[Assam] Another Good Piece from the Sentinel

[Ram Sarangapani]

C'da,

Yes, I agree this is a good piece.
>from the well considered to outright propaganda on behalf of the >same
India that makes "--complete mockery of the democratic >rights" of its
people.

But isn't that how a democracy ought to work - both pros & cons from the
media? But somehow, some of us just want a one-sided view - a view that
everything is wrong with India & her institutions.

--Ram


On 10/15/06, Chan Mahanta <cmahanta at charter.net> wrote:
>
>  This is yet another well considered piece of editorial. I just can't
> quite figure out why , or how, the Sentinel opinions go like a yo-yo, from
> the well considered to outright propaganda on behalf of the same India that
> makes "--complete mockery of the democratic rights" of its people.
>
> Emphases mine,
>
>
> cm
>
>
>
>
>
>
>  A Fast with a Difference
> At a time when violence has entered almost every facet of the average
> citizen's life and the nation as a whole has been desensitized, Irom
> Sharmila's fast has given new significance and meaning to the form of
> protest perfected by the father of the nation. Six years ago, after security
> forces in Manipur gunned down 10 persons near Imphal, Sharmila began her
> fast demanding the scrapping of the notorious Armed Forces (Special Powers)
> Act or AFSPA. The government has detained her on charges of attempting
> suicide and she has been force-fed all these years. The very fact that she
> succeeded in removing herself to Delhi and now continues her protest in the
> heart of the country's capital, has added a sort of mystique to the struggle
> being put up by this frail woman from Manipur against the might of the
> Indian state. By shifting the venue of her historic fast from 'remote'
> Imphal to the nation's capital, Sharmila has succeeded in taking the woes of
> the people of Manipur and the Northeast right up to the doors of those who
> are still under the misconception that the answer to the ills of the
> northeastern region lies primarily in abrogating the rights of the
> peripheral people and by arming the security forces with unlimited powers.
>  Last week we had occasion to refer to Sharmila's fast in this column. We
> are writing about it once again because this is no ordinary fast, especially
> in a country when fasting as a form of protest has long since degenerated
> into a cheap gimmick. Irom Sharmila's fast has not only succeeded in once
> again galvanizing the people of Manipur in their fight against the Armed
> Forces (Special Powers) Act and the blatant violations of human rights that
> have been committed by the security forces, but it has also raised certain
> fundamental questions about the character of the Indian nation-state and its
> equations with the small ethnic nationalities struggling for political space
> within (and sometimes outside) the Indian Union. The very fact that the
> Indian state has tried to bypass a fast by a woman for six years against one
> of its most autocratic and draconian measures shows the inherent
> contradiction between the democratic principles enshrined in our
> Constitution and the priorities of a centralized nation-state. It is indeed
> a pity that in these 60 years of freedom, there has been no concerted move
> on the part of successive governments to resolve what may be called the
> basic inconsistency between the conception of a modern nation-state and the
> pervasive reality of the polyethnic and multinational character of our
> country. Otherwise, New Delhi would not have reacted as it has done in all
> these years to the popular outrage against a piece of legislation which
> makes a complete mockery of the democratic rights of the average citizen.
>  Apart from raising certain central issues about the character and
> functioning of the Indian nation-state, Irom Sharmila's fast has brought
> into focus the lack of transparency and accountability of the Central
> government. When Manipur witnessed unprecedented waves of popular protest
> against the AFSPA two years ago following the rape and murder in army
> custody of Thangjam Manorama, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, in a much
> delayed move to assuage the feelings of the Manipuri people, promised them
> that he would consider replacing the AFSPA with a "more humane law that will
> address both the concerns of national security and the rights of the
> citizens." As part of this promise, the Justice Jeevan Reddy Committee was
> set up to review the AFSPA and to recommend, if necessary, its replacement
> by a more humane Act.* It is significant that in both the Prime Minister's
> assurance to the Apunba Lup delegation which met him towards the end of
> November 2004 and in defining the parameters of the Reddy Committee, there
> is a reference to a "more humane Act" which obviously means that the Centre
> has accepted the fact that the AFSPA is an inhuman Act and needs to be
> changed or replaced!*
> * Yet, it is more than a year now since the Reddy Committee submitted its
> report to the government and the UPA government does not have the courage
> even to throw open the report to public debate, not to speak of acting on
> the Committee's recommendations for a repeal of the AFSPA.* If the Prime
> Minister of a country cannot renege his pledge to the people, then what can
> one expect but further alienation of the Northeast from 'mainstream' India?
> The Centre's refusal to act on the Jeevan Reddy Committee's findings not
> only reflects the inherent prejudices and coloured mindset that continue to
> guide New Delhi's approach towards this region, but, more importantly, it
> reveals the ever-increasing influence of the security forces on the
> decision-making process in relation to the Northeast. This was true even
> when this region was quite free of militant politics. One may recall that in
> response to the people's demand for a refinery in the State, Nehru wrote to
> the then Assam Governor Fazl Ali in June 1957 that the refinery could not be
> set up in Assam because the "military opinion was dead against it." Today,
> with the northeastern region having been turned into a fully militarized
> zone, it is but natural for the Prime Minister and his Cabinet to buckle
> under Army pressure when it comes to repealing draconian measures like the
> AFSPA. Thus, Sharmila's fast has highlighted some of the inherent
> contradictions of the Indian state. And all those who are concerned about
> the proper functioning of our democratic polity are indebted to her. Hers is
> a fast that is a narrative of the aberrations of Indian democracy.
>
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