Not just another bandh or rally : Striking a chord with all
- The Sangai Express Editorial :: September 08, 2012 -

Empty streets due to North East bandh called by North East Student Organisation in Imphal City on 06 September 2012
Pix - Bunti Phurailatpam

It was not just another bandh. It was not just another rally.

Delhi and the country should take note of this.

Bandhs or general strikes in the North East have lost their novelty a long, long time back.

A case of familiarity breeds contempt and why not, especially in a place like Manipur where it has become fashionable for a couple of guys to get together, form a Joint Action Committee at the drop of the hat and impose a State wide bandh.

At other times, it has been a case of the cause for which a bandh or a general strike has been called failing to fire the imagination of the people.

Fear and apprehension of a backlash are what make bandhs or general strikes effective and not out of any genuine sense of solidarity with the cause or the reason.

However there was a difference in the 12 hour bandh called by the North East Students' Organisation from 5 am of September 6 in the region.

Not withstanding the loss to the States of the region, it was a refreshing change to see the cause behind the bandh striking a chord with the common people.

Influx from across the border, particularly from Bangladesh and systematic discrimination that people from the North East States are subjected to in mainland India, are issues which are dear to the hearts of all the indigenous people of the region.

It is this which the Government of India should acknowledge. Time to look beyond the bandh and put the finger on the pulse of the people.

To the people of the North East too, the message rung out by NESO on September 6 should be clear and it should not be forgotten now that the 12 hours bandh is over-the common thread that binds the people together should not be snapped by internal differences, which are artificial at their best.

Influx and its impact on the demographic composition of the region has been well documented.

With Delhi and the respective State Governments not demonstrating the urgency and concern to neutralise the flow of foreigners into the land, the onus should be taken up by the people and unitedly at that. The threat is common to all and to meet a common threat, what better strategy than to strike a common stand ?

In as much as the bandh was against the influx of illegal migrants into the region, it was also a move to assert the stand of the people against the continuing discrimination, racial profiling and taunts that the people from the region are subjected to once they cross the proverbial ‘chicken neck’.

That it took Olympic medallist Mary Kom to assert her Indianness after returning from London says something significant.

It is also time for the respective State Governments of the region to search their soul and see where they have consistently failed in protecting the interest of their own people.

Time to tell the political leaders from the region that they should start talking to Delhi and the rest of the country on equal terms.

The whimpering days should be consigned to the waste bin. Instead of the cliched begging bowl, it should now be a case of asserting oneself and demanding one's inalienable rights.

Should the North East region be satisfied with one IIT at Guwahati or one IIM at Shillong ?

Will the region get to maximise the opportunities that are set to be thrown up by the Look East Policy or should the North East be just a corridor for the rest of the country to reach out to South East Asia ?