Peace and tranquility of Lakshadweep, a tropical archipelago of 36 atolls and coral reefs in the Arabian Sea off the Kerala coast, have been deteriorating with the assumption of office as Administrator of the Union Territory by Praful Khoda Patel on 2 December 2020. He was formerly Minister of State for Home in Gujarat. Insouciance of Patel can only be described as a full-scale assault on the overwhelmingly Muslim population of the archipelago.

Alarming is his suspension of Covid-19 protocols which has resulted in more than 6,600 confirmed cases in the islands where none existed earlier. Taking advantage of the worsening Covid situation, he has pushed through a series of controversial regulations. If the draft Lakshadweep Animal Preservation Regulation Bill, 2021, put out by Patel for public response in February becomes law, slaughtering of any animal would become very difficult.

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The regulation mandates fitness certificates of animals to be slaughtered. Section 5(2) of the draft regulation says no such certification will be given if the animal is a cow, a calf, a bull or a bullock. Apart from that, an animal useful for agricultural operations, breeding or giving milk or bearing offspring will be denied certification.

Section 8 states “no person shall directly or indirectly sell, keep, store, transport, offer or expose for sell or buy beef or beef products in any form.” Vehicles transporting beef are liable to be confiscated. Non-vegetarian food has been removed from mid-day meals in schools. The ethnic community of this unique land numbering about 66,000, spread over an area of 22 sq km, had withstood the vagaries of ocean and weather without let or hindrance thus far.

Patel’s controversial Draft Lakshadweep Development Authority Regulation, 2021, allows the Administrator authority to forcibly remove or relocate residents from their property for developmental activity. The document said development would include “carrying out of building, engineering, mining, quarrying or other operations in, on, over or under land, the cutting of a hill or any portion thereof or the making of any material change in any building or land or in the use of any building including subdivision of any land.”

The administration has already razed huts erected by fishermen on the beach citing violation of the Coastal Regulation Zone rules and the Coast Guard Act. International hoteliers are eyeing the cleared beaches of Lakshadweep. The so-called development is a serious threat to the fragile ecosystem of Lakshadweep.

In an attempt to intimidate the miniscule population, a draft preventive detention law has been introduced. The policy changes proposed unilaterally and arbitrarily have given no consideration to matters like land ownership and use, ocean-resource utilisation and livelihood practices of the community.

The culture and traditions of the people had been violated by intervention in their food habits like banning of beef and opening of liquor shops. The BJP spokesman in charge of Lakshadweep says the “reforms” proposed by Administrator Patel are only for the benefit of the islanders, but the people of the island do not want any of it and have sought the help of the President of India and the Governor of Kerala to get Patel recalled.