Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma recently announced that the State’s “original inhabitants and indigenous communities” can get licences to buy firearms to protect themselves in the face of insecurity over infiltration and life threats in areas bordering Bangladesh where government presence is minimal. The Opposition has pointed out that the decision would show the security infrastructure along the international border in a poor light and even give a fillip to gun culture. In communally sensitive Assam, where Assembly elections are due early next year, the announcement has sparked a debate.
The policy raises some eyebrows. The government did not say if it had first considered strengthening border forces before announcing the policy. Protecting people’s lives is a core function of the State, and the policy could be misinterpreted as ineffective governance and policing in the border areas. Secondly, vetting licence seekers to exclude the unoriginal and the non-indigenous could fuel fresh confusion in Assam amid official attempts to weed out illegal Bangladeshi immigrants. Thirdly, the stringent police verification process for granting licences to “genuine” citizens could raise allegations of discrimination. Fourthly, many people in these areas still struggle to access basic amenities, and it’s unrealistic to expect them to afford an expensive firearm, undergo training, and acquire the cognitive skills necessary to understand the rules of self-defence. The well-off among them would easily bear arms, even creating an “armed elite” within society.
It’s not the first time a state in India is arming its citizens. The government trained civilians as Village Defence Guards in J&K. The scheme was disbanded after a scandal involving licence and firearm misuse. Punjab once trained civilians as Special Police Officers. Chhattisgarh gave firearms to tribal youth, forming a vigilante group, Salwa Judum, in 2006 to combat the Naxal insurgency. The Supreme Court declared it unconstitutional after mass recovery of illegal firearms and human rights violations. The Court’s verdict observed: “The creation of such a miasmic environment of dehumanisation of youngsters of the deprived segments of our population, in which guns are given to them rather than books, to stand as guards for the rapine, plunder and loot in our forests, would be to lay the road to national destruction.” The spirit behind the apex court’s pronouncement is applicable in Assam’s case as well.