Imsenperong
Aristotle’s definition of human beings as social animals invokes a second look for understanding certain problems in our society today. Adding to the philosopher’s words, humans are social migrants. They migrate from place to place at different times in search of better and comfortable living. Human migration will continue to exist in the society as long as there is unequal economic growth among the nations. Migration is not a new phenomenon in human history. It was there from time immemorial since human started their existence on this earth. We have clear evidences from the Bible and world history as well. The history of the people of Israel and their subsequent settlement in the land of Canaan from the Bible, the Indus valley civilization, and the discovery of America by Columbus are a kind of story of migration. Looking at our Naga society, almost all the Naga villages came to their present villages through migration from different directions. In the early years the reasons for migration might be due to the scarcity of water both for drinking and cultivation. People might have migrated to different places where they could find sufficient water. Another reason might be the military or autocratic forms of government which people disliked compelling them to migrate to other peaceful and safer places. Still other reason might have been the threat from enemy and war.
Even today we have this practice of migration in all human societies of different forms and will continue to exist as long as human exist. The reason(s) for migration today may be more than one. For instance, for better and more quality education people migrate to other countries like America, Germany, United Kingdom and etc. For better jobs and higher salary people migrate to other countries like the Gulf countries where job and earning prospect is much better than what one have in their own countries. In some cases people migrate to other countries for safer and better living conditions due to autocratic or military systems of government like Myanmar or deplorable economic problem like Bangladesh. Ravaged countries like Iraq and Afghanistan by sustained conflicts or wars compel people to migrate out of their homeland. Migration is a way to escape from such miserable conditions and endeavor for living and survival. Every country has this kind of situation, albeit not necessarily amounting to national problem everywhere; however, proper and rigid immigration law should be enacted to control the unbridled influx of people from other country. This is the task of the institutions of the state of all nations. Unless they do it now next or younger generation will pay the price, which could also be catastrophic. There is danger in unlimited influx of migrant into a country.
The need for controlling the influx of migrants is not only for psychological, economical, political or ethnic reasons but it also posses a threat in totality. Migrants do not just come and go within a certain period of time, but they stay obtaining all the basic necessities of life. o have rights as migrants and at the same time have rights as human beings whether the person is a black in a particular country of white or a “plain inhabitant” in the land of hilly people. Legally they are recognize anywhere by one way or other. However, unlimited influx will create a very bitter result in the long run. The only way is to have an effective immigration policy, a step needed to be taken.
Just take France as example for we have a lot to learn from them in this matter. The world consider France as the city of light, city of love, city of perfumes and the city of style but what happened in 2005 in the months of October and November, the city of goodies became the city of riots. Within few days, not even two weeks of time, nearly ten thousand cars were set ablaze with arson attacks on schools, police stations, gymnasia and business buildings. It was a large-scale destruction estimating over 250 million euros. The lost caused by the riot was not just in terms of wealth or individuals but it effected national economy. In this connection, more than 2500 persons were arrested, many of them minors, almost all from Arab and black African communities. We may be forced to ask why only Arab and black African were arrested? The answer is because they were the crux of that problem. They are the immigrants mostly from North and West African countries which were earlier French colonies. The actual cause for the riot was that two teenage boys of African origin were accidentally electrocuted which did not normally amount to such a public display of anger. The reason was, the immigrant youth doubted that there would be no proper enquiry or that the guilty would be arrested and punished. Because France’s pre-dominantly immigrant suburbs have lost confidence in the institutions of the state which made them doubt that the state would not resolutely and genuinely deal with the case at hand to give them egalitarian treatment.
Why did these riots happen? It was a result of unbridled immigration for decades in France. After the II World War, France brought, from its foreign colonies, people mainly from Arabian and Algerian countries and dumped them on the outskirts of the big cities as labourers and factory workers. At present France has almost 800 under-privileged suburban neighborhood clusters around its major towns built during 1960’s. These immigrants estimate around 4 million and most of them from poor and non-white communities. They are marked by low school performance, high drop-out rate, drug trafficking, delinquency, organized crime, a nascent Islamic radicalism and unemployment at least twice the national average. These immigrants are excluded from the main stream and discriminated by police and other state agencies. They resorted to violence to convey the state to take notice of their problem. On top of that is the Muslim extremism in France. With about 5 million Muslims, making France the nation with the largest Islamic population in Western Europe, their existential life situation offer a kind of way out to these frustrated migrant youths who turn to violence and terrorism.
