No. 12, November 2008 StateoftheStates: MappingIndia’sNortheast BhagatOinam East-West Center Washington WORKINGPAPERS EastWestCenter TheEastWestCenteris=an internationallyrecognizededucation andresearchorganization establishedbytheU.S.Congressin 1960tostrengthenunderstanding and=relations=betweenthe=United= Statesandthe=countriesofthe=Asia Pacific.Throughitsprogramsof cooperativestudy,training,= seminars,andresearch,theCenter= workstopromotea=stable,peaceful andprosperousAsiaPacific communityinwhichtheUnited= Statesisaleadingandvalued partner.=Funding=for=the=Center= comesfortheU.S.government, privatefoundations,individuals, corporationsandanumberof=Asia Pacificgovernments. EastWestCenterWashington EstablishedonSeptember1,2001,the= primaryfunctionof=theEastWest CenterWashingtonistofurtherthe= EastWest=Centermissionandthe= institutionalobjective=ofbuildinga peaceful=andprosperous=AsiaPacific communitythroughsubstantive programmingactivitiesfocusedon thethemeofconflictreductioninthe= AsiaPacificregionandpromoting Americanunderstandingofand engagementinAsiaPacificaffairs. ContactInformation: Editor,=EWCWWorkingPapers EastWest=CenterWashington 1819L=Street,NW,=Suite200 Washington,D.C.20036 Tel:(202)2933995 Fax:(202)2931402 [email protected]= BhagatOinam=isanAssociateProfessorattheCenterforPhilosophy,Jawaharlal NehruUniversity,=India. EastWestCenterWashingtonWorkingPapers ThisWorkingPaperis=aproductoftheEastWestCenterProjectonInternal ConflictsandStateBuildingChallengesin=Asia.Seepages41—55fordetails. 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EastWestCenter Washington = = = = = = = = = = = = StateoftheStates: MappingIndia’sNortheast = = = = OnJune18,2001,ahugemassagitationtook= state of Manipur is likely to be the worst place in the state of Manipur against the affected.Hence,whilea=lot=ofdisenchantment extension of ceasefire between the= echoed from the states of Assam and Government of India (GoI) and the Isaak Arunachal Pradesh, the state of Manipur= Muivah faction of the National Socialist= experienced the largest amount of protest Council of Nagaland (NSCNIM) to all the= interspersed with violence. In spite of a state= Naga inhabited areas in the region. The curfew, the agitationspread from theImphal agitation was= triggered by= a= subclause in the= East and Imphal West= districts, to the= agreement which read= that the ceasefire= Bishenpur and= Thoubal districts, encompass between the two parties would= no longer be ingtheentire=valleyofManipur.Theprotests= confined to the state of Nagaland but would= started on June 15, one day after the be extended “without territorial limits.”= This agreementwassigned,and=intensifiedonJune meant that the ceasefire= between the two 18whenthirteenagitatorslosttheirlivesafter parties would operate in= the Naga inhabited beingfiredbytheCentralReservePoliceForce= areas of Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, and= (CRPF) personnel near the Chief Minister’s Manipur.Nagainsurgentgroups,civilsociety= bungalowtodispersea=mobthatattackedthe= organizations,= and the political leadership= Chief Minister’s residence. The governor’s (Nagaland State Assembly) have= been bungalowwasalsotargetedin=a=failed=effort. demanding a= merger of “Naga inhabited Several state buildings and government areas” of these three states into a “Greater= properties were torched and turned to= ashes. Nagaland.” Greater Nagaland also aims at= Among these were the State Legislative merging the “Naga inhabited” northwestern Assemblyand=officesofsomepoliticalparties. part of Myanmar into its projected political= More than= 20 quarters of Members of= boundary. Within the Indian territory, the= LegislativeAssembly=(MLAs)andMembersof Bhagat Oinam Parliament (MPs) were also destroyed. Two= liberationstruggleagainst=theIndianstateand MLAs suffered severe= burn injuries. The= protecttheterritorialintegrityofManipur.In= Speaker of the State Assembly, Dhnanjoy the state of= Manipur attacks on= local MLAs Singh, was beaten up and garlanded= with andpoliticalofficescontinued.Finally,onJuly= shoes.Effigies=ofnotonlytheCentralpolitical= 27 the GoI unilaterally rolled back the Truce= leaders were burnt but the Indian flag was Extension leading to normalcy= of life= amidst= burntandtrampled.Initsplace,=asevencolor protest from NSCNIM and several Naga flagrepresentingManipurwashoisted. organizations.