What is the issue?
- History is replete with examples of people who were convicted for having had a questioning spirit and nurturing even peaceful non-conformist thoughts.
- The recent spree of arrests by the Indian government is a stark reminded that such prosecutions are still very prevalent.
What is wrong with the government’s approach?
- Anybody raising strong questions against the government is being perceived as an urban naxal, which is a very serious malice.
- This kind of approach might help the government curtail some dissenting voices, but will further the cause of the real naxals.
- Notably, violent dissent and insurgents also thrive on the psycological front, which will be greatly aided by governemnt’s stringent actions.
- In this context, many Left-leaning activists have been wrongly linked with Naxals, while most of them are an anathema to the insurgents.
- Even our PM Modi equated Arvind Kejriwal with Naxals in 2015, which even though just a rhetoric, was a jarring error in political terms.
- Naxals also opposed CPI leaders in Bastar — which eventually helped the BJP candidates win in the region.
How could insurgents gain from the government’s approach?
- First - It perpetuates a myth about their spread and might, something that is essential for an underground warrior.
- Notably, an insurgency is as much a reality as it is the product of myths that society weaves around the insurgent.
- Second - If students, politicians and writers across the spectrum are hounded as Urban Naxals, one need not be a psychoanalyst to gauge its consequences.
- The definitions a state invents for its political harvest come to ring true in unintended ways, and even drive people into the rebel ranks.
What is the way ahead?
- To paint overt and peaceful political rebellions as Naxalism is bad tactic, a political and moral blunder, which the government should avoid.
- Rather, the government should focus on curtailing the propaganda of the real Maoists in rural pockets of central Indian.
- Take up genuine counter campaigns and outreach programs are the best way to ideologically defeat the leftist insurgency.
- Currently, there is a lacklustre attitude to act against programs organised by banned outfits in remote areas, which is self defeating.
Source: Indian Express