These riots are not only rooted in economic deprivation and urban decay but also have an ethnic and racial dimension. Why do these immigrants (a kind of foreigners) rebel in other country? Do they know who they are? The key problem is that France does not officially recognize the concept of ethnic difference at all. It is literally illegal for anyone compiling an official census even to ask about someone’s ethnic origin. In any governmental statistic there is no figure of any kind showing the differences of French and Algerian or Moroccan. In short, there is no Algerian-French or French-Moroccan or any other such combination but only French in France. The only thing a migrant should possess to be counted as a citizen is to know French language and culture, making even some writers to comment: “When an immigrant comes to France, he/she must drop everything he/she ever learned of his/her previous culture; he/she has to leave it in his/her baggage.” The law of France beautifully and decoratively mentions, “there shall be no categories of citizen in France”. The law shall view everyone equally. This is the store-house of courage for immigrants in France while France has no proper immigration law. Again while the law safeguards all people from any kind of oppression and discrimination, the question is why racial discriminations take place? The trouble in France is not with the law which decides all aspects of daily life but with the people of native French. Though the law protects all people, people are not always colour-blind therefore they discriminate the immigrants in offices and schools; even the law abiding people and different institution of the state do the same. It is not the law but people wherein lies the problem.
Similar incident occurred in our neighboring state too. What happened in two districts- Rowta and Udalguri in Assam in the month of October this year? There is nothing that was sudden and shocking about the violence that had overtaken these two districts of Assam. Though the violence started over cattle between tribal guards and the raider from the minority community it led to take an ethnic dimension thereby creating ethnic violence between Bodos and migrants (predominantly Bangladeshis). This is not just a mere clash between two groups of people but it is about the natives and the outsiders killing 47 people and rendering more than 47,000 people homeless within a week. It was not just a mere clash, but an incident which needs to be pondered upon till human rationality conveys something to our conscience. This problem could have been averted if the political leaders and other state institutions have taken proper preventive measures. This incident is not new to the people of Assam. A similar incident took place in Nagaon district of Assam way back in 1983 where more than 3000 migrants were killed, mostly children and women during the anti-foreigner stir launched by Assam students (similar action was taken by AKM in Mokokchung last year). This is a serious issue which needs to be taken very genuinely and the political leaders of the state can do something against the influx of migrants in the state instead of playing politics with it.
Assam is a land where different racial and ethnic groups live. Like the indigenous people of Assam, foreign immigrants (mostly Bangladeshis), migrants from other states of India (mostly from Bihar), and immigrants who have obtained Indian citizenship. In some districts of Assam immigrants outnumbered the native people (e.g., Barbeta, Dhubri, Goalpara, Nagaon, Karimganj and Hailakandi). Like France, the state of Assam is also experiencing an unbridled immigration without proper immigration law in the state. If the political leaders and responsible persons do not give proper administration of law, the history (October incident) will repeat again (even in Nagaland; if due importance and precaution are not taken up Nagaland will become a boiling cauldron, a recipe of terrorism in it, within a few decades from now). Some columnists have also commented on it, “While the ethnic conflict between indigenous people living in Assam could be solved; the problem caused by influx of Bangladeshi (sic) migrants in the state defies solution. The mercury in the thermometer of Assam’s migrant problem is increasing and going towards another danger unless people handle the problem of migrant sincerely, firmly and objectively without playing around with it purely for political interests.”
Looking at this problem of migrants in other places, we realize that the state of Nagaland is also not safe from these intruders. It is no longer a safe-zone from immigrants! If the administrative institutions of the state and the law makers do not deal with it firmly and genuinely learning from other country’s and state’s mistakes, tomorrow the younger generation will drink from the bitter cup the consequences which ooze out from the fruit of your tree of greed and politics. A day is coming when Naga indigenous people will find it difficult to live freely in their own land!
