What Diphu has, Dimapur & Kohima don't : Himanta's 'sweet revenge'
New Delhi
This is a 'Dangoria joke' -- or a sarcastic hit. Some even would not know - what really hit them. Only the other day, neo-turncoat NDPP MLA Imkong L Imchen said, Assamese are "elder brothers" to Nagas. And now comes this.
There are many ways to ventilate your anguish or disapproval in politics.
Satire or sarcastic remarks are one way of doing so. Others do it rather innocuously -- but the message goes deeper.
Himanta Biswa Sarma, Assam Chief Minister, is a political creature of experience.
His remarks on Rahul Gandhi and 'pet dogs' made waves in 2016.
Lately he took a dig at the pace of developments in Nagaland. Did he really had to ?
Addressing an election rally at Hangjanglangso Sports Stadium at Bokajan - not far away
from Dimapur - Sarma said on June 5, "What Diphu has, you do not have it in Dimapur or Kohima".
Well the Assamese version -- and so the real version the way Himanta put it - makes things
clearer.
"Bokajanor pora Dimapur asorot....Dimapurot aji Medical College nai, Kohimat o nai....amar Diphut asey".
The video has gone viral.
However, he hastened to add -- "Maybe Dimapur and Kohima will soon have those".
Were this comparison so innocuous....and just way of putting things in right perspective?
Diphu is one of the underdeveloped areas of Assam and mind you - Dimapur and Kohima
are two showcases of Nagaland !
Maybe one is absolutely wrong in drawing too much meaning into what Sarma said.
But it is also a fact that there were a few developments recently which showed glaring contradictions
between the Assam Chief Minister Sarma, who is also NEDA chairman, and the version of
Core Committee on peace talks of Nagaland.
All these are actually linked to media's traditional jaundiced view and also the June 2 meeting
between Sarma (in presence of Water Resources Minister of Assam Pizush Hazarika) and the Core Committee
headed by Chief Minister Neiphiu Rio.
On Saturday, June 4, Himanta Biswa Sarma had tweeted thanking
his Nagaland counterpart Neiphiu Rio for hospitality when he visited Dimapur on June 2.
"Honoured by a warm reception extended by him (Rio) during a meeting in Dimapur earlier this week.
Look forward to further strengthen the cooperation between our states on matters of mutual interest,"
he posted on the micro blogging site.
However, Sarma's tweet rather raised a few questions as he simply avoided any reference to
peace parleys.
Did he snub the Nagaland Core Committee; - at least eyebrows could be raised.
Earlier, on June 1, Sarma had said he cannot 'mediate' Naga talks because it too big and complex.
His brief remarks in hardly one and half sentences came after a row triggered when some quarters in Nagaland
wondered whether Himanta had any magic wand to solve the Naga problem.
There could be possible reasons for Himanta to feel let down or annoyed. On the deliberations
of June 2, NDPP legislator Imkong L Imchen (a key member of G-21 club) had triggered a row when he said
(quoting Himanta) that the Naga Flag and Constitution as demanded by the NSCN-IM could be accommodated.
Confronted by 'Nagaland Page', Imchen made a dramatic climb down after two days and said
while Himanta's word was only 'positive' - the word accommodate/accommodation was his (Imchen's).
Imchen, a former Nagaland Minister and a leader from youth days as he headed the influential
Ao Students' Conference, also advised media - "The word accommodation or accommodate I have
used should not be seen as a market language, it has to be seen as a political and diplomatic language".
There were other classic contradictions. One report from Kohima claimed - "The Core Committee
has sought the support of Sarma as the convener of NEDA to help achieve a solution to the
issue by speaking with the Centre".
So for 25 years - quarter of a century - gave the key missive that there is still someone needed
to speak to the centre. Could Himanta be taken for a ride ?
If Himanta can become an emotionally surcharged whenever he reaches Nagaland border - say Bokajan -
actually not many reasonable people would be surprised.
Some months back, Himanta reportedly told a gathering of netas and a few scribes (either in Delhi
or Guwahati) - "At times I am embarrassed. Mr Rio is so much senior to me in age and he became Chief
Minister when I was an ordinary minister under Tarun Gogoi."
