Reason for Insurgency:
There are several reasons for it, on why
insurgencies are frequent in North eastern states. First of all:-
Historical Reason:
The history itself shows how they were
controlled and regulated by the Britishers. They used them for their purpose
only. Since the lands were filled with natural resources, what these Britishers
did, they just proclaimed it as a noninterference zone. So that they only get
benefits out of all this and no one else can do the same.
After independence what
happened is that, after so many people persuaded them to integrate themselves
with the country India. Due to the lack of transmission, information and
communication all these things are hardly possible for the authority as well as
for the people to build close affinity with each other. This is the reason
whatever schemes and bills are being passed in the parliament they are not
getting any kind of benefits out of it. They are not getting any kind of
clarity on what is happening at the centre of the country. They are feeling
alienated from all these issues. For this reason, the tension between the
North-eastern states and the centre is rising.
The adjacent reason for this
insurrection is migration issues. In this the conflict and tension is
happening between the indigenous people and the migrants of other parts of
India as well as from the neighbouring countries of India, such as- Bangladesh,
Nepal, and Myanmar etc.
One may notice in the text Strangers of the Mist, which states – “One intelligent official
told me that there could be as many as 3, 00,000 Bangladeshi migrants in the
capital. That means, the illegal aliens number as much as three percent of the
total population of this ancient city that is sandwiched in time and culture,
with overwhelming pressure outstripping efforts to give enough people, enough
land, drinking water, electricity and jobs.”(P.6)
And for that one must
understand why people are migrating especially the Bangladeshi migrants. The
lands that are there are no longer able to produce stuff that are necessary to
survive. The environment is unable to sustain the people over there. They are
not getting basic needs, employment and things which are kind if necessary to
survive there. That is the reason people are migrating.
Migration happens from one
particular locality another when people are looking for an upgraded life style,
in search of good times and golden opportunities. In our constitution, we have
the right to move to any part of our country. Since it doesn't require any
major paper work, migrating to all these places is effortless.
During the British era, the
Britishers used to import people from all other parts of the country who are
proficient in speaking English, especially Bengali people. At the same time
they will help them to regulate the matter over there. Therefore, these people
started establishing over there. They are mixing up with the natives. Here in
the book Strangers of the Mist, one
may get this, how Britishers are importing Bengali Hindus to the land of Assam,
where they can get benefits in the administrative works. This is evident in the
text mentioned above, “One of the long- standing threats to this local concern
about Assamese interest has been viewed as Bengali domination. The difficulties
faced by the British colonialists in governing the state were aggravated by the
resistance of the ruling class. As a result, the British imported Bengali
Hindus, who were educated in English and could help administer the place.” (P.45)
Which one may observe inthe
text and the author SanjoyHazarika says, “Historically, the relatively
unpopulated state of Assam has long attracted Bengali Muslim in search of land,
he says.”(p.17)
It is not limited to India
rather the population belonging to the neighbouring countries are migrating to
this particular area since it does share borders with these neighbouring
countries than with India. Since there are no such restrictions on entering
these regions. Therefore, migration of these outsiders to these North-eastern
states are also frequent.
Both influx and outflux is
happening in these areas. When the immigrants are coming, it's not that
they only have an economic and social motif rather they also have a political
motif through all this influx and outflux. There are few people who are skilled
and few are there who are semi-skilled. After the intervention of these people,
it creates a more flexible labour market. The non-native people are coming to
fulfiltheir needs and desires and work as builders, plumbers etc. When they are
coming to settle here, the natives are feeling as if all these are being taken
away by the outsiders.
This is not only related to
the economy but social issues are also there, such as unevenness in population,
environment is deteriorating, joblessness will happen. Overflowing population
may lead to drop down in living standards, since they are running out of
suitable space for building houses. The way the natives are involving
themselves to protect the land, these immigrants fail to do so. Therefore, it
is creating an adverse impact on the environment.
