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E-Pao! Insurgency Opinion - India – A Republic In Siege, 2008

India – A Republic In Siege, 2008


Professor Naorem Sanajaoba *



President Pratibha Patil’s lethal, defense- related address to the people of India on eve of the republic day celebration on the January 26th last, mingled with audio-visual broadcast of the India’s assumed military - weapons superiority show reminding one of Hitler’s similar pre-war military parades not so long ago in history and the repeated emphasis of AIR broadcaster on India’s invincible military might nearly for every alternate second, subconsciously webcast and alerted to adjoining Pakistan and the emerging Asian and world superpower Communist China, Myanmar junta, evokes an unintended subtle text of the republic India remaining in some kind of siege from within.

The Indian peaceniks and neo-Gandhians [expansionists to be more historically correct] celebrate when the Pokhran Budha smiles and the Gautama, the Budha looks gloomy at the impending arms race in South Asia with ominous portents and nuclearisation of the poor South Asia that eats into the taxpayers money like never before.

Mr President [gender neutral] acclaims the nuclear race and showering of war mongering slogans from the chosen AIR cricket commentators on the republic day. Ironically, Mr.President [gender neutral] did not give a hint to as to why her government goes capitalist path whereas the Constitution promises socialism in the preamble.

Gandhi’s promise to wipe out every drop of tear from the suffering India, as she quoted in order to reinforce her developmental proposition had been self negated long back as MK Gandhi strongly advanced the unique private property theory that fully justified s handful of Indian capitalists to hold the entire wealth as the trustee of the Indian poor.

Infinite Gandhian capitalism is the direct cause of tears rolling down Indian cheeks and is the justification for intra-Indian economic revolution that Naxalism stood for since 1971. Gandhism is the mother of Naxalism and one cannot reject the other without rejecting the other too.

Still more ironical is the recent Supreme Court judgment, which did not mince words in explaining that socialism bears different meanings of which capitalism is one. The learned judge could have proclaimed that Christianity bore different meanings of which Hindu dharma is just one in the crowd.

Republic day for the unrepublic people in the region is opening the Pandora’s Box. By merely twisting the embittered political linguistics, tears should not stop rolling down and billionaires being born a day from the ocean of tears.

Apart from stressing upon the developmental priorities of the marginalized population groups and fast economic pace that the state makes, the president seems to be worried about Naxalism on the one hand and, terrorism[undefined] on the other hand.

That the president, for that matter, her government had felt the least concern about the half a century-old imbroglio on national questions in the seven NE states, renders sufficient political space for mainstream fascism to rule the roost and leaves the counterproductive military means or the assumed invincible Indian military might to reinforce the fascism, shrouded in the mythical democratic and republican mask. The centrality of the festering national wound has been left completely unaddressed.

Is the republic in siege able to emerge out of the MNC’s steel grip or, able to exist without the invincible military might suffocating the genuine republican voice of the people is not a million dollar question, but a simple and ordinary political question conveniently and successfully addressed to in the contemporary age and civilization.

Naturally,any strong statement without a strong evidence to back up is a propaganda or at best a lie professionally marketed in the multi-media. The objective realities are reiterated hereafter.

25 states out of 28 in direct siege

No learned scholar would repudiate the accurately recorded original Indian geology and geography, let alone the heterogeneous population chemistry, which had never been better depicted than by Guru Rabindranath Tagore-sribed "jana gana" National anthem.

The Dravida and the Ganges land had not included the after-acquired territories- Brahmaputra land or, Austric-Mongolian or sino-tibetan land. He found no good reason to include others ancestral land in his territorially informed national. If you have to add Sikkim in Jana gana mana after 1975, the anthem has to be revised with the consent of the holy soul from heaven.

The military siege has been sustained in seven NE states, Jammu and Kashmir since 1947. Indian military initiated action in Naga Hills in 1955 and it goes on.

The liberation guerrillas contest the Indian military siege with whatever tiny weapons [small arms or even twigs, sticks] they could manage with, reminding us all of tiny chieftain PURU, who contested one time super powers Alexander’s invincible military might.

The only difference is that in the 21st century, no Alexander had ever survived. A political Zurrasic park.

The seven NE states had been already disturbed by Indian hegemony or fascism_ if you would choose a suitable term. Indian army under General Thimaya in 1948 had brought Kashmir to the Indian fold just because a Hindu king did a technical formality against the wishes of the Islamic majority people and the militarization goes on and on at the cost of more than Rs 80,000/- crore or twice the sum, even substantially more.

Bifurcation of Pakistan into Bangladesh in 1971 was possible because of Indian military intervention [read invasion] in her unfriendly country which also provoked as many as three wars with India.

Indian army grabbed Goa in police action in 1961, and Sikkim in 1975. Prime minister Morarji Desai happened to be one among a large number of Indian statesmen who condemned annexation of Sikkim. It is in record.

Indian army action in Hyderbad in 1948 resulted to loss of nearly 40,000 civilian deaths which has been hushed up by Sardar Patel and his zagir - Indian media.

Possibly Nepal and Bhutan or even Myanmar should have remained on guard after hearing the Gandhian slogans of the third world Chanakyas. President’s assault on corruption was well intended, yet political immoralility that bred corruption might have been the first casualty of the presidential assault on the corruption monster.

Naxalism is at the centre stage in as many as 13 states of which nine are naxal-proactive, viz., Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Chattishgarh, Jharkhand, Madhaya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Orissa, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal [ 55 districts, although the anti-Naxal backward region fund covers 250 districts].

The records are with the home ministry and records 25 states of a total of 28 Indian states are under siege of either national liberation movement or Maoist armed uprising of one kind or another.

Naxalism had probably nothing to do with Indian national contradictions, but squarely resulted from sustained economic exploitation by the Indian system of the downtrodden, working people. A few remaining states are relatively peaceful including Gujarat that too had been already under siege of Hindu fundamentalism, thinly disguised as Gujarati self-respect.

The real republic that India is, is not that officially glorified and proclaimed republic in the midst of nuclear missile show brighter than a thousand sun and rural peasant suicides galore, at Janapth on the fateful 26th day of January.

The agonized, militarized and traumatized civil society, in the seven states in the region, looks at her acclaimed address as inexplicable Manna from the sky and something of UFO kind, as mysterious as one could have been

Historicity and historiographic evidence are indisputable clear that national questions and sharp contradictions had never happened in republic India including Naxal-infested states, except exclusively in the peripheral, acquired territories [which are appropriately known as NSGT - non-self-governing territories in the international community].

A republic had never been so divided before in - the rich Indian nation and the poor Indian nation or, the solid, stable mainstream and the peripheral wounded nations.

The republic day celebration has been over. The poorest of the poor and subjugated north-easterners start asking what a republic means - a myth or a reality.

PS - any clarification for authenticity of historical records and instruments may kindly be sought from the author immediately if necessary.


* Professor Naorem Sanajaoba ( Gauhati University - Profile Website here ) contributes to e-pao.net regularly . The writer can be contacted at naorem06(at)yahoo(dot)co(dot)in . This article was webcasted on 30th January 2008.



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