[News] India is a corporate, Hindu state: Arundhati Roy
Anti-Imperialist News
news at freedomarchives.org
Mon Sep 13 11:41:18 EDT 2010
India is a corporate, Hindu state: Arundhati
<http://ibnlive.in.com/byline/Karan+Thapar.html>Karan Thapar ,
<http://ibnlive.in.com/agency/CNN-IBN.html>CNN-IBN
Posted on Sep 12, 2010 at 16:03 | Updated Sep 12, 2010 at 17:35
http://ibnlive.in.com/news/india-is-a-corporate-hindu-state-arundhati/130817-3.html?from=tn
Hello and welcome to Devil's Advocate. At the end of a week when the
<http://connect.in.com/maoist/profile-1876057.html>Maoists have been
on the front pages practically every day, we present a completely
different perspective to that of the government's. My guest today is
an author, essayist and Booker Prize winner,
<http://connect.in.com/arundhati-roy/profile-27453.html>Arundhati Roy.
<http://connect.in.com/karan-thapar/profile-159263.html>Karan Thapar:
I want to talk to you about how you view the
<http://connect.in.com/maoist/profile-1876057.html>Maoists and how
you think the government should respond, but first, how do you view
the recent hostage taking in Bihar where four policemen were
kidnapped and kept kidnapped for eight days, and one of them - Lukas
Tete - murdered?
<http://connect.in.com/arundhati-roy/profile-27453.html>Arundhati
Roy: I don't think there is anything revolutionary about killing a
person that is in custody. I have made a statement where I said it
was as bad as the police killing Azad, as they did, in a fake
encounter in Andhra. But, I actually shy away from this
atrocity-based analysis that's coming out of our TV screens these
days because a part of it is meant for you to lose the big picture
about what is this war about, who wants the war? Who needs the war?
<http://connect.in.com/karan-thapar/profile-159263.html>Karan Thapar:
I want very much to talk about the big picture. But, before I come to
that, let me point out something else. In the last one year, the
<http://connect.in.com/maoist/profile-1876057.html>Maoists have
beheaded
<http://connect.in.com/francis-induwar/profile-1875553.html>Francis
Induwar and Sanjoy Ghosh; they have killed Lokus Tete. They have
kidnapped other policemen. There have been devastating attacks in
Dantewada, there has been the sabotage of the
<http://connect.in.com/gyaneshwari-express/profile-1941549.html>Gyaneshwari
Express. In your eyes, does it amount to legitimate strategy or
tactics, or does it detract from the
<http://connect.in.com/maoist/profile-1876057.html>Maoist cause?
<http://connect.in.com/arundhati-roy/profile-27453.html>Arundhati
Roy: You can't bundle them all together. For example the train
accident. I don't think anybody knows who did it yet.
<http://connect.in.com/karan-thapar/profile-159263.html>Karan Thapar:
Everyone's convinced that the
<http://connect.in.com/maoist/profile-1876057.html>Maoists...
<http://connect.in.com/arundhati-roy/profile-27453.html>Arundhati
Roy: Everyone can be convinced. But it is not enough to be convinced.
You got to have facts and the facts are unravelling every day.
<http://connect.in.com/karan-thapar/profile-159263.html>Karan Thapar:
What about the Dantewada, the beheadings, the kidnappings?
<http://connect.in.com/arundhati-roy/profile-27453.html>Arundhati
Roy: This thing is that now what's happening is that there is a
situation of conflict, of war. So, you have set out a litany of the
terrible acts of violence that have taken place inflicted by one side
and left out the picture of what's going on the other side, which is
that you have two hundred thousand paramilitary forces closing in on
these poorest villages, evicting people, burning people. Of course,
all violence is terrible but if you want to get into what actually is
going on, we will have to discuss it in slightly more detail.
<http://connect.in.com/karan-thapar/profile-159263.html>Karan Thapar:
So what you are suggesting is that we have a spiral of violence where
what one side does to the other justifies the response and, in a
sense, you don't want to blame one or the other. You see them both as
equally guilty?
