It's taken less than a decade's existence as a state of the Republic for Chattisgarh to join this odious club. Today's Indian Express reports that school textbooks have been rewritten to include praise of Salwa Judum. Many of our readers may not even know of the existence of Salwa Judum, a vigilante group created and armed by the government in response to India's greatest internal security threat: the Maoist Naxalites. The Naxalites have prospered in recent years, feeding off the government's apathy towards both rural development in general and the upliftment of the adivasis (tribals; a group much more oppressed and disenfranchised than even the Dalits) in particular. The Home Ministry estimates Naxalite influence in 10% of India's districts, and although this may be a slight exaggeration, this number is growing quickly. The Naxalites, brutal and violent as they are, offer a (admittedly false) hope to unemployed, disaffected young men and create an alternative infrastructure of health, education and employment in areas, especially in central India, where the government has never tried to provide these essential services.
There are two legitimate and essential ways to combat the Naxalite threat. One is through more efficient, fair and extensive policing. Police brutality and police apathy are equally unhelpful. Secondly, we need to aggressively address the deep-lying problems that have led to the Naxalite's success, by helping those Indians most ignored by our recent economic growth. By pandering to better-off farmers in certain states, the ruling UPA government has done next to nothing for the states most affected by Naxalites, Madhya Pradesh and Chattisgarh.
Instead of these just and rational solutions, the government has responded to the Naxal threat in a profoundly counterproductive way- the creation of Salwa Judum. Those unemployed youths not with the Naxalites are armed, instead, by the government, and told to shoot Naxalites. There is a very real civil war going on in India's heartland, and in Chattisgarh, and in the beautiful, forested district of Chattisgarh in particular, the environment is one of kill or be killed. Salwa Judum has, belatedly, attracted the attention of intellectuals and the media and even the Supreme Court chastised the government for the illegal action of arming civilians. Far from moves to disband the group, however, the Chattisgarh government chooses to use the medium of school textbooks to brainwash public opinion into supporting Salwa Judum:
The controversial Salwa Judum movement has now been incorporated in the Chhattisgarh school curriculum with a chapter on "Necessity of social security from problem of Naxalism" being included in the social science text book of class X of the Chhattisgarh Board of Secondary Education. Describing the movement as a peace march', the two page chapter throws light on the anti-Naxal movement of Bastar and its objectives, causes for the spread of Naxalism, initiatives being taken by the government to deal with the situation and the possible steps required to find a permanent solution to the problem. "Naxalism is an ideology that aims at capturing political power. The most sensitive situation is prevailing in Bastar area as the Naxalites feel safe there because of the inaccessible terrain, located very far away from the state capital. The region remains backward and anyone could easily influence the gullible and peace-loving locals", the chapter points out.
It goes on to say that the Naxal presence in Bastar can be primarily attributed to the slow pace of development, the language problem and the forest terrain that prevents security forces from carrying out an aerial attack and facilitates the military and guerilla training of the Naxal recruits. "Now tribals have become aware and they have stood up against Naxalism. People are getting themselves associated with Salwa Judum, " says the text book. "Nearly 70,000 people , affected by the problem of Naxalism, have taken shelter in the relief camps where the state government has been providing them with all necessary basic amenities. Non-government organisations are also associated for educational development of these people", it said. " Naxalism can be solved through wisdom, sensitivity and mutual understanding and it requires awareness and peoples' participation," it said. The chapter, which did not mention the name of its author, refers to attempts like the first ever revenue survey of Abujmarh", a remote forest area, other welfare schemes, modernisation of police force and development of infrastructure in the region. The Opposition Congress and CPI, meanwhile, criticised inclusion of issues pertaining to a controversial subject like Salwa Judum in the school curriculum.
It's well and good for the Congress to criticize this action, when the Congress-led Central Government has consistently supported Salwa Judum, defending it in the Supreme Court and continuously attempting to present it as a legitimate means of resistance against Naxalites, when it is not only immoral and foolish but also unconstitutional. But with the attention of both policymakers and the media primarily elsewhere, the disbanding of Salwa Judum appears unlikely at best.
No comments:
Post a Comment