Trouble in paradise

The expression ‘stirring the pot’ sits exceptionally well with the situation suddenly created in Lakshadweep. It is a shame that the country’s smallest Union Territory, a lovely sun-kissed archipelago of 36 islands, should suddenly become the centre of such a needless controversy. The blame for igniting this lies squarely on the shoulders of Lt. Governor Praful Khoda Patel, a BJP functionary from Gujarat, who is said to have been a close aide of Prime Minister Modi. A political appointee, Patel assumed charge late last year, dispensing with the usual practice of engaging a senior bureaucrat for the job to administer the islands, the population of which is 99 per cent Muslim. It is nobody’s case that Lakshadweep should be insulated from reform. But the package of measures advanced by the administration suffers from many flaws – ranging from the unnecessary, the insensitive, and unpopular to those that could pose a danger to the fragile environment. For starters, it is not clear why beef should have been removed from the mid-day meals served at government schools. The Lakshadweep Collector S Asker Ali has proffered the explanation that this would be replaced with healthier eggs and fish and that the introduction of the latter would benefit local fishermen. Plausible though this sounds on the face of it, the removal of beef from the menu needs to be read along with the introduction of the Lakshadweep Animal Preservation Regulation 1991. Like other so-called ‘beef ban’ regulations, this one ostensibly aims at regulating the way all animals are slaughtered. But there is a clear rider: no certificates for slaughter will be issued for cows, calves, bulls and bullocks. To do this, particularly in a predominantly Muslim region, is to stoke discontent and play politics. That one of the Constitution’s Directive Principles enjoins the State to ban cow slaughter provides the BJP with the legal fig leaf to cover up its larger ideological programme. There are other issues such as the regulations on land that require a further look and need much more consultation with the people. Any expansion of the tourist sector in Lakshadweep must balance local sentiments, better the lives of islanders, while protecting the fragile ecosystem. At the same time, it is important to parse the various measures and react to them in a granular manner. For example, it is difficult to see why there should be a problem in allowing visitors to imbibe liquor against special permits – a system that exists in other areas where prohibition prevails. Also, while there is no denying that Lakshadweep is largely peaceful and that legislations that resemble the ubiquitous Goondas Acts are regressive, one cannot turn a blind eye to the administration’s concerns about rising crime, heroin smuggling and trafficking in semi-automatic weapons. The Lakshadweep Collector has suggested that the controversy is very much an issue in the mainland and the islanders themselves have been largely unconcerned by the measures, both implemented and on the anvil. But this could well be a result of the difficulties in coordinating protests over so many islands and should not be read as an acceptance of Patel’s so-called ‘reformist’ agenda. With Opposition leaders such as Rahul Gandhi, Pinarayi Vijayan and MK Stalin having taken up the issue, one hopes that the powers that be in Delhi can persuade Praful Patel to stay his hand and do more to win the confidence of the islanders.