<http://connect.in.com/arundhati-roy/profile-27453.html>Arundhati
Roy: No I don't. I don't see both as equally guilty and I don't want
to justify anything. I see a government breaking every sort of law in
the Constitution that it has about tribal people and assault on the
homelands of millions of people and some, there is a resistance force
that is resisting that. Now, that situation is becoming violent,
becoming ugly. And if you start trying to extract morality out of it,
you are going to be in a mess.
<http://connect.in.com/karan-thapar/profile-159263.html>Karan Thapar:
But one thing that is crystal clear from what you said is you see the
government as the first person, the first party, at fault. The bigger
fault, the first fault, is the government's, you see the
<http://connect.in.com/maoist/profile-1876057.html>Maoists as just responding.
<http://connect.in.com/arundhati-roy/profile-27453.html>Arundhati
Roy: I see the government absolutely, as the major aggressor. As far
as the <http://connect.in.com/maoist/profile-1876057.html>Maoists are
concerned, of course, their ideology is an ideology of overthrowing
the Indian state with violence. However, I don't believe that if the
Indian state was a just state, if ordinary people had some minor hope
for justice, the
<http://connect.in.com/maoist/profile-1876057.html>Maoists would just
be a marginal group of militants with no popular appeal.
<http://connect.in.com/karan-thapar/profile-159263.html>Karan Thapar:
So the <http://connect.in.com/maoist/profile-1876057.html>Maoists get
support and strength from the fact that you don't believe that the
Indian state is just.
<http://connect.in.com/arundhati-roy/profile-27453.html>Arundhati
Roy: Let me tell you, forget the
<http://connect.in.com/maoist/profile-1876057.html>Maoists. Every
resistance movement, armed or unarmed, and the
<http://connect.in.com/maoist/profile-1876057.html>Maoists today are
fighting to implement the Constitution, and the government is vandalising it.
<http://connect.in.com/karan-thapar/profile-159263.html>Karan Thapar:
So the real constitutionalists are the
<http://connect.in.com/maoist/profile-1876057.html>Maoists and the
real breakers of the Constitution is the government?
<http://connect.in.com/arundhati-roy/profile-27453.html>Arundhati
Roy: Not only the
<http://connect.in.com/maoist/profile-1876057.html>Maoists, all
resistance groups.
<http://connect.in.com/karan-thapar/profile-159263.html>Karan Thapar:
Let's focus for the moment on the
<http://connect.in.com/maoist/profile-1876057.html>Maoists because
they are the ones that have been in the news all this week. The prime
minister sees the
<http://connect.in.com/maoist/profile-1876057.html>Maoists as the
single biggest security threat to the country. I take it that your
perception of them is completely different. How do you perceive the
<http://connect.in.com/maoist/profile-1876057.html>Maoists?
<http://connect.in.com/arundhati-roy/profile-27453.html>Arundhati
Roy: I perceive them as a group of people who have at a most militant
end in the bandwidth of resistance movements that exist in the
cities, in the planes and in the forests.
<http://connect.in.com/karan-thapar/profile-159263.html>Karan Thapar:
But what are they seeking to do? What is their justification?
<http://connect.in.com/arundhati-roy/profile-27453.html>Arundhati
Roy: Well, their ultimate goal, as they say quite clearly, is to
overthrow the Indian state and institute the dictatorship of the
proletariat. That is their ultimate goal but...
<http://connect.in.com/karan-thapar/profile-159263.html>Karan Thapar:
Do you,
<http://connect.in.com/arundhati-roy/profile-27453.html>Arundhati
Roy, support that goal?
<http://connect.in.com/arundhati-roy/profile-27453.html>Arundhati
Roy: I don't support that goal in the sense that I don't believe the
solution to the problem the world is in right now will come from an
imagination either communist or capitalist because...
<http://connect.in.com/karan-thapar/profile-159263.html>Karan Thapar:
That I understand but do you support any attempt to overthrow the Indian state?
<http://connect.in.com/arundhati-roy/profile-27453.html>Arundhati
Roy: Well, I can't say I do because they will lead me from here, in chains.
