A human rights
organization
Press Release
August 28
2012
Northeast India in Crisis!!
Denial of rights of Indigenous
Peoples in
Northeast India is the root cause behind the recent violent clashes and has led
to fundamental disunity
The influx of
illegal immigrants, which has led building tension, has either been ignored, denied and/or orchestrated by
the responsible local and national Governments. These authorities are accountable for
the creation of conflicts which led to disaster.
"We have nothing against anybody's religion but we cannot
tolerate illegal settlers who are encroaching on our land and resources," said
Joel Kath of the Naga Council, whose group has said it will identify the
"illegal Bangladeshis" and push them out of Nagaland.
Before but certainly after the clashes
between the Boros of Assam and illegal immigrants people of the Northeast in
mainland India were threatened and became targeted; as a result thousands fled
cities like Pune and Bangalore. Indians of the Northeast who work and travel has
became dangerous strangers. In their homeland they are treated like third class
citizens; they loose their land to newcomers from other states of
India and to immigrants from
neighboring countries: Nepal ,
Burma and
Bangladesh .
Marginalized for decades Indigenous Peoples like the
Boros, Garos, Khasis, Nagas and many others do not tolerate this abuse any
longer; they stand up to demand eviction of encroachers regardless of where they
came from; they hold all those in power
accountable.
The
Naga
International
Support
Center appeals to the Government of India
to recognize and uphold the rights of Indigenous Peoples
of the Northeast
to do justice
to the Peoples of the Northeast in accordance to the laws of the land.
To instruct the 7 State Governments to do justice to the Indigenous
Peoples .
To protect its Indigenous people in the Northeast and in mainland, India.
To finally stop and manage encroachment of outsiders on Indigenous
peoples lands.
To
defuse the tension and to address.
North East students’
Organization calls for 12-hr Northeast bandh Sept 6 Nagaland Post
DIMAPUR In view of the Northeast exodus and the
“atrocities and intimidations” on the Northeast people staying outside the
region, North East students’ organization (NESO) executive council Thursday held
an emergency meeting at Guwahati and adopted a 11-point resolution.
Among the 11-point resolution, NESO as a sign of resentment and to strengthen the demand for the “immediate detection and deportation of all illegal immigrants from NE, including arrests of those who have gone missing”, resolved to call for a 12-hour bandh in all the Northeast states and to hold a public rally at Guwahati.
In a statement, NESO chairman, Dr. Samujjal Bhattacharya, spl. coordinator NSN Lotha and secretary general Gumjum Haider said NESO has demanded Centre to immediately arrest/deport all foreign nationals, particularly from Bangladesh, who had entered India with valid travel documents and have gone missing, “within a stipulated time”.
Acknowledging the efforts and concern shown by various state governments and government of India ; the house also unanimously condemned the “atrocities and intimidation meted out to the people from the Northeast”.
Government representatives from the Karnataka, Maharashtra , Andhra Pradesh and all NE states including NE MP’s Forum would be invited to attend the public rally, NESO stated.
The house further decided to continue its appeal to Centre and all concerned states “for protection and preventive safety measures by setting up separate nodal agency for the NE people living outside the region”.
NESO warned that “in the name of security and protection, no NE people should be harassed or abnormal restriction be imposed” and further decided to “demand for special safeguards for those living outside the region through an act of parliament”.
The house also decided to form NE students’/peoples’ coordination committee in all the cities where NE people reside, to ensure proper coordination, information sharing and for preventive safety measures against any eventualities.
The meeting resolved to urge all the concern Northeast state governments to facilitate for early reinstatement of those employees and students who had come back home.
It also agreed to demand for arrangement of special trains to take back students and employees to their respective destinations “free of costs”.
NESO said that “unabated influx of illegal immigrants has resulted in posing severe threat to the identity and existence of the people of NE. The ongoing assault and intimidation is a result of instigation by illegal immigrants and coming from Bangladesh and other fundamentalist groups”.
In this regard, NESO resolved to strengthen all efforts and demands for the early detection and deportation of all the illegal immigrants from NE states.
Urging all NE state chief ministers to immediately convene a meeting to work out coordinated policy to respond to the threats of illegal immigrants in NE; NESO appealed Centre to take the initiatives and fructify the meeting of the chief ministers.
The meeting also resolved to demand that the rehabilitation measures to be undertaken for victims of Kokrajar, Chirang and Dhuburi be given only to indigenous people of the said areas.
NSF backs 12-hour bandh
NSF has called for a 12-hour total bandh from 5 a.m. to 5 p.m. September 6 in all the Naga inhabited areas to express its resentment on the “threats, humiliation, mental and physical harassment and atrocities” being meted to people hailing from the Northeast in the different parts of India .
The federation also decided to visit Kokrajhar and Dhubri district under Assam to express solidarity to the affected people in the violence. The bandh has also been called to demand the immediate establishment of engineering and medical colleges in Nagaland.
