Globalization, Identity Politics, and Social Conflict: Contemporary Texts and Discourses

Identity Politics, Globalisation, and Social Conflict: Social Discourses and Cultural Texts (Delhi Workshop: March 26-28, 2002)

V. Fractured Polity, Ethnic Identity: The North East of India Sanjoy Hazarika Centre for North-Eastern Studies and Policy Research The battle for Kohima, fought on the tennis courts of the Deputy Commissioner, between the Allied Forces and the Japanese Imperial Army was a turning point in the history of the Asian theatre of the Second World War. But it signalled more than a British victory and a Japanese defeat; it brought the power and interest of the world sweeping into the isolated North East of India. That was one of the first exposures to the world for this land-locked region, but not the first. The North East opened up to the British colonial interests at the beginning of the 19th century. Tea was the crop that attracted young Britons to this backward province. Many made their fortunes here. The Singphyo chief who showed the tea leaf to the British botanist and adventurer who trekked to his village is virtually forgotten. But he opened the gates of globalisation to the region as British companies exploited the resources of the area, shipped in tens of thousands of laborers from central India under appalling conditions (many of them died of diarrhea) and set up establishments which would keep them and future generations relatively prosperous. These days, controversy surrounds the tea industry in Assam. It is seen as one of the sectors that has contributed to the overall growth of the region but also as an industry that has refined the art of "protection money" by placating insurgent groups with large payments. In the process, this pan-Indian commercial complex has continued to the growth of identity politics and conflict. Thus, the tea garden workers, who are a mix of Central Indian tribes such as the Santhals and Oraons, are an important part of the electoral politics of the state of Assam. They are traditionally seen as voters for the centrist Congress Party but their management have, since the 1980s, been forced to support movements which are antiIndia and outright secessionist, such as the United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA) and the National Democratic Front of Bodoland (NDFB). The relationships between ULFA, the NDFB and other ethnic insurgencies are a set of dynamic factors which shed light on the fractured polity of the region and the importance of ethnicity and land as critical to identity formation. The ULFA, for example, as well as the NDFB have strong connections to the Naga insurgent groups. Their main supporter among the Nagas is the National Socialist Council of Nagaland (Khaplang group); but this group has recently (last May) signed a ceasefire with the Government of India where it had agreed to abjure connections with other militant factions.

The Khaplang group is dominated by members of the Konyak tribe; its principal foe is the formidable NSCN (Issak-Muivah), which is better armed and more powerful but is supported by members of the Tangkhul tribe, which is located in Manipur, not in the state of Nagaland. The Khaplang faction comprises largely of the Konyaks, the most populous but also among the poorest of the Naga tribes. Khaplang who wants a settlement of the Naga campaign from independence is a Naga from Myanmar! The I-M faction has signed a peace accord with India in 1997 and has managed to get its extension to other parts of the North East, an issue that has been greeted with outrage among non-Nagas and applause by the Nagas. Thus, ethnic identities and oral histories have mattered more than facts and figures and span international borders with ease. Land too is at the core of one issue which threatens to plunge the North East afresh into turmoil, just after ceasefire accords were signed with the most powerful of the insurgent groups. The Meiteis, or people of the Manipur Valley, angered by what they considered as a Indian Government sellout to Naga demands -- the reference here is to the June 14, 2001 ceasefire between New Delhi and the NSCN (I-M) -- which extended the ceasefire to one without "territorial limits." The Meiteis fear this will result in the end of their ancient kingdom, which was absorbed into India in 1949, and that their state will lose its boundaries. As a result, peace with one ethnic group has led to resistance to this very peace from other ethnic groups. The global economic environment could not be further away. Few are even aware of the proposed Trans Asian Highway that could transform the region and the impression that is gaining ground is that, unless attitudes and policies at the ground level change, the North East and its squabbling identities would remain on the sidelines of the Highway, applauding the cars speeding by without driving those vehicles themselves.