Dr John Mohan Razu
Binaries are vociferously pitched against each other in such ways that resonates: ‘I versus You’, ‘Minority versus Majority’, ‘We versus They’. Nowadaysusage of these divisive constructions has become a common narrative and an everyday parlance in the Indian society.Polarization is possible only in ‘othering’ a community or a group or a cluster of people and in the process consolidating ‘we-the-ring’ and by isolating the ‘othering’. As against the backdrop recent cold-blooded massacre of civilians in Nagaland prompts us to raise a question: Is Northeast still the ‘other’?
The gory killing of a group of miners, mistaken for insurgents, has once again renewed the debate about AFSPA (Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act. At the time when it was enacted in the Parliament, the then Home Minister Govind Ballabh Pant called it “a very simple measure” to control “misguided Nagas indulging in mischievous activities”. It was in 1958. Resonating after many decades Josy Joseph, the author of The Silent Coup, in an interview said that “We gave the army power when we sent them into Nagaland in the fifties. Still they have not come out.”
Sandeep Roy in his short article titled Patel to today, the othering of the North-East has a long history in Times of India dated 12th of December, 2021, page 14 describes in a nutshell that “… the entire North-East has remained an even more shadowy presence in Indian minds from the very beginning. In 1950, Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel had a famous exchange of letters with Jawaharlal Nehru about the latter’s China Policy. Those letters are frequently cited to illustrate Nehru’s naivete and Patel’s farsightedness vis a vis China.”
In the same write up, he adds that “While that is true, what’s less often mentioned is in those letters, as reproduced in the new book Nehru: The Debates that Defined India that “The people inhabiting these portions have no establishing loyalty or devotion to India,” he warns. He further substantiates that “Even the Darjeeling and Kalimpong areas are not free from pro-Mongoloid prejudices.” In such a setting Sandip Roy opines “That attitude can become a self-fulfilling prophecy. The sense of being other-ed gets deeply ingrained.”
When I was shuttling between Bangalore and North-Eastern region between 2013 and 2015, whether I travelled by rail or air, as soon as I set my footprints in North-East, I was to my surprise did witness the presence of military and para-military forces. The flash point of North-East is that the presence and the surveillance of military and para-military forces 24/7 can never be minimized. Of course, GOI offers a number of justifications for the presence and proliferation of army, but the perceptions of the citizens are entirely different though the landscape is so beautiful like a rainbow.
The GOI ruled by BJP since 2015 is trying its best to be more ‘inclusive’ with the North-East with political framework and objective. However, in reality, North-East is yet to be integrated though despite many initiatives and agreements at different levels. The region is truly like a rainbow wherein multiple ethnicities, cultures, traditions, belief systems and usages flourish. Diverse ethnic identities live and co-exists for hundreds of years.NE is unique and distinct in its own ways that adds to plurality and diversity of India.
NE region undoubtedly adds beauty, splendor and bountiesto the secular ideals of the Indian Republic. And yet, stories that surface on and off and the slurs the mainstream India employs vividly manifests ‘otherness’. A number of cases that surfaced in recent times across the major cities such as Delhi, Bengaluru and other major cities and towns ridiculing those from the North-Eastern region have lowered the ethos that we utter all the time such as ‘Live and Let Live’ and mutual co-existencewe laud and claim as part of our heritage.
In the name of “external aggression” and “internal insurgency” a number of laws are invoked by the State – all happened to be draconian and colonizer-driven. Paradoxically those given the sole responsibility to employ and take action are the military and the para-military forces. India is gradually becoming a surveillance state monitoring the movements of everyone infringing upon their freedom. All the time surrounded by the armoury; armed trucks with soldiers surveilling the roads; detaining whoever is suspected and rifles pointed at you paints an image and thus raises a set of questions that fall under Constitution:
All the North-Eastern states have their elected governments. But in terms of security and other details, a question still looms at large is that when you see huge number of military hardware roaming the roads and streets all the times, who governs whether the elected government or the army: In fact, after the recent episode it is pertinent to ask:Who governs the states of North-East? The brute power of the State now emboldened by the militarization and pollicization.
Law enforcing agencies are given ample powers to mute by stringent brute force. To control the citizens the State engages in creating fear amongst the citizens by deploying troops with refiles and machine guns.AFSPA plays the safe cover-up for the nefarious designs of the State and its paraphernalia. The army and paramilitary forces are given the free-ride to use the power that is born out of the barrels of the guns.
This is what happened on the 4-5th of December, 2021, when the commandos unleashed fire on the innocent unarmed miners assuming that they were ‘insurgents’. Giving away AFSPA to the military in NE region is like extending supra-power to the military without any moderation or any controlling mechanisms. Their actions are given the blanket sanction and extends to the army all kinds of cover-up saying that those killed happened to be ‘insurgents’, which legitimizes the State’s declaration of the region filled with ‘insurgency’.
Weaponization and militarization are two-sides of the same coin. The totalitarians and dictators increasingly spend on procuring weapons upgrading military arsenals so that their military and para-military forces be fit enough to combat any uprisings. Though the totalitarians and dictators chant the chorus in unison about rule of law, democracy and freedom of expression, in their actions they hardly believe in these principles. Instead they throttle, gag and silence those who speak and act for democracy, rule of law and governance.
‘We-thering’ versus ‘Othering’ is beingcarefully and clandestinely schemed formulation by the dominant who tends to push those who do not fit into their framework. The mainstream vis-à-vis ‘we-thering’ shall never tolerate the ‘other’ to be part of their identity. The ‘otherness’ expresses a clear message that you do not look like us, you do not behave like us and so you are the ‘other’. ‘We-the-ring’thinks that you the ‘othering’ is somewhat a ‘different species’, and so, we have the right to control your very being because you are the ‘othering’. When some says “It’s a mistaken identity”, it means many things.
