Meghalaya has a different social pattern when it comes to gender. Yet the politics of Meghalaya is male-led and male-focused.
This paradox vis-s-vis matrilineal society among Garos, Jaintias and Khasis is hardly understood.
In other states, there is typical male domination.
File snap: Tribal women walk across a 'root bridge' in Meghalaya
More than 220 people, most of them Christians, have died in Manipur, where Kukis tribal Christians have been fighting Meitei Hindus since May 3 2023 over conferring the tribal status on Hindus.
Christians account for about 42 percent of the hilly state’s 3.7 million population.
Since 2021, Christian-majority Mizoram has been witnessing the arrival of migrants from Myanmar after the coup of the civilian government by the Myanmar military.
Myanmar, the world’s largest opium-producing nation, shares borders with Mizoram's three districts -- Hnahthial, Champhai and Lawngtlai.
People in Myanmar’s Christian-majority Chin state have family relations with people in the Christian-dominated Indian state of Mizoram.
In all these, the fact of the matter is youth and the women are the majority victims. It may be now time for youth and women not to be carried away 'blindly by emotions' or any kind of pressure or manipulation. They must rise above division; become part of the movement to restore peace in Manipur.
And also reflect on mistakes. The past experience shows many women and youths have been swept away by 'emotional' politics and false and divisive narratives. They also became instruments in the hands of selfish and divisive leaders.
Hence socio-political leaders in violence-hit Manipur must introspect. Political mistakes must be acknowledged, and those responsible must have the courage to admit their failures.
Admitting mistakes is not a weakness; it is the first step toward healing.
The Modi government has drawn up a plan to bring peace to the volatile northeastern region housing the nation’s three Christian-majority states. Meghalaya and Nagaland are Christian majority and so is Mizoram. But we will skip analysing Mizoram this time.
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Nagaland has witnessed many armed struggles over the years with demands for separation from India. People initiatives are making progress but they are no longer result-oriented. The centre wants to change this perception.
But there are governance failures too.
People in six districts of Nagaland refused to vote in the national election in 2024 to stress their demand for a separate state.
The sources in Delhi say, the centre is well aware of these intricacies.
The stress is clear the government of India is keen to work on a final peace pact with multiple Naga insurgent groups.
Nagaland, Meghalaya and Tripura will have polls by March 2028.
In all three states; besides other challenges -- the perceived Economic frustration is real.
All these three states and also Manipur desperately need jobs and functioning health facilities. But these are easier said than done.
The upcoming set of provincial elections in Manipur and three other states in 2028 will hence be like a referendum on governance and also also on the direction of north east India’s democracy.
We say this because the contest has increasingly shifted from development to identity, from performance to polarization.
Worse, violence between Nagas and Kukis and Kukis and Meities continue unabated.
N Biren Singh's 'charisma' of 2022 is now replaced by a parochial personality. Can he help fend off the possible Congress party's revival in Manipur. In 2024 Lok Sabha polls - Congress won both Inner and Outer seats and also the lone Nagaland seat.
The NPF, a key ally of BJP, is also eyeing advances in both Manipur and Nagaland while Meghalaya and Tripura seem ready for intense multipolar contests.
Can north east of India really take any movement towards a complex ideological recalibration ?
But first thing first.
Manipur cannot afford to keep burning.
If the stakeholders fail to admit mistakes, learn from our failures, and work together both in short term and long term perspectives, the consequences will be devastating.
In Manipur, different communities need to talk to each other. Politicians, even media enterpreuners , youth, women, security forces, and the Modi Govt must work together sincerely to stop the violence and restore peace.
The north east India’s electoral future is largely being shaped not by development debate and other issues of governance but by 'competing visions' on who is who and which tribe and which clan and of what it means to belong to one socio-religious group or the other.
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