No one can deny this fact that
the natives are also running out of natural resources. Since the outsiders who
are coming to this area from different other places for the mere purpose of
survival they agree to work in an inadequate amount of money. This is creating
a kind of competition between natives and non-natives. When their number is
growing day.By day, they grab hold of each and everything belongs to indigenous
people Geographical issues are also there. In this section what one can see, due
to so many issues regarding communication, differences in language structure
and identity they are getting alienated feelings, that they don't even belong
to this country. The people from mainland India are also looking down on them
for their distinctive cultures and traditions. That is creating an imbalance in
their mind as well as in their heart.
Developmental plans and
schemes which are regulated by the government, these are unevenly distributed
in these states. Funds are not given to execute all these laws and schemes
which are passed by the government. People are facing difficulties in the field
of education, employment, health facilities etc. In that particular situation
an influx of immigration to these regions is creating more and more chaos in their
life. The immigrants from neighbouring countries and states people are coming
and settling here. Through which those who are skilled are getting employment,
they are capturing the land belonging to them. Due to the mix-up of different
cultures these natives are feeling low about their culture, identity crisis is
happening. They are losing the grip over their own things. Since, culture is
what they have and it makes them unique in their own ways. Due to
multiculturalism the natives are facing so many issues.
Since these places are quite
vulnerable to natural disasters, whatever equipment is provided is not enough.
Everyone is working with the intention of exploiting them. That is also
creating anger in the mind of these nations to raise their voice against it.
The deployment of AFSPA, in
these states, deals with the uprisings that happens in these states. It allows
the members to open fire on the basis of reasonable suspicion. They can put
these nations behind the bars as well. Sometimes these officers use their power
to suppress these people. Various occurrences of brutality have been documented
in these regions as AFSPA allows absolute power to security forces. Fake
encounters are very common here.
All these issues are
compelling them to choose violence to keep order in their states according to
their own doctrines. But one may notice that this is the way to get a solution.
Rather through all this brutality common people are the ones who are suffering
as the outcome of something else. The innocent people are being killed in the
war of ideology. There are three to four states in the northeastern region,
where one can experience how often insurgencies happen in these states.Such as-
Assam, Manipur, Nagaland, Tripura.
Insurgencies are recurrent in these states and
the latest example one may take is the state of Manipur. Even today things are
not stable. Common people are being suffered like anything. The primary texts
that are taken for the paper are going to depict sufferings of common people,
how migrants are being killed due to some radical principles. How they are
leading their life in these areas. All this will be discussed in this paper.
The concept of outsiders and insiders:
Due to the insurgencies, that
are happening in some states particular to the Northeast region. Common people
specially the immigrants who are coming into this region from different areas
are how they are suffering, what kinds of challenges they are facing in their
daily lives. All these are represented vividly in the primary texts taken for
this paper.
In the state of Assam, since
many Hindu Bengalis are being inhabited over there, the threat of insurgent
groups is always there in their heart. If they are doing something which will
be disliked by the insurgent groups. These outsiders can be executed by the
insurgent groups without having any guilt.
Since the leading character
here belongs to a multicultural group because he has married a Bengali girl of
his choice. That is the reason the natives and insurgent groups do think that
he is an outsider. That's why people are treating them negatively. The protagonist
here worked as a teacher in a government institution since he has married a
girl from different cultures this is the reason people can't accept them fully
as insiders or a member of this region.
When the government order came
to celebrate Republic Day by hoisting the national flag, the assurance for
security was also given over there, which justifies the anger of these
insurgent groups against the outsiders as well as for the government authority.
Contempt against the laws passed by the government. They do not accept the
government order in their land. They are rejecting this government's rule in
their land. They need a separate country, since the government authority is
working against their interest and wellbeing. There they will have their own
rules, filled with their own people, they will regulate their own rules. No
outsiders will be there.
This context can be proved
through these lines of the book and that is Cycle
of Clichés, where the author mentions,“it is never part of any other
country, it was an independent country, had its own rules. Except for the
Burmese and the Britishers, we have never been under anyone's dominion”. (p.101)
In the book where one may
observe the recurrent themes of outsiders and insiders and what makes someone
insider and what makes someone outsider. If one person doesn't get involved in
small talks with other people, does it make him an outsider, it depends on
origin or upbringing. If we perceive things like this then the kings, the
authority who did rule these lands for so many years, they are also outsiders.
