Lakshadweep Islands- Development vs Colonisation

Why Lakshadweep Islands are grabbing national headlines and the recent controversies that arose.

Lakshadweep is a tiny archipelago of 36 islands off the coast of mainland India. It is by far the least populous geographical entity as well as the small administrative entity in the country. Nothing in these islands ever make it to the national headlines. In the past two weeks, Lakshadweep made massive headlines in national media for the first time in years. This shows that the situation is serious and not silly as it sounds.

Everything started with the #SaveLakshadweep campaign on Twitter trending on top in India. No one actually understood why it trended and started tweeting it with the partial knowledge they had. Although the situation was clear that there was something between the people of Lakshadweep, political parties and the administration.

The issue started with the Administrator of the Union Territory of Lakshadweep let out executive orders on controversial matters. Considering the sensitivity of the land, its people and its importance let's examine this issue.

Geography of Lakshadweep

As mentioned before, it's an archipelago of 36 islands. It has an area of mere 32 sq km, which is merely one-third of the size of Kochi city. It has only ten inhabited Islands. It is a Union Territory and not a state. Kavaratti is the capital of the Union Territory. Agatti is the only island that has an airport.

Demographics of Lakshadweep

The population of the islands is close to 65–70 thousand. Over 96% of the locals follow Islam. Most of the islanders are ethnic Mappila Muslims. The main occupation of the locals is fishing and agriculture.

Politics of Lakshadweep

Lakshadweep has always been a stronghold of the Congress party. Given that the local population is predominantly Muslim, other parties don’t have their presence here. Given that this is a Union Territory (UT), it doesn’t have its own government. It is under direct control from Delhi. The link between Delhi and Kavaratti is the Administrator of the UT.

Relationship with Kerala

Lakshadweep Islands have always been a sister region to Kerala having both cultural and historic ties. From Cheras to Cholas to the Kingdom of Kannur to Portuguese to then British, these islands were central to their power. These islands were part of the state of Malabar until 1956.

After Independence from the British and the state of Kerala was formed without Lakshadweep. Till then it was called Laccidive hence the name, the Laccadive Sea.

The local population speak Malayalam and are closely associated with the population of Kerala. Whenever they have to travel to the mainland they come to Kerala, ie. through the ports of Kochi and Beypore. By flight, they can directly travel to Kochi from Agatti.

Union Territory of Lakshadweep comes under Kerala High Court Jurisdiction. For small or big reasons the locals have no other options but either to cross the sea and go to other islands or come to Kerala for educational, medical or purposes like travelling to other parts of the country.

Who is the Administrator and his role in the recent executive orders

Praful Khoda Patel was appointed as the new administrator for Lakshadweep in December 2020. He was well known as the previous administrator for Daman, Diu, Dadra and Nagar Haveli. He was the Home Minister of Gujarat in Modi Govt when Amit Shah had to resign from the post in relation to the Sohrabuddin fake encounter case. He has close links with RSS as well as BJP leaders PM Modi, Amit Shah, etc.

For the first time, we are seeing a political appointment in a post that was always held by Bureaucrats especially the IAS.

The executive orders and controversies that followed

Executive Order is nothing but a decision taken by the Head of State/UT which doesn’t need the approval of the Legislature. The order is directly pushed by the Executive.

Last two weeks, we can see that there was a large outrage regarding the majority of these orders and how they might affect the indigenous population. Also, on how far these measures have to be considered as the dictatorial mindset of the administration or not. Following are the controversial executive orders.

