Shifting equations in the NE region

By Witoubou Newmai   There seems to be no foreseeable answer to many prevailing issues in the northeast India region. The moment it is thought that answers have been found, the fluid situation changes the equation, which in turn, changes the questions. We notice this development more glaringly pertaining to peoples’ movements.   To cite a case in point, under the banners of United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA) and All Assam Students’ Union (AASU) there were strong people’s movements –the former to ‘liberate’ Assam and the latter to ‘protect’ it—in the 1980s. However, with the fast changing profiles of people in that state the equation has changed. With this, Assam has different questions, and so it is no longer the perceived answers of the 1980s the people of Assam are looking for today.   In Mizoram, the Mizo National Front (MNF), the only political party with a strong Mizo emotional linkage with Mizo national fervor, which once enjoyed mass support, has now taken a back seat with Mizos embracing the Congress party. This can happen even as there is a strong Mizo nationalist discourse taking place. Mizos are also one people extremely possessive when it comes to their culture and tradition and even read Shakespeare, George Bernard Shaw and the likes in Mizo.   In the state of Tripura, the indigenous Tripuri people, also known as Tipra or Tipperah, continue to have problems with the Bengali settlers. But again, how these indigenous people are organizing themselves for the future remains to be seen.   In Meghalaya, nationalist discourse of the indigenous peoples is interpreted into some form of campaign or the other. Until two years ago, the blow-hot, blow-cold Inner Line Permit (ILP) campaign by civil society organizations of Meghalaya was, at best, seen as the unifying force of various indigenous tribes of Meghalaya. Otherwise, outfits such as Garo National Liberation Army (GNLA), Achik National Volunteer’s Council (ANVC), Achik National Volunteer’s Council – Breakaway (ANVC-B), United Achik Liberation Army (UALA), Achik National Liberation Army (ANLA), Achik National Liberation Co-operative Army (ANLCA), Achik Tiger Force (ATF) and Achik National United Force (ANUF), Hynniewtrep National Liberation Council (HNLC) and Achick Songa An’pachakgipa Kotok (ASAK) are struggling to maintain relevance.   Of all the north eastern states, Manipur is found to be quite complex and interesting. There is no denying that the hill-valley divide is becoming wider. Today, the Naga people see the ‘valley’ people and the state government as the “immediate others”. With this, the idea of Manipur is fast changing. Very peculiar is the case of Manipur where a chief minister running the government for three consecutive terms has no freedom to move around in the larger part of the state he is ‘reigning’. This has greatly perplexed many on the idea of ‘popular government’.   The answers to all these issues will keep changing because it is also all about “The times they are a-changin’”.