Which demonstrates the point that the ancestors and the people who are
inhabiting here with the natives are the outcome of social assimilation and
nothing else. In the book Strangers
of the Mist, where it is quite visible how migrating people to this land
was there for so many years. This is not something new in this particular time
and place. One may witness all this in the book where the author states,“Historically,
the relatively unpopulated state of Assam has long attracted Bengali Muslim
migrants in search of land, he says.”(P.17)
Where one can see this influx and outflux is not
something strange now. It was always there in the history of the northeast.
From the above quotation one can see how people from different cultures and
traditions are uniting here through the process of social assimilation.
In the books, one can also get
how these insurgent groups are hateful and biased for this. The abduction of
government officials, media persons, businessmen in order to fulfil their
malicious intent were frequent. They just capture the common people to force
the government authority to fulfil their demands. From this one may understand
how common people suffer in the hands of these trickster. One can predict what
will happen in the next moment. All this capturing, killing, abduction and
other kinds of torture frequently happened. These can be seen in the lines of
the bookCycle of Clichés where the
author mentions, “Those days, it was casual for something to happen. Something
like businessmen or government officers being abducted for ransom...”(P.144)
Murder, abduction and other
misfortune happens on a daily basis and one can't recognise this is today's incident
or yesterday's. If someone tries to go against their ideology, they just kill
them without having second thought. Just like the leading character got killed
here in this particular book. The author Niladri Chakroborty discusses in the
book where he says, “In the
Principal's office across the large teakwood table, on the cushioned chair was
Deuta, seated with his head tilted to the right, resting on the backrest, with
his eyes closed. Lifeless. (P.146)
In the book Strangers of the Mist, we can also find
how they try to convince the natives to go against these people who are not
Assamese. No-one denies that they are staying here since the time of immemorial
but since the people have different language structures, culture is different,
questions are being raised by these people about their existence. They are also
instigating natives to free their lands from these outsiders and at the same
time they deserve a new land, separate country altogether. That is the reason
insurgency is happening in these states. This is not one particular reason for
that rather so many issues are there in this particular regard.
Insurgencies all about how the
people who are ruled by their own ideology without thinking about anything
else. In this process only the common people do suffer, they get killed like
anything. No one cares for them. They are just like unsung heroes the way it is
also presented in this text. Whatever is happening here in the text taken as
primary sources, this represents the life of each and every outsider. How they
live, how they are struggling to survive amidst all the chaos.This is just the
instance of one single case. So many incidents like this happened on the daily
basis and people of that particular area are very much used to this. It doesn't
affect them much. Just like this so many people are being killed by these
insurgent groups. They are counted as nothing because they are different from
the real martyrs who sacrificed their life on the border for the sake of
country and countrymen.
These casualties are just
numbers for them. Since they belong to a different region. In this foreign land
this is the fate of these outsiders. No-one tries to find out what has
happened, what went wrong, whether the culprits deserve punishment or not.
No-one cares for them. There is the fear in that particular environment which
seems as, if someone from these outsiders go against the ideology of the
insurgent groups the only end result is death.It is
evident in the text where the author NiladriChakroberty discussed hoe the people around would justify this incident by
saying, “with deep sighs and moistened eyes they added that he was perhaps
destined to meet his end in the hands of his own people. He should not have
soared that high, they often conclude. Don't soar too high, don't stop too low
when you have wings of wax.” (P.148)
From this discussion one can
see how people are heartless for each other, they don't have sympathy for these
people. In spite of these people staying there for a long time no one has
accepted them as their own people. Here how people are justifying the act of agitation
and terror in this manner.
