By
Sajjad Shaukat
While,
the ideology of Hindutva (Hindu nationalism) is the genesis of Hindu terrorism,
having co-relationship with it, the main fault lines of India’s politics is
based upon the discriminatory system of caste and religion. These trends in
Indian politics have become the staging ground for all the extremist movements
and wars of liberation. In this regard, in its annual report of 2017, Human
Rights Watch which conducted investigative work in 2016 said that India is
witnessing an increase in violence against women, and pointed out Indian
government’s failure to control growing attacks on Dalits and religious
minorities-Sikh community. Besides indicating high-profile rapes, sexual
assaults and even murders of women and girls, the report elaborated, “Limits on
free speech and attacks on religious minorities, often led by vigilante groups
that claim to be supporters of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), are an
increasing concern in India. In 2016, students were accused of sedition for
expressing their views; people who raised concerns over challenges to civil
liberties were deemed anti-Indian; Dalits and Muslims were attacked on
suspicion they had killed, stolen, or sold cows for beef; and nongovernmental
organizations (NGOs) came under pressure due to India’s restrictive foreign
funding regulations. A crackdown on violent protests in Jammu and Kashmir
beginning in July killed over 90 people and injured hundreds, fueling further
discontent against government forces. Impunity for police and security forces
largely continued amid new allegations of torture and extrajudicial killings,
including reports of sex+ual assault and other abuses by security forces.”
The
report described, “The government’s continuing failure to rein in militant
groups, combined with inflammatory remarks made by some BJP leaders, has
contributed to the impression that leaders are indifferent to growing
intolerance…Authorities continue to use sedition and criminal defamation laws
to prosecute citizens who criticize government officials or oppose state
policies…Despite calls for repeal of the Armed Forces Special Powers Act,
soldiers continue to have immunity from prosecution when deployed in areas of
internal conflict.” In fact, since the leader of the ruling party BJP Narendra
Modi became Prime Minister of India, various developments like unprecedented
rise of Hindu extremism, persecution of minorities even of lower cast-Hindus,
forced conversions of other religious minorities into Hindus, ban on beef and
cow slaughter, inclusion of Hindu religious books in curriculum, creation of
war-like situation with Pakistan etc. clearly show that encouraged by the Hindu
fundamentalist outfits such as BJP, RSS VHP, Bajrang Dal and Shiv Sena,
including other similar parties have been promoting religious and ethnic
chauvinism in India by propagating ideology of Hindutva. Especially, assaults
on Christians and Muslims, including their places of worships and property have
been intensified by the fanatic Hindu mobs.
Under
the rule of Modi, government-led extremism has resulted into growing extremism
and separatism by the militants in India. A large number of separatist
movements in different parts of India are posing a serious threat to Indian
federation, as Indian security forces have badly failed in suppressing these
movements through brutal tactics. It is notable that under the mask of
democracy and secularism, Indian subsequent regimes dominated by politicians
from the Hindi heartland—Hindutva have been using brutal force ruthlessly
against any move to free Assam, Kashmir, Khalistan, Mizoram, Nagaland, Tamil
Nadu and Tripura where wars of liberation continue in one form or the other.
While, war of liberation has also accelerated in the Indian Occupied Kashmir
(IOK), where Kashmiris are struggling for their legitimate right of
self-determination in wake of continuous state terrorism, unleashed by the
Indian security forces, case of Khalistan and widening of gaps between the
Hindu and Sikh communities are also notable.
As
regards the discrimination against the Sikhs, Indian Army led by General Kuldip
Singh Brar, supported by troops and armoured vehicles had broken all records of
the state terrorism and extra-judicial killings through the barbaric Operation
Blue Star which occurred between 3–8 June 1984, ordered by the then Prime
Minister Indira Gandhi to control over the Harmandir Sahib (Golden Temple)
complex, the holiest shrine of the Sikhs in Amritsar, Punjab. Since then, Sikhs
have been fighting for Kahalistan as an independent state. In the recent years,
Maoist intensified their struggle by attacking official installments. In this
context, Indian media admitted that Maoists have entered the cities, expanding
their activities against the Indian union. On 22-23 April 2018, at least 39
Maoists were killed in an alleged encounter with Indian security forces in
district Gadchiroli on the north bank of river Indravati which divides
Maharashtra and Chhattisgarh. The Maoists accepting the loss have vowed to take
revenge. Local human rights organizations have raised questions on the
authenticity of the Gadchiroli incident mentioning that “not a single police
personnel has received injuries.” They have termed it a planned mass murder and
a cold-blooded killing of the Maoists. These mass killings of Maoists by the
Indian security forces are going unnoticed in international media.