<http://connect.in.com/karan-thapar/profile-159263.html>Karan Thapar:
That technicality apart, it sounds as if you do.
<http://connect.in.com/arundhati-roy/profile-27453.html>Arundhati
Roy: However, I believe that the Indian state has abdicated its
responsibility to the people. I believe that. I believe that when a
state is no longer bound, neither legally nor morally by the Indian
Constitution, either we should rephrase the preamble of the Indian
Constitution which says...
<http://connect.in.com/karan-thapar/profile-159263.html>Karan Thapar: Or?
<http://connect.in.com/arundhati-roy/profile-27453.html>Arundhati
Roy: Which says we are a sovereign, democratic, secular republic. We
should rephrase it and say we are a corporate, Hindu, satellite state.
<http://connect.in.com/karan-thapar/profile-159263.html>Karan Thapar: Or?
<http://connect.in.com/arundhati-roy/profile-27453.html>Arundhati
Roy: Or we have to have a government which respects the Constitution
or we change the Constitution.
<http://connect.in.com/karan-thapar/profile-159263.html>Karan Thapar:
Let me be blunt. It sounds very much to the audience as if you are
trying to find a clever, subtle way of saying that you do support the
<http://connect.in.com/maoist/profile-1876057.html>Maoists commitment
to overthrow the state but you are scared to say it upfront because
you are scared that you would be whisked away to jail.
<http://connect.in.com/arundhati-roy/profile-27453.html>Arundhati
Roy: If I say that I support the
<http://connect.in.com/maoist/profile-1876057.html>Maoists' desire to
overthrow the Indian State, I would be saying that I am a
<http://connect.in.com/maoist/profile-1876057.html>Maoist. But I am
not a <http://connect.in.com/maoist/profile-1876057.html>Maoist.
<http://connect.in.com/karan-thapar/profile-159263.html>Karan Thapar:
But you sympathise with them.
<http://connect.in.com/arundhati-roy/profile-27453.html>Arundhati
Roy: I do sympathise with all the movements. I am on this side of the
line with a group of people who are saying that here is a State that
is willing to bring out the Army against the poorest people not just
in the country but in the world. I cannot support that.
<http://connect.in.com/karan-thapar/profile-159263.html>Karan Thapar:
Let me put this to you. You sympathise with the
<http://connect.in.com/maoist/profile-1876057.html>Maoist cause, but
what about the tactics that the
<http://connect.in.com/maoist/profile-1876057.html>Maoists use? The
problem is that the
<http://connect.in.com/maoist/profile-1876057.html>Maoists want to
trade a new democratic order not by persuading people, not by winning
legitimate elections but by armed liberation struggle. To many, that
is tantamount to civil war. Do you go that far with them?
<http://connect.in.com/arundhati-roy/profile-27453.html>Arundhati
Roy: There is already a civil war. I don't believe that a resistance
movement that believes only in violence will lead to a new democracy.
I don't believe that. Neither do I believe that if you doctrinally
say you must only be non-violent, I believe that is a twisted way of
supporting the status quo. I believe that has to be a bandwidth of
resistance and I certainly believe that when your village is
surrounded by 800 CRPF men who are raping and burning and looting,
you can't say I am going on a hunger strike. Then, I support people's
right to resist that.
<http://connect.in.com/karan-thapar/profile-159263.html>Karan Thapar:
But put this to me. If you support, no matter what qualifications you
add, the right of the
<http://connect.in.com/maoist/profile-1876057.html>Maoists to resist
with violence: whether you call it armed liberation struggle or whatever.
<http://connect.in.com/arundhati-roy/profile-27453.html>Arundhati
Roy: You keep on going to these
<http://connect.in.com/maoist/profile-1876057.html>Maoists.
<http://connect.in.com/karan-thapar/profile-159263.html>Karan Thapar:
If you support that, no matter with what qualification, how then can
you deny the State the right to resort to arms to defend itself?
<http://connect.in.com/arundhati-roy/profile-27453.html>Arundhati
Roy: The State doesn't have to defend itself. The State is supposed
to represent the people and defend the people.
