By Patricia Mukhim
‘The central security cover provided to former Assam chief minister Prafulla Mahanta and Manipur chief minister Okram Ibobi Singh has been withdrawn’
The latest news from Delhi is that the central security cover provided to Manipur chief minister Okram Ibobi Singh and former Assam chief minister Prafulla Mahanta has been withdrawn.
The Union home ministry can give any number of reasons why it takes certain decisions. It is a powerful monolith and states are treated like little vassals of this vast, all-pervasive empire.
In the case of the Manipur chief minister, political analysts believe that Union home minister P. Chidambaram has not forgotten the smarting retort from the former when he stood his ground and denied entry to the NSCN (I-M) leader who wanted to visit his homeland in Manipur.
Ibobi Singh was summoned to Delhi and categorically told that he should allow safe passage to Thuingaleng Muivah who desired to sojourn to his birthplace Somdal. Ibobi Singh rejected Delhi’s directive outright. He maintained his obduracy throughout the entire length of Muivah’s stay in Nagaland.
In the case of Prafulla Mahanta, the reason is purely political antagonism. Mahanta had in recent times been acknowledged the undisputed leader of the Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) and had in September this year been elected leader of the AGP Legislature Party.
Assam is heading for Assembly elections early next year and the AGP is still the only Opposition party that the Congress takes seriously. Badruddin Ajmal’s AIUDF has already declared that it would support any party that returns with a majority or requires the number to form a government.
The BJP despite its strident call for support from the people of Assam as a party that will reverse every anti-people policy of the Congress is unlikely to make much headway. Reasons for people’s aversion to rightist politics have already been advanced by this writer in earlier articles. The BJP has not been able to convince the people of this region that it is an inclusive, liberal party with a secular outlook. It still carries the scars of Ayodhya and the unflattering reputation of being the party that destroyed a mosque which its “parivar” claims was built at the birthplace of a mythical God. The Northeast may be located in the periphery of India but its worldviews are broader and more universal. They resist any form of religious fascism. Of course, people here have their own battles as they strive to negotiate the ideals of nationalism with their ethnic identities. 
So come what may, it is the AGP that will still give the Congress a run for its money. The refurbished image of the party and the public apology it tendered recently for its acts of omission and commission over the years is sure to endear itself to some section of committed voters. But the Congress is not taking any chances. It wishes to pulverise the AGP by punishing its leader and what better way than to withdraw his security cover and leave him a vulnerable man. The Congress hopes this would cripple Mahanta’s movements and, therefore, stifle his campaign.
Come to think of it, Prafulla Mahanta has more to fear from Ulfa than Assam chief minister Tarun Gogoi. Mahanta is Ulfa’s bete noire and during the last part of his tenure in government, particularly when the NDA held sway in Delhi, Mahanta hadfor reasons right or wrong, tried to come down heavily on Ulfa.
The politics of the time perhaps demanded that he adopt that sort of hardline stance since the militant group was at its most brutal. And in the murky politics of the Northeast, it is difficult to say which political party is supping with which militant groups under cover of darkness. No one can take a moral high ground here.
Mahanta, moreover, is accused of the series of secret killings while he presided over the government. It would be difficult for him to identify his enemies. They are an amorphous blend of political rivals and former or present militants.
So if Tarun Gogoi merits the VVIP security blanket although no militant outfit has so far made an attempt on his life and if the same is not extended to Mahanta, who by providence escaped several attempts on his life, then what are we talking about here?
Should the Union government behave like an extension of the AICC (Congress) party headquarters? Is there no such thing as reason and logic when deciding who merits what entitlements in this country?
Is this good for democracy? Or shall we say that democracy has long been buried in the pit-hole of partisan politics? What happens if Mahanta is eliminated tomorrow? Who will carry the moral baggage for the arbitrary decision taken? Assam’s political patriarch Tarun Gogoi or the highly supercilious Chidambaram?
Or, will it be explained away as a monumental oversight for which, like the recently held Commonwealth Games, too many people are responsible and none accountable?
Mahanta will, of course, have access to state-level security but we know who controls the proceedings in Assam. To talk of a free hand for the police is to be living in cloud cuckoo land. Assam police, irrespective of their cadres, have all slipped into the comfortable groove of cosy elitism. The situation is going to get worse than we can anticipate as the polls get closer.
Indeed, over the next few months, Assam will be bombarded by the cacophony of street politics. But genuine contenders who could displace some of the existing rogue elements are in real danger of being bumped off. In the absence of a non-partisan police force, things will get extremely vicious and treacherous for those who dare to jump into the fray and to go all out in their anti-establishment campaign.
In Manipur, Ibobi Singh is better off because he is in the seat of power. If it gets too hot and he is threatened by sundry armed outfits, now that his effective security outfit is withdrawn, the only option left is for him to negotiate with them for his life. After all, only a fool is foolhardy.
So what Chidambaram has done in a flash of political brilliance or vendetta or what have you, is to make the politics of compromise with militant groups the only way out for those entrusted with governance.
To blame Ibobi Singh alone of corruption and to make that a lazy, pathetic plea for withdrawing his security exposes the kind of pompous panjandrums that sit in the home ministry.
But I guess that is the plight of lesser mortals in a democracy which is but an extension of caste and class politics.
(The writer can be contacted at patricia17@rediffmail.com)
0 comments:
Post a Comment