Blame game over fractious northeast
- The People's Chronicle Editorial :: August 20, 2021 -

IT wouldn't be surprising to any northeast indigenes if BJP leaders come out firing on all cylinders to counter charges levelled by Congress spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala against the Narendra Modi government over recent incidents of violence in some states of the region but the fact remains that these parts of the country have been restive for the last many decades despite the present regime claiming that there has been peace and development in northeast.

The presence of large number of armed outfits with almost all espousing ethnicity specific interests and agenda sums up howfractious the region has been in-spite of those at the helm of affairs in New Delhi and the national media ciphering the northeast as a unified entity.

With exception of the region grabbing the attention of the national media during high profile visits, announcement of eye-catching developmental projects and epochal performances by the sportspersons, the northeast remains in isolation and is considered a forbidden land due to the chronic problem of insurgency and poor transport network.

Ever since the Union government signed ceasefire with the NSCN-IM followed by similar truces and dialogue processes with other armed organisations, there has been some semblance of normalcy in the region regardless of few other outfits still active and considered a threat to the establishment and national identity.

With the region being home to different ethnic groups and some of the community leaders hell bent on distorting history to win over confidence and support of the swayable commoners, it is obvious that finding solution to all issues besieging the region will remain an arduous task for any political entity.

Amid signs of insurgency-related incidents in the region ebbing in the last few years, the recent violent showdown between Assam and Mizoram governments over land dispute and outrage in some parts of Meghalaya in the aftermath of gunning down of HNLC former chairman serve as a reminder to the national and regional governments that there is restive undercurrent in the region.

Thus, the existing jittery socio-political situation provides the fodder to the Congress party to hold the Narendra Modi government accountable for the region infested with issues infeasible for resolution through the conventional mechanism.

Consequent to Randeep Surjewala accusing Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah of remaining oblivious to the current situation in the north eastern states, the ruling BJP and its allies in the region owe an explanation to the people why the NDA government has not been able to restore peace in the real sense.

Having been in power for over seven years, the northeast people are unlikely to be amused in case BJP leaders try to shift the blame on the Congress party, which had ruled the country for maximum terms and the region used to be its political bastion.

Though Randeep Surjewala appears to have magnified the situation by feasting on the Meghalaya incidents as there has been unmistakably far less conflict situation in the region after the NDA came to power, the festering land rows afflicting multiple north-eastern states could turn bitter in case the present regime plays the blame game rather than invite the parties in dispute to iron out their differences in a cordial manner.