The Indian archipelago’s indigenous population fear eviction after the BJP-led administration pushed a series of draconian laws critics say threaten the cultural identity of the island and its fragile ecology. On the night of April 26, the week India’s daily coronavirus caseload crossed the 400,000 tally, at least 90 makeshift fishermen sheds were demolished in Kavaratti, the capital of Lakshadweep, an island group in the Arabian Sea.
45-year-old Alikkoya, a fisherman from India’s protected indigenous community, was heartbroken to watch his livelihood razed. Although his petition to stop the demolition is being heard in the Kerala High Court, the sheds were levelled overnight to meet the orders of the new administrator. “We are the owners of this land, not the administration,” says Alikkoya, who appeared on a widely shared video where he laments the apathy of the officials that could push them into exile from their homeland. Lakshadweep is an archipelago of 36 islands with about 64,000 people living in ten islands. Dweep is the smallest of the Union Territories (UT), an area controlled from New Delhi, with an overwhelming 97 percent Muslim population. Unrest is brewing in the islands after a new political administrator was appointed by the Indian president, striking the precedent of filling the position with civil servants.
Praful Khoda Patel, who took additional charge of Lakshadweep last December, is a leader of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and close aide of India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Patel is accused of imposing a slew of laws that threaten the existence of the islanders.
People are living on the edge after the new policy draft called Lakshadweep Development Authority Regulation 2021 (LDAR) allows unchecked power to the administrator to alter, modify, remove, relocate, any islander, citing development projects. Critics of India’s Hindu nationalist government says it is yet another attempt to ‘occupy’ a Muslim-majority territory. On the condition of anonymity, a government employee told TRT World that the proposed bill will turn natives into tenants.“If we fail to pull down a building marked by the government for development by the prescribed date, they will penalise us with Rs 2 lakhs ($2,750) and Rs 20,000 ($275) will be charged each day if we delay paying the fine,” he said.
“LDAR is the worst. It means they want our land without us,” says Dr Muneer Manikfan, Vice-chairperson of Minicoy Panchayat, a local governing body. “It is a declaration of occupation”. administrator with a sinister past Six months into his office, a number of Patel’s policies will abruptly change the character of the island. He has terminated hundreds of temporary government staffers, banned animal slaughter, closed schools, disqualified candidates with two children from contesting elections, lifted a decades-long liquor ban, and imposed a draconian detention law.
Modi’s rival Rahul Gandhi joined scores of politicians, activists, artists and influential figures demanding Patel step down and revoke all laws that threaten Lakshadweep’s “rich heritage” and “peaceful lives”.“We flagged the administrator’s appointment early on but people never expected fascism would reach the island,” recalls Manikfan, amid growing resentment among the islanders.
The former Home Minister of Gujarat in Modi’s cabinet is also the administrator of Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu, another Union Territory since 2016. He oversaw mass eviction of indigenous communities in the Daman and Diu coast to allegedly hand over the beaches to private resorts, a record that worries Manikfan.
Patel is also investigated for being named in the suicide note of Mohanbhai Sanjhibhai Delkar, the Member of Parliament from Dadra and Nagar Haveli. The tribal leader left a note that holds Patel responsible for “injustice” meted out to him. Calls to three contact numbers of the Administrator went unanswered. Local politicians allege that the administrator rarely visits the island. Abdul Kader, President of Kavaratti panchayat, told TRT World that the moment Patel set foot on the island, he was an agent of the BJP.
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