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The recent high profile visit of the Prime Minister Vajpayee to Nagaland in the backdrop of the smoldering curfews and bandhs aimed at eliciting an assurance from the Center on the position taken by the federal Government on the reported taking out of two districts of Manipur in the on-going peace-talks between NSCN (IM) and Indian Government as "two entities" is significant in two ways. The three day interaction with the representatives from diverse interest groups in Nagaland and economic bonanza showered, in addition to the earlier packages given to the State as fruits of the peace talk, on the State touch a rare miracle among the hearts of the people of the Nagaland.
There was a deeply-felt impression among the Nagas of Nagaland that the Prime Minister’s gesture seemed to be paying a long-awaited respect to the "unique history" of Nagas, different from the other "entity" called India. While this wind of glee was blowing in Nagaland, Manipur was gasping in cold air whether or not Vajpayee, the Swayamsevak statesman poet, whose Government, is seen to have drifted India’s foreign policy toward a militarily powerful and ideologically imperialistic Axis, would say something which might disturb the present political boundary of Manipur. Vajpayee was fully-informed about the situation in the two "sisters" of the Northeast. More than that he was clear what he was going to do, keeping the "antagonistic" situations in view.
He delineated his policy in a press conference on the last day of visit to Nagaland. What he said in that press conference was superb execution of balancing act while, at the same time, furthering the appeal of the BJP to wider audience of the region. He ruled out the integration of Naga-inhabited areas because there was "no political consensus on the question", at least for the moment. This was aimed at smoothening the ruffled emotions in Manipur on the one hand, and projecting his party BJP as a party that could be trusted as far as the interests of Manipur were concerned on the other.
Secondly, the coziness with which the BJP-led Government in Nagaland rubbed shoulders with Vajpayee and Prime Minister giving a huge economic package was an attempt to tell the States in the region that a BJP Government was for the good of the peoples of the State. Provided that "peace" prevails, federal Government would do everything to improve conditions in the region. Especially so when election is being held in Mizoram, and Lok Sabha election in other States next year.
Prime Minister’s policy seems to be working. Not only the protests across Manipur cooled down with UCM appreciating the stand of Vajpayee, but also Nagas as representing by various organizations, Hoho included, reacted cautiously, in fact reposing faith in the ability of Vajpayee to solve the long-standing "Naga Question". That the policy of Vajpayee as reflected in the press conference was that Centre was more than ready to help develop every State in the region if peace prevails, like in Naga-land, more so when the Government of the State is a BJP Govt. Nagaland is being projected as a symbol of development in the region which drives home the point that by implication Vajpayee is asking the BJP a chance in governance in this part of India. In short, "follow Nagaland model" is the bottom line of Vajpayee’s policy.
The message was well-received in Manipur. Barely Vajpayee took-off his Naga attires, did political simmers begin to deepen in Manipur. The four MLA-strong BJP contingent in Manipur started working on different configurations to topple the Ibobi-Government and install a BJP-led coalition.
And that led to the removal of three cabinet ministers from the Ibobi Government on the charge of hatching conspiracies to topple the Government. Sambhu Srivastav, the AICC observer for North-east, said in a press conference in Guwahati, "the BJP is playing a dirty game of capturing power in the region with help from PA Sangma and the militant outfits". This only reinforces the judgment that BJP is really all-set to widen its reach beyond, or to compensate an expected loss in, traditional strongholds to afar places of the strangers of the mist.
This policy of the BJP has national as well as international underpinnings. The collapse of the BJP-supported Government of Mayawati has limited, if not depriving, the BJP the capacity to maneuver for the Lok Sabha election next year. Even the VHP-orchestrated-RSS-backed-up show at Ayodhya proved to be not successful, if not an outright damp squib. The Oct 17 Sankalp (or determination) show at Ayodhya was met with a determined administration of Mulayam Singh Yadav who himself is working on a different vote-bank politics.
Coming to power on the roughshod of Mandir movement, BJP now "faces the prospect of losing it’s rather toehold in the Hindi region." This prospect led BJP in a sort of "look east" policy, and managed to install a BJP-led Govt. in Arunachal Pradesh in addition to the BJP-led coalition in Nagaland formed earlier. Now close on the heels of Vajpayee’s successful Nagaland visit, Deputy Prime Minister L.K. Advani visited, accompanied by BJP leaders, Arunachal Pradesh on Nov. 14, and as expected announced an economic package for the State. While development package of any people/State is welcomed by everyone and the writer in no way finds fault with the packages per se, the driving motive may be more to do with the BJP’s desire to get access to the traditionally alien places.
This motive is clear if we include the politics of Mizoram. The interaction between NSCN (IM) and BJP seems to have pushed BJP to support Mizo National Front (MNF) of Zoramthanga who acted as mediator between the "two entities", NSCN (IM) and India. While it is early to conclude that there is an understanding of sorts between NSCN (IM) and Indian Government as far as the possibility of "Nagalim" is concerned, the peace talks between the two seem to be used as a cover or at least a partial cover to sell the image of "peace-maker" BJP in the region. Recently at an election meeting in Aizawl, BJP leader C.P. Thakur said, "the BJP is not a threat to Christianity".
But concentration/focus on the Northeastern States is not only dictated by party politics of National dimension. It also seems to be an effort to make the world see that India is still a multi-cultural and secular country despite the setback on these fronts in recent years. A string of anti-minority incidents have given a blow on the secular face of India. This campaign culminated in the form of genocide in Gujarat with perpetrators still at large yet to be brought to book. The Gujarat 2002 killings has tarnished the image of India under BJP Government, which many believed to have been championing an ideology favorable to "one culture, one people" line, as a secular and plural democracy.
The Government seems to have drawn up a policy that by focusing on the mostly tribal/Christian Northeast, India may be projected as a country of diverse orientation and cultures, and what’s more the federal Government is doing all it can to bring the different cultures to the "mainstream", or at least trying hard to develop them in their cultural contexts with ever ready help from the BJP-led Government at the Centre. This framework may enable us to explain the peace talk between Indian Government and NSCN (IM) — whose public relation organization NISC is reported to have spread to different locations in Europe with an office in Washington D.C.
The talk with NSCN (IM) enables the Government to address the sensitivities at least in some influential constituencies in the West, and that in turns gives a time to withstand the pressure for justice in some other sections of Indian society in some other regions of the country.
In the meantime, Vajpayee is on the fence, weighing things.
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