TOWARDS A GRAMSCIAN NEO-MARXIST ANALYSIS OF THE AFSPA IN INDIA’S NORTH EAST

This paper attempts an analysis of the contentious Armed Forces Special Powers Act, 1958 by drawing upon the theoretical insights of the Italian Marxist, Antonio Gramsci with special reference to his theory of ‘Ideological Hegemony'. A NeoMarxist interpretation of the difficult relations that have defined most of the history of northeast India's interactions with the Indian Union has been attempted. It is argued that the imposition and persistence of the AFSPA has been a product of the Indian State's failure to establish its ideological hegemony over the northeast. While there is ample evidence to substantiate this Gramscian interpretation of AFSPA's persistence in northeast India, yet the study found a peculiar empirical discord with Gramsci's theory emerging from recent verdicts of the Supreme Court that fail to support the interpretation that even the Courts are part of the ‘Structures of Coercion' that are meant to establish the rule of dominant classes by force rather than through consent