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Dear Baruah Saheb You’ve asked my views about the Naga problem. I do have them coupled with the fact that my political forecasts had always been proved wrong in the long run. I console myself with the fact that political solutions are seldom predictable. An example of this is the grant of separate Statehood to the hill districts of former Assam. The Indian press as well as the economists and other statesmen who stated these States were not viable because of lack of revenue etc were against the idea. But it appears without any known consultation with the public including the Assam State Legislature and the Parliament itself, the then Prime Minister of India suddenly announced, it was a coup the grace, that the Khasi Hills, the Garo Hills and the Lushai Hill districts would form the new State of Meghalaya. The rest is history. I come to the point. Sovereignty for the Nagas is a dead issue. It died the day late Mr A Z Phizo fled the country. When I told Phizo that Government of India no longer took him seriously, he tried to prove to me that he was not a spent force as it appeared. Today, I think the parleys with the Issac-Muivah et al are nothing but an eye-wash. I am sorry to say that in case of ULFA also it is so because the Government has become experienced in the art of dealing with insurgents. Kashmir taught them. Unfortunately for the Government of India which is not a dictatorship, the show has to go on because of a great many people who have enjoyed or are enjoying or hope to enjoy power for all the time. It is why they are afraid of applying the laws of the country to maintain law and order which the Indian Army is capable of doing. A mere suggestion of it by the outgoing Governor of Assam, an ex-army officer, earned him public censure. The Government of India is having the last laugh. The mutineers are clearly divided. And their strategy also appears to be not fool-proof. In other words they are confused and confounded. For example, the rebels demand for all Naga-inhabited areas to be included in Nagalim. I say where are the dimachas? Can’t they not evict the encroachers? Bhuban |
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