TV channels are flooded with news related to Maoism and Maoists. Government considers them as the single biggest security threat. Some popular personalities like Arundhati Roy are of the view that it’s the Government who vandalize the constitution and Maoists just are trying to bring back the constitution. And above all these, the incidents like Dantewada, the abduction of policemen, the sabotage of Gyaneshwari express throw up just confusion and chaos and raise a very pertinent question. What’s the truth? Who is to be sympathized with? Whom should we as plain readers believe? Whose side should we be part of? – The Govt., Intellectuals, Maoists, Media or those who are destined to cry due to damages inflicted upon them because of the tussle between all these parties.
The media obviously is taking a safe stand. It is not pointing out fingers directly. But at the same time it is making sure that people’s fingers are raised and pointed to, automatically at the Maoists. Maoist sympathizers claim that it’s the Govt who is single handedly responsible for destroying the sole purpose of constitution. But then we all know that we do not live in a land which is under dictatorship. The Govt is not a single person. Its branches are spread much more than one can imagine, and may be much more complex than one can understand. But then if this is the fact, the question which raises in my mind is that, the needs of the multiple branches can be so different. Obviously at the end of the day, the object of power is power. But then the strategic objective of each stakeholder within Govt. can change as far the topic of Maoism is concerned. Then the question which pops up is that, what if the strategic objectives within the system are in conflict? The whole system would break down leading to Maoists easily bringing down the state leading to a situation which they describe as the dictatorship of the proletariat.
But the state has been powerful enough to prevent this so far which takes us to the conclusion that there is a strong undercurrent within the administrative system which makes sure that the strategic objectives of the multiple stakeholders are aligned as far as the topic of Maoism is concerned.
Now we need to analyze the situation from each party’s point of view. First let us take the media’s point of view. They have been clever enough to make sure that they project Maoists as the culprits in the game. But they have done it mostly in a subtle way as to make sure that the readers feel that Maoists are always at fault. I don’t recollect any attempt from the side of media to blemish the Govt. for this trouble. Why is it that they have picturized the Maoists in bad light? Is it because they are afraid of Govt.? Had this been the case, the media would have supported Govt. for each activity that the Govt. has performed in the past. However, this has not been the case. The media clearly understands that to justify Maoism with whatever reasons it can substantiate, would never be digested by the common man. Whatever reasons it puts forth, the idea of Maoism will never be appreciated by a man who sits down in the south of the country, which is relatively peaceful, sipping a hot cup of tea while reading the daily newspaper. The common man would not be able to digest even the ideology of Maoism, forget their actions. But then the reader would obviously digest if Maoists are projected in bad light and every action of theirs is melodramatically explained and criticized. Obviously by doing this media would be doing good business by selling the news what the common man wants to hear and can digest. Now if you take some other case where the Govt does look the culprit very clearly, the media brilliantly takes its stand against the Govt. Because that’s what their target audience wants to hear. We are talking about pure business here. I am not supporting Maoists here. Wait. My idea is different. I will explain it at the end of this essay.
Now let us take the point of view of Maoists. Their urge to bring down the state came from the fact that Govt. has done nothing to millions of people in this country. When one side of the country is booming, the other is clearly suffering. Our country is a cosm and not a microcosm. When we always argued that Capitalism gains from exploiting the poor, we forgot to think for one second that that has been the case with progress in every part of the world. The famous proverb in Malayalam which says –“One plant gets rotten and serves as the fertilizer to the other plant”. This is true. Because if USA is rich, it’s clearly because of the fact that many other countries have been exploited. I do agree that the country was smart in doing that. But it’s clearly to be understood that in its path of progress, a lot many countries have bit the dust. Why is Africa so poor for years and years? When it has diamond mines, why is the continent still in the dark? Is it because they have not tried to progress? No. That has not been the case. They have been duly exploited by the rich. And that is clearly how progress happens. The same thing is happening in our country. When we boast about our 9% GDP growth rate, we are forgetting the fact the rich are getting richer and the poorer are getting poorer. However there is a percentage which is getting above the poverty line. That has to be accepted. But the fact is that the growth is not a balanced one. The so called powerful people are always exploiting the system in such a way that the system delivers progress to those people who are well bred and it exploits the poor who have always been left behind. This has been the reason behind the ideology of Maoism. But then there can be huge difference between the ideology and the way it is executed. The people who formed the movement clearly have enjoyed the power it brings. And once the power has been enjoyed, the next objective would be to make sure that power always remains in their hands. This can only be achieved by constant agitation and chaos and expanding the empire. So they keep recruiting people and brain washing their followers to make sure that the empire remains strong and they remain powerful. Obviously this cannot be appreciated.