<http://connect.in.com/karan-thapar/profile-159263.html>Karan Thapar:
But if the State is under attack, it is the people that are under attack and...
<http://connect.in.com/arundhati-roy/profile-27453.html>Arundhati
Roy: It is not under attack. The State is perpetrating the attack.
That is what I am trying to say. The State is going in violation of
its own Constitution and perpetrating an attack. If you look at the
recent report, the censured chapter in a recent report by the
Panchayati Raj, it says so clearly: the State is being completely
illegal in its actions. What do you suggest people should do when an
army, a police, a paramilitary, an air force is going to start making
war on the poor? Do you suggest that they should leave and live in
camps and allow the rich and the corporates and the mining sector to take over?
<http://connect.in.com/karan-thapar/profile-159263.html>Karan Thapar:
So you are saying that the
<http://connect.in.com/maoist/profile-1876057.html>Maoists and all
the other resistance fighters are left with no option but to fight back?
<http://connect.in.com/arundhati-roy/profile-27453.html>Arundhati
Roy: What I am saying is that if a State respects non-violent
resistance as has been the case in years, but if you ignore
non-violence, by default you privilege violence.
<http://connect.in.com/karan-thapar/profile-159263.html>Karan Thapar:
But are the
<http://connect.in.com/maoist/profile-1876057.html>Maoists actually
pursuing their goal, which you share, non-violently, or are they
pursuing it with violence? That's the problem. There is a real issue
here that the end seems to justify the means. The question is: do they?
<http://connect.in.com/arundhati-roy/profile-27453.html>Arundhati
Roy: You are not listening to me. I am saying that there is a
juggernaut of injustice that has been moving forward, displacing
millions of people. Why do we have 836 million people living in on
less than Rs 20 a day? Why do we have 60 million displaced people?
Because the government refuses. For the last 25 years, it has refused
to listen to non-violence.
<http://connect.in.com/karan-thapar/profile-159263.html>Karan Thapar:
So you see the
<http://connect.in.com/maoist/profile-1876057.html>Maoists as victims?
<http://connect.in.com/arundhati-roy/profile-27453.html>Arundhati
Roy: I see the people as victims of something. If you look at the
ideology of the
<http://connect.in.com/maoist/profile-1876057.html>Maoists, they
don't think of themselves as victims. But that ideology is getting
purchased among people, in the popular imagination because of the
incredible injustice that is being perpetrated by the Indian State.
<http://connect.in.com/karan-thapar/profile-159263.html>Karan Thapar:
In short, the fault is almost entirely on the government's side?
<http://connect.in.com/arundhati-roy/profile-27453.html>Arundhati Roy: It is.
<http://connect.in.com/karan-thapar/profile-159263.html>Karan Thapar:
You say that boldly and bluntly?
<http://connect.in.com/arundhati-roy/profile-27453.html>Arundhati
Roy: Absolutely.
<http://connect.in.com/karan-thapar/profile-159263.html>Karan Thapar:
I want very much to talk about the prospects of talks but first, let
me ask you about Azad. In May, it emerged that the home minister had
asked <http://connect.in.com/swami-agnivesh/profile-263789.html>Swami
Agnivesh to facilitate talks with the
<http://connect.in.com/maoist/profile-1876057.html>Maoist leadership,
and in turn he established contacts with the
<http://connect.in.com/maoist/profile-1876057.html>Maoists leader
Azad. But in July, in an unexplained police encounter, Azad suddenly
died. Do you believe that was a deliberate ploy to bring Azad into
the open and then murder him?
<http://connect.in.com/arundhati-roy/profile-27453.html>Arundhati
Roy: Yes I do.
<http://connect.in.com/karan-thapar/profile-159263.html>Karan Thapar:
You really mean that? The government laid a trap to murder Azad?
<http://connect.in.com/arundhati-roy/profile-27453.html>Arundhati
Roy: That's what, from all the facts that are emerging, that's what
it seems to point to.
