Column

Sotto voce

News stories about the arrest of two suspected “Naxalites” a few days ago pointedly mentioned that the two accused were from “prestigious South Mumbai colleges”. The sub-text was obvious — despite their privileged background and education, they had taken to a violent ideology; no doubt if they were from less prestigious institutions, their corruption would have gone unmentioned.

This is obviously a classist approach and completely out of touch with reality. Urban leftists, for the most part, came from elite backgrounds and many of these colleges all over the country were hotbeds of political activism. Neither those who made the arrest nor those who wrote about it — mainly using the versions provided by the police — have any idea of what Naxalism is, the Mumbai dimension or, indeed, the history of the Left in general. The fact of the two being from unnamed South Mumbai colleges was seen as a point worth mentioning, and it was mentioned unquestioningly. No one saw it fit to dig into it further.

Similarly, the police’s claim that “incriminating” evidence was found at the home of the two accused was also published in a matter of fact way. According to the reports, this evidence consists, inter alia, of pen drives, laptops and leftist literature. Pray what was that literature? Pamphlets and books, including one on Stalin. I can only pray that no one raids my home, because I have all three; indeed, I have a lot of what could be called leftist literature and recently bought my child a T-shirt with the likeness of Che Guevara on it. I am already quaking at the potential ramifications. Of course, I have no guns nor raw materials to make bombs, but we still need hard proof that it was theirs.

Maybe the laptop and pen drives will throw up some proof that the two were indeed involved in Naxalism, but somehow I doubt it. Not because they may not be Naxalites — that is for investigators to prove— but because any lawyer worth his degree will get such evidence thrown out of court. Naxalism cannot be proved just with hard data. It is a state of mind, a thought process and a way of life. Remove that and it could just be trade unionism or activism, and that is not a crime. Neither was caught planting bombs or shooting anyone, so how could they be branded “Naxalites”?

The truth is that our investigators, our politicians and above all, our media have not grasped the full meaning and implications of Naxalism. It has become a buzzword that explains everything from organised violence in the hinterland, extreme left positions and even, a war against the State. Many lefty types, young and old, have romantic notions about it, because it appeals to their anti-establishmentarianism, while hinterland politicians, usually aligned with the local power structure, see it as a threat to the vested interests.

The police and government tend to see it as a law and order problem rather than a socio-political question that needs to be studied closely. With such a hazy understanding, is it any surprise that the State has no cohesive policy to tackle it?

In fact, there are many former Naxalites and Naxalite-fighters to be found all over the country, in positions of power and influence. Many — from India’s elite colleges and universities, please note — moved abroad, some changed their politics and others just grew up. Some of the original leaders of the Naxal movement of the late 1960s, who spread terror in Calcutta are still around, but the original brand of Naxalism is dead. After a brief hiatus in the early 1970s, new strains were born in Mumbai and in Andhra Pradesh, UP and Bihar. All of them may have professed extreme left politics, but the Left had by then broken, amoeba-like, into different strains.

Many city boys and girls left for villages in Maharashtra and elsewhere, to work with beedi workers, tendu leaf gatherers and other indigent rural folk, most exploited by local land-owners, who had the police and the politician on their side. Battles were also fought to establish control over land. Today, parts of the central Indian states are in the hands of well-trained Maoist groups. There is talk of a “Red Corridor” that cuts through India to Nepal, where the Maoists, despite joining the government, remain a potent force. This ought to keep our policy-makers awake at night.

Undoubtedly the police are congratulating themselves and at this very moment, are “interrogating” the two to get details of Naxalite operations in the state. But, whatever the two accused may be, they have legal rights too and the authorities are obliged to ensure that these rights are honoured. The credibility of our law and order system is right now at its lowest.

It has not gone unnoticed that these arrests have come when we are discussing the failure on the Bombay riots front — not a single person has been held guilty even though there is a lot of evidence against them. No one is arguing for the accused — but haphazard and rough justice is not the way to deal with this problem.

Email: sidharth01@dnaindia.net