On one hand, the peaceful, predominantly Muslim population in Lakshadweep poses a threat to the Hindutva agenda; and on the other, the islanders, with the insulation of law, as natives give no room for corporate invasion. This is bothersome for some.
SAJI P MATHEW OFM
The thirty-six islands, which we now call as Lakshadweep, were organised as a Union Territory during the reorganisation of Indian states in 1956 for administrative purposes. From then on it enjoyed a special status because of its population and ecological concerns. The islands’ limited resources, including drinking water, restrict their carry capacity. These islands are surrounded by ecologically delicate coral reefs. Thus thoroughfare is not allowed for outsiders without permits; and outsiders are not allowed to buy land there; but for tourism purposes and for recognised development needs, land is made available by the locals and local authorities.
The 65000 odd inhabitants of Lakshadweep have been conducting their lives civilly for years with elected local government bodies with respectful coordination with the mainland.
The Union Government respects their special status by considering and consulting the elected local self-government bodies before any major changes on the islands. The Integrated Island Management Plan, prepared under the supervision of the Supreme Court in 2016, had stipulated that development programmes in Lakshadweep be implemented in consultation with the elected local bodies. The simple logic is that the natives know better about Lakshadweep than outsiders.
The Trouble
Lakshadweep had rarely been in news at all in recent past, especially in the national level. Now we hear about Lakshadweep from every media –all for the wrong reasons. The islanders are up in arms against their new Administrator, Praful Khoda Patel, who took charge in December 2020, and the many new laws that he has strongly proposed without necessary consultations and forethought.
Public anger and reaction has been more than visible in Lakshadweep for weeks now. The Islanders are protesting against a number of controversial laws and proposals. The residents view them as disturbing and upsetting the social and cultural fabric of the islands.
The Lakshadweep Development Authority Regulation of 2021 (LDAR), proposes to change the existing land ownership laws on the island. The scientists, conservation experts of Lakshadweep, the citizens, and many others have collectively written to the President of India, demanding the withdrawal of LDAR.
The Prevention of Anti-Social Activities
Regulation (PASA),
is in effect in many
other states too,
including Kerala,
the adjacent state.
The islanders feel
that, considering
the low crime rate on
the islands, this law
is not called for, but the administrator is paving
his way to suppress possible protests and dissent on the Islands.
The Lakshadweep Animal Preservation Regulation (2021), which in effect would ban cow slaughter and consumption of beef. This will make a dent in the income and food habits of the islanders, who are almost entirely Muslims.
The Lakshadweep Panchayat Regulation (2021) disqualifies those with more than
two children from getting elected to the gram panchayat. Though it may be a law practiced elsewhere in the country, this is done in Lakshadweep without studying local sensitivities and needed consultations.
Looking at the nature of the proposed
laws and the handpicked hardcore BJP man appointed at the helm of affairs, one can only guess what is disturbing the ruling right wing Union Government. The concern is twofold,
on the one hand, the peaceful, predominantly Muslim population in Lakshadweep poses
a threat to the Hindutva agenda; and on the other, the islanders with the insulation of law as natives give no room for corporate invasion. This is bothersome for some.
Social Engineering
Social engineering is based on the notion that laws are used as a means to shape society and regulate people’s behaviour. It is an attempt to control the human conduct through the help of established laws. The lawmakers have the capacity to make or break a society. When law is made and executed with the purpose of altering the core of a society, it is social engineering.
In the past there have been radical social engineering operations in countries with authoritarian governments. In early 1920s Soviet Union did a social engineering to alter the ideals of its citizens. They wanted a change from the mindset as Russian Empire to Soviet Union. The Soviets used newspapers, books, films, mass relocations, and even architectural-design to persuade people to change personal values and private lives.
Volksgemeinschaft (people’s community) was the Nazis’ project of social engineering. They realised it by state action, new laws, administrative procedures, and propaganda.
It gave social change a particular preplanned direction. In the final analysis, have they really succeeded is debatable.
Social Engineering in Lakshadweep?
Social engineering can be set in motion by any organisations or governments. Some of the most comprehensive, and most pervasive campaigns of social engineering are those initiated by powerful central governments with the systems of authority to widely affect the individuals and cultures within their purview.
The new Administrator of Lakshadweep, Praful K Patel, appointed at the behest of the BJP Government has introduced new laws that are drastic; and more of such laws are
in the pipeline. Looking at the demography
of Lakshadweep and the new laws that are introduced, there is less doubt that the ruling right wing establishment of India is at a social engineering venture in Lakshadweep. The administrator is controlling the behaviour and lifestyle of the Lakshadweep society through the help of Law.
Lakshadweep residents are challenged and changed by the control imposed on killing of animals and the consumption, storage, transport or sale of cattle. There are a couple more of such severe rules like, the Lakshadweep Development Authority Regulation, and the detention law.
Social engineering, as a campaign strategy,
in itself is not bad. But it raises its ugly head when it’s done with discriminatory and
biased objectives. In the case of Lakshadweep, the administrator and his regime speak
of a utopian social engineering, aiming at Lakshadweep’s greatest ultimate good; but the islanders and socio-political critics see Hindutva and corporate agenda at the heart of this social engineering.
Another Brick to the Edifice of Hindu Rashtra
The popularity and majority that the Bharatiya Janata Party, backed by RSS, at the Centre has often been instrumental for enacting policies that support Hindutva ideology in various parts of India ever since the Narendra Modi government assumed power in 2014.
There has been pro Hindutva laws enforced in many states. In 24 states cow slaughter is prohibited; and in Gujarat it is an offence that would attract life imprisonment. The notion
of ‘Love jihad’ is one of the weapons used in the ideological warfare propagated by the BJP openly.
Reassured and supported by the state, pro- Hindutva or right wing groups are unleashing violence to target Muslims and other minorities in the name of cow protection, Love Jihad, and by labeling those different from them as anti- national. The sight of a peaceful Muslim majority community in Lakshadweep is too intimidating for the designers and builders of the Hindu Rashta.
Lakshadweep Left Defenseless
for Corporate Invasion
Going with the indications that we have
from the earlier engagements of the present government in Kashmir and elsewhere, the Lakshadweep reorganisations and developments are to prepare ground for the big corporates to walk in. They aim to unsettle the natives; destroy the insulation that they enjoy as the natives of the island, and make them and their properties vulnerable to huge corporates. The Indian Government has been ushering in and backing up the big corporates in a huge way. The farm laws, against which the farmers of India are on the street for months now, also pave way for the big corporates.
The same arguments that the government put forth to back the corporates in the case of the new farm laws are used in Lakshadweep too. The government propagates the idea that corporates will bring in investments, developments, and prosperity. In a recent interview with Prof. Noam Chomsky by The Wire Chomsky bursts this myth with enlightening statistics. Chomsky explores the question, “How much wealth has been transferred in last 40 years from the middle class and working class to the super rich in the US?” ‘The super rich’ he clarifies is the fraction
of top 1%, which mainly consists of the huge corporates. The reported answer to Chomsky’s question is 47 trillion dollars; which Chomsky says, in real could easily be the double of it.
The same interview also highlighted statistics from TIME magazine, which said, The top 1% of Americans have taken 50 trillion dollars from the bottom 90% -and that has made the US less secure. This is robbery. The bottom line is that, the unchecked corporate engagements in a place or sector does not make the lot of the natives better, instead they get robbed of even the little that they have. When this robbery is with the assistance of the ruling government, the people also lose the freedom to protest and dissent.
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