The decision was taken after a joint consultative meeting with senior leaders, federal units and subordinate units on the ongoing Naga political talks at Japfü Hotel, Kohima Friday, said a statement issued by NSF president Kelhouneizo Yhome and general secretary N. Ejanthung Ngullie.
On modalities for oil, natural resource extraction: NSF recommended setting up of an expert committee to study and review on the proposed modalities submitted by Grant Thornton Advisory Pvt. Ltd. which was distributed by Cabinet Sub-Cabinet on PNG (CSC on PNG) and the draft modality submitted by Kyong Hoho to the sub-committee.
It said the NSF would submit its recommendation to the state government after necessary approvals. NSF said it would pursue with the state government for re-amendment of the Act under section 65 of Nagaland ownership and transfer of land and its resources 1990.
NSF to support for ‘honourable’ solution: NSF Friday reiterated its stand to play a supportive role towards bringing an “honourable, acceptable and workable settlement” for the entire Nagas not compromising with its motto “For unified Lim and glory of Nagas.”
Among the 11-point resolution, NESO as a sign of resentment and to strengthen the demand for the “immediate detection and deportation of all illegal immigrants from NE, including arrests of those who have gone missing”, resolved to call for a 12-hour bandh in all the Northeast states and to hold a public rally at Guwahati.
In a statement, NESO chairman, Dr. Samujjal Bhattacharya, spl. coordinator NSN Lotha and secretary general Gumjum Haider said NESO has demanded Centre to immediately arrest/deport all foreign nationals, particularly from Bangladesh, who had entered India with valid travel documents and have gone missing, “within a stipulated time”.
Acknowledging the efforts and concern shown by various state governments and government of India ; the house also unanimously condemned the “atrocities and intimidation meted out to the people from the Northeast”.
Government representatives from the Karnataka, Maharashtra , Andhra Pradesh and all NE states including NE MP’s Forum would be invited to attend the public rally, NESO stated.
The house further decided to continue its appeal to Centre and all concerned states “for protection and preventive safety measures by setting up separate nodal agency for the NE people living outside the region”.
NESO warned that “in the name of security and protection, no NE people should be harassed or abnormal restriction be imposed” and further decided to “demand for special safeguards for those living outside the region through an act of parliament”.
The house also decided to form NE students’/peoples’ coordination committee in all the cities where NE people reside, to ensure proper coordination, information sharing and for preventive safety measures against any eventualities.
The meeting resolved to urge all the concern Northeast state governments to facilitate for early reinstatement of those employees and students who had come back home.
It also agreed to demand for arrangement of special trains to take back students and employees to their respective destinations “free of costs”.
NESO said that “unabated influx of illegal immigrants has resulted in posing severe threat to the identity and existence of the people of NE. The ongoing assault and intimidation is a result of instigation by illegal immigrants and coming from Bangladesh and other fundamentalist groups”.
In this regard, NESO resolved to strengthen all efforts and demands for the early detection and deportation of all the illegal immigrants from NE states.
Urging all NE state chief ministers to immediately convene a meeting to work out coordinated policy to respond to the threats of illegal immigrants in NE; NESO appealed Centre to take the initiatives and fructify the meeting of the chief ministers.
The meeting also resolved to demand that the rehabilitation measures to be undertaken for victims of Kokrajar, Chirang and Dhuburi be given only to indigenous people of the said areas.
NSF backs 12-hour bandh
NSF has called for a 12-hour total bandh from 5 a.m. to 5 p.m. September 6 in all the Naga inhabited areas to express its resentment on the “threats, humiliation, mental and physical harassment and atrocities” being meted to people hailing from the Northeast in the different parts of India .
The federation also decided to visit Kokrajhar and Dhubri district under Assam to express solidarity to the affected people in the violence. The bandh has also been called to demand the immediate establishment of engineering and medical colleges in Nagaland.
The decision was taken after a joint consultative meeting with senior leaders, federal units and subordinate units on the ongoing Naga political talks at Japfü Hotel, Kohima Friday, said a statement issued by NSF president Kelhouneizo Yhome and general secretary N. Ejanthung Ngullie.
On modalities for oil, natural resource extraction: NSF recommended setting up of an expert committee to study and review on the proposed modalities submitted by Grant Thornton Advisory Pvt. Ltd. which was distributed by Cabinet Sub-Cabinet on PNG (CSC on PNG) and the draft modality submitted by Kyong Hoho to the sub-committee.
It said the NSF would submit its recommendation to the state government after necessary approvals. NSF said it would pursue with the state government for re-amendment of the Act under section 65 of Nagaland ownership and transfer of land and its resources 1990.
NSF to support for ‘honourable’ solution: NSF Friday reiterated its stand to play a supportive role towards bringing an “honourable, acceptable and workable settlement” for the entire Nagas not compromising with its motto “For unified Lim and glory of Nagas.”
