Wide support for islanders’ struggle to save tradition

Rudely shaken by what looks like an insidious Hindutva experiment, the people of Lakshadweep, India’s paradise islands in the Arabian Sea, are rising to defend their culture and way of life.

Lakshadweep (means 100,000 islands) comprises a group of islands that are peaks of an under-sea mountain range.

Ecologically, it is extremely fragile. Official records mention names of 36 islands. One of them has been lost already as a result of sea erosion.

When the British established control over South India, the islands, located 200 to 400 kilometres off the southwestern coast, were under a Muslim dynasty which ruled over what is now the city of Kannur in Kerala. They made it part of the Malabar district of Madras Presidency.

The islanders speak Malayalam and have close cultural affinity with the people of Kerala. But when the linguistic state of Kerala was created in 1956, Lakshadweep was separated from Malabar and made a Union Territory.

The smallest of the Union Territories, it has a land area of about 30 square kilometres and a population of a little over 60,000, about 97 per cent of them Muslims, classified as Scheduled Tribes.

It is reasonable to assume that the experiment involves an attempt to alter its demographic pattern.

Lakshadweep does not have an elected legislature.  Its government is headed by an Administrator appointed by the Central government He rules by decree.

Lakshadweep is virtually crime-free. The National Crime Records Bureau, in its annual reports, put the crime rate in this Union Territory at 0.0 per cent.

Adarsh Viswanath, a health inspector from Kerala, who visited the islands last year, was amazed to find there a Siva temple, larger than most of the mosques.

The “99% majority” never felt like encroaching upon or demolishing it, he wrote on Facebook.

The idyllic world of the islanders turned topsy-turvy when last December Prime Minister Narendra Modi gave additional charge of Lakshadweep to Praful Patel, controversial Administrator of the Union Territory of Dadra and Nagar Havei and Daman and Diu, comprising former Portuguese territories in the Gujarat region.

Patel was the one Modi, while Chief Minister of Gujarat, had chosen as replacement for Amit Shah in the State Cabinet when he was arrested in the Sohrabuddin fake encounter case in 2010. Defeat in the 2012 Assembly elections put an end to his ministerial career.

After becoming Prime Minister, Modi made Patel Administrator of the Union Territory of Daman and Diu. Later he gave him additional charge of Dadra and Nagar Haveli. Still later the two UTs were later merged to form a single UT.

In Daman, Patel ordered confiscation of houses of fishermen in the name of development of the seafront. When they protested peacefully, orders were issued banning meetings, slogan shouting and use of loudspeakers.

Two high school buildings were declared temporary jails. Protesters were arrested and held there, and their houses razed to the ground. Few of them were given alternative accommodation.

In Dadra and Nagar Haveli, Patel earned a reprimand from the Election Commission for issuing coercive orders to officials at election time.

Mohan Delkar, Lok Sabha member from Nagar Haveli, in a video posted in social media, accused Patel and other BJP leaders of tormenting him. He later committed suicide.

It was with this unedifying record that Praful Patel took charge of Lakshadweep.

He asked Lakshadweep port officials to snap the islands’ age-old maritime links with Kerala and deal instead with the New Mangalore port in Karnataka. He ordered closure of dairy farms run by the Animal Husbandry Department and auctioning of all cattle. He asked Lakshadweep to buy its requirements of dairy products from the Amil enterprise in Gujarat.

He banned beef and removed meat from the mid-day meal scheme of schools.

He eased the long-standing curbs on alcohol in the islands in the name of promoting tourism.

Fishing and cocoanut farming are the islanders’ main sources of livelihood. Patel ordered demolition of sheds on the shore used by those engaged in these activities, saying they were illegal constructions.

He also assumed powers to dispossess the islanders of their property on flimsy grounds.

He passed a rule barring those with more than two children from contesting elections to local bodies.

When signs of unrest appeared, Patel introduced Goonda Act in the islands with a zero per cent crime rate!

As in Daman, orders were issued banning meetings, and temporary jails set up to hold protesters. Steps were also taken to restrict visitors to the islands.

All political parties active in the islands, including the Bharratiya Janata Party, have raised their voice against the wanton interference in the peoples’ lives. At the national level, too, there is a general consensus against Patel’s actions. There is a rising demand for recall of Patel from Lakshadweep.

The Central government and the BJP national leadership have extended unqualified support to Patel’s misguided actions, claiming they are development measures.

While justifying the Administrator’s actions at a press conference last week, Lakshadweep Collector S Asker Ali vicariously attempted  to link them with international smuggling, and possibly terrorism too, by drawing attention to the recent seizure of a foreign fishing boat with a huge quantity of drugs and an AK 47 rifle.

Smuggling activity in the Arabian Sea is not new. The Navy which intercepted the drug-laden boat had not insinuated any connection with Lakshadweep or terrorism.

The Centre needs to display wisdom and respect for the culture and traditions of the peace-loving people of Lakshadweep.