In these elections in Meghalaya, PA Sangma and his 'magic bus' seek inroads

Selsela (Meghalaya): In Meghalaya's West Garo Hills district, a bus the locals call 'The Magic Bus' has been doing the rounds over the past month or so. At every public meeting that PA Sangma addresses in his home district, he emerges on a hydraulic stage from a vehicle that's been dubbed "the magic bus" by the large crowds he draws.

This assembly election, Mr Sangma, who is 65, will need his magic touch more than ever before.

A few months ago, Mr Sangma contested and lost the presidential elections to Pranab Mukherjee. He contested these elections against the wishes of his party, Sharad Pawar's NCP. Now, Mr Sangma has a new party, and he has aligned himself with the BJP in the state, and plans to unite all non-Congress parties in the state.

The veteran politican is not contesting himself, but is campaigning for his two sons and 30 other candidates fielded by his National People's Party.

Mr Sangma says he is using his fight for the President's post to appeal to the nearly 85% tribal population in Meghalaya. "I am telling voters that but for Congress and NCP, a Garo would have been the President of this country. Why should you vote for such parties?"

This election is also about prestige. Mr Sangma has been Chief Minister of Meghalaya once, in the late 80's. Back then, he was a member of the Congress. Since then, he has played kingmaker in Meghalaya but not the leading role.

His critics suggest his decision to form his own party may consign him to a small political space  within his home district in Meghalaya

But Mr Sangma laughs off the suggestion. He says, "My critics have forgotten I am a former Lok Sabha speaker. They don't know me perhaps . You see we will emerge as the single largest party in Meghalaya."

Students Cry Injustices on Mizoram Bypoll Campaigning

Aizawl, Feb 20 : Different student organisations under Chalfilh constituency have strongly protested the denial of some candidates a seat on the common platform organised by Mizoram People's Forum (MPF), a Church-sponsored election watchdog, in the run-up to the Chalfilh by-election.

Sources said as their pleas to the MPF fell on deaf ears, the students' organisations planned to boycott a common platform scheduled to be held at Khawruhlian village on Tuesday night.

'Common platform' is a public meeting held under the aegis of the MPF, a method applied since 2008 state assembly elections.

The MPF, sponsored by Mizoram Presbyterian Church, the state's largest Christian denomination, set its own election code of conducts which among others disallowed candidates to hold separate public meetings.

According to an agreement the MPF had signed with political parties, independent candidates and those of political parties which have not state offices in Mizoram would not be allowed to speak on the common platform. By dint of this, independent candidate R Lalrohlua and Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) candidate D K Thanga have been denied a place on the common platform.

With just four days left for the bypoll scheduled for February 23, campaigning has reached its peak. Mizoram chief minister and pradesh Congress Chief Lal Thanhawla and opposition Mizo National Front president and former CM Zoramthanga have also campaigned for their party candidates.

Though seven candidates are in the fray, ruling Congress candidate Dr H Ngurdingliana and MNF candidate Lalvenhima Hmar are the main contenders.

The seat was left vacant by the death of parliamentary secretary and Congress legislator Chawngtinthanga on September 16 last year.

Mizoram By-Poll Campaigning on Full Steam

Aizawl, Feb 20 : Just four days ahead of the by-election, campaigning Tuesday gained momentum in the tribal dominated Chalfilh assembly constituency in Mizoram.

Though the Feb 23 by-poll has seven candidates in the field, including Bharatiya Janata Party aspirant C. Ramkinlova, the main contest would be between ruling Congress nominee Ngurdingliana and the main opposition, Mizo National Front (MNF) candidate Lalvenhima Hmar.

The assembly segment was lying vacant after the death of parliamentary secretary and Congress legislator Chawngtinthanga Sep 16, 2012.

Mizoram Chief Minister Lal Thanhawla of the Congress and MNF chief Zoramthanga along with leaders of their parties have been campaigning for their candidates.

Ngurdingliana is the son of veteran Congress leader and former state assembly Speaker H. Thansanga, and had contested unsuccessfully in the 2008 assembly elections from the same constituency.

Mizoram Chief Electoral Officer K. Riachho said, a total of 17,054 people, including 8,346 women, are eligible to cast their votes in the by-poll.

