dna edit: Time to end the charade

Tucked away in a corner and forsaken by the mainland, the North-East’s sudden rise in prominence, if only for the time being, is a not so curious phenomenon. Shifting loyalties and a fractured polity have reduced the 2014 elections to a numbers game where the 25 Lok Sabha seats of the Seven Sisters are critical to both the Congress and the BJP. The desperation is showing in their reckless games of wooing the electorate.

Bereft of choice, the Congress is wielding its most potent weapon — the communal card — to curry favours in the Christian-dominated state of Mizoram by branding the opposition as Antichrist, and supporters of Hinduism. Not the one to be upstaged, Narendra Modi’s jingoism in Assam and Arunachal Pradesh, is a cynical manipulation of local sentiments and insecurities. Modi’s new-found love for wildlife would have made sense had he not linked rhino poaching to a concerted effort by the Congress government to clear forest land for Bangladeshi settlers. In Arunachal Pradesh, the prime-ministerial candidate is using China as the bogeyman to whip up patriotism. His grand statement “I swear in the name of this soil that I will never allow the state to disappear...breakdown and to bow down” is as operatic as election speeches come, all sound and fury, signifying little.

True, the complex realities of North-East do not lend themselves to easy solutions, but what’s equally true and shocking is the Government of India’s lack of initiatives and focus to integrate the region with the rest of the country. Still largely inaccessible and sometimes romanticised as exotic, the seven states seldom feature in the national discourse, barring reports of violence and killings. It’s a hotbed of ethnic rivalries and terrorism where the Army’s writ runs large, thanks to the draconian AFSPA. What has made matters worse are the growing influence of Maoists and steady infiltration of refugees from neighbouring Bangladesh, the latter lending it a communal colour. The demands for separate states by the Bodos, Karbis, Dimasas and Koch Rajbongshis in Assam, in the wake of the decision on Telangana, must be viewed from the perspective of a populace driven to despair. The murder of 10 Karbis by the Naga Rengma Hills Protection Force late last December in Assam is the kind of ethnic violence that North-East has come to be associated with.

The picture could have been radically different, given the region’s immense natural resources and strategic importance. It’s rich in oil and natural gas, minerals and forests. The many rivers crisscrossing the landscape can be tapped for hydro-electricity. Proper infrastructure in terms of roads and railways, leading to easy movement of goods, would have boosted India’s trade relations with the East. A thriving North-East would have been a strong countermeasure to China’s expansionist policies along the border of Arunachal Pradesh.

Yet, it’s been the same narrative of neglect since Independence. For a region lacking in basic amenities and grappling with livelihood issues, a strong anti-India sentiment is the most obvious response. The mainland’s chronic apathy coupled with its racist outlook towards students of North-East — Nido Taniam’s death in Delhi is a shocking reminder of how virulent, routine and widespread such abuses are — has widened the gulf to a point when India can ill-afford to continue with its step-motherly treatment.

The time for hollow promises and jingoism is over. Whoever comes to power at the Centre will have to work towards earning the trust and confidence of these people, by speaking the language of love, integration and development.