For the insurgent groups, what
the outsiders mean, when these people have different origins and they come
to settle here, these non-natives take share from everything that is there only
for the natives. With the arrival they are snatching everything from them such
as- land, job even culture. What is happening with culture, through this social
assimilation process each other's culture is getting mixed up and a new kind of
culture is being created. These people don't want this mix-up culture. For this
they just wanted to make their land free from these outsiders. The kind of
statements which are being used in this book
Cycle of Clichés, which justifies the idea of who is an outsider and what
they showed accordingly,
“Actually... your mother is Bengali and your
father was Assamese. Bengalis are outsiders, aren't they? So, you are basically
a half outsider. You should not expect everything we get as insiders and be happy
with whatever we give you.”(P-213)
And the similar things can be
seen in the bookStrangers of Mist,
here the author says – “Assamese must get out of India: what has Delhi done for
you? It has exploited your resources and one day they will turn their soldiers
and guns against you as they have done to us; he said Assam and Nagaland must
be together, otherwise they will suffer separately. Together we can face India (P.88)
Where we can see how these
people are opposing the outsiders as well as the government authorities of
India by saying how they are suffering because of these people. They should
leave this place since the natives are facing hurdles for this. And if they are
staying, they should follow the rules that the natives have without questioning
them. This is their demand from the outsiders as well as from the government
authorities.
Issues regarding language
creates so much chaos in that field. The natives have the feeling that the
authority is more focused on the language 'Hindi' than other languages. This is
creating problems for the people who are facing difficulties to communicate,
understand and reciprocate by using a different language altogether. So this is
also a reason of conflict in the society.
In this textCycle of Clichés, one may notice how
these people are leading a life after their world is being scattered by the
insurgents. They are struggling to get a good life. Because the source of
income or the breadwinner is no more. And being an outsider, one can't think of
taking revenge from these people since it is absolutely a thoughtless idea.
This would create more chaos in their life as well as in society. They just try
to forget what has happened and focuses on what is the need of the hour and
that is to survive. Which can be justified from the statements- “Ma was worried
as usual until Nissim narrated one night how his younger brother toiled
fourteen to fifteen hours every night, to earn some extra rupees as incentives
and overtime allowances over and above his salary.” (P.375)
These are the issues for which both natives and
the non-natives face issues in these areas for the prejudices they have
regarding their existence.
Literary texts as the voice of human hearts:
A few years prior to the
modern era, these insurgencies were regarded as regional conflict only and were
limited to that particular margin only. People belonging to mainstream society
had no clue of what was happening in these regions. What kind of lives these
natives and nonnatives are leading over there. Why the outsiders were being
killed by the insurgent groups. How these people over there leading a life
having an imaginary fear in their heart and mind. Their stories, sufferings,
struggle, homicide everything was just a mystery to the world there. Due to the
lack of communication facilities, they remain alien for the rest of the world.
Solely guided by the prejudices they used to instigate war against the
government. The innocent common people became the first casualties of
this violence. This shows how internal conflicts are more detrimental than the
external conflicts.
And now things have changed a
lot. This regional issue has become a global issue right now. Due to the
development of mass media and communication, we are getting information about
everything in just a few seconds.From the above discussion we can see how the
writers of contemporary are coming to the forefront to share their experiences
as a victim as well as an observer. They are sharing the minute details of the
incidents bravely. And literary texts like, Cycle
of Clichés by NiladriChakraborty and Strangers of the Mist are perfect
examples of this kind of work, where the minute details are being described to
let the world know what they are going through.
Just like these two books,
other books are also written in this context. Such as - These Hills Called Home: Stories from a War Zone by TemsulaAo,
where he is talking about how common people are suffering due to war and
violence, how they handle it. This story is not only about a particular region
rather it is about nation, nationality, identity, struggle and details dealing
with war and struggle is presented comprehensively in their books.
Equally
as the previous book, this book, How to
Tell the Story of an Insurgency: Fifteen Tales from Assam by Aruni Kashyap
has described incidents in this book so minutely which we only know through
numbers. These writers are the ones who have represented the voice of these
victims directly from the war zone to the heart and mind of the reader. 