Khekiye K. Sema
The recent exodus of North Easterners from the mainland India should be seen as an eye opening event even for Nagaland. That it happened in Assam should not lull the sensibility of the Nagas or the Govt. of Nagaland into a state of complacent inaction. The Govt. of Assam had not done well enough to let the world know unequivocally that the incident in Kokrajhar had nothing to do with an ethnic clash between the Bodos and the Muslims but purely that of a ‘foreign national’ issue making their inroad into Assam unchecked through the porous borders. That the immigrants happen to be Muslims is of no consequence. They are foreigners from Bangladesh, period! Assam’s inability triggered the rumored hate backlash that had to be suffered by all the North Easterners across the board. It is a pity that mainland India has absolutely no knowledge of the North East and its’ people and therefore the price of what happened in Assam had to be paid by all the other sister States. Here is a regrettable and an unthinkable episode of the sons of the soil being overrun and driven out from their own ancestral land by immigrants from Bangladesh.
We Nagas are likely to laugh this off as an impossible scenario ever occurring in Nagaland…after all we are different…WE ARE NAGAS! Such an arrogant brush off stance could perhaps emanate from the confidence of our physical prowess as sons of head hunters. However, not all problems are physically solvable. In more ways than one, brain would outdo the brawn. This brings me to recall a very unfortunate experience that I had witnessed in one of my outpost assignment in 1979. I had paid an official visit to a Sumi village which had taken in a sizable number of Yimchunger families, afflicted by a sever famine, into their fold many years back. As per the Sumi customary practice the status of these families were that of a ‘bonded labourer’ (aqa axe). At that given point of their arrival to this village the Yimchunger families were in the minority in this village and had also accepted their secondary status without question because they were helplessly dependent.
Over the years there was a steady growth of stabilized Yimchungru population in this village whereas the Sumi households had begun to decline due to migration to Western Sumi area. With population increase grew the assertion for their rights and a rightful place within this community. The Head GB was a strong headed individual and was absolutely determined not to alter the customary status of the Yimchunger. Occasionally this GB would sit on his ‘machang’ in the evening and loudly sing his traditional song with a mug of rice beer in his hand. In a traditional tune the GB would recount how the Yimchunger families had helplessly come to the village, sheltered and fended for, and that they were nothing more than an ‘aqa axe’. The ‘rub in’ would usually provoke a confrontation between the Sumis and the Yimchungrus. The general atmosphere was never comfortable. Then, when the Area Council election was announced, a Yimchunger candidate emerged from this village even though the Sumis were opposed to his candidature.
There was nothing much the Sumis could do however, because the Yimchunger voting population was by then way higher. This is not a made up story but dead true. Such story replications can very well occur in many of our villages where the Bangladeshis are slowly but surely expanding. The problems are being further compounded by the intermarriages taking place between the Nagas and the immigrants. Deportation of the immigrants is going to be a very unpleasant mind boggling affair even as we speak. Consider what will happen in the years ahead. At the careless rate we are preceding, time will come when we would have Bangladeshi Ministers/MLAs in our Assembly. Laugh if you may but what is there to stop them from achieving this status? There is no denying that this is a very sensitive matter as seen from the experience in Assam. Be that as it may, there is absolutely no option but to take a hard look at this ever increasing menace. The Government is playing softball by cautioning the NGOs from addressing this issue on the one hand but is doing precious little to take the bull by its’ horn on the other. Assam situation is also waiting to happen in Nagaland, in no uncertain terms. We are holding on to a lit time bomb with a very short fuse. It will soon blow in our face as we complacently look the other way.
The politicians of Assam have addressed this issue more from a ‘vote bank’ perspective with utter disregard for the demographic changes that has otherwise been ushered in. But while pointing our fingers at Assam, can the politicians of Nagaland do any better? Is there anyone among the band of 60 who would take the lead to set our house in order? If we are unprepared to take initiative on our own in fear of the sensitive nature of the problem, can we not consider an alternative approach by taking the GOI into confidence and tackle this cancer in coordination so that the picture of ethnic clash is not re-enacted against the Nagas?
In a manner of speaking, Nagas are fortunate that Article 371A and the ILP are in place. If this were not so, the mega business houses like the TATA, Birla, Reliance etc. would have perhaps bought off the best of our land by now. Without the ILP we would have perhaps been struggling and vying for every job opportunity with the outsiders. We would have been servants in our own land. While the magnitude of such a scenario coming to pass is inconceivable, it is time for the Government to take stock of the situation and review how ILP is being issued before the occurrence of the inconceivable. ILP is as good as and as important as a passport being granted. Strict verification norm may be in place in paper but in practice the ground reality would indicate that ILP issue is considered to be just another cumbersome paperwork of a routine nature by some Officers and a source of pocket money by others. Generally the junior most officers are usually assigned this duty instead of assigning it to a senior level Officers. Furthermore, the Administrative Officers at no stage have been trained or sensitized about the importance of strictly regulating the ILP and therefore the manner in which we go about issuing it is casual to say the least.
This casual attention or lack of it being paid to the subject will undoubtedly impact our society in a diverse way in the days to come. The continuous uninterrupted period of 10/15 years stay in Nagaland begins to afford the ILP holder with some legitimate rights. A high percentage of such ILP holders have already been registered in the electoral roll which our politicians capitalize on. It is of importance to ensure that the ILP is issued for a specific period and renewed with a break of dates. The absence of continuity will eliminate the corollary rights. Because of the lack of perception and the seriousness in application we have already escalated the population statistic of Nagaland abnormally. In the long run Nagas will have to pay for this lapse. Therefore, before Assam happens in Nagaland, Nagas should get wiser or face the consequences later.
A few years back, I recall having an audience with the Muslim community of Dimapur during their felicitation programme for the children who had passed their class XII board exams. The topic of Bangladeshis overflowing into Nagaland was a part of my address. It was with an honest concern that I had shared my fears with them that a day will definitely come when the foreign nationals will have to be deported. When this day arrives, there would likely be a great deal of confusion in identifying the legitimate Muslims of Nagaland from that of the Bangladeshi immigrants. Hardships would befall them all in the process. In order to avoid such a predicament I had suggested that it would be advisable that the original Muslim residents of Nagaland carry out their own internal census and maintain it as an important record for their security and reference when the time demands. I meant well but I did feel that my message did not go down well. However, with the ongoing conflict in Assam and the awakening focus of the NGOs to this subject, it has become increasingly apparent that the legitimate Muslim community considers a protective measure to safeguard themselves.
It would do us well to take cognizance of a saying that ‘wise men learn from the mistake of others; fools by their own’.
(Khekiye K. Sema is a IAS Rtd and presently resides in Forest Colony, Kohima)