<http://connect.in.com/karan-thapar/profile-159263.html>Karan Thapar:
Why did they do this? Why would they kill the one man with whom they
have rational expectations of talks?
<http://connect.in.com/arundhati-roy/profile-27453.html>Arundhati
Roy: I have been saying this for few months now that you have to
understand that the government needs this war. It needs this war to
clear the land, to hand over, to actualise these MoUs that have been
signed. If you read the business papers, they are very clear about that.
<http://connect.in.com/karan-thapar/profile-159263.html>Karan Thapar:
If the government wants war, how do you interpret the government's
attempt to have talks? One is contradictory to the other.
<http://connect.in.com/arundhati-roy/profile-27453.html>Arundhati
Roy: Yeah. It needs the war but it needs to keep this smiling benign
mask of democracy. So, it offers talks on the one hand and undermines
it on the other.
<http://connect.in.com/karan-thapar/profile-159263.html>Karan Thapar:
But even if you accept this strange theory that the government is
Janus-faced, two-faced, why would it destroy that mask by killing
Azad? Why would it destroy itself?
<http://connect.in.com/arundhati-roy/profile-27453.html>Arundhati
Roy: Because if you look at what was happening, Azad was beginning to
sound dangerously reasonable.
<http://connect.in.com/karan-thapar/profile-159263.html>Karan Thapar: To whom?
<http://connect.in.com/arundhati-roy/profile-27453.html>Arundhati
Roy: To all of us.
<http://connect.in.com/karan-thapar/profile-159263.html>Karan Thapar:
On the basis of one interview to The Hindu, you have come to the
conclusion about Azad sounding reasonable?
<http://connect.in.com/arundhati-roy/profile-27453.html>Arundhati
Roy: Come on Karan, we all know about Azad. He has been around for
years. He has written a lot.
<http://connect.in.com/karan-thapar/profile-159263.html>Karan Thapar:
You may but people surely don't. To them, Azad is a mystery.
<http://connect.in.com/arundhati-roy/profile-27453.html>Arundhati
Roy: No, not at all. For example, the piece that he wrote in Outlook,
it was published after his death but it was sent around before.
<http://connect.in.com/karan-thapar/profile-159263.html>Karan Thapar:
But even if one accepts your theory that the government killed Azad
because he was beginning to sound and look reasonable, that would
only have made him a credible interlocutor and fit in better into
their mask. Surely, that in a sense makes it even more ridiculously
contradictory to kill him.
<http://connect.in.com/arundhati-roy/profile-27453.html>Arundhati
Roy: Why would it be. Let's say there are two sides at war, there are
more than two but everyone wants to make it binary so, for the sake
of argument, accept it. When one side sends an envoy and the other
side kills them, what does it mean? That one side does not want
peace. That's what it means. That's a reasonable assumption.
<http://connect.in.com/karan-thapar/profile-159263.html>Karan Thapar:
So this is a duplicitous government?
<http://connect.in.com/arundhati-roy/profile-27453.html>Arundhati
Roy: Absolutely.
<http://connect.in.com/karan-thapar/profile-159263.html>Karan Thapar:
In which case, let me come to the critical issue which I want to
discuss. What are the prospects of talks? The government has
repeatedly said that it would be willing to talk provided the
<http://connect.in.com/maoist/profile-1876057.html>Maoists abjure
violence, not even asking the
<http://connect.in.com/maoist/profile-1876057.html>Maoists to lay
down arms, and many people believe that that's a reasonable and
perhaps, even a generous offer. How do you view the government's
position on talks?
<http://connect.in.com/arundhati-roy/profile-27453.html>Arundhati
Roy: I think that if you were to go down to those forests and see
what's going on, when you have these two hundred thousand
paramilitaries patrolling the tribal villages, the cordon and search
operations are on, the killings are on, the siege is on, what do you
mean to abjure violence? If you say that there should be a ceasefire,
mutual ceasefire, which is I think the most reasonable thing, then we
can be talking. But if you say you should abjure violence, what does that mean?
<http://connect.in.com/karan-thapar/profile-159263.html>Karan Thapar:
So one sided abjuring of violence is not what you think will be
acceptable, but a mutual ceasefire on both sides?