Now the most interesting part is the Govt.’s point of view. It would be true to say that the Govt. doesn’t really have major worries as far as the Maoist movements are considered. This statement needs more explanation as the meaning is really very deep. The administration of this country is one of the most challenging endeavors one can ever get to do. Just because of the sheer diversity of this nation, the points of view have been so diverse. But then this indirectly does help the Govt. This makes sure that the country doesn’t unite against the state to over throw the state. With such a diverse nation, unity is never possible. So as far as the Maoists movements are considered, it always helps to divert the attention of those who might revolt against the state. Those who run this nation have so many other important things on their plate. They are fine with this war, and while all the time they openly proclaim that they are against the Maoists and want to end the war, inside they are fine with the chaos it has been creating. It is a complex logic to buy all at once because to make sure that one remains powerful needs complex methods. This is one of the reasons why the Maoist leader Azad who was ready for peace talks was killed. If they wanted peace, they would have let him live. They know that there are issues in North East. They know that Nagaland, Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur and Mizoram are in turmoil. They know that these states have issues which make them fight against each other. But the state won’t do anything to solve this. Just because to remain powerful, they need to make sure people do not unite and overpower the state. This is the same logic which the British used. Now our own Govt. is using it against us. But none of us will even know about all this, as we are not informed about all these things. We hear and know the perception of the media. But what’s truth? We need to go beyond all this to know that. Why isn’t media telling us all this? It’s because we cannot digest the fact that each entity has both positive and negative shades. The story looks interesting to us only if there is a hero and a villain. No one buys the story which has plenty of characters who are fusions of villains and heroes. But at the end of the day, the one thing which we need to understand is that, whoever does anything, does just for remaining powerful. And whoever wins, those who are caught in between this tussle end up losing.
“The object of power is power” – 1984, George Orwell.
The media obviously is taking a safe stand. It is not pointing out fingers directly. But at the same time it is making sure that people’s fingers are raised and pointed to, automatically at the Maoists. Maoist sympathizers claim that it’s the Govt who is single handedly responsible for destroying the sole purpose of constitution. But then we all know that we do not live in a land which is under dictatorship. The Govt is not a single person. Its branches are spread much more than one can imagine, and may be much more complex than one can understand. But then if this is the fact, the question which raises in my mind is that, the needs of the multiple branches can be so different. Obviously at the end of the day, the object of power is power. But then the strategic objective of each stakeholder within Govt. can change as far the topic of Maoism is concerned. Then the question which pops up is that, what if the strategic objectives within the system are in conflict? The whole system would break down leading to Maoists easily bringing down the state leading to a situation which they describe as the dictatorship of the proletariat.
But the state has been powerful enough to prevent this so far which takes us to the conclusion that there is a strong undercurrent within the administrative system which makes sure that the strategic objectives of the multiple stakeholders are aligned as far as the topic of Maoism is concerned.
Now we need to analyze the situation from each party’s point of view. First let us take the media’s point of view. They have been clever enough to make sure that they project Maoists as the culprits in the game. But they have done it mostly in a subtle way as to make sure that the readers feel that Maoists are always at fault. I don’t recollect any attempt from the side of media to blemish the Govt. for this trouble. Why is it that they have picturized the Maoists in bad light? Is it because they are afraid of Govt.? Had this been the case, the media would have supported Govt. for each activity that the Govt. has performed in the past. However, this has not been the case. The media clearly understands that to justify Maoism with whatever reasons it can substantiate, would never be digested by the common man. Whatever reasons it puts forth, the idea of Maoism will never be appreciated by a man who sits down in the south of the country, which is relatively peaceful, sipping a hot cup of tea while reading the daily newspaper. The common man would not be able to digest even the ideology of Maoism, forget their actions. But then the reader would obviously digest if Maoists are projected in bad light and every action of theirs is melodramatically explained and criticized. Obviously by doing this media would be doing good business by selling the news what the common man wants to hear and can digest. Now if you take some other case where the Govt does look the culprit very clearly, the media brilliantly takes its stand against the Govt. Because that’s what their target audience wants to hear. We are talking about pure business here. I am not supporting Maoists here. Wait. My idea is different. I will explain it at the end of this essay.
