By Seema Khan
After putting Kashmir and its people through all kinds of torture - right from locking down the whole state for months, shutting down the internet, arresting people and putting them in jail with or without any evidence, ruining the economy of the state for 2 years in the name of reforms, now the BJP government has diverted its attention toward Lakshadweep, a Muslim dominated Island with largely peace-loving people.
Lakshadweep is a set of islands in the Arabian Sea with a total surface area of just 32 km2 and a total population of 65,000-odd people with Muslims making over 96 per cent - more than 200 kilometres from the nearest mainland coast of India.
The island is in the news these days for all the political reasons as its people are protesting against the changes in the name of reforms introduced by the new administrator Praful Koda Bhai Patel, a close aide of Indian Prime Minister Narender Modi, and former Gujarat home minister under then chief minister Modi.
Praful Patel’s father – Khodabhai Ranchhodbhai Patel was a senior Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh leader. Narendra Modi frequently visited him.
He is also close to Union home minister Amit Shah, and has been executing “a Sangh parivar agenda” since his appointment last December, said Kerala-based Congress politician V.T. Balram.
Patel is accused of cracking down on protests and destroying the fishing infrastructure, with politicians alleging he wants to turn the Union Territory into “another Kashmir”.
After taking charge as an administrator on 5th December 2020, he has introduced a series of “unilateral anti-people reforms” which have not gone down well with the peace-loving fishing community. A large number of “draconian” legislation are being introduced by Patel, which are seen as interference with the rights of the locals, and the people have taken on the social media to protest with many hash tags trending.
The Goonda Act has been introduced on an Island where the crime rate is almost nil. The Goonda Act allows arrests without warrants and facilitates long detentions. This act is basically to nail the people who are involved in beef trade, and to make people feel insecure so they don’t protest against his dictatorial regime.
“All the posters and boards erected here against the National Register of Citizens and the Citizenship Amendment Act have been removed,” said Lakshadweep MP and Nationalist Congress Party leader Muhammed Faizal.
“Police are now intimidating youngsters with the threat of arrest under the Goonda Act if they get involved in protests against the NRC and the CAA,” Faizal said.
A draft known as Lakshadeep Panchayat Regulation 2021 has been introduced. This Regulation aims at imposing family planning on the Muslim population, which says no one can be a member of gram panchayat with more than two children. “His (amendment of the 1994 panchayati raj rules) to not allow people with more than two children into local bodies itself indicates that Patel is implementing a Sangh parivar agenda targeting Muslims”, reported The Telegraph Online.
“It’s part of the Sangh parivar mission to turn the islands into another Kashmir, with the residents turning extremely insecure.”, said Faizal.
A number of Patel’s decisions are arbitrary, unethical, against the environment, local traditions and culture of the island.
He is also promoting tourism in the island and giving it into private hands, possibly people from friends circle and supporters of the BJP.
He lifted restrictions on the sale of alcohol and has begun issuing liquor licences under the guise of promoting tourism and individual freedom thereby completely ignoring the socio-cultural context of the area, and has created a problem for the Muslim society where alcohol is prohibited. He has proposed unnecessary widening of roads in a place where the volume of traffic is very low, and which also requires demolition of several houses and buildings. All this had disturbed otherwise a very harmonious and peace-loving community.
“The islands had effectively kept away Covid till last December through social distancing and adherence to the protocols. But they are now witnessing many positive cases after the administrator lifted all Covid regulatory norms,” Faizal said.
He said that people arriving from outside were earlier required to quarantine themselves but Patel relaxed those norms in the name of promoting tourism.
According to The Telegraph Online, CPM Rajya Sabha member Elamarom Kareem, who has written to Kovind seeking Patel’s recall, said the administrator had instructed ship and boat operators to ignore the ancient port of Beypore in north Kerala and prefer Mangalore port in south Karnataka when they sail to the mainland.
“The islanders speak Malayalam and are culturally connected to Kerala. Beypore port has been the link between the mainland and the islands for generations. Now the administrator is trying to sever the link between the island natives and Kerala,” Kareem said.
Schools have been ordered to stop serving non-vegetarian foods in their canteens – an attack on the food habits of the local people of the Island. Predominant Muslim population of the island are non-vegetarians.
Sheds set up by the fishing community to store their items have been destroyed - the community that makes up more than 80 per cent of the local population.
His administration has removed their temporary huts, sheds, boats, net-drying facilities and storage spaces from the shores citing violation of coastal zone norms. “This has meant that thousands of fisherpersons... are unable to support themselves and their families,” CPI Rajya Sabha member Binoy Viswam wrote to the President.
Patel has closed down 38 Aganwadies meant to provide nutritious food to children and pregnant or lactating women. Hundreds of contract workers and physical education teachers have been dismissed, which has raised fears about “outsiders” being brought in to replace them.
Member of Parliament from Lakshadweep, Mr. Mohammed Fazial has written to president Kovind, Primeminister Modi, and Home Minister Amit Shah requesting to look into the issue and appoint a permanent people-friendly administrator.
‘Save Lakshadweep’ protests have been going on for some time now with the support of personalities like actor Prithviraj and footballer KC Vineeth.
In Kerala, there is an uproar against the unilateral decision of Praful Patel, which threatens the culture and peace of the Island. Many members of the parliament and ministers from Kerala have written to The President, the Prime Minister, and the home minister to recall the administrator.
“The new administrator’s reforms are completely bizarre.... How can you disrupt the way of life of a centuries-old peaceful settlement?” wrote Actor and filmmaker Prithviraj Sukumaran in social media.
