Kudos to the Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu who stated emphatically ‘stereotyping of NE must end.’
The newspaper story mentions that Mizoram can be an example for the Parliament to emulate in their graceful conduct at the state Assembly. Another big plus was, there were no plastic water bottles at the government meetings. In their unassuming manner, the Mizos demonstrated that they were supporting, encouraging and practising organic farming and sustainable development. Among the different states of the Northeast, it is good the Vice President went to these two states first where their environment consciousness is clearly visible. Education is prioritised and the high level of academic performance reached by both states is impressive. Mizoram and Sikkim do the whole region proud. They are very far from the stereotypes of the Northeast.
It is a good reminder that we, in turn, should not accept the stereotypes of the Northeast alive in cities of India. Investigate and interrogate academia. Encourage our students not to research topics that will result in giving stereotypical data on our cultures and our lifestyles. Instead of that, let them learn to dig deeper. There is much more to our cultures than meets the eye. As the VP says, time to end the stereotyping.
Revisiting War Crimes on the Bodies of Women
The terrible story in the newspapers this morning that has every right-thinking person outraged is the strip-searching story of an elderly and disabled Naga lady at Guwahati airport. From every angle it is an outrage on her modesty, on her personhood and her age.
It is a cruel reminder of the war crimes committed by Nehru’s government against the people of the Naga Hills in the fifties. Innumerable Naga women and girls were raped and murdered. In their inability to defeat the Naga undergrounds, the Indian military did the next worst thing – target the most vulnerable members of the community. Those who survived were forever scarred by the assaults. Acts like AFSPA and Disturbed Areas Act prevented these war crimes from coming up before an international tribunal to be addressed. They have followed us down our historical journeys as psychological and emotional scars.
The case of strip-searching of the Naga lady at Guwahati airport might not fall under AFSPA meaning the CISF personnel cannot be said to be functioning under the protection of AFSPA. But it was clearly a case of excessive misuse of power, racial discrimination and all in all, an inhuman administering of ‘rules’ in her opinion. There must be very many points on which to book the personnel involved and this should be done at the earliest.
What is additionally disturbing is the fact that every time para military forces or uniformed security personnel act in such a manner, it wakes up dormant memories of war crimes of the fifties by the Indian military forces against our women. This kind of action is very wrong and should never be encouraged by any government. It should be nipped in the bud lest it send out the message to other CISF personnel in other postings that they have the power to do the same. In plain English, it is abuse of power and there is a prescribed punishment for that.
Naga women during the Indo-Naga war had to be extremely careful when working in the fields. They were at risk of being molested in their work areas and in the forest areas. Pregnant women did not escape being targeted and killed in some cases. In Oinam, a woman was forced to give birth in public in full view of the soldiers. These instances are not fiction, they are facts with eye witnesses. Naga churches were desecrated by the rapes of girls inside them. The churches could not used anymore after the desecration.
All these terrible incidents with women as the victims have happened in our history. Now, with this new incident, old scars are reopening, old prejudices refusing to die out, with good reason. It is a revisitation of war crimes with women’s bodies as the battlefield. The CISF personnel may not be aware of all the implications of her actions. For the Nagas this injustice goes very deep because it reawakens the wounds of history. The great harm that has been done has to be acknowledged by both state governments. And rooted out.
