The Politics of Shoe Hurling
and the political future of the North-Easterners: A Hard Lesson
- Part 2 -

By Puyam Rakesh Meetei *

NATIONAL POLITICS AND DILEMMA OF THE NORTH-EASTERN PEOPLES:

The Prime Minister of India, Shri Manmohan Singh spoke clearly saying that casteism and communalism are the two greatest threats to India at present. Manmohan Singhji's words carry the weight.

The general trend that we see in everyday life speaks volumes about the unchanging social realities in positive direction. Instead the venoms of casteism and communalism is rising in fast pace. And there is no way out of this. Many of our great leaders play politics by using caste and religion as tools for getting vote.

In north-east India, we do not have deep-rooted casteism except among a small section of the population. The communal feelings among the religious groups are on the rise but not as dreadful as in the mainland.

Nevertheless, the mandarins are trying to exploit many regional conflicts for their vested interests which will bring a very inhospitable situation in future. Especially in Manipur we see a new development under which society (Meetei) will be fractured into many castes to be exploited later by the mandarins at the centre.

The greatest enemy of the north-eastern peoples is "ethnic conflict". The demand over land, resources, and political space has brought immense contradiction among the ethnic communities living in this region. The lack of long-term vision to uplift the region from economic impoverishment is the biggest failure on the part of the politicians of this region.

Therefore, we need to change the way we perceive the nation's political and socio-economic landscapes. Our future is gloomy in the sense that we have no or negligible political leverage in the parliament of the country.

The people of the North-east India are not as fortunate as the Sikhs living in India. The socio-economic and political space of the Sikhs in India is very strong. The present PM himself is a Sikh. Still the dirty political system respects the criminal politicians but not the citizens.

We experienced a anti-political leader agitation in June 18 incident in which many politicians were blatantly targeted by the people of Manipur for their irresponsibility. After that it is as we are. Once the "ELECTION FEVER" comes into the scene, our people are more concerned about getting a sight of Hema Malini or Sonia Gandhi.....

The people of the North-east India must know the shortcomings we have in terms of small population (few MPs), little resources, bad infrastructure, marginalized presence, and impoverished economy. We need to play politics after thoroughly understanding these things. The question of survival is very much the nature of politics. Our politics is not a politics of 'power game' but 'politics of taking alms'.

This shows that we are a very vulnerable section of the country'. The 'politics of ethnicity' creates many enemies within the family (N-E) without winning many 'friends' outside the family. Some of the 'fair weather friends' we have made so far means little when it comes to our marginalized interest.

Everything has been so politicized in N-E India that the 'OXYGEN' we inhale for living also has 'Oxy-Naga', 'Oxy-Meetei', 'Oxy-Kuki', 'Oxy-Dimasa' or 'Oxy-Karbi' brands. The dilemma of whether to make friends outside the family for gaining space, territory, ethnic recognition or to win hearts of the family for more economic development and societal cohesion is well-founded.

The politics of ethnic territorialisation demands winning friends outside to achieve the political goal of 'homeland'. However, the very purpose of our politics is also to avoid the loss of our people and their wellbeing. Creating many enemies within the family will destroy the family while the so-called 'fair weather friend' may run away from the scene. We should never forget that India has many leaders who want to put an end to all kinds of anti-India sentiments in North-east by fair or foul means. This lesson must not be learnt by heart but thoroughly.

ENHANCING THE POLITICAL LEVERAGE AT NATIONAL POLITICS:

The best way of enhancing our overall status is to increase the political leverage at national politics. The problems afflicting our states can be address with attention from both the public and the government. Here attracting the government's attention to our grievances means 'pressuring' them. This 'pressure politics' also calls for 'increased presence' in the national sphere.

There are many domestic political, economic and social problems which inhibit general well being of the peoples. Some of these problems are our own making and require some active participation of the central government to redress the problem.

Another kind of problem is very much of central government's making. Some of these include neglecting the infrastructural development, denying political rights and faulty policies undertaken in the name of development. The purely domestic matters have to be resolved through 'confidence building', traditional means of conflict resolution, revitalizing the socio-cultural institutions at grass-root level.

One good example could be the 'village elders' associations' for village level or ethnic level problems. Do we need some 'confidence building meetings' between the Meetei village elders' and the tribal village headmens' for bringing peace and tranquility in our region?

For Lok Sabha speaker P. A. Sangma's call for regional political unity is a welcome development. We can chart out a "Common Interest Program" to address the sufferings of the people in this region. This call will have little effect taking into account the past record of regional political solidarity and other conflictual interests.

But there are many common issues we can fight together. For instance, Armed Forces Special Power Act, 1958, economic development, power generation, road and railway connectivity, inter-state crimes and cultural exchange tend to be prospective areas of common concern.

We can also ask for larger political presence (increasing the no of MPs) and economic welfare programmes. Another means to enhance our status in the national political arena is to produce more 'Competent leaders of the soil' for greater lobby in the parliament.

If the Maharastrians can ask for a Maharastrian PM in future, why shouldn't we ask for a PM/President from North-east? We have to centre around common issues following our common leaders for common goals. This can also make room for churning out more Union Ministers and national leaders worth naming from our soil. We must shed the 'SLAVISH MENTALITY' of "alms taking" and relying on the 'fair weather friends'.

These 'fair weather friends may have something different in their minds which is disastrous for all under the roof. I believe in the principle that 'I' survive doesn't guarantee the survival of 'WE' but 'WE' survive guarantees the survival of 'I'. When individual 'I' cannot have a secured life, the notion of 'WE' becomes important. Politics is very much a reflection of this 'survival of WE'. The slavish mentality is making our people unable to hurl shoes at our irresponsible leaders even though the powerful Presidents like George Bush and Hu Jintao had a taste of it.

CONCLUSION:

The conclusion says the need to come together and work together. The prioritization of our goals has to be done on account of short term and long-term interests. Any wrong formulation will have to be dearly paid. We are slaves divided and there is only one chance of getting rid of this slavery. That chance is to get united for the common goal.

We better die trying to become 'free men' instead of dying as slaves. Shouldn't we think for our posterity? There are stakes involved in regional socio-economic and political chaos. The national politics has its sway over the land of our people which is historically, culturally, economically and politically marginalized. We must work towards gaining 'our share' of the GDP growth in India.

The technological development, scientific knowledge and other infrastructure available in India should be brought to our region. Our leaders should not find solace in seeing 'Big Metros' elsewhere and ignoring the peoples living like in stone age around is not sign of 'political maturity'.

Their responsibility is not to get 'hypnotized' by the sweet tongue of Sonia Gandhi but to overcome the barriers that deform our society. If the powerful Sikh community could not get justice for nearly thirty years, we could not think of such justice for centuries. We don't want 'forgiving' political leaders; we want leaders who serve their people and live up to the mark of being a representative.

Is there any Manipuri who dare hurling a 'Levis shoe' at PM Manmohan Singh when he visits the state next time? Don't do it as it can spark a riot targeting the minority Manipuris in north India for disrespecting the PM of this country. We have no guardian and no friends in this ocean of people (Billion Plus). Our politics is still that of 'alms taking' not challenging the centre like the Tamils do.

Concluded.....