However,
Maoist uprising is second major freedom movement after that of the Indian
Occupied Kashmir (IOK). Maoists inhabit an area known as the ‘Red Corridor’
that stretches from West Bengal to Karnataka state in the southwest. Indian
former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had called Maoist insurrection, “the
single biggest internal-security challenge”, whereas, Home Secretary G.K Pillai
had reiterated the magnitude of this threat by saying that the Maoists want to
completely overthrow the Indian state by 2050. India’s Maoist insurgency became
progressively more lethal—1003 people were killed in 2010, 908 in 2009 and 721
in 2008. Particularly, in 2010, new operations of the Indian security forces
had exposed the failure of India’s anti-Maoist war. Faced with frustration,
Home Minister P. Chidamabram had stated that the Indian government “welcomes
peace talks with Maoist rebels.” On the other hand, Ramanna, a Maoist leader in
Chhattisgarh state rejected the offer, saying that the government should first
withdraw thousands of paramilitary soldiers, and create peaceful conditions for
talks.
Nevertheless,
peace talks were offered by the New Delhi after the Maoist insurgents ambushed
a bus on May 17, 2010 that killed 45 police officers and civilians who were
returning after an operation, killing two Maoists. The event highlighted the
Maoists’ strength despite a government offensive aimed at ending one of Asia’s
longest militancy. Maoist movement initially started by its leader, Mupala
Luxman Rao in 1969 in the form of peasant uprising in West Bengal, protesting
against big Hindu landlords who left no stone unturned in molesting the poor
people through their mal-treatment such as forced labour, minimum wages,
maximum work, unlawful torture and even killings—the evils one could note prior
to the Frech Revolution of 1789 when fedual lords had practised similar
injustices on the farmers. But, instead of redressing the grievances of the
peasants and workers, Indian security forces in connivance with the
rich-dominated society used brutal tactics in crushing the Maoist movement. The
Maoists had no choice, but to launch an armed struggle for their genuine rights.
The
Naxalite-Maoists, as they call themselves, are the liberators, representing
landless farmers and the downtrodden masses who have been entangled into
vicious circle of poverty, misery and deprivation. The Indian indiscriminate
social order treats them resentfully, setting aside human dignity. Owing to
these inequalities, Maoists have appealed to the sentiments of the helpless
poor, who found their future dark under the subsequent regimes led by so-called
democratic forces of India. According to a report, “Out of total 1.17 billion
populations, over 39% of dispossessed Indians, living below poverty line are
hopeful that Maoists would bring a change in their wretched lives.”
Ideologically, the Naxalites believe that Indians have yet need freedom from
hunger and deprivation and from the exploitation of the poor by the rich
classes of landlords, industrialists and traders who control the means of
production. Due to these reasons, Maoists target all representatives of the
state like politicians, the police and other officials. At local level, they
target village functionaries and landlords. Having its voice unheard—Maoist
movement which had been raging in West Bengal, Bihar, Orissa, Jharkand,
Chattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and Andhra Pradesh, has expanded to
Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu and Kerala. In the recent months, Maoist insurgency has
accelerated enveloping new areas. Now, it is a popular movement which has
massive support of people for its ideology.
BBC had
reported on October 12, 2009, “In response to the atrocities of the Indian
police, Maoist rebels had blown up culverts and cut electricity to railways in
various regions during two-day strike.” Naxalite insurgency has become so
popular that India is actively considering shifting 23 battalions of
para-military forces from occupied Kashmir to the Maoist affected areas.
Surprisingly, on the one hand, Indian rulers realise the real causes of Maoist
uprising, but still accuse China of backing the Maoist guerrilla warfare. Some
Indian high officials misperceive that Beijing supplies arms and ammunition to
the Maoists. With the covert support of Indian secret agency RAW, Indians also
propagate that there are secret training camps in China, which teach tactics of
guerrilla warfare to the Maoists, and then they are being dispatched to India.
Tamil Nadu is another area where separatist movements are haunting federation
of India. However, in many regions of India, separatist movements or wars of
liberation continue unabated. In this respect, the seven states of Northeastern
India, which are called the ‘Seven Sisters’ are ethnically and linguistically
different from rest of the country. These states are rocked by a large number
of armed and violent rebellions, some seeking separate states, some fighting for
autonomy and others demanding complete independence, while keeping the entire
region in a state of turmoil. These states which include Assam, Arunachal
Pradesh, Meghalaya, Manipur, Mizoram, Nagaland and Tripura, accuse New Delhi of
apathy towards their issues. Illiteracy, poverty and lack of economic
opportunities have fueled the natives’ demand for autonomy and independence.
