Yesterday, 33 cops were killed by Maoist rebels in Chhattisgarh, barely 70 kms from the capital, Raipur. Among those killed is the district superintendent of police.
It is not just Lalgarh alone. There is an entire forest belt out there covering much of central India – an area that is poor, inhabited mainly by tribals; an area where something has gone horribly wrong.
I myself enjoyed an evening around a bonfire with these forest-dwellers once. The drums kept beating; we all danced. And drank copious amounts of mahua and handia. Yet, they are not allowed to sell these drinks. I call this Tyranny. I found these people friendly and hospitable. These areas should be on every tourist itinerary – and tourism requires a friendly and hospitable populace. There is much that is lost if vast swathes of the country escape “political order.”
But our The State has nothing much to do with political order. The man on top is an “economist.” He is “planning.” And he is Sonia’s choice, so Sonia thinks that the most important task for The State is to plan the economy and occupy the “commanding heights.”
Chacha Manmohan S Gandhi is off today for a tour of Egypt and France. In France he will be the chief guest on Bastille Day.
Anyway, I think that so soon after Lalgarh, this killing of 33 cops should be viewed by those in authority as a “crisis of legitimacy.” In the political theory of The State, this is one of the crises a State can face; another is a “crisis of finance.” Looks like our dudes on Laputa are facing both. And he’s off to celebrate Bastille!
Laputa, I say!
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