India's north-eastern Naga groups in 'evict Muslims' call
Tribal groups in
India 's
north-eastern Nagaland state have said they will evict Muslim Bangladeshi
migrants "illegally settled on our lands". Tensions have been rising in the
north-east following clashes between indigenous Bodos and Muslims in
neighbouring
Assam state in July. Thousands of people from the north-east have also fled
many Indian cities after threats of revenge attacks by Muslims. Over the years,
the Bengali Muslim population in Nagaland has grown.
'Dire consequences'
"We have nothing
against anybody's religion but we cannot tolerate illegal settlers who are
encroaching on our land and resources," said Joel Kath of the Naga Council,
whose group has said it will identify the "illegal Bangladeshis" and push them
out of Nagaland.
Nagaland's Chief
Secretary Pu Lalthara warned the Naga Council of "dire consequences" if they
took the law into their own hands as it is the government's job to deal with
anyone who is in the state illegally. But the Naga Council has now got support
from two other powerful local groups, the Naga Hoho and the Naga Students
Federation (NSF). Correspondents
say tension is running high in Dimapur, Nagaland's commercial hub and Muslims
who are mostly small traders and wage-earning labourers, are staying indoors
fearing assault. Since mid-July,
more than 80 people have died in clashes between Bodo tribespeople and Muslims
of Bengali origin in
Assam . More than a half-a-million people have
been displaced from their homes and are now living in more than 300 makeshift
camps. The situation in the north-east has been exacerbated when thousands
hailing from these states had to flee from
Bangalore and other Indian cities in the last
two weeks after messages threatening violence against them were circulated
through mobile networks and the social media.
National
Interest: We the Ignorant
sg@expressindia.com By Shekhar Gupta (Editor in chief Indian Express)
A venerable old teacher in my journalism school taught us
the “three example rule”. So here are the three I picked up over the past week
as
India ’s “northeast” hit the headlines
for reasons happy and sad.
The first two came as Hindi cinema responded joyfully to Manipuri boxer Mary Kom’s success. No surprise that Shahid Kapoor, while hailing her as India’s “million dollar baby” called her “Maricom” as if she was some latest internet-mobile phone product rhyming with telecom he is endorsing, and kept the twitterati amused and indignant for a day. Then someone much older, enormously better read and cerebral, Amitabh Bachchan, said she hailed from Assam , only to correct it later. And finally, a little exchange I had with a genuinely well-meaning former civil servant (with long and distinguished service in the Northeast) on a TV show on whether Mary Kom’s success would change our perceptions of the Northeast. He wasn’t happy that so many boys and girls from the Northeast, now spreading all over India , were mostly working in our service industries, from restaurants to airlines, to hospitals. Why aren’t they doing more important jobs?
Each one underlines to us some aspect of the ignorance, insensitivity and patronising “mainstream” attitudes that we retain about the Northeast. You can understand Shahid Kapoor not being able to spell his favourite boxer’s name. He probably has no time to read the sports pages in the newspapers, or go beyond the glamour supplements. Mary Kom, I’d suspect, can spell better than him, and definitely can teach him a real thing or two about boxing. But Senior Bachchan? You can understand someone of an older generation (including mine) confusing a Naga, Mizo, Khasi or Garo for being an Assamese — Nagaland, Mizoram and Meghalaya were districts in old Assam . But Manipur?
It is one of the oldest and most distinct states in India and has never been part of any other state. Its demographics can, however, be confusing. Its largest and most distinct ethnic group are the Meiteis of the plains, most of whom are Vaishnavite Hindus and non-tribal. They have given us many stars in weightlifting (Kunjarani Devi), boxing (Dingko Singh, Suranjoy Singh, Devendro Singh), archery (Bombayla Devi) and, not to forget, hockey (Thoiba Singh). Manipur’s hills are inhabited by diverse tribes and many of the conflicts that arise there, including the recent blockades, are because of inter-tribal tensions, compounded by lousy and corrupt governance. Even when I first went to Imphal as a reporter in January 1981, the state was often described as “Moneypour” for its leaky and corrupt government, large sections of which were hand-in-glove with one or the other of its many insurgent groups. Our northeastern state’s demographics can fox anybody. For every tribe that inhabits Manipur’s hills, Nagas, Mizos, Kukis and, of course, Mary Kom’s Kom (a microscopic tribe of just over 20,000), for example, a larger number live in a neighbouring state or Myanmar . So you can understand the senior AB getting mixed up. The most important of the three, however, was the civil servant’s response — and not because it was lacking in empathy. Both in his lament that young northeasterners were coming to the mainland and finding jobs only (or mainly) in the services sector, and that more effort was needed to “integrate” the Northeast with the rest of India, he highlighted the fact that the establishment elite’s view of that region has not essentially changed in the last many decades. It is still a distant and estranged region that needs to be somehow brought into the fold, “Indianised”. That stars like Mary Kom would help “us” and “them” in that endeavour. And further, that, it can only change if somehow, people from that region, particularly those with distinctive northeastern features and therefore subjected to truly unfortunate and now criminally illegal racial taunts in our big cities (mainly Delhi ), move into workplaces “more important” than the ones they are currently visible at. It betrays, equally, a lack of understanding of economic mobility — people move into jobs and professions for which they have distinctive skill advantage. And also the added strength of work ethic, dignity of labour and casteless, classless social equality that our tribal societies mostly — and thankfully — still retain. I had my first exposure to this wonderful non-hierarchical view of life in my early travels to the Northeast when I found, to my total surprise, drivers, peons, police escorts all sitting down with the minister and his guests to eat at roadside dhabas. And then, at the Aizawl secretariat, a post-lunch table tennis game between my old friend Fanai Malsawma, then education minister, and his driver. As the driver thrashed Malsawma, he continued to remind him of how slow, lazy and leaden-footed he had become since he was made a minister. And others, mostly drivers and junior employees, sniggered and applauded. Show me a driver in the mainland who will thrash his minister at any game. Or, a minister who will take it in his stride.