Owing to
the political, economic and social injustices, tensions existed between these
Northeastern states and the central government as well as amongst their native
people and migrants from other parts of India. In late 2013, Indian state
governments tried to ease tensions making by promising to raise the living
standards of people in these regions. But, in late 2014, tensions again rose,
as the Indian rulers launched an atrocious offensive which led to a retaliatory
attack on civilians by tribal guerrillas. Undoubtedly, these states have
witnessed various forms of India’s state terrorism like crackdowns, illegal
detentions, massacre, targeted killings, sieges, burning the houses, torture,
disappearances, rapes, breaking the legs, molestation of women and killing of
persons through fake encounters. It is worth-mentioning that in 2015, the then
Indian Minister of Home Affairs Rajnath Singh had highlighted his focus to
build the capacity of security forces, engaged in fighting uprising and
separatism. Indian Central Government finalized the raising of Indian Reserve
Police Battalions (IRBPs) in the Indian Occupied Kashmir (IOK) and Naxal/Maoist
hit states or Left Wing Extremism (LWE) areas, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana.
Out of the total 25 IRBPs proposed, five were for IOK and 12 for LWE affected
states, whereas rest of 8, IRBPs for other states. Online reports suggested
that IRBPs also include Northeastern states of India. Now, IRBPs have totally
failed in suppressing insurgency and separatist movements in various regions of
India, including those of the North East.
In this
connection, Institute of Policy Studies (IPS) organized an international
seminar titled “Pluralism vs Exclusionism: The Case of Rising Extremism in
India” at Marriot Hotel on February 22, 201818. The speakers, including a
prominent Indian journalist Syed Iftikhar Gilani delivered a presentation on
“Growing Extremism in India: Glimpses and Impressions”. Reportedly, the
presentation was not well received in India and Indian Foreign Office Joint
Secretary and Spokesperson Raveesh Kumar summoned DNA (Indian based newspaper)
editor in-Chief Dwapaian Bose and lodged protest against Iftikhar Gilani’s
presentation at IPS. It is noteworthy that the one of the important causes of
the disintegration of the former Soviet Union was that its greater defence
expenditure exceeded to the maximum, resulting into economic crises inside the
country. In this context, about a prolonged war in Afghanistan, the former
President Gorbachev had declared it as the “bleeding wound.” However,
militarization of the Soviet Union failed in controlling the movements of
liberation, launched by various ethnic nationalities which were kept under
control through the ruthless force. While, learning no lesson from New Delhi’s
previous close friend, Indian fundamentalist Prime Minister Modi and the ruling
extremist party BJP are acting upon the similar policies.
Instead
of redressing the grievances of the people by eliminating injustices against
them, Indian Government is depending upon ruthless force to crush these
extremist and secessionist movements. Therefore, India’s unrealistic
counterinsurgency strategy has badly failed. Nonetheless, poor economic
policies, heavy defence spending, neglected social development, growing serpent
of radical Hinduism, ancient caste system and divisive/pressure politics are
just few triggers of these movements. New Delhi, instead of addressing actual
domestic problems and peoples’ genuine grievances, also resorts to blaming its
neighbours for fueling these movements. In the pretext, backed by the US
President Donald Trump, Indian extremist rulers are also implementing war-mongering
policy against Pakistan and China. It is of particular attention that Indian
Minister of External affairs Jaswant Singh who served the BJP for 30 years was
expelled from the party for praising Mohammad Ali Jinnah (Founder of Pakistan)
and echoing the pain of the Indian Muslims in his book, “Jinnah: India,
Partition, Independence.” Pointing out the BJP’s attitude towards the
minorities, Singh wrote: “Every Muslim that lives in India is a loyal
Indian…look into the eyes of Indian Muslims and see the pain.” He warned in his
book, if such a policy continued, “India could have third partition.” As a
matter fact, taking cognizance of the separatist movements in India and New
Delhi’s use of brutal force through military in suppressing them, in one way or
the other, Jaswant Singh has shown realistic approach in his book. We can
conclude that extremist policies of the BJP continue in crushing the extremist
and separatist movements, including Maoist insurgency though force. But, like
the former Soviet Union, these movements which pose a serious threat to Indian
federation, will culminate into disintegration of the Indian union.
