So is it an attempt to stop the User activated fork getting traction ?
yes, because the period from august 2017 to november 2017 is the enforced period for Segwit ... not the LOCK period.
https://github.com/bitcoin/bips/blob/master/bip-0148.mediawikiso Segwit2Mb is a trap.
they want introduce the 2Mb before SegWit LOCK.
Who cares the order.
1mb is killing the coin and unlimited would open new exploit possibilities no one imagined.
So 2mb it is , with or without segwit(sooner or later).