It is because of this remarkable tribal approach to life, casteless egalitarianism, dignity of labour, that tens of thousands of our minutest minorities have discovered how indispensable they are to the booming services sector in our big cities. And they bring some of the most remarkably unique talents, besides, indeed, boxing, archery and weightlifting. A majority of singers and musicians at our restaurants and bars, even at Rashtrapati Bhavan at the banquet for Barack Obama, are boys and girls from the Northeast. You cannot go to a restaurant, bar, or spa, fly on an airplane or be laid up at a hospital without finding someone from the Northeast performing a key function. Should we look down on them patronisingly? Can we even afford to? Go ask the owners of these businesses, even security companies, who are now running around the platforms of Bangalore’s railway station, pleading with their northeastern employees not to flee. These terrified young people represent the first generation of our northeastern compatriots to venture out, seeking a living and dignity in the mainland. We owe it to them — and to ourselves — to make them feel wanted, respected and secure.
Most of us do not even know how tiny these minorities are. There are just over a million and a half Nagas, less than a million of Mizos and all the tribes in Manipur do not add up to a million (7.4 lakh in the 2001 census). Add to that a million each of Khasis and Garos. Arunachal Pradesh has just about a million tribals. And the Bodos, much in the news for the wrong reasons lately? Just about 15 lakh, scattered over several districts of mostly lower and middle Assam .
Their rising presence and indispensability to our cities speak of their brilliant talent which, in turn, is only matched by our ignorance about them. That ignorance is responsible for our lack of respect for our most distant countrymen, as well as our failure to understand what makes them angry. The latest and the saddest example is our lazy view of the Bodo violence through the prism of our mainland’s communal/ electoral politics. Identity, ethnicity, livelihood and survival in the Northeast, including Assam , are very complex issues, fuelled by native peculiarities rather than our classical Hindu-Muslim paradigm. Most Bodos are not even traditional Hindus. Many follow their own indigenous faith, and a sizeable number are now Christian. They are not attacking these settlers because they are Muslim. Nor were the Lalungs, or Tiwas as they are known today (it will be a stretch even now to describe them as Hindus), who killed more than 3,000 in four hours in Nellie in February 1983. It just so happens that the settlers (who the tribes see as alien infiltrators) are Muslim, and Bengali-speaking. But it is better to leave such grave and complex misconceptions about our northeastern citizens for another day. For now, we are struggling to spell their names right, to even figure out where they are coming from. Thirty-one years back, when Arun Shourie sent me to the Northeast as this newspaper’s correspondent, the cashier had earnestly asked me in which currency he should be sending my salary. Events of the past 10 days would tell you that we haven’t changed very much since.
Home is hardly the best By Dolly Kikon, The Hindu
“We are going home,” anxious workers and students from northeast India said to television cameras and mediapersons at crowded train stations in Bangalore, Pune, Mumbai, Chennai and Hyderabad. The exodus, from metropolitan cities across India , has brought up issues about the dangers of social media, how rumours create turmoil and panic, and the continuous discussions about “giving confidence” to the people from the northeast.
Political parties and administrators underlined the ideals of citizenship, equality, and security to remind those packing their bags to reconsider their decision. But the exodus reveals how people are often weary of citizenship ideals and do not trust the state with their lives. The moral of the story: there are multiple visions of Indian citizenship, and the state’s promises to protect and secure citizens have remained an illusion for the majority of the people who are often swept under the grand narrative of citizenship and equality. Perhaps it was the objective thing to board the trains and go back to the northeast for several thousand workers and students — objectivity here understood as the ability to experience the world through one’s specific embodiment and situated knowledge. The photographic images of northeast India as a land of festivals, dances, and culture are mythical visions of a political landscape where the state has a terrible record of governance and has not taken responsibility for the existing militarisation of the region.
