The NDTV big fight: watch Gautam Navlakha
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http://www.ndtv.com/video/player/news/i ... air/183874
JEM, there is more to this case than we know or what gets bandied about in the press (the charge-sheet is not there, the verdict is not there, the evidence list is not there, the proceedings are not there, so we are all as wise as ducks). I dont claim privy to anything deep here, but my take based on what little I know. Ajai Sahni's "deterrence" remark is spot on.
1) Is this a test case? Yes.
2) Is this going to deter anyone from being an open sympathizer? No, the folks who choose to defy defy knowing what they are up against. And they could nt care less.
3) So why is this a test case? Because the state apparatus has not openly said "we will hit you back" so far. The response has been muted. UAPA could have been used N times in the past (the CPI(Maoists) have been banned, but you have the burden of proving someone is a member of the said party, not just a sympathizer, but still!!!), but only now do people fall back on it. Ok, I take that back. It is NOT the UAPA, but the Chhattisgarh Special Public Security Act that has been used to hammer the point.
4) What is in it for the GoI? The LWE menace cant be done with unless they bring in both JHK and CTG (the two frontline states now -- they lost more people than any other state in the last 1-2 years of LWE, but bound to change in the short- as well as long-term) on board. A while back, all the five states (Orissa, CTG, JHK, Bihar, WB, now JHK is under Prez rule) were run by non-INC governments. If I were a foil-hatter, I would blame GoI and I could cite how AP put things down. I will have a good justification for whining about the GoI. The key repartee for folks who claim that Police is a state subject is that "But Goddess Lakshmi is a central subject." In fact, the Raman Singh government demanded certain big ticker items from the MHA and ended with mud on its face, not just him alone, it is across the board insulting in some sense or the other. Naveen Patnaik, Nitish Kumar, Shibu Soren, Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, all refused to cooperate. Cmon, Buddha leads the CPM goons, he cant be digging his own grave, he cant be so stupid and yet survive for so many years in the CPM. Now see, PC has asked WB to disband the neo-SJ type outfits. So much for inter-state collaboration, the way MHA wants to fight this menace, if you can read what I can read, you will die of a heartattack. And silently agree before you die that "India is one not because of its politicians, but despite them."
Anyway, it is the BJP government that is going to take the flak or bouquets at the end of the day. The INC (if you are so sensitive, the PMO and MHA) is watching silently and they dont want to get involved given how much it can burn, literally. If things go well, they will pick the baton at some point down the road. If things dont go well, well its the BJP's problem. A certainly determined way at tackling what is the BIGGEST Internal Security nightmare in decades, one should admit.
5) Is this punishment deserved? That is what the Raipur Sessions and District Court thinks so. It will go to the Chattisgarh High Court and then, the Supreme Court (there are no "if need be" caveats here, it will go because both sides have a point to make). And I am worried if it goes all the way to the Hon'ble SC for various reasons. The best recourse is for Binayak Sen to kick the bucket before it gets that far.
6) What is the whine about? See, they are trying to polarize opinion by creating a sympathy card. Bugger is a heart patient and that is the key polarizer (we Indics are so nice, no?!). They are trying to sway opinion on what they cant prove legally with a public debate. The "intellectuals" are NOT after Binayak's release, the cause is bigger than one person, and even if he is released, he may not last all that long. They want a public debate on Naxalism vs. "state repression." Period. They want more cadres, more populism and subversion from within than from out, nothing better than by tilting some brainwashed people with pseud statements of "state repression." Sad to state that our policefolk dont help matters either, but thats an entirely different story. The key precedent into this sympathy card is when Binayak sought bail, the Hon'ble SC denied bail first and then approved it. There you go, the Hon'ble SC is going to hold me contemptuous of the august body. I apologize in advance and will sign on the dotted line to that effect (in triplicate if need be).
If this news can spread confusion and suspicions amongst the naxals we should be the happiest. The naxal leadership themselves would do the job of killing each other. How ever, care should be taken to ensure that their frusturation is not taken out on innocent villagers (who the Mao pests label as police informers).