A week before the third year anniversary of the first Narendra Modi government, then BJP president Amit Shah landed in Lakshadweep. He spent three days there, attending public meetings and holding private sessions with a cross section of society. It was the first time a BJP national leader had set foot on the islands. And, the time Shah devoted for Lakshadweep, which has a single Lok Sabha seat, made many curious. During his visit—Modi soon followed suit—Shah called Lakshadweep “one of the most beautiful spots” in the world. Modi, too, visited the archipelago in 2017, immediately after Cyclone Ockhi hit the area.
Today, it has become a hotspot of agitation and unrest, owing to a slew of measures initiated by the home ministry under Shah. The proposals—ranging from a ban on beef to disqualification of panchayat poll aspirants with more than two children—have led to turmoil in these serene islands. Introduced by administrator Praful Khodabhai Patel, these policy changes could allegedly change the very character of the fragile islands and its inhabitants, who are Muslims classified as scheduled tribes.
On top of it, Patel introduced an anti-goonda act in a territory that has one of the lowest crime rates in the country. He also set up a development authority with unilateral powers to acquire land for “development purposes”.
“We have been living in peace for ages and all the previous administrators have been so good to us,” said Padma Shri Dr S. Rahmath Beegum, the first woman surgeon in the islands. “How can they now make us feel like outsiders in our own homeland? They say all these legislations are meant for developing the island. But don’t they know that there is no meaning in development if the public is ousted from the process?” That is a common refrain one hears among islanders.
“What we feel is that the ruling party wants to hand over the island to big investors by making us refugees in our own land,” said T.A. Faizal, a former panchayat representative. “The Lakshadweep Development Authority has been formed to usurp our land.” The administration, he said, had taken away all the powers that panchayat bodies once had.
Lakshadweep is a group of 36 islands, of which only 10 are inhabited. Islanders said that the decisions to allow sale of liquor and to ban beef were deliberate. “As 97 per cent of inhabitants are Muslims, it is easy to give a communal colour to the whole issue. You bring in the term ‘beef’ and it is easy to polarise and divert the attention from the real issue,” said Dr Fausiya A.A., a postdoctoral fellow at IIT Kanpur. The motive behind these moves, she said, was to gain “complete control” over Lakshadweep. “It is ‘hot property’ with huge monetary value for them,” she said. “But this is our ancestors’ land and our attachment to it cannot be severed.”
Political parties, including the Lakshadweep unit of the BJP, have opposed the moves. They have written to the Centre demanding that Patel be recalled and his proposals reviewed. “All these draft proposals have been introduced without consulting people. Everything smacks of an ulterior agenda,” said Lakshadweep MP Mohammed Faizal. The decision to serve liquor in inhabited islands, said the NCP leader, is meant to hurt sentiments. “If promotion of tourism is the real intention, then it is already being done in resorts in Bangaram island,” he said. “People are okay with it. Why bring it to the inhabited islands?”
According to Lakshadweep Congress president Hamdulla Sayeed, Patel “is just executing what Shah has told him to do”. BJP general secretary H.K. Mohammed Kasim told THE WEEK that the party unit “will not allow anything that affects the harmony and peace of our land”.
But BJP national vice president and prabhari of Lakshadweep A.P. Abdullakutty played the development card. “Lakshadweep is decades behind the mainland in terms of development and connectivity,” he said. “All these measures are intended to transform the islands into a sought-after tourist destination. The natives will only benefit from that.”
Abdullakutty also highlighted the strategic importance of Lakshadweep, saying that it is very important from the naval point of view. “China has its base in Sri Lanka, so Lakshadweep has to be under watchful eyes,” he said.
But experts are not willing to buy this line of argument. “The strategic significance of Lakshadweep has always been there,” said A.K. Ramakrishnan, professor, international relations, Jawaharlal Nehru University. Likewise with the Chinese presence. “Even if that is the real case, the issue can be addressed by upping the naval presence rather than unsettling the lives of the inhabitants,” he said.
Meanwhile in Kerala, which is just 200km off the islands, all parties, except the BJP, came together to protest the “unilateral moves” of the “Sanghi administrator”. The state assembly passed a unanimous resolution demanding Patel’s removal.
Film personalities, too, came out in support of the islanders, starting with actor-director Prithviraj, whose tweet brought the issue to public attention.
Lakshadweep and Kerala have a historic relationship. The inhabitants of the islands are said to be migrants from the mainland, and the language they speak, except in one island, is a dialect of Malayalam.
From 1500 to 1900, the islands were under the rule of Arakkal Beevi, a Kannur-based royal family that follows a matrilineal system. The title was transferred to the British in 1905 and in return, the family was promised an amount equal to Rs23,000 every year; it was brought down to Rs3,000 in 2018. According to Harshad Adiraja, a descendant, the Arakkal family used Lakshadweep as a transit hub for its international trade. “The Lakshadweep people are the most peaceful lot I have ever seen. There is no theft and every one feels safe there,” he said, adding that the family felt helpless at the current situation.