At present Russia is also facing an immense problem of immigration due to the uncontrolled entry of immigrants in the mid-1990s. Of course unlike France and Assam, Russia and Nagaland are yet to taste the bitter pills and consequences of immigrants. It is high time that we learn from other’s mistakes. Similar to the people of Nagaland, most Russians do not want to do manual jobs considering minor jobs as unimportant and below dignity. Russian eyes are on the white colored- job like - economist, lawyers, journalist, businessperson, manager, oil and gas specialists, office staff, state official, and security specialist. Because of this very reason immigrants come and steal away these jobs from the Russians. Most migrants come to this country to earn money since Russia is also one of the richest countries in Europe (Moscow and St. Petersburg are among the most expensive cities in Europe!). It is said that even the less paid manual job in Russia earns an immigrant enough to provide for their families at home (like “Motias” in the towns of Nagaland making a comfortable living, if not luxury in their own state). What little these immigrants earn in Russia makes them rich in their poor villages of central Asia and south Caucasus. The migrant problem in Russia is, immigrants taking away most of the jobs from the Russians as in Nagaland non-locals (as we call them) take away jobs like business, teaching, and different manual jobs. The crux of the problem is that Russians till now consider manual labour as secondary importance and since they do not consider it as national problem they do not have proper immigration policy and as the days pass by influx of migrants increases. But even for Russia, a day will come to taste the consequence of ineffective immigration policy.
I feel both Russia and Nagaland are on the same path though Nagaland is incomparable with a country like Russia from any perspective. However, the nature of the problem of immigrants in the state is quite similar with Russia and outcome will be the same. At present the people of Nagaland do not feel and see the consequences of influx of migrants into the state, but time will not wait for too long. The Ao Students’ Conference (AKM) has taken note of it and has initiated strict measures against immigration in Mokokchung town which other student bodies of the state also adopted. These significant moves (I prefer to say significant) should serve as a wake up call to all social as well as state administrative institutions to deal with this issue firmly and urgently. Unless we do it now, Nagaland is waiting for a similar violence and riots that have taken place in Assam and in France. Just an example, when AKM launched the flush-out operation of certain immigrants from Mokokchung, without much resistance from the other group the work was done. However, let us not expect the same response every time. They have their rights, courage and net working (sometime problem of migrants may be seen in terrorism) and at the same time they have legal rights in any country by one way or other as a human person. The moment immigrants resist and decide to stand up by themselves it will be the beginning of chaos, riots and terrorism.
The problem with the people of Nagaland in relation with the issue of migrants is first of all psychological and others like political, economic reasons follows. First, Naga people consider manual job and small scale private business as the work of the non-locals (migrants), even we do not have much knowledge of doing it and tendency to seek only for the government job. The general masses have been brainwashed by the wrong notion that government employed staff receives salary without doing any work! It is the weakness of the state administration that compels people to feel this way. Due to this understanding different private sector employ the migrants for different purposes. Second, state does not have a proper immigration policy and the one which we have (the Inner Line Permit) is not used objectively but is used for political and individual interest. It is a high time for the state administration to carry out effective immigration policy to control the influx of migrants other wise we will pay a high price.
As mentioned earlier, the immigrants will be there everywhere but the problem is not everywhere. This problem is more permanent in rich countries where earning is good and getting employment is easy or where there is no proper immigration policy migrants gather from their problematic countries and states in search of green pastures. However Nagaland is not like other rich countries that become a favorite destination for migrants but by certain geographical reasons and by the nature of the people the state becomes susceptible to this disease of immigrations. Geographically Nagaland is surrounded by countries like Myanmar, Bangladesh, and Nepal. These neighboring countries are economically and politically unstable, without having much to envy. The neighboring states particularly Asom and Bihar are another problematic states in this regard. Along with this, Nagas are lazy which diminishes their creativity, on the other hand, they are also kind natured people. These two combined together contribute to the problem because the immigrants exploit our laziness and good natured-ness to their advantage. Finally, there is no proper immigration law/policy in the state and even if it is there it is not used objectively.
My conclusion is that unless the state has a proper immigration policy that can be used practically our state is also on the verge of riots and violence, violence not of native origin but a kind from outside. We cannot play games nor blame-games with it anymore. To save from this danger we cannot gauge out the state and plant it in an European country nor can we reverse the understanding of our people. The only option is to deal with the problem genuinely, purely and objectively not with political and individual interest.