The context was never explained.
Did he mean - the 'repeated' requests vis-a-vis Naga peace parleys he gets from Nagaland ?
ends
Wheels within wheels : How much 'China angle' matters in circa 2022 ?
New Delhi
If the fear of ceasefire abrogation has surfaced in some quarters again vis-a-vis the Naga peace talks, it is also not a new or a first-time phenomenon.
Will 'China angle' yet again lead to ceasefire abrogation and also imposition of President's Rule ?
It is said after Indira Gandhi took over charge as Prime Minister in 1966, as many as seven rounds of talks were held with NNC at top level.
She was almost prepared to give anything less than sovereignty. But the dialogue was betrayed and the ceasefire was abrogated in 1967.
 |
| Blogger at Great Wall of China, and 'Naga vest': 2018 |
Prior or to her, Lal Bahadur Shastri was Prime Minister between June 9, 1964 and January 11, 1966.
The central government and the then PM Shastri also had worked hard and a Ceasefire Agreement
for Suspension of Operation was signed by Vishnu Sahay, Governor of Nagaland
and leaders such as Zashei Huire, Biseto Medom and L. Zhenito on behalf of NNC on September 6,1964.
The issues involved in Naga peace parleys are not only complex, there are wheels within wheels.
Peace in Nagaland and northeast in general and a Solution to Naga peace talks is something that appears
as 'eyesore' to India's powerful and giant neighbour China.
Those in the know of things say even in Sept-Oct 2020, a lot headway was made towards Solution.
But on September 18, 2020, there was a clear setback to all efforts for reconciliation as the NSCN(IM)
issued a statement from its headquarters saying a separate Naga flag and constitution
"must form a part of the Indo-Naga political solution".
Around that time an impression was generated that Chinese agencies may not be too happy with
movements towards Peace and Solution to the Naga problem.
A peace breakthrough by September-October 2020 or so would have given
a strong global message that the peace has been attained by the Modi government
notwithstanding India-China boundary skirmishes at Galwan valley in June that year.
It would have also shown perhaps that China can no longer be an unseen 'elder brother'
in the region.
Old timers would unhesitatingly agree that when Naga rebels including Thuingaleng Muivah
visited Yunnan province in 1967 and undertook training in guerilla operations near Chengtung, the entire
parameters of Naga insurgency was actually redefined.
In global polity and strategic planning, China has always been ahead, but lately
for various reasons India and China are often the competitors of the same turf.
Sources point out that Muivah's appreciation of Chinese leadership and communist ideology is
well known.
Around 2000 - three years since formal talks started with India, - Muivah had said in a TV interview -
"...I have admiration for them. They tried to understand our point of view and that is in a way inspiring.
Because great people like Chou En-lai had the patience to listen to us".
It is also understood why a number of militant organisations in the northeast including in Nagaland
and Manipur actually swear by 'ideologies' propagated from China.
Despite the slogan 'Nagaland for Christ', in fact all NSCN factions are known for preserving the
nomenclature 'socialists'.
Sources said the Chinese support to northeast rebels can be broadly divided into four phases -
1954-62- extending moral support, second 1967-79 -- helping groups in Nagaland, Mizoram and Manipur;
1980-89 -- using Kachin Independent Organisation as conduit for guerilla assistance and arms supply
and fourth since the 1990s - continuing support to the groups in various forms.
But in the contemporary setting even as armed forces of both countries are more often
engaged in eyeball to eyeball contacts and confrontation, in a geographic sense, the world has changed.
The Himalayas had kept China and India "walled" from each other.
But now the dense forests are getting cut down, difficult terrains and rough roads are gradually
getting replaced by superhighways.
The Look East Policy pushed by New Delhi initially, was actually conceptualised as a maritime orientation.
But as the Modi government expanded the engagements with the ASEAN members, the importance
of the northeast and Nagaland as a 'land bridge' has increased manifold, sources say.
Post Russia-Ukraine conflict, while more openly stood with Vladimir Putin, India did fine and risky tight rope walk.
The forum RIC - Russia, India and China is now been seen as an important platform.
ends
No comments:
Post a Comment