Now let us take the point of view of Maoists. Their urge to bring down the state came from the fact that Govt. has done nothing to millions of people in this country. When one side of the country is booming, the other is clearly suffering. Our country is a cosm and not a microcosm. When we always argued that Capitalism gains from exploiting the poor, we forgot to think for one second that that has been the case with progress in every part of the world. The famous proverb in Malayalam which says –“One plant gets rotten and serves as the fertilizer to the other plant”. This is true. Because if USA is rich, it’s clearly because of the fact that many other countries have been exploited. I do agree that the country was smart in doing that. But it’s clearly to be understood that in its path of progress, a lot many countries have bit the dust. Why is Africa so poor for years and years? When it has diamond mines, why is the continent still in the dark? Is it because they have not tried to progress? No. That has not been the case. They have been duly exploited by the rich. And that is clearly how progress happens. The same thing is happening in our country. When we boast about our 9% GDP growth rate, we are forgetting the fact the rich are getting richer and the poorer are getting poorer. However there is a percentage which is getting above the poverty line. That has to be accepted. But the fact is that the growth is not a balanced one. The so called powerful people are always exploiting the system in such a way that the system delivers progress to those people who are well bred and it exploits the poor who have always been left behind. This has been the reason behind the ideology of Maoism. But then there can be huge difference between the ideology and the way it is executed. The people who formed the movement clearly have enjoyed the power it brings. And once the power has been enjoyed, the next objective would be to make sure that power always remains in their hands. This can only be achieved by constant agitation and chaos and expanding the empire. So they keep recruiting people and brain washing their followers to make sure that the empire remains strong and they remain powerful. Obviously this cannot be appreciated.
Now the most interesting part is the Govt.’s point of view. It would be true to say that the Govt. doesn’t really have major worries as far as the Maoist movements are considered. This statement needs more explanation as the meaning is really very deep. The administration of this country is one of the most challenging endeavors one can ever get to do. Just because of the sheer diversity of this nation, the points of view have been so diverse. But then this indirectly does help the Govt. This makes sure that the country doesn’t unite against the state to over throw the state. With such a diverse nation, unity is never possible. So as far as the Maoists movements are considered, it always helps to divert the attention of those who might revolt against the state. Those who run this nation have so many other important things on their plate. They are fine with this war, and while all the time they openly proclaim that they are against the Maoists and want to end the war, inside they are fine with the chaos it has been creating. It is a complex logic to buy all at once because to make sure that one remains powerful needs complex methods. This is one of the reasons why the Maoist leader Azad who was ready for peace talks was killed. If they wanted peace, they would have let him live. They know that there are issues in North East. They know that Nagaland, Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur and Mizoram are in turmoil. They know that these states have issues which make them fight against each other. But the state won’t do anything to solve this. Just because to remain powerful, they need to make sure people do not unite and overpower the state. This is the same logic which the British used. Now our own Govt. is using it against us. But none of us will even know about all this, as we are not informed about all these things. We hear and know the perception of the media. But what’s truth? We need to go beyond all this to know that. Why isn’t media telling us all this? It’s because we cannot digest the fact that each entity has both positive and negative shades. The story looks interesting to us only if there is a hero and a villain. No one buys the story which has plenty of characters who are fusions of villains and heroes. But at the end of the day, the one thing which we need to understand is that, whoever does anything, does just for remaining powerful. And whoever wins, those who are caught in between this tussle end up losing.
“The object of power is power” – 1984, George Orwell.
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