Rhetoric of Nagas of Manipur
Oppressed, Ill- treated and Exploited by Meities

Lt. Col Laishram Lokendra Singh (Retd.) *

The first decade of the 21st Century is coming to a close. With the unending breakthrough in the field of information technology the world is progressing to a new world order. Walls have crumbled, borders have become irrelevant and smaller nations are organizing themselves into cohesive, unions to face the challenges of this new world order. At the higher plane today's concern is about global warming, climate change etc. which has a direct bearing on the very existence of the human race as such.

The world is definitely on the move to becoming a smaller global village. However, Manipur has possibly got stuck in a time warp perhaps corresponding to the era of 18th Century Europe where each chauvinistic ethnic group was asserting itself over the other and where the ethos of co-existence and mutual respect hardly seemed to exist.

Shortly after having successfully accomplished 68 days of economic blockade of Manipur the Nagas have apparently taken a decision to severe all ties with Manipur Government (read Meities) because the Government did not allow Thuingaleng Muivah, Ato Kilonser ( Prime Minister) to visit his village Somdal as also carry out public meetings in Ukhrul and Senapati at a time when an economic blockade had been imposed against the State Government's decision to hold Autonomous District Council election in the hill districts of the State.

All said and done Muivah's planning was superb, execution was methodical and timely. It's just unfortunate that the plan didn't work out all because the Government of Manipur did what it was duty bound to do. But Muivah as a guerrilla strategist must accept the fact that operational plans however well executed can develop a hitch and therefore there is always a back up plan. Apparently Muivah overlooked the obvious.

Muivah's agenda so far in brief as gathered from media reports is something like this. Sometime in 1965, he left his village Somdal in Ukhrul district of Manipur and went to the adjoining state Nagaland to fight for its (Nagaland's) cause. He joined Naga National Council an underground organization fighting for the independence of Nagaland. At that time Manipur was still a Union Territory and Nagaland State had just been created from the then Naga Hills District of Assam and Tuensang Area of NEFA (now Arunachal).

Now this guy from Manipur was perhaps not happy that the people of this new State had not been granted independence by the Union of India. Therefore, he became an outlawed revolutionary to fight for the sovereignty of Nagaland.

As an outlawed (UG) this guy from Manipur spent most of his life in foreign countries. Bangkok and Amsterdam among others, to carry on the serious business of fighting against the Union of India. As all armed rebellion against a mightier Nation State must culminate on the negotiation table unless all the rebels have been annihilated as in the case of LTTE of Sri Lanka, this guy from Manipur negotiated with the Union of India, got into a cease fire agreement and started the process of peace talks.

Somewhere along the rebellion journey this guy from Manipur perhaps took the logical view that in keeping with the geo-political world order of today, sovereignty of such a tiny land-locked State of Nagaland with its extremely limited resources may not be in the interest of the people of Nagaland or he probably realized the futility of the struggle for the independence of Nagaland. In any case the Union of India has in no uncertain terms conveyed to this guy from Manipur that any settlement has to be within the framework of the Indian Constitution, which means granting of independence to Nagaland is a non-issue for the Union of India.

At the sunset of his life, this guy from Manipur wants an honorable settlement - honorable to him in person. Having read the writing on the wall that independence of Nagaland is out of the question he perhaps believes that asking for the creation of a bigger Nagaland State is the only honourable way out for him. That is therefore the so called "honourable settlement" that this from Manipur keeps harping upon at the peace talks.

It is immaterial whether the Nagas of Nagalandthe 16 tribes, want a bigger State to accommodate all and sundry or not. it is also of no consequence whether the Nagas living in Assam want to be a part of Nagaland or not, further it also does not matter if the tribals (I say tribals and not Nagas, we will deal with it in another chapter) of Changlang and Khonsa districts of Arunachal would want to be called Nagas or not; this guy from Manipur has unilaterally set the agenda for creating a bigger Nagaland State.

