North East: A Neglected Crisis
By Arindam Majumder
06 February, 2014
Countercurrents.org
North East has always been a remote corner in this ‘land of diversity.' Be it the early Hastinapur of Mahabharata or the proud republic's New Delhi, distance between the capital and the region has always been miles apart. The Pandavas used to take their Ashwamedh's horse to Manipura and return back triumphant. Nothing else was relevant or important about this region in the epic. Neither is it a significant part of the national education curriculum of the ‘republic.'
North Eastern part of India had always wanted to maintain its independence even in the post-independence period. Gleaming in pride after declaring independence from the British, Nehru's Hindustan never intended to miss the opportunity of making this diverse tribal culture a showpiece of the ‘ national unification programme .' The attempts have time and again proved futile. Still, ignoring the ‘democracy' of Assam Rifle's and Sikh Regiment's rifles or the Armed Forces Special Power Act, the altruistic North-Easterners have always tried to be a part of the world's largest democracy. The achievements of the Mary Koms and Laishram Devendro Singhs in the London Olympics have not only made Chitrangada's Manipura proud, but also added laurels to Arjuna's Hastinapur. But the representatives of Hastinapur have always gone to the North East with a motive to exploit. To grow tea gardens, to loot forest resources, to extract petroleum.
But the wide hearted north easterners have spread around the mainland to become a part of us. They don't have the capital to rule the mainland , but have rich cultural heritage to give us. Today, by chasing them away what message do we want to deliver? That the mainland no more needs them?
The Nido Taniam incident is an example of the negative mentality the ‘mainstream India' possesses towards the North Easterners. This mentality has been prevalent in the capital for quite some time now. Many are hesitant to consider them as Indians. Many call them ‘ chinese .' Since Chinese are enemies in the eyes of many patriotic Indians, the north-eastern people with mongoloid features face suspicion and hatred in their daily lives. This element of suspicion and hatred towards a fellow citizen without any abetment is a testimonial to the fact that the idea of Indian democracy is still incomplete. Because democracy is synonymous to multiculturalism; democracy is synonymous to pluralism. The culture of North East; their ways of worship, cuisine, dressing, matriarchal society is different from that of mainland India. But difference cannot be a reason of suspicion.
The truth is till today Indian nationalism has no place for the north-eastern mongoloid culture. They have been intentionally kept as a ‘stranger.' North East has been included as a part of India for geographical, colonial and strategic interests, but no effort has been made to make it a part of the Indian conscience. The fact that they are Indians and equal part of India's success story is often forgotten by the mainstream Aryans and Dravidians. Nido Taniam protested against this. By killing him, Aryans again proved that Manipura can never be equal to Hastinapur . It is nothing less than racial discrimination and it is getting ferocious day by day. The pluralist republic's future is in great danger.
Arindam Majumder is a student of Asian College of Journalism, Chennai.
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