Pls delete my email address from this email list. Sorry but I did not subscribe to this list voluntarily. Thank you!
Sent from my iPhone > On Jul 2, 2016, at 7:02 AM, Bg via Assam <[email protected]> wrote: > > Premonitions about false Nationalism and Violence > > It occurred to me as I was ruminating about the content and tenor of certain > Facebook posts about the Naga rebel leader Isak Chishi Swu’s death that a > good number of the young generation are out rightly obscured by the false > sense of nationalism which has been time and again promoted, rather read > propagated, by Delhi since Independence of India. In specifically mentioning > Delhi I categorically blame every power that has reigned the country from The > Throne at the nation’s capital, using the same divide-and-rule tactics taught > by the Colonial rulers, which in later years proved as the most effective > tool at the hands of the wily politicians and the crafty bureaucrats. Yet, > people suffer from dangerous situations of amnesia, as they fail not to be > consumed by heightened sense of nationalism which evades a wider > understanding of an unbiased history of one's own land. > > History of the country has been long blemished through the absence of > scientific historical studies and analysis introduced to us in the nation’s > early years by one Late Dr. Kosambi and rest who followed the tall, > pioneering historian’s trail. What remained of the trail, and what came into > being at latter stages, have been conveniently erased for the governing > powers’ benefit. Minimal understanding of social realities of particularly > the marginalized areas of India, seen and treated by New Delhi as extensions > of a nation rather than deriving an inclusive outlook towards such regions > like Northeast India and Kashmir, which have incidentally, failed to find > mention even in the nation’s national anthem, cannot be seen as mere blemish. > The great river Brahmaputra which has been sustaining civilizations across > ages not finding significance in the country’s first Noble laureate’s verse > turned into an anthem of the nation is, perhaps, symbolic of what these areas > mean to the collective consciousness of rest of the country. Telengana, parts > of central India, however central it may have physically been, along with > parts of the Dravida landscape could be added to this list of unfortunates, > who remained distant from a country's comprehensive understanding of these > areas and what is conflicting in its very definition of “mainland India”, > assuming the rest to be hinterland. For many from rest of the country, except > for the sighting of the pre-historic one-horned rhinoceros at Kaziranga, and > the pious Shaivites’ visit to Kamakhya, their motherland ends at Bengal > towards the country’s east. > > Considering such an appalling reality about my country, it is hardly > surprising for the progeny of such a reality lacking in their understanding > of what have been long infuriating the denizens of these regions considered > by the Delhi durbar and its every Home Ministry as disturbing areas of the > land. Militancy in these regions did not fall from the sky or heaven if there > is a heaven at the first place. In saying so I am, in no way remotely trying > to support militancy which has, also, become a cottage industry of sort, > certainly not without the support and nexus of the all powerful politicians > shaping a nation’s destiny. > > However, leaders like Isak Chishi Swu stood by their conviction following the > legendary Naga leader Phizo's call for resistance, just like many others of > his ilk did and signed a plebiscite to express unity through their stand. > They stood up for what they felt 'at their time' as impingement of their > independence, implicitly supported by rest of their tribesmen. Sadly, a > country which attained Independence from two centuries old rule by > colonialists, lacked in maturity to handle an issue of identity cautiously > and sensitively. it, instead, relied on a violent path applying brute force > to curb the voices of resistance which Delhi saw as ‘disturbance’ and > ‘contestation of national entity’. This enraged the independence loving > tribesmen who were, as the legend goes, forced to rebel against Nehru and his > use of force. Even in much latter years I have heard Naga elders say that, > had Mahatma Gandhi been alive they would not have had to suffer the way them > have. > > At another point of India’s unscripted history which cannot be covered even > within reams and reams of paper, the same nation used its own air force to > bomb by strafing market places belonging to its 'own countrymen' to silence a > Mizo uprising caused by a famine, and subsequent failure on the part of > governments to provide suitable basic amenities like food to the suffering > people. Instead of supplies of food what went the victims' way can be best > described as insults, which added more salt to a wound. > > Suspicion has long been a cancer distancing people from people. The genesis > of people from the regions like the Northeast and Kashmir feeling alienated > lies in a nation’s peculiar sense of suspicion towards natives from these > regions seen and treated as sub-humans at times. The callous and militant > remarks against a leader who died of ailments at old age highlights the ills > crippling a myopic section, and that is a growing list of people suffering > from a syndrome of superficial being, whose understanding of nationalism is > driven more by promises made, and charisma of individual politicians, and > politically motivated situations, rather than deeper insight and > understanding of what nationalism has globally been. The danger lies in the > fact, that ours is a nation whose destiny would be etched and decided by many > of these youth relying on their superficiality finding expressions of a > myopic being. > > Those who have suffered from arms conflicts know that forgiveness alone can > heal old wounds and help overcome miseries to reconcile for peace. Nagaland > has the longest history of arms conflict in Southeast Asia, and the Late Swu > surely knew this well as he, at his old age, continued until his death to be > an integral part of steps to derive a solution to his own people’s > sufferings, also a nation's problem. However, the sense of intolerance that > one can perceive from posts which are out rightly unforgiving of any voice of > resistance for identity, evidently harbours hatred which is no less > disturbing than what the same minds define and fear as militant. Lack of > cultural understanding of regions defined as disturbed areas on the part of > those who try and derive perspectives through a blurred prism of suspicion > and hatred, only end up contributing more towards the different tides of > intolerance wearing masks of non violence. > > > > Maulee Senapati > > > > _______________________________________________ > Assam mailing list > [email protected] > http://lists.assamnet.org/listinfo.cgi/assam-assamnet.org
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