The premise here is that all Nagas of Manipur are with Muivah as the undisputed leader, uncrowned king and the saviour of Nagas of all hues and denomination in Manipur (one is not sure if all Nagas of the State will agree to this statement or not), and that all the four so called Naga inhabited hill districts are clamouring to integrate with Nagaland. As to what Muivah will do with the Kukis inhabiting the hill districts he must have worked out with RS Pandey.

Now to put the plan into effect what better option Muivah has than to commence this formidable task from his home State itself for which he has to engineer a communal divide between the Nagas of Manipur and the Meiteis. He has to therefore build up a hypothesis of oppression, ill-treatment and exploitation. And the sum total of what is being reflected in the mainstream media is that today in this 21st Century Meiteis are oppressing, ill-treating and exploiting the Nagas, they are being persecuted and their rights to exist as human beings are being suppressed by the Meiteis so much so that it has become next to impossible to co-exist with the Meiteis under the same administrative unit, therefore Manipur should be partitioned to accommodate the aspirations of the Nagas of the State. The million dollar question begging an answer here is that are the Nagas of Manipur being oppressed, Ill-treated and exploited by the Meiteis? If so how?

Nagas can legally acquire land and settle anywhere in Manipur. Meiteis are denied this right and do not have the legal empowerment to acquire land and settle in Naga inhabited areas of the State. Therefore theoretically if the Nagas continue to acquire land and settle in the valley area where the Meiteis have been legally confined, over a period of time the Meiteis will have no choice but to look for alternative dwelling area may be outside the State. So, who is being exploited?

Barely after three weeks of the 68 days economic blockade. Nagas called for a 72 hours bandh in the Naga inhabited area from 6 pm of Jul, 12,2010. Translated into elementary English it means common people of the valleythe Meiteis. will be physically cut off from the rest of the world for three days for no fault of theirs. This is not the first time it is happening and it will not be the last lime cither. So. who is oppressing whom?

Meiteis traveling by bus along NH 39 between Imphal and Guwahati have been looted, bullied, harassed, beaten black and blue bv the Nagas now for dec-ades whenever the Nagas felt the urge to do so. So, who is persecuting whom? Nagas are extorting huge amounts of illegal tax from goods transported through NH 39 into Manipur in the form of daily fax, annual tax, go-down tax and just-felt-like-taking tax.

Meiteis have no choice but to buy these same goods subsequently at exorbitant rates. Put simply Nagas are levying illegal direct and indirect taxes on the Meiteis on a regular basis. So, who is exploiting whom?

Truck drivers transporting goods along NH 39 to Imphal have been subjected to untold miseries by the Nagas for failing to pay up the daily or periodic extortion money. A number of drivers have been killed, some have gone missing and untraceable till date, some others have been thrashed inhumanly by the Nagas as if it is their birth right to do so. May be it is one of the rights that Muivah keeps talking about. So, who is ill treating whom?

Nagas lament that there are better infrastructures in Imphal than in the hills, they have therefore been neglected by the Meiteis. Well one will have to accept that it is a usual phenomenon that the capital city of a State will definitely have better infrastructure than its peripheral region. Delhi will be better off than Manipur infrastructure wise, and by the same logic Imphal will be better off than the hills. That is precisely the reason why somebody thoughtfully mooted the idea of having summer capital at Ukhrul and winter capital at Imphal. The mooting of this very idea strengthens the notion of the requirement of having better infrastructure at the State capital. Therefore the question of exploitation of the Nagas by the Meiteis in this context is far fetched.

Non-development of Naga inhabited areas is an enigmatic issue by itself. There are various factors in play on this seemingly simple problem. First and foremost is the question of who all are responsible for affecting development in Naga inhabited areas? How it is to be done? Has there been no effort whatsoever? What are the impediments, if any? Who is acting as a stumbling block, if there is a stumbling block? This issue has the room for discussion at length. But for obvious constraints the argument in brief is being put forward.

