Aheli Moitra
Not so bizarre, but the Government of India (with the Government of Manipur now added to the equation) continues to live in fear of the Nagas. GoI spent nearly 60 years fighting the question of Naga sovereignty tooth and nail; now it’s worried about the integration of all Naga contiguous territory. Small and big strands of evidence from Manipur’s Chandel district suggest this in the run up to the 10th Manipur Assembly Election, to be held on January 28, 2012.
Following the attack on three INC supporters in Noney (Tamenglong district), allegedly by NSCN-IM, one of the NPF offices in 42Tengnoupal constituency of Chandel district was ransacked by nearly 100 workers of INC candidate DK Korungthang on January 22. As per NPF’s allegation, the INC workers came in vehicle sizes ranging from two wheelers to Shaktiman trucks, with the 42 Assam Rifles playing their part in assaulting the NPF workers. On January 24, BM Manel (Advisor to NPF’s Central Committee and 2008 Chief Election Commissioner of Nagaland) had his security escort (Nagaland Police) slapped by Manipur security personnel for not having followed protocol on informing the state about his entry into Manipur. It took nearly a day for top functionaries of the Nagaland state government to get his confiscated AK 56 released. On the same day the Union Home Ministry expressed its concern, in Gauhati, about NSCN-IM’s direct involvement in the Manipur polls, and that the group, in peace talks with the GoI, is putting up proxy candidates (as if this is an exclusive case in Manipur in the repeated creation of conflict). The huge deployment of central paramilitary forces (nearing 42,000) is to check NSCN-IM from creating problems during the elections, said P Chidambaram earlier this month, categorically. Simultaneously, on January 25, NPF candidate of 42 Tengnoupal was blocked from entering a small village (Langol) in the constituency, high up in the hills, to campaign with the Parliamentary Secretary for Social Welfare and Women’s Development of Nagaland, ChotisuhSazo and BM Manel. This apart, Manipur based news papers and wires are full of anti-NPF sentiment spewed by the Congress, including from the Nagaland Congress.
There clearly seems to be an overt and covert attempt to curb the viral effect of NPF’s campaign on Naga territorial integration. There are a number of reasons why a stronger and united Naga polity is unwelcome for not just Imphal, but also Delhi:
1. The Nagas are currently spread over Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur and Myanmar. If the Indian states don’t agree to give up their territory for the Nagas, there is no reason why the Centre will interfere in this matter because Delhi’s position holds forte only when its federation, through the system of states, is kept happy and strong, otherwise which Delhi’s central authority weakens.
2. The Meitei polity would not want a strong Naga leadership to emerge that will consolidate all tribes in Manipur to demand a better framework of rights. This would lead to the weakening of the Meitei, geographically, culturally and politically.
3. With India’s Look East Policy set to take off when possible, Delhi cannot have a North East that is led by the Nagas, who have been independent India’s oldest nightmare. Opening up the East for trade would mean people in the North East immediately looking to assimilate with South East Asia due to the obvious ethnic pull it offers (there are Tibeto-Burman tribes in Myanmar, Vietnam and Laos). This would undoubtedly be led by the Nagas, who will reach out to the Naga tribes in Myanmar, in turn weakening Delhi’s position, questioning irreversibly the idea of India. Neither Meitei nor Indian elites would want a large Naga polity to emerge that will geographically be the primary stakeholders of economic, nationalist and cultural gains from the Look East policy.
Since the Look East policy highway will cut throughChandel district, it makes sense for both the governments of India and Manipur to keep ethnic tensions between the Kukis and Nagas alive. Various tactics have been employed to work this out. Attempts have been made by the government of Manipur to form smaller districts that would develop distinct non Naga identities, hopefully complicating the issue of Greater Naga land. It is best to pit the people against the movement, as can be seen from the case of Nagaland state (albeit through other means). Or through tactful (read ethnically divisive) use of the democratic process—INC has fielded a Naga candidate from Tengnoupal constituency in Chandel, who will contest with a Naga NPF candidate and a Kuki candidate from TMC. The story is similar from the other Chandel constituency, with a Kuki candidate from Congressfielded against a Naga NPF candidate. With nearly equal distribution of Nagas and Kukis in Chandel, it is highly probable that a Kuki candidate wins. For the small Naga tribes in this district, for whose security purposes it is better to ally with a bigger Naga polity to protect their land rights and customary laws, in the face of land acquisition for the ‘Look East’, this will mean over boil. For the governments of Delhi and Imphal, though, this would mean a high five.
Chandel district houses the economic powerhouse border town of Moreh. For years rebel groups from the valley and hills have struggled to capture this region. For the Nagas, this consolidation would mean geographical and ethnic contiguity. But for other communities, the Naga consolidation of Chandel would mean exemption from everything Moreh, and the eventual Look East policy, might have on offer for the locals, which itself will have to be fought for, first of all, with the huge influx of Indian and foreign elite contractors, their powerful lobby and their cheap migrant labour that the policy will bring to benefit.
No wonder, then, that the question of Naga integration is facing opposition on many fronts. The above short term, elite restoration, tactics will keep the region’s disturbed status quo intact for many years to come. However, providing the Nagas with an integrated face and better development opportunities for its peoples (and those of other tribes) could reverse the equation of protracted conflict the region has seen over decades—at once distributing wealth and opportunity, restoring tribal rights to land and geopolitical congruity (with a strong Naga frontier).
