NE : Not more than a territory : Two sides of the same coin
- Sangai Express Editorial :: February 07, 2014 -

Histories of the North East in the text books of schools in Delhi.

In this very assurance given by Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, following the killing of Nido Tania from Arunachal Pradesh by a bunch of shopkeepers at Delhi some days back, lies exposed the reality of how far removed the North East is from the idea of India as a Nation, both in terms of geography and mentality.

Says something profound about where the North East stands in the overall understanding of India as a Nation.

Well into its 67th year as an independent Nation, the North East at best is added as a footnote in the history text book of India under any State board or the all India boards such as the CBSE and the ICSE.

Even in Manipur, the addition of the history of the land in its text book is a very recent development and so while students of Manipur were earlier made to study the Maurya Dynasty, Gupta Dynasty, Mughal Empire and the Indian freedom movement and of course the History of Great Britain, there was nothing in the course about the North East or even Manipur.

The rationale behind the announcement of Kejriwal that the histories of the North East would be included in the school text books of Delhi is not hard to fathom.

That is sensitise the people, from a young age that the eastern side of India does not end with the Brahmaputra.

Whether this will help in bridging the mental divide, in this age, where the world has literally become a global village, or not is something which only time will tell but what cannot be dismissed is the fact that for the last 67 years, the North East has been a part of India only as a political territory without any social or emotional belongingness.

The chicken neck syndrome is not only about a strip of land that connects the region to the rest of the country, but is also a symbolic statement of where the North East stands in the overall understanding of India as the largest democracy in the world.

Nido Tania was not the first victim to fall prey to the model of racial profiling of the North East people and neither will he be the last for it runs deep.

Joining the protestors and promising stern action against the perpetrators of such crimes is fine and acceptable.

But this cannot be the answer to the issue at hand.

Why is there the need for the North East people to assert their Nationality as soon as they cross the chicken neck and enter the mainland of India ?

Different looks and culture cannot be the only factors.

This would be over simplifying things, for India is known to the world for its different cultures and different lifestyles and vastly different food habits.

The need to go to the core of the matter cannot be over emphasised here. Politically a territory of India, that is the North East, but the social and emotional disconnect is apparent, very apparent.

And in many ways this disconnect can also be traced to the political issues besieging the region.

To sincerely address the issue, Delhi and the respective Governments of the North Eastern States need to go beyond what is actually happening to the North East people in the metros and other cities of the country and take one hard, sincere look at the policies and programmes pursued in the region.

The racial profiling that the people of North East have to face in places like Delhi cannot be seen in isolation of the political issues in the region.

In many ways they are two sides of the same coin.

This is a challenge, a challenge which calls for a mature and sincere approach to deal with.