Northeast India has increasingly become the alluring and charming face of the diversity of modern India , but a closer look reveals the paradox of how it has produced discrimination and racism at the same time. The majority of those who left for northeast India are, along with other similar migrants, the invisible face of global India: cooks in ethnic restaurants that can whip up cuisine from every corner of country, security guards who protect ATM machines, corporate offices, or industries that push India as a global power, drivers who chauffeur cosmopolitan citizens and corporate executives, or waiters who wear ethnic costumes so that customers can absorb the aura of India. The exodus of these workers from Indian cities reveals their insecurities about being “confident citizens,” and their position as vulnerable workers with minimum rights in global India .
A majority of those who left told reporters they were going back “home” as they boarded overcrowded trains. Invoking home means several things that range from one’s home country to the intimate personal places of security. But the “home” in northeast India they return to, seeking protection and security, has never been a safe place. It is a region poisoned with extra constitutional laws like the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (1958) that has spawned a cosmology that thrives on the by-product of violence, bloodshed and disorder.
Displacement and introspection
This was not the first time — and unfortunately, it will not be the last — India has witnessed an exodus of ethnic and religious groups within the country. The internal displacement of thousands is a yearly occurrence in the region. These events should make us realise that the tapestry of Indian citizenship is woven from the lived realities of its citizens, who inhabit the intimate spaces of servants quarters, security booths, and factory lines, and not only by the poster boys of political parties and the liberals wearing starched cotton outfits who sit and spin the ideals of good citizenship and human rights.
The increasing exhortation to northeasterners to become “confident citizens” is like asking a chained person to run a marathon. Repressive laws, legal impunity to state agents, and the armed conflict have produced a particular image of the state that is bereft of rights and guarantees. Generally, notions of rights, as enshrined within constitutional provisions or international instruments correspond with some forms of justice mechanisms. The citizens from northeast India , including those thousands who left the beautiful cosmopolitan cities overnight, have long erased from their minds the illusion that all Indian citizens are equal before the law and are therefore guaranteed equal rights. Instead, they seek to understand how such inequalities have been sustained, validated and legitimised by the Indian state for more than half a century.
(Dolly Kikon is a doctoral candidate at the Department of Anthropology, Stanford University .)
The first two came as Hindi cinema responded joyfully to Manipuri boxer Mary Kom’s success. No surprise that Shahid Kapoor, while hailing her as India’s “million dollar baby” called her “Maricom” as if she was some latest internet-mobile phone product rhyming with telecom he is endorsing, and kept the twitterati amused and indignant for a day. Then someone much older, enormously better read and cerebral, Amitabh Bachchan, said she hailed from Assam , only to correct it later. And finally, a little exchange I had with a genuinely well-meaning former civil servant (with long and distinguished service in the Northeast) on a TV show on whether Mary Kom’s success would change our perceptions of the Northeast. He wasn’t happy that so many boys and girls from the Northeast, now spreading all over India , were mostly working in our service industries, from restaurants to airlines, to hospitals. Why aren’t they doing more important jobs?
Each one underlines to us some aspect of the ignorance, insensitivity and patronising “mainstream” attitudes that we retain about the Northeast. You can understand Shahid Kapoor not being able to spell his favourite boxer’s name. He probably has no time to read the sports pages in the newspapers, or go beyond the glamour supplements. Mary Kom, I’d suspect, can spell better than him, and definitely can teach him a real thing or two about boxing. But Senior Bachchan? You can understand someone of an older generation (including mine) confusing a Naga, Mizo, Khasi or Garo for being an Assamese — Nagaland, Mizoram and Meghalaya were districts in old Assam . But Manipur?
