India, Maoists and the Citizens - PART 3

For addressing the issue of Maoism and continuing the fight on behalf of our democracy, it is important to understand various facets and perspectives. We need to think why there are so many people who are against our democracy.

It is very easy for the comfortable middle class to think that Maoists or their supporters are just a handful of people who are holding the significant majority of the population for ransom. It is the way many of the empowered India might want to believe.

Maoists as such who are the advocates and believers in their doctrine are only a handful. But there are many people who are flocking to them. Why? There are huge numbers of people who are denied justice in our society and are short of any decent avenues to express their concerns leave alone redressal of their grievances. These people have no other option but to join whoever fights with the system.

When the corpses of CRPF men or the innocent train travelers are shown on TV, people want the government to launch an outright war to eliminate the Maoists and their supporters in one fell swoop. Wait.. people will also clamor for putting all those Human Right’s activists in jail for ever.

Will that solve our problem? Above all, will it deliver justice?

Why were so many millions not getting justice in our democracy? Why there were no avenues for all these people except the Maoist banner? Do we want to kill all these people and ensure that all the resources of this country are kept for the fortunate few who constitute the empowered India?

I am sure, one side will use the anger and frustration of common people to justify their hasty actions just as, the Maoists are using the plight of tribal people to justify their fight.

One side wants development and peace while the other demands justice and space to live. There are wolves around these two groups of people who want to encourage one against the other and then devour both of them.

Some might identify Maoists as the wolves and some others might identify the greedy capitalists as the wolves. who do you think are the wolves? …Yes. Both of them.

We need to address the issues and wean the support away from Maoists. We need to show that our system of governance can deliver justice to the people. That is the only way to win our battle with the Maoists. With or without this fight with the Maoists, isn’t it our endeavor to deliver justice to all the Indians? So how do we ensure justice to all these people? We need not go anywhere in search of the answers. Just look at the preamble of our constitution which we gave to ourselves. That is the obligation we made to each other.  When that obligation is fulfilled only for some and the others are seen as a hindrance to the fortunate few in their onward march there will be a fight. That is what is going on now.

Why can’t we first stop those mining leases in Dandakaaranya? Why can’t we stop those big dams for the time being? Do we need to have air conditioners running at the cost of evacuating millions of people from their habitat just because we are powerful and we think that those millions of people are just not fit for survival? Do we need to fill the coffers of treasury with the foreign exchange earned by exporting raw ore, at the cost of displacing and demoralizing millions of our fellows? Can’t we wait till we evolve a shared understanding?  

Think about it. Choose the right path. Correct path many a times in human history is not the easy one. Yes.. we need to pressurize our governments to make this a more inclusive society as that is the only way for peace or for development.

Weekend Politician Note: In simple I would agree more with Mr. Digvijay Singh rather than our Home Minister Mr. P. Chidambaram on the way we should be conducting this fight.