Features- Integrity Of Manipur: A Must For Peace In The North-East

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Integrity Of Manipur: A Must For Peace In The North-East
By TJ Singh
The North-Eastern Region was no problem for the Government of India under the British regime. It was a very peaceful region, except that owing to difficulties in surface communications the pace of development was slow and people lived in this region peacefully. Now, the North-Eastern Region has become a headache of the Government of India after the departure of the British, and the people living in this region are the most dissatisfied and unhappy people in the country. This narration will show how such a situation has been created after Independence. While the rest of the country is enjoying the fruits of independence from the British Raj, the people in this region are engaged in factional feuds and internecine mud-throwing against one another after Independence. It is painful to say that this situation has been caused by short-sighted policies of the post-Independence Government in New Delhi, which were framed on tables of the Central Secretariat without making an in-depth study of the socio-economic problems of the region, thereby making room for personal jealousy and ill-will amongst the brothers and sisters of various communities who have been residing peacefully in this region for centuries. Many of the laws made by the Central Government after the departure of the British tend to make big divides and chasms amongst the multi-ethnic people of the NE Region and disturb the peaceful social fabric. To give a single instance, the Income Tax Act passed by the Parliament of independent India exempts a tribal in this Region from payment of income tax, however high his income may be, whereas a non-tribal has to pay income tax. A non-tribal Section Officer has to pay income tax while his tribal boss (a Secretary or Commissioner) who is drawing five or six times the former’s salary is exempted by law from payment of income tax. The rationale behind this law is simply not understandable. It not only reduces the national income but also causes dissension amongst the people working in the same office and the people working as contractors or businessmen as only non-tribal contractors or businessmen have to pay income tax. In view of the fact that a major part of the income tax paid by the people of the State is given by the Central Government to the State Government for infrastructural development, why won’t the well off amongst the tribal people be made proud that they are at least contributing something to the development of the State? Some people cannot but suspect whether such a distinction has been created in exercise of the archaic policy of “divide and rule” inherited or learnt from the colonial powers. Apart from such distinctive laws which cause disunity amongst the people, the chain of events now seen in the North-East calls for retrospection. If the Government of Independent India maintained the status quo in respect of the NE Region after the departure of the British without dismembering the State of Assam in 1962, the present problems of the Region would not have arisen. When the British left the shores of India, the NE Region had only three States, viz. the province of Assam and the princely States of Manipur and Tripura. NEFA (present Arunachal Pradesh) was more or less a part of Assam. The Constitution of India enacted on the 26th November 1949 by the Constituent Assembly of India included the State of Assam in Part A of the First Schedule and the States of Manipur and Tripura in Part C of the same Schedule. That is to say, Manipur and Tripura which were princely States with fixed boundaries during the British period continued to be full-fledged States under the Constitution of India. The States Reorganization Act, 1956 (passed by Parliament in August 1956) which constituted new States of Kerala, Mysore, Bombay, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Punjab by amalgamation or otherwise of the former princely States with the British Indian provinces did not affect the Part C State status of Manipur and Tripura and the Part A State status of Assam. However, the Constitution (Seventh Amendment) Act, 1956 which was passed by the Parliament in October 1956 started disturbing the status of Manipur and Tripura. As there was a single party in power in the Centre as well as in all the States of the county in those days, it was an easy job for the Central Government to bring about a Constitutional amendment. The Seventh Amendment did away with categorizing the States as Part A, Part B, Part C and Part D States in the First Schedule of the Constitution of India, and instead, categorized them as States and Union Territories. Manipur and Tripura which were full-fledged States under the original Constitution were reduced to the status of Union Territories in 1956, thereby, as it were, inviting agitation from the peoples of the Union Territories to claim their lost Statehood. Of course, there were agitations from the public and from all political parties in Manipur demanding Statehood. In the meantime, the Government of India started dismembering the State of Assam in 1962 by enacting the State of Nagaland Act, 1962. The Naga Hills-Tuensang Area ceasing to form part of Assam became the State of Nagaland consisting of three districts to be called Kohima