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Blasting the myth of southern comfort

Blasting the myth of southern comfort

Author: K Govindan Kutty
Publication: The Pioneer
Date: January 9, 2006

Not all of PWG's terror put together has achieved what one terrorist did by targeting IISc in Bangalore

The future or the antiquity of Bahubali's statue or Edakkal's cave cannot be Mr Dharam Singh's and Mr Oommen Chandy's immediate concerns. These enclaves of heritage do face threats of vandalism or philistinism, but Mr Singh and Mr Chandy have other preoccupations.

The chief preoccupation is, naturally, with their own survival, and their States' security. Politically, uncertainty has been a certain fact of life for them, always. Not so security. They find their States no longer secure. What is of some comfort is that Mr Rajashekhar Reddy and Ms J Jayalalithaa, redoubtable leaders long used to physical as well as political insecurity, share their fear. The myth of the southern security stands blown, suddenly.

When terrorism raged in Jammu & Kashmir, Punjab or Assam, when caste escalated in Bihar and atavistic passions exploded elsewhere, when New Delhi seemed oppressively vulnerable, Mr Dharam Singh's political forebears had an easy time. Karnataka has had its share of caste violence, a social overlord occasionally thrusting down a Dalit's throat a bread dipped in shit and so on, but it was never a dangerous place to live. The danger is not so much that it happens now and then as the pervasive fear that it may happen any time, even if it never does.

Kerala may be a restless State, student unrest and labour unrest and every other kind of unrest being its political hallmark; but it never became an insecure state. Time was when extremism had some votaries, a landlord was done to death or a doctor put up for public trial or a busybody got a note of abuse with two bones and skull inscribed in red on a crumpled scrap of paper. That stopped no one's breath really. There was no fear, except as a useful word employed for political rhetoric.

Andhra Pradesh, whose scions never tire of harking back to the hoary struggles of Telengana and Communist braggadacio, have had more exposure to violence. Even after Naxalism vapoured off in the village after which it was named, it found practising advocates in Srikakulam and Warangal and Karimnagar. Politicians and wheeler-dealers became sources and targets of threats. But others remained largely unaffected. Not all of PWG's annihilation attempts put together have achieved what one terrorist did by choosing Indian Institute of Science in Bangalore as his killing joint. Fear ensued like on no other occasion.

In spite of some Tamils becoming Tigers, Tamil Nadu did not become a terror territory. In fact, several State leaders showed a more than sneaking sympathy for terrorists of Sri Lanka. Some of them were arraigned for a series of violent acts culminating in Rajiv Gandhi's assassination. For many years, hostilities and friendships in national politics were predicated by the perspectives on that spurt of violence. Yet, it did not generate a psychosis of terror.

Things seem to change with religion-based forces of trans-national terrorism coming into play. There was a frightening coincidence about their recent operations in various southern towns. The false threat to blow up Parliament House is traced to a cyber café in Tirunelveli. Soon follows a terrorist treat in IISc, with simultaneous reports of threats against hotels and software majors. It has been attributed to an Islamist organisation, which revels in global terrorism in furtherance of its distorted view of religion.

Hyderabad reports next day how a terrorist operation targeting senior police officers was foiled. In an apparently unconnected incident, explosives land up at a bus station in Kozhikode in huge quantities. These gelatine sticks have been showing up in different places in Kerala off and on for some time now. The trouble with it is that the State's level of fireworks or fishing operations or quarries do not justify such huge movement of explosives.

All this can be wished away as a coincidence. By the same token, all this can be interpreted as indicators of the spread of trans-national forces, which specialise in mindless violence to India's southern parts. It is possible to see their orchestrated or unconnected acts of terror as an achievement in disrupting what used to be felt as a comparative southern calm. If nothing else, there is this growing fear of terror as a southern commonalty.

The day after scientists were gunned down in Bangalore, there was a profound revelation from the Chief Minister. It was, he said, a terrorist operation. When gelatine sticks were seized from a bus station in a northern town of Kerala, Chief Minister Chandy dispatched his cops to look for links in Malappuram and Kodungallur. In sharp contrast to this are his unabated exertions to get out, at least on parole, someone facing prolonged trial in Coimbatore for a terrorist operation targeting senior leaders but killing many ordinary men eight years ago. The Chief Minister has, luckily, not been successful.

This is not to make light of their concern. Making their States safe is indeed a prime concern of Mr Dharma Singh and Mr Oommen Chandy right now. The other chiefs have had to be at it for some years now. As for Mr Singh, he has to guard against those of his partymen who keep gunning for him even after he has led the party to victory in panchayat polls. There are many who are just ready to take his job. He has to be careful. Mr Chandy has no such worries. He knows no one can oust him during the remaining three months of his tenure. He also knows how decisive will then be his coalition's rout.

When such thoughts of survival and security govern their minds, they cannot be distracted by reports of threats to the safety of Bahubali's 10th century statue at Shravanabelegola or the rock art of Edakkal Caves in Wayanad dating back to 3,000 years or more. Monument protectors have point out that cable cars to carry crowds of devotees to Bahubali atop the hill can cause it an avoidable, perhaps unbearable, stress. But devotees have to drop in on their deity, and they will. Chief Minister Singh can, or likes to, do nothing about it.

Not merely the rock art of Edakkal but its cave is also in some danger, as everyone said at a recent seminar. The tremors of the adjoining quarries in the hill district, where wanton explosions go on apace, can convulse this world heritage. But the quarries will keep exploding because they give people jobs and contractors contracts.

Chief Minister Chandy may not be able to give a thought to the weird graphics of an anonymous artist in such a distant past. Thankfully, he has carved out a new department of environment and given a new minister, someone more literate than most in Wayanad's ecology, its charge. Nothing he does will save the coalition, but he can make some gestures in support of a movement for the preservation of Wayanad's fragile heritage.


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