• LDAR 2021- The draft regulation for the creation of a Lakshadweep Development Authority Regulation (LDAR 2021). This authority will have the power to take away land for the use of development. The locals who have been living there for years will lose their land and there is no scope for filing a complaint against this. You won’t be able to appeal to higher authority or judiciary. Another concern is how this can be used for real estate business which will hurt the ecology of the Islands.
• Anti-Gooda Act/PASA- The law would allow the Administration to detain any individual and not provide them with legal support if they are found to be engaged in anti-social activities. This is applicable to drug-related, liquor-related, narcotics-related, etc. The police can now detain anyone without any proof or trial and mere suspicion will do. According to NCRB, Laskhadeep has the least crime rate in the country. There are no cases of terrorism or any heinous crime being reported. Most of the police stations don’t have heavy-duty. To such an island bringing such a draconian law seems illogical.
• Animal Preservation Regulation- Was controversial in nature which directly contradicts with the demographics of the locals. This act bans the slaughter of cows, calves, bulls or bullocks ie. Beef. If beef or beef products are found to be transported, then the punishment period can be up to 10 years. Slaughter of other animals for religious purposes will also require prior permission too. Although the words used in law never said directly like beef, the intention was pretty evident.
• Diet restrictions- Students at school who will receive mid-day meals will only be fed with vegetarian food instead of non-vegetarian food which was served earlier.
• The Lakshadweep Panchayat Regulation, 2021- Here the new rule included an unusual section where those who have more than two children will not allow contesting in the Panchayat elections. It also has provisions to disqualify those who are elected but have more than two children later on.
• Shift to Mangalore port- Earlier, the trade and movement of people happened via Beypore in Kerala. A new order will prompt the people to reduce their dependence on Beypore port and instead opt for Mangalore port which is situated in Karnataka. We had discussed the historic ties and also how it's the bond between the people of Lakshadweep and Kerala that is predominant rather than anything else. It will be hard for people to accept the new reality.
• Changing of COVID-19 SOP- In the year 2020, Lakshadweep remained the only place in India, to not have reported any case COVID-19 cases. There were two weeks of strict quarantine as per the SOP back then. Then, the SOP was changed in a way that anyone with a negative RT-PCR test result can come to the Island. As of now, there are over 7,000+ cases being reported.
• The legalisation of Liquor- As per the new order, Liquor that was banned from the UT except for one island has removed from the ban as such. This move is claimed to boost the tourism industry.
• Entry to Lakshadweep- Even when claims of development and tourism boom being discussed, new order requests those visiting the islands to have special permission from the ADM of that islands. Also, this permit will be valid only for a week and has to be extended every week.
• Demolition of Fishing sheds- In the name of beatification, temporary fishing sheds of fishermen were demolished.
• Youngsters who protested against CAA were detained and jailed under the Goonda Act. Now, the Kerala HC has asked the administration to free them.

Opposition political parties especially the Congress party, the CPI-M and the IUML were the first to jump into to ship and aim at the Union Government as well as as the Administrator. It's clear that the issue has got the required political turn as expected. Post this, BJP Lakshadweep committee members resigned and have claimed that the central leadership is overstepping the islands.

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Politics of the same

All of these have a pattern and that itself is the funda of the story. Politics itself is the major reason for all this. Although this isn’t so explicit, under the table it's evident.

The appointment of the Praful Patel itself is the most controversial. A person who follows the ideology of RSS and can act as a puppet of the Modi-Shah duo. Clearly indicating how BJP wish to get a foothold in the islands. That is why political experts draw parallels with the Kashmir issue. Another state with Muslim Majority.

Coming to executive orders, we can clearly see that RSS ideology and their policy being clearly replicated here. This includes beef ban, cow slaughter ban, two-child policy, anti-gooda act etc. Goonda act can be drawn parallel with UAPA but with a lesser vigour. Beef ban and legalisation of liquor is like calling for direct cultural war against the Muslim population of the island. It is evident that it is ordinary Muslims who will tend to have more children and direct restrictions on their constitutional rights are unfair.

Goonda Act seems to be where the Central Govt. can’t explain issues properly and can’t justify themselves. Although we can clearly see how protesters were detained, thus indicating that this act can be misused and used to crackdown on dissent. COVID SOP changes and increase in the case cannot be exactly correlated but we must understand that there is a slight failure of the government which led to the spurt in the number of cases.