The Northeasts of India

By Rajesh Dev

As Tripura, Nagaland and Meghalaya go to the polls, public discussion continues to flatten the region's internal diversity

Even as state politics has come to occupy centrestage, one fails to explain the lack of national concern in the elections currently underway in Meghalaya, Tripura and Nagaland. These states continue to remain peripheral to the Indian political imagination. Customarily entrapped as a uniform aggregate, the Northeast is framed as a cultural and spatial aberrant, not just to the civilisational oneness of India, but as a peer in its collective tryst with democracy.

Typically treated as a rebellious zone where anti-India or/and anti-Centre rhetoric is a reality, this region is framed as expressing a sense of collective unease with the idea of India. It shares what scholars of ethnic politics term as a "provisional form of togetherness". There is thus the projection of the region as an embittered and insurgent space where the trappings of democratic rule are overlaid upon an imposed order. Electoral processes and institutionalised politics are perceived as conduits for nationalising an extra-national fringe.

This flattens not just the internal diversity of the constituting states and the strands of their discrete politics, but fails to acknowledge the evolving, if tepid, story of institutional development in the region. Such frames underrate the democratic implications of the institutional reconstitution of the political space.

The innovative, occasionally messy, institutional treatment of collective claims has failed to receive even-handed recognition in evaluations of the political experiences of the Northeast. Any fair assessment of democratic governance there must be read in the context of regional generalities squared with state specificities. If all the states share the routine ills of electoral politics, each represents an institutionally specific transformative path.

Electoral politics in Nagaland has been historically shaped by the Naga national question. A feature of electoral politics there has been the relationship between the legal and ideological forces representing the Naga people. Since 1969, the role of ideological-underground forces in institutional politics became an accepted norm. If regional parties like the Naga People's Front have willingly displayed their nationalist aspirations and sympathy for the ideological representatives, national parties like the Congress shared a distant cordiality with them.This mutual legitimation has, in recent years, assisted in moderating Naga claims and led to negotiations for a political settlement. Even as electoral politics is restrained by a violent social grid that has limited the capacity of the electorate, competitive politics has assisted in formalising a nascent institutional political culture.

The maturing of a democratic political process is evident from the fact that today, the electoral agenda in Nagaland is no longer dominated by competitive rhetoric over the Naga national question. Elections are, therefore, no longer seen as a referendum on the peace process. It is now shaped by questions of development and governance.

Claims of neglect in the remote districts of Mon, Tuensang, Khipre and Longleng influence political discourse and strategy. And with 20 representatives from these districts, it will be interesting to see how this determines electoral outcomes. This is a transformative shift for a people who boycotted the first general elections of 1952.

Even if it is described by the locals as a season of abundance where money, muscle and madhu manipulates preference formation and expression of choices, elections have acquired a sanctity that legitimises a structure of democratic governance. Especially in these elections, the electorate seems to have genuine expectations from democratic politics. This is evident in popular discourse and the political agenda of leading political parties like the NPF (and its coalition partner, the BJP) and the Congress.

Tripura is what scholars describe as the "two-plus" competitive format, where the two main political formations — in this case the Congress and the Left front (CPM, CPI and Forward Bloc) — have to align with a third formation. Political competition in the state has often been between the CPM-led Left front and the Congress, which had provisional alignments with tribal regional parties, being organisationally weak in the tribal belts. The communists retain significant support in rural areas and have been able to regain support of tribes they had lost during the 1990s. The crushing of the tribal insurgency is supported by a governance model that emphasises development, improvement in the quality of life and grassroots democracy. Sub-state-level institutions like panchayats and autonomous councils consolidate the political dominance of the Left parties. The Left has been aided by factionalism and organisational disorder in the Congress. The Left should see no dislocation in its political dominance this election.

In Meghalaya, the politics of alliances and provisional coalitions continue to undermine the value of an ideologically consistent competitive structure. Fractured verdicts, unstable coalitions and political instability have been a permanent feature of democratic politics there. Though regional parties have had a dominating influence in state politics, they have failed to shape the political agenda due to incessant splits. The Congress has thus been able to expand into regional spaces through induced defections and mergers with regional parties. Electoral outcomes are influenced by tribal loyalties, personal charisma, denominational affiliations and insider-outsider images.

