The angst over the inflow of migrants has never been fully resolved in the Northeast. Manipur has been no exception. This is understandable for as recent history is witness, ethnic communities inhabiting the region, in most cases small and weak, are vulnerable of being displaced and marginalised by influx from outside the region of communities far superior in number and exposure to the modern economy. No other has empathised more with this inherent fear than Nari Rushtomji, a civil servant in the crucial years before and after Independence. He was self-professedly in love with the region and true to his words, dedicated his entire career as an Indian administrator in the region. Rushtomji in his book “Imperilled Frontiers” watched with dismay the struggle of small indigenous groups negotiating the challenges of modernity and development, wanting its benefits but also fearing its consequence of attracting work forces more experienced in the modern ways and superior in number therefore capable of easily displacing them completely. Before his very eyes, this exactly became the fate of Sikkim, Darjeeling etc., making him conclude that while the march of development and population movements are universal phenomena, these changes must have to be regulated so that the pace of their march is not beyond the capacities of the small and weak local communities to absorb without detriment to their social organisms.
There is much to be had from this advice: One, racial and ethnic identities realities not about to be erased anytime soon; Two, there are ways of getting around these problems, and this can be through sympathetic understanding of the problem, leading to framing of laws that can accommodate the needs for development and modernity as well as ensure nobody’s autonomous identity is destroyed. It must also be kept in mind that controlled influx of outside population is not a bad thing. If the migrants are willing to adapt to local customs or even integrate to them, then let it also be remembered that once upon a time the kings of the erstwhile kingdom of Manipur encouraged it, as indeed, all Paddy States in James Scott’s Zomian theatre is known to have done so. The Bamons the Pangals and so many more indigenised and were absorbed into local clans and surnames, in the process strengthening the society, bringing in fresh skills, ideas, work forces and genes. This notwithstanding, it must be admitted identity divides are a reality.
Literature has illustrated this dilemma in ways no other intellectual fields can. French existentialist author Albert Camus’ well known short story, “The Guest” set against the backdrop of the Algerian resistance movement against French colonialism is one of these. In it, a white school teacher, by ancestry a Frenchman but in every other sense of the word a son of the Algerian soil, who even disregards and disobeys government overtures to collaborate in the fight to subdue the rebellion, discovers to his profound sorrow how unbridgeable the divide between the races are in a graffiti message on the blackboard written by his students and directed at his racial alien status. It is a beautiful picture of the human spiritual and psychological landscape the artist paints, bringing out its complex nuances. Social scientists have also done some fine reductive and constructive analyses on the matter. Sudhir Kakkar’s “Colours of Violence” in many ways is an explanation of such a divide. Kakkar, who calls himself a “pragmatic liberal and an agnostic mystic” based his conclusions on studies of the phenomenon of communal riots in India between the Hindus and Muslims. His finding is that there is something much deeper and fundamental in the identity divide than the usual explanation that it is a fall out of sinister machination of colonial politics. He does not align with the rabid hatred and paranoiac sense of persecution preached by fanatical religious leaders, but all the same takes pains to point out the shallowness of the liberal view of history as a function of the present – that the past will depend on the interpretation of the present to suit its conveniences. While this does happen, it fails to explain too many problematic points. Why would the identity divides persist amongst communities after generations of sharing and living together, as Camus so poignant brings out in “The Guest”, or why would affinities in familial and social bonding remain after generations of separation and radically different social engineering as in the case of East and West Germans, Kakkar asks in his book.
In the wake of the current rumbles in Manipur and Assam, and indeed in varying degrees in the rest of the Northeast, on this touchy question again, it would be pertinent for the governments here to begin thinking of policies to prevent more human tragedies. We are of the opinion that it is important for the government to acknowledge both the instrumental as well as primordial factors in the making of group identities, and then evolve effective administrative policies. In their new found nationalistic fervour, let them not forget this is not a question of being subversive to national interest. In fact they must engage the Union government in this debate for a more comprehensive future demography policy. The idea we have always mooted, of not putting a complete ban on migration, but making it virtually impossible for migrants to acquire landed properties may be a good start.
Editor, Imphal Review of Arts and Politics and author
