The Hindu : In self-destruct mode

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Mar 22, 2003

Opinion

Opinion - Leader Page Articles

In self-destruct mode

By K. M. Tampi

It is only after affected sections resort to violence, bloodshed and destruction of public property that Governments in Kerala have acted.

NO ONE seems to be playing to the rules of the game in Kerala today — every one is breaking them with a vengeance. The question is whether and when this will break the State.

The Kerala Government is the first culprit. It is said that a good Government should foresee problems and take steps to solve them. That would be the ideal situation. But no practical person expects the Government to foresee problems. But, it is expected to tackle the existing problems, at least after the affected bring them to its attention. Have the present or past governments done so? The answer is a big "no."

Everyone extols the virtues of peaceful, Gandhian methods of agitation. But such methods have produced little result. It is only after affected sections resort to violence, bloodshed and destruction of public property that Governments in Kerala have acted. This style of functioning has reduced the Governments to the level of agencies engaged in crisis management.

The present issue involving the tribals of Muthanga, and all related problems, is the result of the attitude displayed by successive State Governments. The issue has been simmering ever since the people of the plains dispossessed the tribals of their land, allegedly through unfair and foul means, decades ago.

According to reports, they appropriated some of this land, the timber on which alone was worth lakhs of rupees, by giving just a few litres of local liquor to the tribals. Successive Governments knew that the restoration of land to the tribals was an impossible task. The main reason being the solid vote-bank of the highland farmers, which no party could afford to ignore.

Another reason was the improvement of the land by these farmers, which raised its value considerably, thereby increasing the compensation the Government would have had to pay to acquire it and return it to the tribals. Besides, any move to acquire the land forcibly would have led to bloodshed because of the emotional attachment of the farmers to the land. It was the realisation of these facts, which made all the parties, including the CPI (M) and the Congress, join hands and enact a law to provide alternative land to the tribals. The law was necessary for overcoming a High Court ruling too. But even this law has not been implemented for years.

It was this inaction which forced the tribals' hands. Initially, their agitation was peaceful. But the Government failed to act. There is an impression among many that it was the Government which forced the tribals to take the law into their hands. They feel that if, as the Government believes, extremists were behind the Muthanga revolt, it was the Government which was responsible for it. And that by sidelining and ignoring the tribals for years because they were not a powerful vote-bank, and did not have any clout, successive Governments made them susceptible to provocation.

Even now, instead of declaring an amnesty to help heal the wounds caused by the police action, and initiating steps for rehabilitating the tribals, the Government is dilly-dallying.

Soon after the Muthanga incident, the Opposition launched an agitation demanding a judicial probe. The LDF too broke the rules by organising two `hartals' within a matter of eight days during the examination season to press the demand. Some sections feel that no responsible party should have called for agitations when lakhs of students are taking examinations, followed by various entrance tests. They feel that only parties which care for the next election more than the next generation could do so. Many who appeared for the examination on March 11 had to spend the previous night in the house of a friend, relative or acquaintance near the examination centre.

The sudden change of scene and the tension might have affected the performance of most of them. And on the day of the second `hartal' on March 18, even though vehicles and buses were exempted, the KSRTC did not operate services, because of stone-throwing incidents. Most of the private buses also kept off the roads. While those with cars and at least two wheelers were able to take their wards to the examination centres, it is the children of the common man dependent solely on bus services who suffered. According to preliminary official figures, about 750 students were unable to appear for the SSLC examination alone in different parts of the State. The Government has decided to conduct a re-examination for them. And to think that almost all the parties, especially the revolutionary ones, swear by the common man.

On the demand for a judicial probe into the Muthanga issue, some sections wonder why the Government should have stonewalled it so strongly. The issue has thrown up several disturbing factors. They include the Government's own claim about the involvement of naxalites, the allegations that the police had fired at the retreating tribals, that `lathi' blows were rained on the heads of women and children, that the tribal women were stripped and insulted in police custody and so on.

Some or many of these allegations may or may not be true. An enquiry would enable the Government to bring out the truth. People without any party leanings wonder why the Government cannot accept the demand when the entire Opposition and a section of the ruling front itself are for a probe. After all, bowing to the will of the majority is what democracy is all about. Had the Government shown the guts and the magnanimity to do so without standing on false prestige, the destruction of a lot of public property and the police action, which has turned the Opposition outright inimical to it, could have been avoided.

The police too, despite the high moral stand adopted by them under the present Government, are breaking many rules. They seem to forget that they are a disciplined force and are not expected to retaliate in the same manner as a mob. They can resort to lathicharge, lob teargas shells or open fire at a mob but cannot throw stones or bottles at it. If the rule of retaliation holds good, the police will be able to set fire to vehicles and damage party offices if party cadres indulge in destructive acts. That will make it one mob against another.

Is that what the police and the Government want?Journalists have suddenly become the police's favourite whipping boys. Some feel that their intolerance stems out of ignorance. If journalists can rub shoulders with soldiers in the borders of the country and with the riot police even in places under curfew inside the country, there is no reason why they cannot freely cover incidents in Kerala. All these seem to indicate that a new malaise is affecting the body politic of the State when it appeared as if it had overcome some of its inherent problems and was on the path to recovery. Kerala seems to be verily in self-destruct mode once again.

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