needs to be postponed until it is proven beyond doubt that Mr Ram writes the way he does at his own volition, it is important to dissect Mr. Gupta’s assertion. More so because in the aftermath of the failed Glasgow bombings, a whole lot of public discourse in the indian media and the blogosphere is related to the what might be euphemistically called, coming-of-age of Indian terror and understanding the Indian muslim psyche. This becomes complicated because an Indian doctor is detained in a foreign country in apparent trumped up charges, and subjected to solitary confinement.

Shekhar Gupta believes that the UPA government’s “soft policy on terror”, revocation of such black laws like pota, its self doubt while dealing with minorities is what is fueling extremism in the country. He goes on to claim that the growth of naxalism is solely because of a lack of will at the center to dealfirmly with them. It is necessary to put the matters straight. Mohib at IndianMuslims.in posted a brilliant retort to similar rationale.

Besides the Mumbai train blasts and those in crowded places in Delhi, at least three deadly terrorist strikes were in mosques and temples in as many years. Many people including Mr Gupta, by claiming that all those who die happen to be ‘hindu’ (”only one community is victim”) , just refuse to count those deaths. No significant arrests were made in those cases. No chargesheets were filed. Despite having mutual interest in solving the Samjhauta express blasts, India refused to share intelligence with the Pakistani counterpart. Not that they made great strides in identifying the perpetrators. While Mr. Gupta feels that the reason is an excess of secularism, I feel that it is something to do with a lack of it in our investigating agencies.

For a long time, our police and IB have followed a simple three step formula in solving terror. a) Prepare a list of groups perceived to be the ‘enemies of india’. b) Blame the attack on that group and, c)Arrest someone who is remotely associated with those groups. Note that in most cases, the alleged criminals, who can also be termed as victims, were acquited by the courts. Most of them spend years in jail before being produced before a judge, in complete violation of law. They are brutally tortured by the authorities, forced to sign on blank papers, made to go through narco analysis test (againviolation the constitution that says that any individual must not be forced to testify against himself), and a whole drama is created in front of media that pronounces the victim as guilty even before the trial has begun, that parrots the lines from authorities.

This lazy attitude of the police, and the media’s inability or fear to ask tough questions and dissect the prosecution arguments is the principal reason why we see increased instances of terror every year. What the police does is it catches the most vulnerable people, who fit the social profile of a terrorist, and are able to extract confession from him. In case he refuses to confess, he is easily done away with in a staged encounter. As a result, the real perpetrators of the ghastly crime slip by, they are never targetted as investigations remain shoddy, and are free to make the next strike. After ISI and LET/JeM, it is HUJI that is the latest posterboy of Indian police. No doubt that these nihilist organizations exist for the sole purpose of killing people, still, if they are able to strike at as many places in India at their will, then there is something fundamentally flawed with our security apparatus and intelligence gathering.

In Nanded, there was a powerful blast in the house of a local rss member. Two persons, both bajrang dal members, were killed while they were making a bomb. No arrests were made in that case. Nobody was implicated. The blast conclusively proved Bajrang Dal’s intention to carry out terrorist strikes in India. What followed was a series of bomb blasts in mosques, temples, bazaars and trains. Blinded by the country’s distrust over its minorities, none of these cases remain solved. Despite a large numbers of muslims being killed, it is generally believed that Bajrang dal is out of any suspicion. In the case of the blasts at Mecca Masjid, Hyderabad, the police outdid the terrorists. More people were killed by police bullets than by the bomb on that day.

Similarly it is being said that the center doesn’t have the courage to take on the naxalites. How real is it? For last three years a campaign of isolating and hamletting of villages is going on in Chhattisgarh in the name of Salwa Judum. Despite its universal condemnation, and exposure of the killing fields by every single fact finding and media report, this campaign has got full support of the union home ministry. Similar experiments are being carried out in other parts of the country, like Orissa and Jharkhand. Are they bearing any fruit? More central committee leaders of CPI(maoist) were killed in last three years than in previous 10 years. For the first time in last 30 years, around 20% of the group’s top leaders have been put in jail. Still the ideology, and its adherents are not waning. If news reports are to go by, the naxalites have significantly increased their strength in last few years. What is it that the naxalites have realised and the center is yet to do?

The single most important reason for the growth of naxalism is the economic policies being followed by the central government since 1998. There is little space given to legitimate demands of people, and whenever conflicts arise between the interests of citizens and those of corporates, the state inevitably sided against its own people. The nation is jotted with places where the police fired on its own people, on people who were protesting against corporate parasites, on people who were trying to secure their life and livelihood, on people who were trying to uphold the principles laid down in the constitution. These, and the fact that there is no strong political left left in the country, are providing the fodder for the naxalites. So, instead of addressing these core issues, the confirmation biased individuals suggest a surge of troop, a hardline policy, bringing in the army, and killing as many naxalites as possible. This route is doomed to failure and comes with a significant cost.

Coming back to the original point of this post. The repeated terrorist attacks in all parts of the country is definitely a failure of the UPA government. However the reason is not an excess of secularism, but a lack of it in our police and intelligence agencies. Remember Mumbai blasts. Remember how the people of the city came to help the victims. How there were no policemen of civic authorities in sight at the time of the blasts, at the time when they were most needed. How nearly 400 people, all muslims, were arrested by Mumbai blasts immediately after the blasts. How more than 12000 muslim homes were searched. What makes the police cast askance entire muslim population of Mumbai after the horrific train blasts? They usually don’t stop of that. The person who was accused of carrying out the Ghatkopar blasts was murdered in a cold-blooded encounter.

This is not secularism if the largest minority in the country is made to feel unsafe. It is not secularism why we are unable to nab the culprits behind those heinous acts. It is something entirely opposite. It is the lack of secularism how the most dastardly acts by our police agencies are hailed as long as they appear to be targeting terrorists. In reality they are too busy saving their own skins by inventing culprits. One possible reason is a weak home minister. More on that later.

  Dr Hanef has been in jail for more than a week. His crime: a. he is a cousin of the man who drove the explosive-laden jeep at Glasgow airport and had once taken a loan from that man. b. He lent his sim card to the brother of that man (his explanation that he wanted them to utilize the scheme of the mobile connection while leaving england is ignored), and c. he had a one-way ticket leaving australia the day after the bombing.

These are the times of terror. Governments across the world, especially those who have taken the front seat in fighting terror, have passed disgusting laws, in the garb of anti-terrorism. And claiming to be democracies, all these countries need cases to sell the laws to their constituencies. In Dr. Haneef, John Howard has got his prized possession. Dr Haneef being innocent is not a bar. Rightly enough, the australian students, judiciary and civil society have condemned the detention.

Because of his ‘crimes’ the aussie government have branded him a terrorist, cancelled his visa, arrested him after the court gave him bail and subjected him to solitary confinement. It took full 7 days for India to take notice of the matter and there was no signs of outrage in the officials. That an Indian citizen is pushed to harsh treatment abroad on trumped up charges, seems nothing of consequence to the leaders of the country. Had Dr. Md. Haneef been a white man, he would be treated such harshly by the aussies. If that is not racism, then what is. The public reaction was also muted with many claiming that the Australians should be allowed to follow their laws.

Not that India is a great country for upholding the human rights of its citizens. Our own records in fair treatment of alleged accomplices is pathetic. A voice inside me says that Dr. Haneef would have been in a far worse shape had he been arrested in India. But does that mean that we silently ignore what is happenning in Australia as a mere-unfortunate case. It is the responsibility of our foreign office, our government and our civil society that Indian citizens are treated with respect and laws conforming to international standards of justice.