dna edit: Courting the North-East

In a closely contested election where every seat won is an opportunity to form the government or deny the single largest party this opportunity, leading politicians have suddenly woken up to the importance of the North-Eastern states. Hedged strategically alongside China, a common refrain and a genuine grievance in the North-Eastern states has been that first came the Indian Army and only later the Indian government followed. A reason cited often for the neglect of the North-East has been the  comparatively fewer numbers that the seven states in the region sent to Parliament. With major developmental decisions taken in faraway Delhi, the absence of a larger posse of MPs has come to hurt the North-East. But if the promises made by the BJP and the Congress’ star campaigners, Narendra Modi and Rahul Gandhi, are anything to go by, the North-East can hope to benefit from the increased attention being showered on it in the upcoming elections.

At stake are the 25 seats in the region: 14 in Assam, two each in Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Meghalaya and Sikkim, and one each in Mizoram, Nagaland and Sikkim. Following up on a well-attended rally in Imphal, Modi addressed rallies in Guwahati and Silchar (Assam), Agartala (Tripura), and Pasighat (Arunachal) this month. Hot on Modi’s heels, Rahul is currently on a two-day visit to Assam where he will address four rallies. In the 15th Lok Sabha, the Congress (13) and its allies together held 16 of the region’s seats. Until early 2013, the Congress harboured ambitions of cornering 20 of the region’s seats. But the impressive response to Modi’s rallies and his speeches promising development and an end to racism against people hailing from the region indicates that the anti-incumbency against the Congress extends here too.

The promises made by Modi have also been made and broken by other national politicians in the elections gone by. Unfortunately, the political betrayals have never found space in the national media. It has become a set pattern in India that where uncomfortable questions are not asked, the tendency is to brush issues under the carpet. The connection between the feeble media coverage of the 2011 Manipur blockades and the slow political response from the Centre was clearly evident. The 121-day blockade of NH-53 and NH-39 in 2011 and the recent three-day blockade of NH-37 connecting Imphal with Assam caused untold miseries to the people of Manipur including tearaway rise in prices of basic necessities and black marketing. The silence of the political class on real and relevant issues like the continuance of the Armed Forces Special Powers’ Act (AFSPA) or the development of roads and railways in the North-East, reflects an inability to articulate a developmental strategy amid the competing ethno-nationalisms of the region.

Being special category states, the North-Eastern states have been the recipients of a generous package of central assistance. The per-capita central assistance offered to the north-eastern states was Rs2,575 in 2006-07 compared to an all-India per-capita average of just Rs684. Funds have been pouring into the north-east but corruption has been rampant too. In a mountainous region where population density is low and areas are far-flung, developing transport facilities and employment opportunities requires robust political intervention. The political focus on the North-East is reassuring; with heightened expectations come greater responsibility to fulfil promises.