It is one of the oldest and most distinct states in India and has never been part of any other state. Its demographics can, however, be confusing. Its largest and most distinct ethnic group are the Meiteis of the plains, most of whom are Vaishnavite Hindus and non-tribal. They have given us many stars in weightlifting (Kunjarani Devi), boxing (Dingko Singh, Suranjoy Singh, Devendro Singh), archery (Bombayla Devi) and, not to forget, hockey (Thoiba Singh). Manipur’s hills are inhabited by diverse tribes and many of the conflicts that arise there, including the recent blockades, are because of inter-tribal tensions, compounded by lousy and corrupt governance. Even when I first went to Imphal as a reporter in January 1981, the state was often described as “Moneypour” for its leaky and corrupt government, large sections of which were hand-in-glove with one or the other of its many insurgent groups. Our northeastern state’s demographics can fox anybody. For every tribe that inhabits Manipur’s hills, Nagas, Mizos, Kukis and, of course, Mary Kom’s Kom (a microscopic tribe of just over 20,000), for example, a larger number live in a neighbouring state or Myanmar . So you can understand the senior AB getting mixed up. The most important of the three, however, was the civil servant’s response — and not because it was lacking in empathy. Both in his lament that young northeasterners were coming to the mainland and finding jobs only (or mainly) in the services sector, and that more effort was needed to “integrate” the Northeast with the rest of India, he highlighted the fact that the establishment elite’s view of that region has not essentially changed in the last many decades. It is still a distant and estranged region that needs to be somehow brought into the fold, “Indianised”. That stars like Mary Kom would help “us” and “them” in that endeavour. And further, that, it can only change if somehow, people from that region, particularly those with distinctive northeastern features and therefore subjected to truly unfortunate and now criminally illegal racial taunts in our big cities (mainly Delhi ), move into workplaces “more important” than the ones they are currently visible at. It betrays, equally, a lack of understanding of economic mobility — people move into jobs and professions for which they have distinctive skill advantage. And also the added strength of work ethic, dignity of labour and casteless, classless social equality that our tribal societies mostly — and thankfully — still retain. I had my first exposure to this wonderful non-hierarchical view of life in my early travels to the Northeast when I found, to my total surprise, drivers, peons, police escorts all sitting down with the minister and his guests to eat at roadside dhabas. And then, at the Aizawl secretariat, a post-lunch table tennis game between my old friend Fanai Malsawma, then education minister, and his driver. As the driver thrashed Malsawma, he continued to remind him of how slow, lazy and leaden-footed he had become since he was made a minister. And others, mostly drivers and junior employees, sniggered and applauded. Show me a driver in the mainland who will thrash his minister at any game. Or, a minister who will take it in his stride.
It is because of this remarkable tribal approach to life, casteless egalitarianism, dignity of labour, that tens of thousands of our minutest minorities have discovered how indispensable they are to the booming services sector in our big cities. And they bring some of the most remarkably unique talents, besides, indeed, boxing, archery and weightlifting. A majority of singers and musicians at our restaurants and bars, even at Rashtrapati Bhavan at the banquet for Barack Obama, are boys and girls from the Northeast. You cannot go to a restaurant, bar, or spa, fly on an airplane or be laid up at a hospital without finding someone from the Northeast performing a key function. Should we look down on them patronisingly? Can we even afford to? Go ask the owners of these businesses, even security companies, who are now running around the platforms of Bangalore’s railway station, pleading with their northeastern employees not to flee. These terrified young people represent the first generation of our northeastern compatriots to venture out, seeking a living and dignity in the mainland. We owe it to them — and to ourselves — to make them feel wanted, respected and secure.
Most of us do not even know how tiny these minorities are. There are just over a million and a half Nagas, less than a million of Mizos and all the tribes in Manipur do not add up to a million (7.4 lakh in the 2001 census). Add to that a million each of Khasis and Garos. Arunachal Pradesh has just about a million tribals. And the Bodos, much in the news for the wrong reasons lately? Just about 15 lakh, scattered over several districts of mostly lower and middle Assam .
Their rising presence and indispensability to our cities speak of their brilliant talent which, in turn, is only matched by our ignorance about them. That ignorance is responsible for our lack of respect for our most distant countrymen, as well as our failure to understand what makes them angry. The latest and the saddest example is our lazy view of the Bodo violence through the prism of our mainland’s communal/ electoral politics. Identity, ethnicity, livelihood and survival in the Northeast, including Assam , are very complex issues, fuelled by native peculiarities rather than our classical Hindu-Muslim paradigm. Most Bodos are not even traditional Hindus. Many follow their own indigenous faith, and a sizeable number are now Christian. They are not attacking these settlers because they are Muslim. Nor were the Lalungs, or Tiwas as they are known today (it will be a stretch even now to describe them as Hindus), who killed more than 3,000 in four hours in Nellie in February 1983. It just so happens that the settlers (who the tribes see as alien infiltrators) are Muslim, and Bengali-speaking. But it is better to leave such grave and complex misconceptions about our northeastern citizens for another day. For now, we are struggling to spell their names right, to even figure out where they are coming from. Thirty-one years back, when Arun Shourie sent me to the Northeast as this newspaper’s correspondent, the cashier had earnestly asked me in which currency he should be sending my salary. Events of the past 10 days would tell you that we haven’t changed very much since.
Home is hardly the best By Dolly Kikon, The Hindu
“We are going home,” anxious workers and students from northeast India said to television cameras and mediapersons at crowded train stations in Bangalore, Pune, Mumbai, Chennai and Hyderabad. The exodus, from metropolitan cities across India , has brought up issues about the dangers of social media, how rumours create turmoil and panic, and the continuous discussions about “giving confidence” to the people from the northeast.
