‘…one cannot help but wonder why and how two communities, who are interdependent on each other, afford to have hostile confrontations time and again.’
Longrangty Longchar
The catchword today is border issue and the construction of the Foothill road. The border dispute with Assam has been dogging the Nagas for decades now, and there is no apparent solution in sight, simply because the issue is deeper than what meets the eye.
It was February 2008, four of us – two from The Morung Express and two scholars – were deputed to the border villages of Anaki A, B and C on a project to study the lives of the villagers and their relationship with the Assamese people. It was a project funded by the London based Panos South East Asia. Simultaneously four Assamese researchers were also deputed at the Assamese border areas to make a similar study from the Assamese border area.
During our nearly one month of stay at the border villages, amidst the election tension that year, the villagers revealed something very interesting about their relationships with the Assamese people. There was no tension between the simple villagers across the border. An Anaki villager even took us to the bordering village of Ladhigarh to his ‘dear’ Assamese family friend. It was the time of Bihu festival and we were warmly received by the Assamese family. After a sumptuous meal, we were even presented with a ‘gamacha’ each. These two Naga and Assamese families didn’t let the border tension come in between their cordial relationships. Of course, during bandhs, they dare not cross the border or visit each other. In the adjoining Anaki B and C villages we noticed Assamese traders visiting families and staying over for the night; most of the families hosting the Assamese traders told us that the traders are more like family members.
Coming back to the recent incident at Naganijan Tea Estate Area, a good friend Akum, who is posted as a teachers in Saringyim disclosed of daily Adivasi wage earners asking the village gates to be opened so that they can work at the village. Before the bandh, nearly two hundred Adivasi laborers enter the village gates and work as daily wage earners in the homes, the tea gardens and rubber plantations. The bandh cut off their daily wage earning. So, under such circumstances, one cannot help but wonder why and how two communities, who are interdependent on each other, afford to have hostile confrontations time and again. Perhaps, the problem is not with the people living at the border, but of those living far away from the border areas.
A few days back, while having an informal chat with a noted academician from Nagaland University, he strongly opined that the government of Assam and Nagaland should look at a ‘third force’ creating the border tension. His words make sense. A ‘third force’ could be a corporate body or perhaps, a militant organization.
If we look closely, almost every border tension arises after alleged encroachment either by Assamese or Naga people. The status quo along the Disturbed Border Belt is not maintained and both sides have their justification. Assamese people call the lush jungles along the DAB as ‘no man’s land’ while the Naga claims that there is no such thing as no man’s land in their culture and that the land belongs to them traditionally. However, if we look at the border areas, then we see thousands of acres of Tea plantations owned by rich corporate bodies based in Assam and elsewhere. These Tea Estates owned by capitalistic corporate bodies would have only one thing in mind – more profits.
Therefore, it would be their endeavor to expand their tea estates for the sake of earning more profits. The Assam Government would wholeheartedly support this expansion, because it would mean more revenue for them. So, who knows, the border tension might be related to corporate politics.
The next assumption is a more sinister one of a militant group. Saringyim villagers have disclosed of the involvement of a group called ‘Adivasi National Liberation Tiger Force’. The nomenclature of the Adivasi militant needs no further explanation about their agenda. However, the Jorhat SP strongly denied the presence of such militant group and instead alleged the involvement of NSCN cadres. But, if we look at the Adivasis today, then we see of them as landless people transported by the British from different parts of India to work in the Tea Estates.
These people have been working in the Tea Estates for more than 200 years; the tea estates are their homes and their sustenance but it does not belong to them. Perhaps, the modern day Adivasis are somewhat enlightened about their rights and who knows, they might be influenced by their brother-at-arms in Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand and West Bengal – the Maoists.
If we put ourselves in the shoes of the Adivasis working in the tea estates, then who wouldn’t feel inspired by the Maoists slogan of “Land to the Landless”. The aggressive posture of the Adivasis in Assam with bows and arrows is a clear reminisce of the early days Maoist movement in central India. Besides, who have heard of a Tea Tribes? These people did not introduce tea, nor discovered it. So could there be a bigger political agenda with regard to be termed as Tea Tribes? At present the Assam legislative Assembly has seventeen legislators, and perhaps the name ‘tea tribes’ bring them together. Who knows, as their movement grows bigger and their demand for political rights gets stronger, one day they might claim the Tea Estates as their own land. Preposterous? Think again. An ideology such as the Maoists cannot be subdued that easily. China is a living witness to it, and India struggles with that ideology till today. Besides, psychologically speaking, wouldn’t it be a nice thought for a landless laborer who toiled in a Tea Estate his whole life, to own a piece of land?
Therefore, the border issue is not just two simple villagers fighting over a piece of land, it’s more than that. It’s about people, tradition and history on one side and on the other side, more about profits, revenue and rehabilitation of a landless class of people.
Thus, the Government of Assam and Nagaland need to seriously ponder about the issue before it gets out of hand. Besides, the Assam Government needs to realize study it is creating a Frankenstein’s Monster by encouraging the Adivasis or the Mians in the border area. As for the Assamese people, they should also realize that ‘they can choose their friends, but they cannot choose their neighbours’.
As for the Nagaland Government, it is about time to cast away the fiddle and take some concrete actions. Rhetoric alone will not solve this deep rooted issue. The demands of the people which have been highlighted time and again should be implemented immediately and resolutely. The election time is over, this is the acid test for the DAN Government to prove to the people whether they can live up to the aspirations of the people or not.
The French politician Alexandre Auguste Ledru-Rollin (1807-1874) once said, “There go my people, I must find out where they are going so I can lead them." Sometimes, our Government must also find out where are people are going and give sound leadership to the Naga people.
As for the government of India, they should withdraw the so-called CRPF from the border area or place the paramilitary force under an independent body and not under the Assam Government. Moreover, the GOI should know that this border issue is political in Nature and the use of force cannot solve it. The GOI should understand Robert Frost’s famous line, ‘Good Fences make Good Neighbours’. And isn’t the Government of India facing untold problems because of bad fences with the neighboring countries? It is time Indian government understand that politics is not always about cricket and cricket alone.
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