Incestuous political competition between allies and coalition partners introduces cynicism in the electorate and emasculates democratic engagement, curtailing political competition. In such conditions, political choice is determined by strategic political aims and forms of patronage linkages, and not by party loyalty or policy choices. In these elections, the Congress is engaged in a bitter contest with its regional ally, the United Democratic Party, and an opposition led by Purno Sangma and his newly formed National People's Party. The UDP, despite being an equal partner in the government, accuses the Congress of having spawned corrupt practices. An added element is the insurgent factor in Garo hills.

The varied political experiences of the individual states of the region suggest the lack of a fixed regional culture normally evoked by the governing narratives on the region. States in the Northeast can no longer be considered political exiles to the broader national democratic experiment.

The writer is assistant professor of political science, Delhi University

65th Zomi Nam Ni to be held in Delhi

64th State level Zomi Nam Ni (Celebrating Zomi Cultural and Heritage) on February 20 2012 :: Pix - Bullu Raj

The 65th Zomi Nam Ni Celebration is going to be held at Thyagaraj Stadium, New Delhi on 20 February 2013. The Celebration Committee and its sub-Committees have been making every effort and leaving no stone unturned to make the event a resounding success.

The event will attract the Zomis from all walks of lives, and the who’s who of Lamka are expected to be in attendance.

Union Home Minister Shri Sushil Kumar Shinde is expected to grace the Celebration as Chief Guest; while Shri Oscar Fernandes, MP & Chairman, Parliamentary Standing Committee on HRD, will grace the Nam Ni as Guest of Honour.

Shri Phungzathang Tonsing, Minister (Health & FW/GAD/CADA), Govt. of Manipur will act as the Functional President.

Shri H.S. Brahma, Election Commissioner of India, Lt. Gen. A.J.Parnaik, SM VSM, Director General, BRO and Shri Shambu Singh, IAS, Jt. Secretary (NE), MHA will be the Chief Hosts.

Special guests who have landed in Delhi to attend the event include Pu LB Sona, Zomi Council Chairman, Pu K Guite, Zomi Council Steering Committee Chairman, Pu Vungzagin Valte, Parliamentary Secretary (Horti, Soil Conv & CADA), Pu Ginsuanhau, Singngat MLA, Pu Manga Vaiphei, Chairman, MTDC, Pu K. William Vaiphei, Zomi Council Speaker, ZOYCA President Pu Zakai Thawmte, Pu Dal Sian Pau, ZOLLS, Pu Dr R.Sanga, Zomi Council Steering Committee member, Pu K Vungzamawi, Secretary, ZEPADA hqtrs., Pu K.G. Tungnung, Secretary Zomi Council, Pu H. Kham Chin Khup, Treasurer Zomi Council.

Pu L. Tualkhanhau, President Paite Tribe Council, Pu Khatkhotong Baite, President Vaiphei People's Council, Pu Kai Khan Mang, President. Tedim Chin Union, Pu B. Dongzalian, President Simte Tribe Council, Pu Manglianthang, President Uinted Zou Organisation, Pu M.C. Chinminthang, President Mate Tribe Council, Pu Pauminlianthang, President Thangkhal People's Organisation will be attending the Nam Ni as Special Hosts.

Pu Langkhanpau Guite, Chairman, ADCC, and other ADCCs such as Pu H. Mangchinkhup, Pu M. Gouzamang Guite, Pu S.Kamsuanlun, Pu Genneikhup Vaiphei, and MDCs Pu Suanchinpau Guite, Pu Sumlianthang, Pi Grace Zamnu, Pu P. Sianzadong, Pu Minboi Vaiphei, Pu Lalditsang, Pu M. Ginzapau and Pu Tongkai Baite will be in attendance as well.

Celebrated Lamka artistes are not giving it a miss either. The crowd will be entertained by musical performances from Kimjoycee Vaiphei, Muan Hangzo, TT Lal Zou, Rody Za Lien Sing, Thangginsang Tombing, Ramdinthari.

A truly remarkable event is the - RED CARPET PHOTOSHOOT! - that will be open to all. This special attraction is meant to showcase the rich Zomi traditional attires in various designs and the creativities of the Zomis in promoting the same.

An intellectually stimulating Conclave on Challenges and Opportunities Facing the Zomis was held on February 19, 2013 at SSS-I, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi.

