Mr. K. Solomon Rengma, General Secretary of RNPC has termed AIKNA as a “so-called organisation” which itself amounts to belittling a respectable organization of the Karbis. If Mr. Solomon is not trying to provoke a clash then he should have mentioned that as soon as some Karbis were assaulted on December 14, 2013, the Karbis have convened a peace meeting the next day on December 15 at Sarihuti, at Bey village when the peacemakers who went to handover the letter for a peace meeting were instead mercilessly assaulted by so-called militants who spoke fluent Assamese and covered their faces with gamusa.
We, Karbis and the Rengmas living in Karbi Anglong want peace. We sincerely believe that there are a few misled Rengmas and also a few misled Karbis who are being used by Government agencies to cause a clash and irreparable enmity between the Karbis and the Rengmas. The tribes people living in Karbi Anglong including the Karbis, Rengmas, Kukis, Dimasas, Khasis, Garo, Bodo, etc., are already impoverished and humiliated due to stage-managed clashes between among the tribes since 2003.
We, Karbis as a whole, are not against nomination of one Rengma person as MAC in the KAAC. The Rengmas know it very well that in 1953, in the first District Council two Rengma persons were made Members of District Council out of twelve. Due to smallness of population of the Rengmas they have not been able to get elected to the District Council. Therefore, in the 1989 District Council election the Autonomous State Demand Committee (ASDC) gave a ticket to Mr. Resulo Rengma to contest from Lumbajong constituency where there are only a few hundred Rengma voters. The Karbis voted for him and he was elected and made one of the Executive Members of the District Council. Therefore, the general public of the Rengmas as a whole are not against the Karbis. Likewise, the Karbi public as a whole are not against the Rengmas. It is not understood why Mr. K. Solomon Rengma, General Secretary, Rengma Naga Peoples’ Council (RNPC) is against the Karbis.
The total population of the Rengma people is not more than 18000 according to the version of some Rengma leaders. However, the total voters of the Rengma are about 4000 only. Mr. K. Solomon has claimed that the Rengmas would join with other “28 non-Karbi communities of Rengma Hills”. However, in the actual Rengma inhabited areas there only Karbis and Rengmas. There are no other communities. Out of the two, that is Karbi and Rengma, the Karbis are majority. Both of the communities are in a very bad economic condition.
If Mr. K. Solomon Rengma aimed at creating Rengma Hills of the whole of eastern Karbi Anglong measuring 8700 sq.Km, the Rengmas will be a microscopic minority in the district he proposed of making. Being a leader he must be aware that the Bangasena held public rally of the Bengalis at Uttarborbil within eastern Karbi Anglong on May 6, 2007. And the Bangasena over local TV channels, and in front of reporters, on September 4, 2012, declared Karbi Anglong as Bangabhoomi. Bangabhoomi means “Bengali land”, and Bangasena means “Bengali underground Army”. Will the Rengmas and the Karbis, and other tribes, be not suppressed under the Bangasenas? Has Mr. K. Solomon Rengma thought over it? Has he not known the groaning of the tribal people of Tripura under the Bengalis there? Does he not know how the Meiteis of Manipur were suppressed? Does he not know that the Dimasa kingdom was annihilated at Khaspur by a particular community?
We can answer to all the points put forward by Mr. K. Solomon Rengma. But we honestly feel that Mr. K. Solomon Rengma and his friends and the Karbi Anglong Peace Forum leaders should meet and discuss the matter thoroughly. Dialogue is the need of the hour.
It is reported in The Hills Times and other papers Mr. Keyhang Rengma, C-in-C, RNHPF confirmed that Eastern Command of the outfit has killed the nine persons at New Jaluki Road in Dimapur in the Morning of December 28, 2014. The actions of RNHPF of killing the nine persons have defamed the entire Nagaland and Naga people. It appears that RNHPF is to create hatred in the minds of the Nagas against the Karbis which is deplorable. But from our side, the Karbis condemn the killing of six Rengmas in Chokihola area the third force.
The Government of Assam is demanding CBI enquiry for the killing of ten Karbis in Dimapur, for the killings of only ten Karbis in Dimapur, but we the AIKNA demand that if at all CBI enquiry is ordered, it must enquire into all the tribal clashed since 2003 in Karbi Anglong and Dima Hasao including the recent killings which began on December 27, 2013 in Chokihola area.
We are very much thankful to the Government of Nagaland and the Naga people for all their help and sympathy. We cannot understand why K Solomon Rengma is blaming the church which is working honestly for peace.
George Rongpi,
President, AIKNA.