Political parties and administrators underlined the ideals of citizenship, equality, and security to remind those packing their bags to reconsider their decision. But the exodus reveals how people are often weary of citizenship ideals and do not trust the state with their lives. The moral of the story: there are multiple visions of Indian citizenship, and the state’s promises to protect and secure citizens have remained an illusion for the majority of the people who are often swept under the grand narrative of citizenship and equality. Perhaps it was the objective thing to board the trains and go back to the northeast for several thousand workers and students — objectivity here understood as the ability to experience the world through one’s specific embodiment and situated knowledge. The photographic images of northeast India as a land of festivals, dances, and culture are mythical visions of a political landscape where the state has a terrible record of governance and has not taken responsibility for the existing militarisation of the region.
Northeast India has increasingly become the alluring and charming face of the diversity of modern India , but a closer look reveals the paradox of how it has produced discrimination and racism at the same time. The majority of those who left for northeast India are, along with other similar migrants, the invisible face of global India: cooks in ethnic restaurants that can whip up cuisine from every corner of country, security guards who protect ATM machines, corporate offices, or industries that push India as a global power, drivers who chauffeur cosmopolitan citizens and corporate executives, or waiters who wear ethnic costumes so that customers can absorb the aura of India. The exodus of these workers from Indian cities reveals their insecurities about being “confident citizens,” and their position as vulnerable workers with minimum rights in global India .
A majority of those who left told reporters they were going back “home” as they boarded overcrowded trains. Invoking home means several things that range from one’s home country to the intimate personal places of security. But the “home” in northeast India they return to, seeking protection and security, has never been a safe place. It is a region poisoned with extra constitutional laws like the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (1958) that has spawned a cosmology that thrives on the by-product of violence, bloodshed and disorder.
Displacement and introspection
This was not the first time — and unfortunately, it will not be the last — India has witnessed an exodus of ethnic and religious groups within the country. The internal displacement of thousands is a yearly occurrence in the region. These events should make us realise that the tapestry of Indian citizenship is woven from the lived realities of its citizens, who inhabit the intimate spaces of servants quarters, security booths, and factory lines, and not only by the poster boys of political parties and the liberals wearing starched cotton outfits who sit and spin the ideals of good citizenship and human rights.
The increasing exhortation to northeasterners to become “confident citizens” is like asking a chained person to run a marathon. Repressive laws, legal impunity to state agents, and the armed conflict have produced a particular image of the state that is bereft of rights and guarantees. Generally, notions of rights, as enshrined within constitutional provisions or international instruments correspond with some forms of justice mechanisms. The citizens from northeast India , including those thousands who left the beautiful cosmopolitan cities overnight, have long erased from their minds the illusion that all Indian citizens are equal before the law and are therefore guaranteed equal rights. Instead, they seek to understand how such inequalities have been sustained, validated and legitimised by the Indian state for more than half a century.
(Dolly Kikon is a doctoral candidate at the Department of Anthropology, Stanford University .)
Bring Bodos to Book
DR. SYED
AUSAF SAIED VASFI delves deep into the Assam problem and holds the UPA
administration at the Centre as well as the Gogoi government in the strife-torn
state responsible for the ongoing violence.
For an objective
study of the Assam problem,
that recurs periodically, appreciation of two facts is necessary: One, since the
pre-partition times, there had been a regular movement of population from what
was East Bengal to
Assam . Those who came were poor,
uneducated rural Muslims. They came here to earn their livelihood. Muslims were
always welcomed by the Hindu rich aristocracy and landlords. Behind this
welcome was the solution of farm labour problem. Because of abject poverty, the
Muslim immigrants did not mind doing menial jobs. For their honesty and
true-to-salt behaviour, Muslims enjoyed trust and were given security jobs also.
After partition, because of peculiar geography, the movement of Muslim
population from neighbouring areas like West Bengal and later on
Bangladesh did not stop. Almost
similar was the situation, let us recall, at the Tijuana Border, when immigrants
from Mexico would sneak into
the
US .
At domestic level,
the poor even now move from states like Bihar and UP to
Delhi and in many cases,
settle here. This fact has been officially admitted many a time. There is little
new or novel in migration. It takes place within the country as well as across
the borders.
THE OTHER
FACT
The other fact, in
the words of the Chief Election Commissioner of
India , is: “…
Migration into the state (
Assam ) during the late 1960s and early 1970s when
India fought two wars with
Pakistan , in 1965 and 1971
respectively. It was during the
Bangladesh operation that large
number of former East Pakistani – now Bangladeshi – citizens were evacuated and
housed in districts along the present Indo-Bangladesh border. This occurred in
the districts of erstwhile Goalpara, including Dhubri, and in the adjacent
districts of West Bengal , Meghalaya and
Tripura.
“It was estimated
that between 2 and 3 million people were kept in the relief camps that were
organised by the Government of India as well as by the state governments. They
were kept in those camps for about 6 to 8 months. Most of these relief camps
were located in large open grazing grounds, school buildings as well as other
public buildings.
“After
Bangladesh was established, most of
these evacuees went back there. But a certain percentage of them remained in
India . Even today the Indo-Bangladesh
border is not properly guarded and fenced largely due to the difficult
geographical conditions. There are a large number of rivers, riverine channels
and drains in the area. This poses a major engineering problem for fencing and
makes guarding difficult.
