A NEW FORMAT NEEDS TO BE DEVELOPED IF BORDER DISPUTES IN THE region CAN NO LONGER BE RESOLVED BY OLD METHODS, SAYS PATRICIA MUKHIM
Any of the North-eastern states have been carved out of Assam, with
which state Nagaland, Meghalaya and Arunachal Pradesh have simmering
border tensions. While Meghalaya and Arunachal Pradesh have been, and
are at the receiving end of the Assam police in border skirmishes, the
people of Nagaland along the borders of Merapani and Golaghat have
defended their territory with a belligerence that is unprecedented. They
are dismissive of the Assam police’s attempts to cramp their style. In
fact, it is interesting to note that the Nagas have been able to inflict
casualties on the neighbouring state on several occasions but the
latest border flare-up has resulted in a huge toll for Assam.
The chief ministers of Assam and Nagaland, Tarun Gogoi and TR Zeliang,
were summoned to Delhi by the Union home ministry to discuss the matter.
Union minister of state for home Kiren Rijiju has been told to sort
things out between the two states. Now this is an interesting
development. Gogoi is a senior Congress leader and was a Union cabinet
minister at one time. That he should be summoned to the national capital
and be told to speak to a junior minister could not have been music to
his ears. Of late, Gogoi has been at the receiving end of public
criticism after the inability of the state police to control mob
violence, thereby leading to three unnecessary deaths.
Gogoi has not been on top of thing for some time now. Dissidence within
the Congress and the government had gained ground and a leading cabinet
minister, Himanta Biswa Sarma, resigned in protest after the
parliamentary elections when the Congress did poorly. The party high
command, however, does not have the grit for any change of leadership in
Assam at this juncture, since Gogoi is an old faithful while his bete
noire, Biswa Sarma, is a young Turk whom the high command has not learnt
to trust.
In any case, the Congress at this juncture is too burdened by its own
existential dilemma. It has neither the time nor the inclination to mess
up with Congress chief ministers. But this is precisely the problem
with Assam. Gogoi is no longer the most popular leader who has the
confidence of the public. The election of seven BJP members of
Parliament out of 14 was a verdict against the Congress and the Gogoi
government and its litany of failings. Barring the voters of Kaliabor,
who opted for Gogoi’s son, Gaurav, the large majority of people have no
more patience for a government that has evidently failed to provide
governance.
Like every other politician in the party, Gogoi, too, is promoting
dynastic politics. Gaurav Gogoi, a foreign returned heir to the Assam
throne, had contested the parliamentary elections and won the seat
despite the general poor performance of the Congress. He is very active
on social media and, following his Facebook posts, one can gather that
he is not exactly popular among his peers. They are seeking
accountability from the father-son duo. They are fed up with the alibis
trotted out by the chief minister each time there are incidents of
killing and communal violence in Assam. The border skirmish with
Nagaland is just one of the many problems Taun Gogoi is facing and it
seems like he is a tired man who is fire-fighting on several fronts
without trusted lieutenants who can take flak for the government. Add to
this the fact that Biswa Sarma could be using his clout to create
problems for Gogoi on different fronts.
And while Assam is in a state of near anarchy with the government
looking like a lame duck (not taking the blame for what has happened in
the state but blaming the Modi government at the Centre for not stepping
in with Central forces to control the recent rioting), the Congress is
also looking at largescale dissidence in the next assembly elections,
due in 2016. Just as the party high command is in denial about most
things and has refused to take steps to address the reasons for its
recent rout, Gogoi, too, lives in a state of denial about most things
happening in Assam and the failure of his government machinery. When he
appears on local television channels he is utterly dismissive about the
rising tide of public anger against his government and says that other
states also have similar problems so Assam does not fall into a special
category as far as such problems are concerned. What he has failed to
appreciate is that people elect a particular government because they
expect it to deliver on a few key areas of their lives such as water and
sanitation, safety and security, good communication networks to their
villages, agricultural support, etc. These have evaded Assam in the
three tenures of the Congress-ruled government and people want change —
if only to see whether other parties can deliver. As for the border
clashes between Assam and its neighbours, the problem can no longer be
allowed to fester. In fact, proper research might throw up interesting
evidence about the link between the claims for a greater Nagaland — the
long standing demand of the NSCN(IM) and the belligerence of the Naga
people settled along the Assam-Nagaland borders. Now that the Modi
government has taken over at the Centre, most states want to draw his
attention to their long standing grouses.
There is a tendency to push the border talks to chief secretary-level
officials of the states in conflict. This has not proved to be too
effective, going by the Assam-Meghalaya model that has remained
intransigent. Other methods and strategies are needed at this point in
time. There have been suggestions from experts in the Central government
that disputed areas should be turned into special economic zones,
health hubs or educational centres that would benefit people from both
sides of the border. This suggestion has not received traction. Perhaps
it is time for the Union ministry of home affairs to step in and come up
with tangible action plans to avoid future inter-state boundary
skirmishes that take a toll on human lives.
People living along the borders often suffer the most neglect since
development evades them most of the time. If we look at the
Assam-Meghalaya border for instance, people on both sides tend to
gravitate towards the state that offers them more options in terms of
communication, security and recognition. Meghalaya has not been able to
develop roads to take governance to the last mile. The Assam government,
on the other hand, has been quite active along the border. It’s a
different matter that Assam has settled people of Nepali origin in the
Langpih areas and they have taken up very aggressive posturing.
A new format needs to be developed and border disputes can no longer be
resolved by old methods. There is need for a new line of thinking. I
doubt, however, that the Gogoi government has the time and energy for
that. It is fighting too many battles on several fronts and the
aggression will only intensify with the onset of the next assembly
elections.
THE WRITER IS EDITOR, THE SHILLONG TIMES, AND CAN BE
CONTACTED AT patricia17@rediffmail.com