<http://connect.in.com/arundhati-roy/profile-27453.html>Arundhati
Roy: I think it's absolutely urgent that there should be a ceasefire
on both sides.
<http://connect.in.com/karan-thapar/profile-159263.html>Karan Thapar:
Simultaneous?
<http://connect.in.com/arundhati-roy/profile-27453.html>Arundhati
Roy: Yes. The government reports have said that these MoUs should be
re-examined. Chidambaram himself promised in an interview that he
would freeze them. Why doesn't he do that?
<http://connect.in.com/karan-thapar/profile-159263.html>Karan Thapar:
He is probably waiting for a sign from the
<http://connect.in.com/maoist/profile-1876057.html>Maoists that they
will respond. He doesn't want to do it unilaterally.
<http://connect.in.com/arundhati-roy/profile-27453.html>Arundhati
Roy: They responded in writing now; Azad responded in writing.
<http://connect.in.com/karan-thapar/profile-159263.html>Karan Thapar:
Azad is no more. Let me put this to you. You are beginning to suggest
in this interview steps, which if they were taken simultaneously by
both sides, will actually in some way facilitate talks. Would you be
prepared, since you know the
<http://connect.in.com/maoist/profile-1876057.html>Maoists and
trusted by the
<http://connect.in.com/maoist/profile-1876057.html>Maoists, to act as
a mediator?
<http://connect.in.com/arundhati-roy/profile-27453.html>Arundhati
Roy: Look, if you studied the peace-talks process in Andhra, you see
that this business of picking one person and announcing it on the
media, both sides have done it. Chidambaram has picked arbitrarily
<http://connect.in.com/swami-agnivesh/profile-263789.html>Swami
Agnivesh. <http://connect.in.com/maoist/profile-1876057.html>Maoists
arbitrarily announced on the radio that we want this one or that one.
That's not how it works. In Andhra, it took almost a year for this
committee of citizens to form themselves as responsible people. It
should not be one person.
<http://connect.in.com/karan-thapar/profile-159263.html>Karan Thapar:
<http://connect.in.com/swami-agnivesh/profile-263789.html>Swami
Agnivesh, who you say was arbitrarily picked, almost succeeded in
bringing Azad to some talking point, except for the fact that as you
say, he was killed. But he almost succeeded. So I come back, since
you are trusted by the
<http://connect.in.com/maoist/profile-1876057.html>Maoists and since
you speak a language, that at least in English, the government can
understand, would you be prepared to act as a mediator?
<http://connect.in.com/arundhati-roy/profile-27453.html>Arundhati
Roy: Look Karan, I don't think it should be one person. I think there
should be a group of people who are used to taking decisions collectively.
<http://connect.in.com/karan-thapar/profile-159263.html>Karan Thapar:
Will a committee?
<http://connect.in.com/arundhati-roy/profile-27453.html>Arundhati
Roy: Absolutely. That's what happened in Andhra. There was a
committee of persons.
<http://connect.in.com/karan-thapar/profile-159263.html>Karan Thapar:
Isn't that a mess?
<http://connect.in.com/arundhati-roy/profile-27453.html>Arundhati
Roy: No, it is absolutely vital.
<http://connect.in.com/karan-thapar/profile-159263.html>Karan Thapar:
Would you be a part of it?
<http://connect.in.com/arundhati-roy/profile-27453.html>Arundhati
Roy: I don't think I am good at it. I am a maverick.
<http://connect.in.com/karan-thapar/profile-159263.html>Karan Thapar:
Would you be prepared to be one of that committee?
<http://connect.in.com/arundhati-roy/profile-27453.html>Arundhati
Roy: Not really. I would not like to be because I don't think I have
those skills. But I think there are people who would be very good at it.
<http://connect.in.com/karan-thapar/profile-159263.html>Karan Thapar:
In June, writing in The Hindu, Justice Krishna Aiyar publicly called
on the <http://connect.in.com/maoist/profile-1876057.html>Maoists to
unconditionally come forward for talks. Would you make a similar statement?