“Unless we use the
latest technologies, as Israelis had done, the problem is going to remain and
illegal immigration to the Northeast would continue. It has been alleged by
knowledgeable persons that out of the 27 districts in
Assam , 11 of
them are going to be Muslim-majority districts once the 2011 census figures
religion-wise are published by the census
authorities.”
THE
QUESTION
As this fact is
from the proverbial horse’s mouth, it seems necessary to ask a question: Were
the Muslims of Assam responsible for this migration or transplantation of
Muslims from elsewhere. In one word, it was the late lamented Mrs Indira Gandhi
who did this. It had nothing to do with Muslims, neither of
Assam nor the
rest of the country. Was it a political faux pas? Was she incapable of seeing
beyond a truncated Pakistan ,
of course suitable for
India ? Whatever the case, it will be
decided only by history after some decades. The then Prime Minister failed to
see beyond independent
Bangladesh . She could not envision
what may happen after demographic changes. With the passage of time, things have
reached the point of no return.
Without a
dispassionate study of this fact, one cannot understand the ramifications of the
planned Muslim presence in
Assam . It is the government – and
mark it the government headed by the Congress – that cannot shirk its moral and
legal responsibility for the situation. It is really lamentable that neither the
front-rank Congress leaders, nor the Saffron leadership is courageous enough to
admit it. They beat behind the bush when they speak on the subject. Otherwise
too all the facts behind the birth of
Bangladesh are now common knowledge.
What prevents the Indian architects of
Bangladesh from telling a known
truth?
NO
LESSON
It is obvious that
the
Assam dispensation did not learn an
iota of lesson from the similar sad happenings that rocked the state in 1993,
1994, 1996, 1998 and 2008. The human tragedies in these disturbances did not
cross the milestone set up by Neilli which, according to sufferers crossed the
7,000 mark.
Some naïve
political commentators term these upheavals “ethnic.” We dare ask: What is
ethnic about them? There happened to be communal riots, pure and simple. As
sometimes happen in Bharat, the police of
Assam also fail
to resist their baser instincts in these
conflagrations.
What brings
Assam under sharper focus is that it
is under the Congress-led UPA dispensation and Dr Manmohan Singh represents the
state in Parliament. Except issuing strong statements and going to
Assam at leisure, one finds little to
pat on his back. He was sitting pretty, busy in official work when Muslims,
leaving their burnt-out hearths and homes to flood the relief camps. Over 50
lost their lives. The loss of property, both officially and by the political
parties, or Muslims themselves has yet to be estimated. Soon a Muslim delegation
which is visiting
Assam will put stark facts before the
plural nation.
SOB
STORIES
The unfortunate
situation that prevails today in the strife-torn state is that neither the Bodos
nor the Muslims are prepared to live side by side like civilized citizens. Both
have sob stories to narrate in detail. The naked truth is that even today the
percentage of close Hindu-Muslim neighbours is much less than that of those who
live in exclusive enclaves – read ghettos in the case of Muslims. This was and
is an old and cherished dream of the Saffron. But the nation, in whose name they
swear, is suffering from their muddle-headedness.
Besides killings,
torching of property was the main sidelight of the disturbance. About 2 lakh
people of both the communities are passing sleepless nights in relief camps.
What led to this situation was the firing on two student leaders of the All
Bodoland Minority Students Union and the All Assam Minority Students Union in
Kokrajhar. The armed gave vent to their spleen against the defenceless. Before
the too-late arrival of the military, there was a
free-for-all.
As far as
punishment to the guilty is concerned, the guilty number one is Mr Tarun Gogoi.
As ever happens elsewhere, such guilty personnel turn into a prestigious issue
for the ruling party. So has happened, and shall happen, with the chief minister
who to the sufferers is biased, partisan and prejudiced. He doesn’t act fair. In
this disturbance too, he did not show leadership and behaved like a mediocre. Mr
Gogoi touched the zenith of mediocrity when he lambasted the press and claimed
Assam was not
burning.
Muslim
parliamentarians of
Assam have openly said that they do
not repose trust in the Chief Minister. And who would repose trust in him when
he has the cheek and temerity to say that only three out of 28 districts have
suffered in the riots. And would you mind if you recall that exactly similar was
the logic of Mr Narendra Modi soon after the
Gujarat genocide of Muslims.
Whether one likes
it or not, nobody, we fear, is likely to be punished for his partisan role or
motivated silence on the tragedy. The immediate question relates to proper and
fair distribution of relief admirably announced by the Prime Minister during his
visit.
Another important
point to be considered is raising the strength of Muslims in security forces in
the trouble-torn state. Much before the issue of development comes the question
of amity between the warring factions of the Assamese society. Let the Muslims
show magnanimity and forget the past. Let them begin a new
chapter.
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