Dr. Kamkhenthang Guite presented a paper on the Economic Challenges and Opportunites, while Dr. L. Lam Khan Piang and Dr. Vumlallian Zou chaired the talks on the Socio-Cultural as well as Political Challenges and Opportunities facing the Zomis respectively. Noted speakers on the occasion include Dr. Philip Thanglienmang, Pu Dal Sian Pau, Pu K. Zou, Dr. R. Sanga, Pu N. Neihsial, Pu Kaihau Vaiphei, Pu K. Guite, Pu K.Vungzamawi and others.

Lunte Samte
Media & Publicity
Zomi Nam Ni Celebration Committee
New Delhi

Air Attacks in Mizoram, 1966 - India's Dirty Secret

By Abheek Barman

The original villages, crops and granaries were destroyed to deny wandering insurgents shelter and food.

One month and four days after becoming prime minister of India, Indira Gandhi was faced with a problem familiar to her father, Jawaharlal Nehru: an insurgency in the north east. On February 28, 1966, the Mizo National Army (MNA) revolted against India and fighting broke out across the region. In response, the Indian state did two unprecedented things.

By March 2, the MNA had overrun the Aizawl treasury and armoury and was at the headquarters of the Assam Rifles. It had also captured several smaller towns south of Aizawl. The military tried to ferry troops and weapons by helicopter, but was driven away by MNA snipers.

So, at 11:30 am on March 5, the air force attacked Aizawl with heavy machine gun fire. On March 6, the attack intensified, and incendiary bombs were dropped. This killed innocents and completely destroyed the four largest areas of the city: Republic Veng, Hmeichche Veng, Dawrpui Veng and Chhinga Veng.

Locals left their homes and fled into the hills in panic. The MNA melted away into surrounding gorges, forests and hills, to camps in Burma and the then East Pakistan. The air force strafed Aizawl and other areas till March 13. One local told a human rights committee set up by Khasi legislators GG Swell and Rev Nichols Roy that, "There were two types of planes which flew over Aizawl — good planes and angry planes. The good planes were those which flew comparatively slowly and did not spit out fire or smoke; the angry planes were those which escaped to a distance before the sound of their coming could be heard and who spat out smoke and fire."

This was the first— and only — time that the air force has been used to attack Indians in India. It cleared Aizawl and other cities of the MNA, but did not finish off the insurgency, which would last for another 20 years. Till the 1980s, the Indian military stoutly denied the use of air attacks in Mizoram in 1966.

By 1967, the Armed Forces Special Powers Act was in force in the area that is now Mizoram. That year, the eastern military brass, led by the then Lt General Maneckshaw, and government decided to implement the second terrible thing it did in Mizoram. This was called 'regrouping of villages.'

At the that time, there was one road coming south from Silchar in Assam, that traveled all the way down to where the state's limits ended. To the east and west of this road were vast tracts of forests, hills and ravines, dotted with hundreds of villages.The military plan was to gather villagers from all over, and cluster them along the side of this road. These new, so-called Protected and Progressive Villages (PPVs), were nothing but concentration camps, minus gas chambers. The movement was supposed to be voluntary — people in some far off hamlet were supposed to jump with joy when told to give up their land, crops and homes to trek hundreds of miles and live behind barbed wire. Actually, the military told villagers to take what they could carry on their backs, and burn everything else down. Elders signed 'consent' papers at gunpoint.

In every case, villagers refused to move. When they were coerced to march, they would refuse to burn down their properties. Then, the military officer and his men would torch the whole place down. They would march in a column guarded by the military, to their designated PPV.

Life here was tough: each resident was numbered and tagged, going and coming was strictly regulated and rations were meagre. In the PPVs' confines, tribal conventions broke down. In the scramble for scarce resources, theft, murder and alcoholism became widespread.

The regrouping destroyed the Mizos' practice of jhum, or shifting cultivation. There was little land inside the PPVs and their original jhum areas had been left far behind in the interiors. Farm output fell off a cliff. Mizoram suffered from near-famine conditions, supplemented by what little the military could provide, for the next three years.

Why were the villagers herded into the PPVs? The military reckoned that keeping villagers under their eyes would keep them from sheltering insurgents or joining the MNA. The original villages, crops and granaries were destroyed to deny wandering insurgents shelter and food.