<http://connect.in.com/arundhati-roy/profile-27453.html>Arundhati
Roy: No. Not when there are two hundred thousand paramilitary forces
closing in on the villages. I say unconditionally both sides should
say there should be a ceasefire. Then you can see.
<http://connect.in.com/karan-thapar/profile-159263.html>Karan Thapar:
But you are not prepared to facilitate that being a mediator or, even
part of the committee.
<http://connect.in.com/arundhati-roy/profile-27453.html>Arundhati
Roy: I'll try.
<http://connect.in.com/karan-thapar/profile-159263.html>Karan Thapar:
Try! So suddenly you are changing your position.
<http://connect.in.com/arundhati-roy/profile-27453.html>Arundhati
Roy: I don't know how to think about this.
<http://connect.in.com/karan-thapar/profile-159263.html>Karan Thapar:
If pushed and persuaded, you could accept.
<http://connect.in.com/arundhati-roy/profile-27453.html>Arundhati
Roy: Look, you talk to me like you talk to politicians - will you
stand for elections?
<http://connect.in.com/karan-thapar/profile-159263.html>Karan Thapar:
No, I am simply trying to get you to give me a clear answer. What I
sense is that you are tempted but you are uncertain.
<http://connect.in.com/arundhati-roy/profile-27453.html>Arundhati
Roy: I feel that all of us should do what we can but certainly, I
don't feel that I'll be very good at it. But, I think there should be
a committee of people with experience in negotiating, with
experienced people like BD Sharma, who has such a long experience.
<http://connect.in.com/karan-thapar/profile-159263.html>Karan Thapar:
Let's come to a different issue. The government, particularly the
home minister, often look upon people who are sympathetic to
<http://connect.in.com/maoist/profile-1876057.html>Maoists' cause as
collaborators, sections of the press even call them traitors. Number
one in that category is bound to be
<http://connect.in.com/arundhati-roy/profile-27453.html>Arundhati
Roy. How do you respond to such branding?
<http://connect.in.com/arundhati-roy/profile-27453.html>Arundhati
Roy: Well, this is an old game.
<http://connect.in.com/karan-thapar/profile-159263.html>Karan Thapar:
But it continues forcefully every time.
<http://connect.in.com/arundhati-roy/profile-27453.html>Arundhati
Roy: I think the reason they were also unnerved, the government as
well as most of the press, which is clearly on one side in this, is
that from being people who are marooned in the jungle in one sense,
when operation Green Hunt happened, a number of activists, a number
of intellectuals came forward and said look, it is not acceptable to
us. And that undermined the position of this open and shut case that
was going on all this time.
<http://connect.in.com/karan-thapar/profile-159263.html>Karan Thapar:
So the certainty of the government's position was weakened and
undermined by the intellectuals who supported the government which is
why the government branded them collaborators?
<http://connect.in.com/arundhati-roy/profile-27453.html>Arundhati
Roy: Again you are saying the
<http://connect.in.com/maoist/profile-1876057.html>Maoists.
<http://connect.in.com/karan-thapar/profile-159263.html>Karan Thapar:
But that's why the government called them collaborators?
<http://connect.in.com/arundhati-roy/profile-27453.html>Arundhati
Roy: What has happened is that the government has expanded the
definition of
<http://connect.in.com/maoist/profile-1876057.html>Maoists to mean
everyone who is disagreeing with it. What people like myself have
done is to complicate the scenario. Say it's not that simple. Of
course it doesn't upset me because I like to say what I think very
clearly. I am not worried about being called names.
<http://connect.in.com/karan-thapar/profile-159263.html>Karan Thapar:
And in a sense the government calling you a collaborator is proof
that you actually made the government uncomfortable.
<http://connect.in.com/arundhati-roy/profile-27453.html>Arundhati
Roy: I am proud if I made the government uncomfortable because it
should be bloody uncomfortable with what it's doing.
<http://connect.in.com/karan-thapar/profile-159263.html>Karan Thapar:
A pleasure talking to you.
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