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The politics of proscription

The question of banning the Communist Party of India(Maoist), which established a reign of terror in the Lalgarh area of West Bengal, has generated far more heat than light. Statements by some politicians, seeking to extract partisan advantage from the extremist violence, have not only confused the issue but also, given the nature of the facts, exaggerated its importance. In effect, the CPI(Maoist) has been proscribed under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act ever sin ce it was formed in 2004. The Schedule of the Act listed the two groupings that merged to form it — the People’s War and the Maoist Communist Centre (MCC) as well as all their formations and fronts — as terrorist organisations. Section 41 of the Act makes it abundantly clear that “a mere change of name” is not enough to conclude that an organisation ceases to exist. So the Centre’s recent announcement that the CPI(Maoist) was banned under the UAPA was at best a reaffirmation, a move to address a possible, but improbable, ambiguity. Since any such proscription under the Act applies to the whole of India, the only practical issue that remains is how it is enforced in a State.

Union Home Minister P. Chidambaram has said he would like West Bengal to declare the CPI(Maoist) an “unlawful association” under the Criminal Law Amendment Act, 1908. As reported in this newspaper, the Union Home Ministry believes that such a move would arm the State government with additional powers to act against those who manage, contribute, or solicit a contribution to the CPI(Maoist). Those who read too much into the fact that the West Bengal government has not done this forget that it is already a serious offence under the UAPA for a person to associate or profess himself or herself to be associated with a terrorist organisation (Section 38), to support such an organisation (Section 39), and to raise funds for it (Section 40). Given that the punishments under the UAPA are stringent in each case, it is doubtful whether anything much hinges on an additional proscription under another law. The general obsession with the use of tough legal measures obscures a simple truth: the fight against terrorism as an ideology must be waged politically and the socio-economic conditions that foster its growth must be tackled at the roots. The situation in the Lalgarh area of course has been complicated by the fact that the Maoists have had the tacit support of mainstream political parties, notably the Trinamool Congress, in combating the Left Front government. The task before the nation is to unite in quelling the extremist menace rather than allow crass politicking or futile debates about laws to cloud this purpose.

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