The opposition parties used this further to put pressure on BJP and to show how they are colonising the islands as such. While BJP hit out saying that there is nothing political in it and communal angle was given by the opposition.

If you think every decision was taken by the Administrator as such, then we must see how each and every BJP leader and ministers supporting these decisions. Also, the Organiser magazine, the official RSS mouthpiece claimed that these are needed and revolutionary steps and only jihadis and anti-nationals will oppose. So, it's clear that these decisions have directly been commanded from Delhi.

Last week in the maiden session of the newly elected Kerala Assembly we can see a unanimous resolution being passed against the decisions of Praful Patel.

Last week, BJP Lakshadweep Incharge and National Vice President A P Abdullakutty met Home Minister Amit Shah showing his frustration with the new laws and the angst of locals. So, it's also clear that even BJP is divided over this. BJP till now has been silent on the Beef and Cow slaughter ban in NorthEast, Kerala, Goa etc. For them to impose it in Lakshadweep raises questions on their own stance. Also, we know that Gujarat is a state which has an alcohol ban and Mr Modi, Shah, Patel come from Gujarat only. So why is this hypocrisy? Is Gujarat’s tourism sector affected only because of the liquor ban?

All these indicate how BJP wants to gain something in the Islands and restrict the free lives of the local Muslim population. At the same time, politically BJP is able to assert its dominance and also imply its RSS policy of Hindutva across one more region. This step is dangerous not because of the laws but because the public wasn’t consulted and its imposed. The Govt. hasn’t been able to convince them of its pros. The same issue happened with CAA, Farmers Bill, etc. Lack of distrust is clear and how authoritarian are we becoming.

Importance of Lakshadweep

Today if we have to draw any parallels with what Lakshadweep means, then geographically we must move down south to the Maldives. A Muslim majority country that's flocking with tourists. The beaches are beautiful and eye-catching. Geographically they are almost the same.

Tourism would be an important area of improvement for islands. Especially when it needs required sophisticated development. Just because liquor is legalised doesn’t make islands flock with tourists. The new permits will reduce the tourist influx. Tourists by that logic may also love beef and that will stop tourists. No one visits these areas for liquor, they want to experience the beauty and also stay calm. There must be facilities for that. But this should not be at the cost of the local population. They should be taken into confidence as well.

The islands as such are one of the most important strategic locations we have. It is located directly on the International Maritime Route. Also, at a time when US-China naval conflict is happening in the Indian Ocean.

Since these are islands, most of them uninhabited, we understand that these will be environmentally and ecologically sensitive. Almost all the problems faced by an Island nation will be rampant here too. This will include weather, disasters like tsunami, cyclone etc. and the most alarming the rising sea level.

Solution

The main problem we discussed during the farmer's protest was the lack of distrust between the govt. of the day and the people of the country. The govt. is moreover behaving more authoritarian where it should have been more complacent. It should talk with people before taking some decision, especially when it will directly affect their lives.

No one is against development or is anti-national. People of the Island welcomed all the development projects. It was the NDA govt. that started the project of connecting Lakshadweep to broadband with help of undersea optic fibre cables. No one will oppose it because it is essential and it must be able to convince the locals on the benefits.

If the govt believes that bringing liquor to the Island will boost tourism then the govt. should be able to convince the local people, discuss the Maldives too. Talk with people about their problems and find suitable land for different projects. If they are not ready to give their land, give higher price for land and give all the perks. Why is the government planning to take away people’s land by force?

If the basic agenda of the Central govt. will be developed then it should talk only about it and have a consenses with by discussing with local bodies, MP, etc. If it's pure development then why are decisions affecting personal lives and choices taken? The govt. needs to come clean on this. It can’t bring a puppet and enforce everything upon the people like a dictator and say everything is for your own benefit. This is nothing but colonisation and the same thing that people suffered for years. A new solution must be brought which brings in development while protects the demands of the locals as well those which don’t harm the environment.

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