North-East: Fear of the People

AMRITA SINGH
India’s North-east located in the extreme north-eastern corner of the sub-continent shares international frontiers on its north, east and south with four nations- Bhutan, China (Tibet), Myanmar and Bangladesh. The North-East region of India popularly known as the seven sisters has faced a series of violent outbursts since India’s independence and in fact, is still facing it in the present decade. From the time of independence, the tribal groups of the states are living with many problems and their consciousness to preserve their identity has forced them to take up violence.
One of the recent examples from the states is the movement in Kokrajhar in Assam. The ongoing storm of violence in the state has made it difficult to live even a simple life for the people of that place. The riot took place after the killing of four people in the Bodoland Territorial Autonomous Districts [BTAD] by some irate people in a predominantly Muslim village and also affected other districts of the state. Many people blamed the state government for failing to prevent the spread of violence in the district which took many lives and forced others to live the life of refugees. People have been living in refugee camps for at least a month and facing various challenges, the challenges of food, sanitation and other facilities. They are living a pathetic life and schools have been turned into relief camps which in one sense is affecting the education of the children in the area. The worst effect of the violence has been seen by the whole nation in recent weeks, but the effect has been basically focused on the loss of life and property. The focus on the third party who is also the victim of the riot has been less emphasized, though they have been noticed but less heed has been paid to them. The Rajbanshis of Kokrajhar are also victims of the riot who have been forced to take shelter in refugee camps as well. They did not have a part to play in the riot but have still become sufferers.
Dispute for autonomy is not new in the state of Assam; it is one of the oldest problems in the state which also added to the problem of immigration. The question of immigration of people from Bangladesh which was highlighted by this riot put the question on the government on what steps they would take for people on both the sides. According to one view expressed in the national daily ‘The Hindu’, Assam’s long complicated history of settlement and demographic change continues to play a dominant part in political mobilization in the region and this mobilization is bound by tropes of identity, group differences and bureaucratic distancing of the state from the people, claiming to uphold the rights of all citizens while simultaneously encouraging an incremental approach to demands for autonomy among the Bodos and other groups who live in western Assam and this has also led to an opinion on the rights of the people in the region and also over those who have the right to call western Assam their home. In one way the riot also affected the farmers of the state. The worry which is arising among the farmers is the loss of their crops. It is harvesting time and the fear which is preventing them from returning home to harvest their crops will have a negative effect on their economic and social life also. While mentioning the effects on the people it also applies to those students who migrated outside for their studies but had to come back and are now stuck in between due to the violence took place. Thousands of people whether they are students or working came back to their original home due to the riot.
The migration of thousands of people in search of better opportunities outside their state and again migrating back to their homeland for their safety after the riot has raised many questions on the government. Whether these people have the right to live a peaceful life or not, whether they are safe outside their home, whether the government is able to manage the situation and whether these people are ready to go back to their workplace without fear even after the consolation of the government to provide them with full security are questions that remain unanswered. The riot that they faced in their own homeland shows the failure of the government to manage its people and the distrust of the people on the government forcing them to live a life of refugees in their own state. At present, people living in the camps have been requested to go back to their homes by the state with the assurance that there will not be any harm to their life but the fear is so high among them that still about 2 lakh people are living in the camps in different districts and are not ready to go back.
One important question that arises here is that whether these people will ever be able to live with the same love and feeling of brotherhood in the state after the riots?
[The writer is an M.Phil student at Sikkim University in the Department of Geography and Natural Resource Management]