Radicalism will hurt the tribals most
Radicalism, of all variants, in Uttar Pradesh is born with adversaries. Be it an individual, or a community, there has to be a strong enemy to fight. Stronger the adversary, the more radical an individual or the community will become. The mission of radicals is to destroy or capture the enemy. Self-destruction is permitted in radicalism. It is also a valid weapon in achieving the larger goal.
For radicalism to sustain and even expand, hatred against the adversary is very important. Radicalism thus will not permit a radical to accept the adversary. Becoming part of the adversary is unthinkable. let us take this argument and apply it to the tribals who are being radicalised in several pockets.
The radicalised tribal has to first and foremost hate the adversary. They have to be a part of the process in dismantling the adversary. Who is the adversary of the tribals that are radicalisedIJ Well, it is none other than the Centre and State Government. The Governments are not abstract objects. The State represents everything — from Parliament to judiciary to executive to the Army, the police, the bureaucracy, schools and colleges.
Good radical tribal parents will therefore, will have children but will not send them to schools. The newborn has to grow to be a fighter. The child has to grow with guns and not with pen and pencil.
The radicalised tribals will have to create a system that is parallel to the State. A tribal man therefore, joining the police force is ruled out. The radicalised tribal will not join politics to become an MP or an MlA. They are also not supposed to become collectors, judges or even professors. Even working as a clerk is ruled out.
The radicalised tribal is also brought up with the idea that he has to oppose the mainstream society. Migrating to cities is a no-no. So what is that these people are left withIJ
He is left with forests, wild animals, grains he grows and wild fruits that he has been gathering for generations. That apart, he has to arrange food and shelter for the leaders who have come to his village from other States. To the radicalised tribals, decisions taken by their leader are final. It is God Himself has spoken.
But what happens if the movement started by these leaders fails as it did in Bihar, eastern Uttar Pradesh and Andhra PradeshIJ
Even though the revolutions fails, at least two generations continue living the ideals that radicalism had injecting into their minds. Since the Centre and the State is anti-tribal, the new generation doesn’t try to apply for Government jobs. Since they were told that the mainstream society is anti-tribal, the new generation develops disrespect for them.
The resultIJ
For at least two generations, tribals will not even attempt to move as one with the system. The suspicion against the mainstream society will keep the tribals stick to their ageold traditions. There will be a number of high caste intellectuals who will be romanticising the tribal way of living, their food and their culture. After a great loss and ruination the tribal people will realise that all people all over the world have progressed while they have been left behind.
Meanwhile, the State, to bring the tribals at par with the mainstream society, should change the Forest laws that the British authorities had mindlessly envisioned and implemented. If the British Rule did one thing wrong in India, it was the Forest laws that left the tribals at the mercy of the forest officials.
The way Naxalites are wrong in their premise that ‘power comes from the gun’, the State is also wrong in its belief that police and the paramilitary forces are the answer to tackling the Naxal problem in the country. De-radicalising the tribals is the only long-term solution to the problem. De-radicalising of the tribals is not only good for the tribals, it is good for the State as well.
To that end, the State should realise that the forests, forest produce, mines and minerals and wild life belongs to the tribals. The State therefore must make tribals stakeholder in all the forest wealth.
The factors that will unleash the de-radicalisation process among tribals are:
· 24x27 hours electricity supply
· Each tribal home with lPG connection
· Each home with a TV and DTH
· Compulsory education in English medium schools
· Good roads in tribal region
Unless the State and society come up with other miracle solutions, radicalisation of the tribals will continue. And this will hurt and harm them the most. If the interest of the tribals are harmed, the interest of the nation will also suffer.