Bull's Eye

The Veerappan affair exposes the sickness in Indian society. Veerappan is not the causeof the sickness. He is its ugly symptom.

For decades he smuggled thousands of crores worth sandalwood and ivory. He murdered 150victims. He then kidnapped film icon Rajkumar. He made political demands for his release.The reactions to the kidnapping were extraordinary.

To placate him, two state governments cooperated and the judiciary concurred byreleasing 51 tada detainees. Film stars offered to visit his jungle hideout and tie rakhison his wrist. Schools and colleges were closed. Tamils and Kannadigas flexed their musclesfor riots. Human rights activists argued that to maintain peace his demands be met.

To understand the event's significance, one must recapitulate the salient facts.Collated, they make a sinister picture.

A.S. Panneerselvan reported in this magazine how Veerappan graduated to radicalpolitics courtesy a Naxalite outfit, the Tamil National Liberation Army. Gopal, editor ofNakkheeran, mediating with Veerappan, described Veerappan's transformation fromcarefree bandit to hard-nosed politico.

The environment journal, Down To Earth, reported how smuggling profits decreaseddrastically because sandalwood stocks depleted. It explained how Veerappan won the loyaltyof local villagers by combining coercion with the sharing of loot. How the smugglingimplied a long-standing nexus between political establishments and Veerappan.

Veerappan was nabbed but escaped when Ramakrishna Hegde was Karnataka chief minister.Explaining the lapse on TV, Hegde looked like a wet cat. Police were busy guarding foreignvips during a saarc conference, he mumbled.

Siddharth Mishra traced in The Pioneer the smuggling route from Karnataka throughBihar, Bengal and the northeast, ending in Myanmar. How different insurgency groups alongthe trail protected the smugglers in return for money, drugs and arms. Bihar dgp Jacobsaid on TV that foreign interests could be coordinating the terrorist groups.

After Veerappan's move, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka are further divided. Till now,Tamil Nadu had an anti-Brahmin movement. Now it will experience full-fledgedmandalisation. Caste rivalries will lead to fights among the backward castes themselves.Thus, while the Kashmir peace process is being disrupted in the north, a potentialsecessionist movement to ruin India's cyber economy is erupting in the south.

The National Security Council is busy with ctbt. Will it spare a thought for CorruptionThat Balkanises Territory - the other ctbt?