It seems a secret competition is afoot between some states in the country as to adopting communal and racial agendas, reactionary positions as well as implementing anti-people legislation. The prohibitory laws implemented in the name of stopping cow slaughter and religious conversions, copied between Sangh Parivar governments in Gujarat, UP and Madhya Pradesh, were spread to Rajasthan, Uttarkhand, Assam and Chattisgarh when they came to power in these states. Many innocent people were imprisoned after having been trapped in these draconian laws. Their lives must be in ruins by the time they are acquitted after years of seeking justice in courts. The Uttarakhand government even implemented the uniform civil code from which the Centre had backed away after the country’s secular and democratic fabric opposed it.
Now, the Assam government has come up with another deadly policy. The state’s cabinet has approved of a special scheme to issue gun license to people for the safety of the state’s ‘indigenous people’ living in the frontier areas. Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma claimed that it was to protect indigenous people facing constant threats from some centres. Ensuring the safety of people's lives and property is the basic duty of the state. We have a paramilitary force called Border Security Force to take care of the threats and infiltration from across the border. In the event of the state home department and the BSF fail to ensure public safety, the state government should either step down, taking responsibility for the breakdown of law and order, or President’s rule be imposed. In its stead arming the people is a guileful and dangerous decision. The Sangh Parivar government in Assam that brands all Muslims with Bengali accent as infiltrators and Bangladeshis does not clarify who the ‘real natives ‘ they want to provide security to, and what the criteria are in place to prove native status. It is hard to believe the criteria and procedures could be blameless considering the fact that the government in Assam set out to exclude from the citizenship even the descendants of freedom fighters and brave soldiers who fought the country’s enemy forces simply because they are Muslims.
Assam witnessed some of the most horrific mass infanticides and ethnic killings in places including in Nellie and Barpeta in the history of independent India. Alongside fostering ethnic hatred, communal groups carried out all these murders by fueling the insecurity of the people. From people having returned to normal life after forgetting and forgiving all the hardships of ethnic hatred, the state has once again become a place where horrendous form of communal propaganda is happening. It goes without saying disasters can happen if a section of the state’s people takes up arms. It is all the more so in the wake of illegal gatherings and atrocities taking place beyond control in the name of stopping cow smuggling. Strict restrictions on the possession of weapons have played a major role in maintaining law and order in India. The proliferation of guns under the guise of a government’s justification will lead to severe disunity and distrust among the people. These weapons will certainly pose a serious threat to the lives of every human in the state not just those people the government aims to put in its crosshairs. This is especially so in the state where crimes including murder and domestic violence are on the rise. Before implementing arms proliferation policies, lawmakers should read the unfortunate experience of America where mass shootings take place unannounced in schools and public places. Not guns but computers and work tools and job opportunities are what people looking for. Do the authorities who obliterated the Gandhiji, the prophet of non-violence while worshiping Godse think that they can continue in power for long through the policies of beating and killing people?