India Today – August 19, 2019

AUGUST19, 2019 INDIATODAY 41

PATRIOTISM FOR ONE’S COUNTRY IS NOT THE DEFAULT

SETTING IN THE NORTHEAST WHERE THE LANDSCAPE

HAS BEEN SCARRED BY TUMULTUOUS AND VIOLENT

HISTORIES AND CONFLICTING LOYALTIES

OF INDIA

,

BUT APART

BY ARKOTONG

LONGKUMER

T

HE YEAR IS 1948. ROBERT REID,

the ex-governor of the Northeast provin-

ces, travels to the then Naga hills (now

Nagaland) as India is newly indepen-

dent, where the events surrounding

Partition, and the turmoil and trauma it

brought about, are quickly unravelling.

There’s political uncertainty with regard to the Northeast provin-

ces: what is their future in this vast subcontinent? Amidst this

sensitive historical moment, Reid hears of the assassination of

M.K. Gandhi at the hands of Nathuram Godse, a staunch Hindu

nationalist. In his shock and grief, he tells his Naga host, the

Konyak chief Changrai, that Gandhi is dead. The historian Yas-

min Saikia, in her book on Assam, Fragmented Memories, cap-

tures this telling encounter between Reid and Changrai. Changrai

is baffled and says he does not know who Gandhi is. Reid explains

it was Gandhi who brought about Indian independence and is

the reason the British are leaving India. Changrai laconically

replies: ‘I see, it is he who has caused all this trouble for the Nagas.’

This moment captures a depth of irony over what Indian

independence and its promise of upholding the freedom of every

individual as an equal citizen has meant in a region that has

experienced injustice and indignation. For various indigenous

movements for sovereignty, such as the Naga National Council

(NNC), the Mizo National Front (MNF), the United Libera-

tion Front of Assam (ULFA) and the People’s Liberation Army

(PLA), that emerged all over the region as a result of India’s

independence, Changrai’s remarks make perfect

sense, for independence means different things to

different people. The Northeast quickly became

alienated by the intransigence of the Government

of India led by Jawaharlal Nehru’s Congress that

privileged national integration through systematic

military prowess over dialogue and accommoda-

tion of difference. It became clear that there was no

meeting of minds. They had to accept an imposed

Indian identity that refused to accommodate their

cultural and political uniqueness and aspirations.

The Indian state saw the region as a recalcitrant

periphery; they had to make it bend to their will.

Fast forward to 2019. The Bharatiya Janata

Party (BJP) have surpassed their electoral win

of five years ago and formed the government. In

India’s Northeast, they have formed governments

in Assam, Tripura, Manipur and Arunachal

Pradesh and built coalitions in Nagaland,

Meghalaya and Mizoram as part of the North-

East Democratic Alliance (NEDA). In a short

time, they have obliterated the Congress as the

dominant national party by utilising their key

electioneering ideology of a national party with a

regional outlook. But an existing tension cannot

be overlooked if we are to understand what hap-

pened. How can the BJP truly enfold a region into