Things fall apart, the centre can not hold - This has been the story of India's North East since Independence. A region with about 8% of India's landmass and 4% of India's population, connected with "main-land" by just 22 km wide chicken's neck (silliguri corridor) is a micro cosmos of India. It is perhaps more diverse than the rest of India. It has more than 400 dialects and about 200 major tribes sharing the hills and the plains. Since time immemorial India's middle east has been the melting pot of various tribes, culture, religion and languages. Almost all major world religions are represented here including the lost tribe of Jews - Bnei Menashe.
'Troubled Periphery - The Crisis of India's North East' is a brilliantly researched book by Subir Bhaumik. The author has gone into the history of north east with great precision and has written with a fair detail about various insurgent groups.
Out of 7 North Eastern states, four states are completely dominated by tribal people - Mizoram, Nagaland and Meghalaya (Christianized by Baptist missionaries in late 19th century) while Arunachal Pradesh has so far been able to maintain its indigenous religion. Tripura and Assam have been demographically transformed in last 50 years or so, Manipur has been observing insurgency since the Naga days and it is the only state that perceives itself to be surrounded by hostile tribes and people from all sides.
Tripura was dominated by the tribal people before its accession to India but since its accession the Bengali flood has changed its demography and the tribal people lost their power and stakes. They retreated in the hills. The terrorist groups like NLFT, ATTF etc have been carrying on insurgency in this state for about 30 years. NLFT (National Liberation Front of Tripura proclaimed objective is to "Expel all Bengalis from Tripura and to establish a Christian state in Tripura". It has killed many Hindu priests and banned worship of Hindu deities in the forests.
Mizoram has largely been peaceful since the 1986 accord signed by rebel leader Lal Denga and government of India but even in its peace the lesser tribes like Hmars and Bru have suffered.
Manipur has suffered a lot at the hand of rebels of all kinds - Meities, Nagas, Kukis, Muslims etc. The demand of greater Nagalim is like an eternal thorn to its existence.
The illegal migration from Burma and Bangladesh (East Pakistan) and migration from India is one of the most important reasons behind all this turmoil in North East. The genesis of almost all the insurgent groups lie in this monumental problem. The case of Assam is poignant. I was really aghast to read about about the number of insurgent groups active in North East. To underscore the problem the non-exhaustive list is given:
NSCN (IM), NSCN (K), NDFB(S), ULFA, PLA, NLF, NLFT, ATTF, Achik Group, Kuki group, MULTA, Dimasa group and many more.
The book also sheds some light on the dark history of 1960s and 1970s when competitive patronage to insurgent groups were given by all countries. India gave to Chakma tribals in 1970s, to Kachin Independence Army in 1980s. Pakistan gave to NNC, MNF etc in 1950s, 1960s and Bangladesh in 1970s. China gave to NNC, MNF, NSCN, PLA in 1960s, 1970s.
Highly Recommended(9/10)
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