Terror By Law

The front page of the Pune City Edition of the Marathi daily newspaperSakal (23 March) had the shocking news today that the Home Minister of Maharashtra, R. R. Patil has"ordered the Commissioner of Police, Pune to investigate the persons at the Bhandarkar Oriental ResearchInstitute responsible for supplying malicious information on ‘Jijau’ (Shivaji’s mother) to James W.Laine, so that the State can take appropriate action against them."   

[It is interesting to note the different focus in reportage in thisMarathi newspaper as compared to the various Englishpublications, or even the PTIfeeds, where the reportage is confined to the Maharashtra government's threat to enlist Interpol's helpfor arresting James Laine - Ed, outlookindia.com]

This ridiculous-sounding statement was made by Home Minister Patil ata press conference in Mumbai on March 22. The Home Minister has helped to camouflage the extremely seriouscriminal assault on the B.O.R.I. on January 5 -- that was no ordinary conspiracy or act of dacoity -- intowhat Marathi newspapers are now referring to as ‘The James Laine issue’!

While James W. Laine’s book has already been banned and a policecase against the author and his publishers has been filed in Pune, the Special Branch of the MaharashtraPolice has not yet shown any interest in tracing and investigating the persons, organizations, and politicalparties that have instigated the assaulters. This has been treated as a case of ‘hurt sentiments’ thoughit is in all probability a case of pre-calculated incitement of uninformed public opinion for the sake ofelectoral and other gains, or for ‘recognition of extra-constitutional clout’. 

It is significant that the Home Minister and his own party -- theN.C.P.-- have tried indirectly to justify the ‘Sambhaji Brigade’ and the ‘Chhava Sanghatna’ whoattempted to disrupt the Prime Minister’s election campaign meeting in Beed, raising slogans about the Lainebook. The Prime Minister too obliged by retracing his steps from an earlier liberal stance in the matter ofcensorship.

While neither James W. Laine nor the hero of his book, ChatrapatiShivaji Maharaj, have any conceivable role to play in the 14^th Lok Sabha polls, the Constitution ofthe Secular Democratic Republic of India is itself under attack from domestic terrorists and their politicalclients. Would Chatrapati Shivaji Maharaj, were he to reappear in the 21^st century, make caste-warsthe foundation of his Svaraj? 

Is Maharashtra’s Home Minister declaring another Emergency of hisown during this pre-election period? Will the Election Commission ignore this on technical grounds? Will theUnion Government find it politically embarrassing to act appropriately and bring to book those who engineeredand carried out the attack on BORI? Will champions of civil liberties remain articulately silent and silentlyarticulate in the face of this clear and present danger to democracy itself?

Dilip Chitre is Honorary Editor New Quest - a quarterly journalof participative inquiry into society and culture - and this piece appears in New Quest Number 155(January-March 2004) focussing on "the rise of neo-Fascism in India".