district, Mokokchung district and Tuensang district. As the dismembering of Assam thus started on ethnic ground in this multi-ethnic North-East, the Government of India had subsequently yielded to the pressure for further dismemberment of Assam by carving out of it the States of Meghalaya and Mizoram in 1971 and even Arunachal Pradesh. No wonder that we now see demands for Bodoland, Dimasaland, Kukiland, and what not. There was no such problem during the time of the British. The Nagas who were so called by the English people never clamored for being under one administrative unit. The British who converted the aboriginals of the hills of the North-Eastern Region into Christianity and who coined’ the name “Naga” for some of them and who created the Naga Hills District of Assam never intended to increase the size of the district to cover all the Naga inhabited areas of the Region. The Nagas of Manipur never wanted to merge their ancestral land in Manipur with the Naga Hills district of Assam nor did the Nagas of the Naga Hills press for bringing any part of Manipur into the Naga Hills district. It is only after the dismemberment of Assam in 1962 that the pressure for dismemberment of Manipur for making a bigger Nagaland arose. It may be remembered that along with the second dismemberment of Assam in 1971, Manipur and Tripura were restored their lost Statehood. Picking up history at a short range, Padmanabhiah once said in a television interview that the State of Nagaland (born in 1962) was older than the State of Manipur (born in 1971). This is the range of knowledge of history of the high official who represented the Government of India in the peace-talk in Bangkok and elsewhere. He should have learnt that Manipur with its present boundaries was a princely State and was forcibly merged to the Indian Union on the 15th October 1949. He should have also learnt that until the passing of the Constitution (Seventh Amendment) Act, 1956, Manipur was a full-fledged State under the First Schedule to the Constitution of India. There was no Nagaland by then. He should have remembered that the Naga Hills - Tuensang Area which later constituted the State of Nagaland was very much a part of Assam till 1962. The Government of India must be now aware how the dismemberment of the State of Assam has instead of solving the problem in the North-East, aggravated it. If the Government repeat the same mistake by dismembering Manipur which has been having the present boundaries (sometimes even bigger but never less) for more than 2000 years, there will be a perennial problem of ethnic eruptions in the North-Eastern Region and there will be no end to demands for separate States or Union Territories without caring for economic viability. As it is better late than never, the present United Progressive Alliance Government in New Delhi has at last specified in the Common Minimum Program that the existing boundaries of the States in the North-Eastern Region shall not be disturbed. This is a wise step for maintenance of peace in the region. It is hoped that the Government of India will strictly follow the Common Minimum Program and spell it out in the peace talk unequivocally and without beating about the bush that no portion of land within the boundaries of Manipur shall be merged with any neighboring State. Moral and social integration of all the people of the North-East without affecting the administrative boundaries of the sister-States will usher peace and harmony in the region. With different religions, cultures and colorful dresses, the people of this region should be proud of jointly making the beautiful mosaic on this small portion of the globe. Let the Arunachalees, Assamese, Bengalees, Bodos, Kukis, Meiteis, Mizos and Nagas residing in Manipur, Assam, Nagaland, Mizoram, Arunachal Pradesh and elsewhere enjoy their respective social and cultural unity and integrity without thinking of disturbing the geographical boundaries of the States where they were born and brought up. Forgetting narrow ideas of ethnic or religious groupism, let the people of the North-East not fritter away their time and energy in useless internecine quarrels. Their small eyes and low nose are enough to prove their distinct and common identity as distinguished from other people of the country. Let the man-made administrative or geographical boundaries of the small States in the region not affect this common identity. Let them share the development in the other parts of India which is now one of the fastest growing economies in the world. Let the people of Manipur, nay, of the North Eastern Region say “We are one” to fight jointly against communal and divisive forces and against policies which directly or indirectly aim at making walls among the simple living and unsophisticated people of the region. Forget ancient grudge, if any. Remember the ancient harmony only. Forget and forgive is the principle of all the religions professed by the people of this region, which is very much lagging behind as compared to the progress of development in other parts of the country. It is not time for quarrel and for digging up old wounds. On the contrary, it is time for looking forward for fraternity and for working together for development so that the present and future generations may live peacefully and may not be looked down upon by other people.
(Courtesy: The Sangai Express)

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