I am writing this following Union home minister’s speech in the Lok Shabha in which he indicated a large-scale offensive to rid areas affected by the Maoist violence.
I don’t know about the reader but I have experienced a rush of revulsion against Maoist each time when I see reports of their continuing indulgence in violence just as I cringe each time after reading Arundhati Roy’s unrelenting vitriolic against the establishment on any issue. Well, it is natural human tendency to reject extremism of any kind; whether it is in the form far-left violence or frequent overdose of anti-establishment rhetoric in academic writings. The negative effect of excessive reaction is true in any field, even in one’s profession. If you express your opinion in an aggressive manner, it is going to inevitably trigger resentment. Your argument -howsoever articulate and right- would lose its relevance as a result and you might risk yourself labeled forever as a confrontationist.
The same thing is happening with Maoists or activists like Arundhati Roy. Maoists are increasingly seen as serious internal security threats following their unrelenting violent attacks resulting in loss of life and damage to national property. Their ideological motivation to wrest away control by waging war against the State is well-known and deserves strong action to quell their movement by whatever force it takes to do so. But there is no denying the fact that their this ideological motivation got fuel to propel their movement and expand it to more areas by equally raging craving for justice for decades and complete neglect of the plight of the poor and downtrodden by successive central governments and governments of the states affected most by their violence. The frustration of masses against denial of justice and equity is a major reason for Maoists expansion and why they continue get local support and recruits. The same frustration is driving some activists to cross the line and spew venom in their academic attacks against the State, which you and me are likely to scoff at and discard as verbal diarrhoea. But that is not going to end the problem. There is no doubt that the Maoist violence has gone too far, wide and deep to have left any room for negotiation or attempting to find middle ground through civil engagement. That phase is long gone, thanks to flawed policies and approaches of our successive stae and central administration. But use of force is not going to yield any long-term success if it is not followed by concerted and sincere efforts to bring about social, political and economic emancipation of people in all backward regions of the country. The Naxalbari uprising in 1960 is a case in point. The peasants’ uprising there was crushed with force but there were no subsequent efforts to address the causes of dissent that compelled peasants to take the extreme path of violence. As a result, the violent agitation turned into Maoist extremism and spread to 14 states and 160 districts from just one district in 1960.
We have to accept that we are not a just society. Even in the 21st century and six decades after Independence, we are still a society where we have millions who are living under abject poverty, our children are dying in alarming numbers because of malnutrition and social oppression is still prevalent through out the country. How shocking it is to read in this age that a Dalit youth in a village in Haryana (a north Indian state) was beaten up, tied to a bike and paraded through the streets of the village by a group of men for dialing a wrong number! Such incidences of atrocities against Dalits and low-caste poor are daily occurrences in our villages. The police in most such cases turn their blind eye to it and thus justice against oppression is still a distant dream for the poor in our caste-ridden society. So long as forced displacement and evictions by industrial projects, sense of injustice in land related issues, extreme poverty, social oppression and exploitation, inequality in access to opportunities, economic deprivation, corruption in our welfare delivery system and police brutality remain ground realities, dissent among poor and marginalized would continue to simmer beneath and continue to explode in violent reactions from time to time in some parts of the country no matter how many times we crush such violence by using force. The spiral of violence will continue if amelioration fails to follow.
I don’t know about the reader but I have experienced a rush of revulsion against Maoist each time when I see reports of their continuing indulgence in violence just as I cringe each time after reading Arundhati Roy’s unrelenting vitriolic against the establishment on any issue. Well, it is natural human tendency to reject extremism of any kind; whether it is in the form far-left violence or frequent overdose of anti-establishment rhetoric in academic writings. The negative effect of excessive reaction is true in any field, even in one’s profession. If you express your opinion in an aggressive manner, it is going to inevitably trigger resentment. Your argument -howsoever articulate and right- would lose its relevance as a result and you might risk yourself labeled forever as a confrontationist.
The same thing is happening with Maoists or activists like Arundhati Roy. Maoists are increasingly seen as serious internal security threats following their unrelenting violent attacks resulting in loss of life and damage to national property. Their ideological motivation to wrest away control by waging war against the State is well-known and deserves strong action to quell their movement by whatever force it takes to do so. But there is no denying the fact that their this ideological motivation got fuel to propel their movement and expand it to more areas by equally raging craving for justice for decades and complete neglect of the plight of the poor and downtrodden by successive central governments and governments of the states affected most by their violence. The frustration of masses against denial of justice and equity is a major reason for Maoists expansion and why they continue get local support and recruits. The same frustration is driving some activists to cross the line and spew venom in their academic attacks against the State, which you and me are likely to scoff at and discard as verbal diarrhoea. But that is not going to end the problem. There is no doubt that the Maoist violence has gone too far, wide and deep to have left any room for negotiation or attempting to find middle ground through civil engagement. That phase is long gone, thanks to flawed policies and approaches of our successive stae and central administration. But use of force is not going to yield any long-term success if it is not followed by concerted and sincere efforts to bring about social, political and economic emancipation of people in all backward regions of the country. The Naxalbari uprising in 1960 is a case in point. The peasants’ uprising there was crushed with force but there were no subsequent efforts to address the causes of dissent that compelled peasants to take the extreme path of violence. As a result, the violent agitation turned into Maoist extremism and spread to 14 states and 160 districts from just one district in 1960.
We have to accept that we are not a just society. Even in the 21st century and six decades after Independence, we are still a society where we have millions who are living under abject poverty, our children are dying in alarming numbers because of malnutrition and social oppression is still prevalent through out the country. How shocking it is to read in this age that a Dalit youth in a village in Haryana (a north Indian state) was beaten up, tied to a bike and paraded through the streets of the village by a group of men for dialing a wrong number! Such incidences of atrocities against Dalits and low-caste poor are daily occurrences in our villages. The police in most such cases turn their blind eye to it and thus justice against oppression is still a distant dream for the poor in our caste-ridden society. So long as forced displacement and evictions by industrial projects, sense of injustice in land related issues, extreme poverty, social oppression and exploitation, inequality in access to opportunities, economic deprivation, corruption in our welfare delivery system and police brutality remain ground realities, dissent among poor and marginalized would continue to simmer beneath and continue to explode in violent reactions from time to time in some parts of the country no matter how many times we crush such violence by using force. The spiral of violence will continue if amelioration fails to follow.
Yes, it is time to act against Maoists. But it is also time to act against an unjust society and primordial social practices that create a Maoist and an Arundhati Roy in you and me.
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