= In the next few days, different ethnic Thiseventisalandmarkinthehistoryof groups like= Rongmei Naga, Hmar,= Paite, Northeast India, highlighting the complex Vaiphei,Kuki,Maring,Nepali,andManipuri nature of the region, and the political Muslim, etc. joined the protest. Liangmei dynamics that involves the communities, Naga Students’ Union, however, supported= statesandalsotheIndianstate.Theburningof theceasefireextension.Therewerealso=other Indian flag and hoisting of the Manipuri= Naga groups that supported the ceasefire. sevencolor flag was seen= as resurrection of These supporters threatened many Naga Manipur’soldnational=pride.Itwasalsoseen= bodies who joined the protests. By June 26, by many= as handiwork= of some insurgent Manipuris in= Assam and= Tripura joined the= groupsenteringthemassagitationindisguise. protests and showed solidarity.= Manipuris in But little did= this section of agitators realize Bangladesh= started rallies at Sylhet.= that the seven colors only represent= seven Nonresident= Manipuris in the= United= clans of the majority Meitei community and= Kingdom(UK)joinedthe=protestand=created= thus could not be expected to represent the “Save Manipur Association” on July 2= in ethnicallydiversepeopleofManipur.Further, London. Other ethnic groups in other states there was no= earlier record of the use of this such as Dimasha in Hafflong joined the flag during the preceding British colonial= protest.NSCNKdeclared=thatNSCNIMdid= period.Itcertainlyseemsitwasaninvention not have the people’s mandate. On June 29, by some of the Meitei nationalists.= It was an= the All Assam Students Union (AASU)= attempttoreinventa=past—anoldheritageof threatenedtointensifytheprotestsagainstthe the kingdom of Manipur—destroyed by the= extension of the ceasefire. Eminent Britishbuttheactofdestructioncontinuedby= personalities= in the fields of sports, art and= the Indian state. While Manipur has a= long culture declared their intention to return the recorded=historyasa=sovereign=kingdom,the national= awards. The wellknown= theatre memory of this past is marked by symbols personality,= Ratan Thiyam, returned his and narratives that are very much present. PadmaShree=award=totheGoI.Union=Home Thereisnothinguniqueaboutthisenterprise; Minister of State, I.D.= Swami, arrived in= itonlyshowshowhistory(ofa=community)is ManipuronJuly5=andbeganconsultations=on= written(Ricoeur1994:127).Creationofa=new theterritorialissuewithpoliticalparties,civil Bharat= in the India during the later part of society groups, and ethnic community Britishcolonialruleisawellknownphasein= representatives. With the situation deterior Indian historiography. Similarly, creation of= ating I.D. Swami was airlifted from the thesevencolorflagisone=suchinvention.But= Governor’s bungalow to the Imphal airport= what is of immediate importance is that this andfinallytoNewDelhi.RSSalsopledgedto invention is the outcome of a sentiment of protect the territorial= integrity of= Manipur. anger from the sense of the loss= of the= past, MPLF, the joined body of three insurgent= and was largely witnessed among= many organizations PLA, UNLF, and PREEPAK sectionsoftheprotestorsofManipur.TheGoI (which is of course nonfunctional= today) on= wasseenasa=villain––asthesourceofallthe= July 24 reaffirmed= its resolve to continue= menace. It is this sentiment that was shaped= 2 State of the States: Mapping India’s Northeast intoapoliticallystructuredforminthe=voices= and its machineries. In the similar vein, civil oftheinsurgentorganizationsintheregion.If society groups in the hills where NCSNIM= onelooksathowtheinsurgencystartedinthe has its stronghold came out sharply against states of Nagaland, Manipur or Assam, even Meitei chauvinism and= dominance. They thoughtheemergenceof=thephenomenamay criticized the GoI for succumbing to the= varyfromone=social=dynamictoanother,one= pressure by the Meiteis.= The divide of the still invariably finds an undercurrent of peopleson=ethniclinecameoutopenly. defianceofalingeringcolonialforce.Thereis The two types of crises;––(i)= of re also a= lurking= belief that by freeing oneself sponding to= the challenges questioning the= fromthiscolonialyoke,onecanrecoverone’s legitimacyoftheIndianstatebythenonstate= “lostpast.”=Thisdefianceandinsurgenceisa (insurgent) forces, and= (ii) of handling the= major crisis that the region is currently faced= ethnic conflicts and political= claims on ethnic with.ThetargetinvariablyistheIndianstate. line––haveemergedinthe=formofchallenges Even the regional= states and their= govern to the Indian state as well as the regional= ments are seen as an extension of the Indian= states. state. The violent protests of June 18, largely To elaboratethe first point, the statusof targeted against Manipur’s political leader theIndianstateasapoliticallylegitimatestate