Is it the Government alone who is responsible for bringing about development in a particular area and its society? No. The Government no doubt has a major role but every unit of that society too has to chip in their bit. Among the many leaders the Naga society has produced, is there or has there been a leader who has affected any tangible development work in the so-called Naga inhabited areas? Or is the society waiting for Meiteis to come and do it?

Evidently almost all the Naga leaders elected so far seem to have had their priority in first acquiring land in the valley and building a palatial house. One is not grudging the intent but the unanswered question is where has he acquired that colossal amount of money? And whose money is it anyway? Isn't it the money meant for the people in the hills in whose interest he is supposed to be working?

Tribal Development Ministers have always been a tribal and not a Meitei. Has anyone of them done any worthwhile and visible tribal development work till date? Where has those tribal development funds gone if not to the tribals in the hills? Should the Meiteis be blamed for it? What about the Naga Bureaucrats? Have they done something worthwhile for their people? One particular DC of Tamenglong district was accused of having misappropriated huge amount of development funds by his own people? He has reportedly constructed a palatial house in Imphal besides acquiring acres and acres of land in Imphal.

Should Meiteis be blamed for this? In the valley individual household units has the capacity to acquire various bank loans with their homestead land or farm land as security for their individual capacity building and growth. Do the Nagas in the hills have this privilege? No. Who is responsible for this denial? Is it the Meiteis?

Ukhrul Nagas will recall the incident of their monthly quota of rice not reaching them, not so long ago. They made a hue and cry demanding the Government to take strict action against those responsible for denying the Nagas their rightful due. Subsequently when it came to light that a particular Naga MLA in connivance with local carriage contractor had misappropriated their own people's rice quota, the decibel of the hue and cry got reduced to naught. After all it wasn't a Meitei, was it? Meiteis will exploit Meiteis, not Tangkhuls.

For the Government to execute development work in the Naga inhabited areas, obviously the State's writ must extend beyond the valley and into the hills. But it is largely absent in the Naga inhabited areas. Is it a willful neglect or has the situational environment been engineered by the Nagas themselves? States effort to extend its legitimacy beyond the valley has been thwarted time and again. Do the Nagas allow the States executive arm to function normally in their area? No. Why?

Its policy of stationing IRBs and Commandos in the Naga inhabited areas have been strongly objected to by the Nagas on the plea that they (Nagas) are peace loving people and their (IRBs) presence itself will create law and order problem. The crux of the point here is not whether the Nagas are peace loving or war loving. The issue is of ensuring that the States writ is there where it should be.

An idealistic Meitei officer late Dr. Kishan, SDO tried his bit within his limited capacity to do something good for the betterment of Kasom Khullen Sub-Division. He was killed mercilessly by the Nagas and prevented from doing any improvement/ development work for the Nagas themselves. Why? Nagas undoubtedly want the government funds flowing freely into their hands but they do not want to improve their lot. Why? The reason is obvious.

As per the theory of armed rebellion against a State, if the people are happy, satisfied and contented with their lives then who is going to join the rebellion ranks? They will give two hoots to Muivah and his ilk. Therefore it is imperative that the people are made to live a life mired in a vicious circle of dissatisfaction, with just sufficient enough to sustain themselves and not much to look forward to; and of course with the power concentrated in the hands of a few.

A regular dose of abstract indoctrination is inescapable for all and sundry with an illusory light being shown at the end of the tunnel so as to prepare the people mentally and physically to withstand their own man made miseries till they reach the illusory light. And mind you this illusion needs sustenance. Nonetheless the Nagas are waiting for Muivah the saviour of the Nagas to emancipate them from their sufferings and take them to a new world of plenty, where there is nothing but happiness and happiness galore.

Perhaps this mythical world is called NAGALIM. Against this backdrop should Meiteis be accused of oppressing, ill treating and exploiting the Nagas of Manipur?

NB : This article has been written to provoke thought exchange between hardcore Nagas bent upon partitioning Manipur and mainstream Meiteis who believe in co-existence. Severe critiquing of the article is solicited.