These ideas were picked up by our officers from the colonial British playbook. The British had regrouped villages during the Boer war in the early 20th century, in Malaya, where they interned Chinese in special camps and in Kenya where villages were uprooted to crush the Mau Mau revolt.

The British could get away with all this because they were inflicting pain on a subject population. The Indian establishment had no such fig leaf: it was giving grief to its own citizens.

The scale of the Mizoram regrouping was awesome. Out of 764 villages, 516 were evacuated and squeezed into 110 PPVs. Only 138 villages were left untouched. In the Aizawl area, about 95% of the rural population was herded into PPVs. No Russian gulag or German concentration camp had hosted such a large chunk of the local population.

The first PPVs were dismantled in 1971, but the last ones continued for another eight years. The MNA revolt ended in 1986. No government has expressed regret for the bombing and regrouping.

ZNP Calls For Tribal Area Status Former Mizo District

Aizawl, Feb 18 : The “nationalist” discourse in Mizoram is taking a different turn with one of the leading Opposition parties, the Zoram Nationalist Party (ZNP), demanding tribal zone status for areas under the erstwhile Mizo District Council.

This is the keystone of the ZNP’s manifesto for the upcoming elections, scheduled for November 2013, which the party plans to fight without any allies.

The party wants to revert to the Sixth Schedule-era in the erstwhile Mizo District Council areas, whose tribal area status was removed without any consultations when Mizoram was created as a Union Territory in 1972.

The ZNP also said the party would demand the same concessions given to the Nagas when talks with the Centre reach a resolution.

At a recent rally, party president Lalduhawma said this was the only way to safeguard the indigenous people of the state. “When they created a Union Territory out of our present state, the authorities abolished the tribal areas with a stroke of a pen, without even a single debate or consultation with the people,” he said.

Lalduhawma accused the then political leaders, particularly the Congress and the Mizo National Front leaders, for “blindly leading the Mizo people into slavery”.

He warned that unless the Mizo people wake up and vote a party with this in mind, government employees belonging to the indigenous community and business owners would have to pay income tax, which “indigenous people don’t have to pay in tribal areas”.

“Now that these areas, barring the southern most parts of the state (Lai, Mara and Chakma district areas), are non-tribal areas we are in danger as the protection for tribals under the Sixth Schedule is no longer there,” he said.

For Many Northeast Musicians, YouTube The Big Ticket To Fame

By Jayanta Deka

Almost two weeks back on January 31, when Borkung Hrangkhawl, a freestyle rapper from Tripura, was uploading his video on YouTube, he had little inkling of the response it would receive.

In just about a fortnight, BK -- as the rapper is known as -- seems to have hit a goldmine. His video 'The Journey' has notched up close to 7.7 lakh views and has been marked by YouTube as the fourth most watched video across the web.

BK is among the growing tribe of musicians from the northeast who have successfully used the video-sharing website to reach out to global audiences. Many, in fact, bypass the tape release and distribution format, instead preferring to rely on websites like Facebook and YouTube for the instant feedback that they provide. "Through the web, we can tell our story to a wider audience. The way they respond can be an invaluable lesson in shaping ourselves further," says Assamese musician Angaraag 'Papon' Mahanta who has a large fan following on the net.

There are many others from the region who have tapped the power of the net to reach out to fans directly. Like Zubeen Garg whose song 'Runjun Nupure Mate' got about 1 lakh hits last year; Axl Hazarika whose 'Hum Badal Gaye' was viewed more than 4 lakh times and Nagaland-based Alobo Naga who went on to win a popular European music award for best Indian act.

For BK, who is basking in the success of his video's popularity, the thumbs up given by netizens has boosted his confidence considerably. "Crazy man! I can say this only now," he exults. "Being from a small place it is difficult to get a good platform. But I knew that if I concentrated on fresh music, I will be able to reach a good audience through the internet."

Even those who favour live performances as the best way to reach out to fans, acknowledge that the web is a potent platform. Like Naga folk fusion artist Guru Rewben Mashangva. "Live performance has a taste of its own. But then, through YouTube one can reach a large audience which is good," he says adding tongue-in-cheek, "My message to fans is simple :first of all, like the artist on YouTube and then promptly head for his live show!"