In 2005 the BJP government of Chhattisgarh
claimed that Salwa Judum was a
self-initiated people’s movement aiming to finish Naxalism, and people were
flocking to Salwa Judum camps which would be models of development. Instead,
all the people who were forcibly incarcerated in Salwa Judum camps fled back to
their villages as soon as they were able and fifteen years on, the Naxalites
are hardly finished, even if weakened. The villagers whose homes were burnt by
Salwa Judum or those whose family members were killed in the conflict, and who
have still not got justice, are living testaments to how lies purveyed by the
media and ruling parties remain simply lies.
In listening to the government and media
talk about how happy Kashmiris are with the abrogation of Article 370 and
Article 35 A, I am constantly reminded of Chhattisgarh and the government’s
claim that people were so happy to leave their villages. Just as in Kashmir,
media, fact-finding groups and even opposition parties who wanted to visit to
ascertain the truth were prevented from doing so. While people did not face the
same kind of communications blockade, simply because few people used phones, in
practice they were blockaded from communicating by not being allowed to meet in
bazaars or visit each other for fear of being randomly killed or arrested
enroute.
And just as in Chhattisgarh, Salwa Judum
was jointly carried out by the ruling BJP government and the opposition Congress
leader, Mahendra Karma – in the case of Kashmir, almost the entire opposition has
been weak, silent or divided. The utter shame of Kejriwal demanding full
statehood for Delhi and congratulating the BJP for demolishing the full
statehood of Kashmir is not lost on any one. State parties which could find
themselves similarly put under President’s rule one day and waking up to a
changed geography the next – all seem to be suffering from some strange kind of
Stockholm syndrome where they are under the captive sway of the BJP’s
overwhelming presence. Or perhaps we owe this sorry spectacle to the BJP’s
powers over investigative agencies like the ED and CBI.
The BJP claim that sarpanches in J & K
will be strengthened will make them like those in Bastar – who exist only on paper and
work with the administration, while people hate them and they need insurance
from the people. One cannot have democracy only at the bottom and imprisonment
at the top or vice versa. Democracy is a long chain which links everyone and
once one link is broken, the chain is useless.
The mainstream press has usually gone along
with the government when it comes to national security issues, especially in
the 'peripheries'. Thus when Mizoram was being subjected to grouping and the
entire population was being uprooted, an Indian
Express editorial, dated 7 January 1967 stated: ‘Evacuation of the entire
village population over 4000 sq miles is a spectacular operation which implies
either that the situation is more serious than the authorities want the country
to believe or that a newer determined effort is about to be made to wipe out
the last vestiges of rebellion. The evacuation will help in isolating and
mopping up the rebel bands but resettlement of 60,000 people far away from
their houses will present serious difficulties. Operation Security will involve
a measure of force.’
Currently there is not only the willingness
to accept ‘a measure of force’ but active triumphalism by the media with
headlines like ‘historic moment’, ‘geography being redrawn’, ‘surgical strike’
etc.. This is even worse than the Emergency – where as Advani famously said,
the media crawled when they were merely asked to bend. Here they celebrated
when they should have condemned, and were vocal cheerleaders of the destruction
of democracy when we needed them to defend it. It is at times like this when
one most misses fearless voices like Gauri Lankesh.
Underlying all this is of course corporate
interests. Just as it is being said that the removal of Article 35 A will
create more investment opportunities, we will soon be told that the removal of the 5th
Schedule and laws against adivasi land alienation should also go so that
adivasis can benefit. In Jharkhand, steps have already been taken to weaken the
Chotanagpur Tenancy Act and Santhal Pargana Tenancy Act.
What happens in the ‘peripheries’ happens
in the ‘Centre’. The Emergency in Kashmir will soon take the form of a declared
All India Emergency. The undeclared one is, of course, already upon us.
