Topic Discussed: Success
Stories from North-East : Mizoram and Tripura
The author of this post wishes to remain anonymous.
Mizoram
It is interesting to note that Mizo society, at
the time of independence, was perhaps one of the most progressive ones in
North-East and an organisation by the name of Mizo Union was formed to end the
rule of tribal chief, establishing democratic village society and joining the
Union of India. Post- independence,Mizoram continued to be administered as
“Lushai Hills” District within the state of Assam and there was considerable
discontent due to Assamese domination. The breaking point came in the year
1959, when it faced cyclical “Mautam” famine. Mautam occurs cyclically after
about 48 years and is accompanied by flowering of wild bamboo which leads to
increase in rat population,famine and plague. The 1959 mautam,apart from
causing increase in rat population, famine and plague, also caused emergence of
Mizo insurgency. The actions of Government at that time turned out to be
insufficient in dealing with the problem. It was during this period that Mizo National Famine Front(MNFF) was
established with an aim to provide famine relief but transformed later(in 1962) to Mizo
National Front(MNF), a secessionist movement. The opportunity was exploited by
Pakistan, which provided arms and shelter to the insurgents through the then
East Pakistan.
In
the year 1966, MNF declared independence and carried out terrorist attacks
against Government and other institutions through “Operation Jericho”. For
eight days even the capital Aizawl was under control of MNF. The situation deteriorated to the extent that
Indian Air Force was called in and this is the only case in the history of
independent India that Air Force was used in case of an internal disorder.
Although the Pakistan, China aided “Operation Jericho” was a failure, yet the
insurgents continued to survive due to support and shelter they received
through the then East Pakistan. It is unfortunate that the government carried
out relocation program for many Mizo villages with an attempt to weaken MNF. This
British and American style relocation and segregation was opposed by locals and
fortunately the government realised the futility of such relocations and the
plan was abandoned. Within MNF, divisions became apparent as one group favoured
negotiations while the other,favoured by Pakistan, pushed for violent actions.
The 1971 war gave delivered a deadly blow to MNF.
The
Government took commendable a step towards reconciliation by separating Mizoram
from Assam as a separate Union Territory in 1972. This step restored much of
the lost confidence towards Mizo Union,which considerably lost popularity after
the mautam famine and emergence of MNF, and the Government. However, some
factions within MNF continued insurgency with help from China. Finally, MNF
leaders realised futility of their insurgency which was causing undue hardships
to the population and MNF's support base had drastically reduced in this
period. In 1976, MNF leader Laldenga agreed for negotiations within the
contours of the Indian constitution implying acceptance of Mizoram as a part of
India.
However,
some factions of MNF with support from
China continued insurgency. The discontent amongst certain sections of Mizos
due to illegal migration from Bangladesh gave them a support base. Negotiations
were not moving a positive direction and some factions MNF used ceasefire
periods as breathing period for strengthening themselves and carrying out
extortions. Finally in 1982, Government banned MNF and launched crackdown. The
crackdown and Police action forced MNF to return back to negotiations,
Government also took a step further by considering the demand of full statehood
and carried out fencing of Bangladesh border to reduce illegal immigration.
After multiple rounds of negotiations, finally an agreement was reached in 1986
with MNF wherein Full statehood was granted to Mizoram and MNF agreed to accept
Indian Constitution.
Since
then, Mizoram is largely peaceful and shown tremendous progress in various
socio-economic indicators, like literacy rate of more than 91% and Sherchhip
and Aizawl becoming two most literate districts in India.
Despite
being a success story Mizoram is still not completely free of ethnic tensions.
In 1997, more than 5,000 tribal Bru
families had to escape to Tripura and other parts. About 35,000 refugees are
still living in refugee camps of Tripura. If Mizoram is to continue its success
story then it needs peaceful settlement of Bru issue , otherwise another
insurgency is perhaps waiting to emerge.
In opinion of the author, the following
factors helped in achieving success in Mizoram:-
·
When it appeared that ceasefires and
negotiations are being misused by MNF for strengthening
itself,extortion,carrying out violence,etc. The response of government was
crackdown,unlike in case of NSCN(IM) which is misusing negotiations and
ceasefires since 1996 for carrying out criminal activities,extortion,blocking
NH 39 to Manipur,drug trafficking,gun running. Sometimes crackdown against
insurgent groups is a necessary evil.
·
Unlike Naga insurgent groups,which are
plenty in numbers and factions,there was a greater degree of cohesion in Mizo
insurgent groups (MNF being the primary). Thus, negotiation and settlement with
one group was quite effective whereas in case of Nagas it is difficult to
accommodate all conflicting groups simultaneously.
·
There is greater cohesion amongst Mizo
tribes when compared with Nagas, who have at least 17 major tribes and many are
in serious conflict with each other.
·
Most of top leaders of MNF were from the
state of Mizoram or Lushai Hills district and hence the demand for “Greater
Mizoram” was negotiable whereas in case of Naga groups top leadership is mostly
from areas outside Nagaland state and hence their demand for “Greater Nagaland”/”Nagaland”
is more persisting. Such demand is difficult to meet considering opposition
from Manipur,Assam and Arunachal Pradesh.
Tripura
Tripura,
a former princely state, joined Indian Union by signing Instrument of Accession
by the then Regent Queen who was governing on behalf of her minor son. Not many
are aware that during the time of independence, a section of palace nobles,led
by Durjoy Karta, entered into conspiracy with a local pro-Muslim League Party
to make Tripura join Pakistan. But the conspiracy was foiled by popular
sentiment in favour of joining Indian Union.
Partition
of India was accompanied by large-scale migration of Bengalis from the then
East Pakistan to Tripura. Further, Tripura became more isolated from rest of
the country as direct link to Calcutta was lost due to formation of East
Pakistan and the other way is through
the narrow “chicken neck corridor”. The tribals of Tripura became a minority to
due large-scale migration from East Pakistan and other parts of the country.
Further, the end of monarchy and establishment of democracy, reduced political
power of native tribals who were now a minority. There was a feeling of discontent and neglect amongst
the tribals. Organisations like “Tripura Upajati Juba Samiti” (TUJS) , “Tripura
National Volunteers” (TNV) , “National Liberation Front of Tripura”(NLFT) were
formed in 1971,1981 and 1989 respectively. These organisations claimed to
represent interests of Tribals and demanded restoration of Tribal
lands,deportation of what they called “illegal migrants” and even secession. It
is unfortunate that successive Governments of Tripura formed during initial few
decades after independence were not so sensitive to concerns to tribals and
failed to carry out land reforms. These organisations took advantage of
grievances of tribals to gain their support and porous border with Bangladesh
helped them. Although these groups remained largely ineffective initially, but
from about mid-1990s these groups got support from elements across the border
in Bangladesh and violence increased considerably. In 1999, United Bengal
Liberation Front was formed, which carried out counter-attacks on tribals and
claimed to protect Bengalis from NLFT. This created a vicious cycle of attacks
and counter-attacks.
However,
the Tripura launched an effective counter-insurgency strategy which involved:-
·
The counter-insurgency operations were
mostly carried out by Central Armed Police Forces(CAPF) and State Police,
unlike in other states where Army plays a significant role. This minimised any
unintended losses to civilian population as CAPFs and State Police is better
for low-intensity internal conflicts unlike army which is mostly trained for
war-like situations.
·
Involvement of tribals as special police
officers. Their knowledge of local train and social networks helped in
gathering intelligence.
·
Actions of CAPF and State Police were
closely monitored to minimise any chances of excesses and rights violation.
·
Governance in areas cleared by security
forces were strengthened without much delay creating a positive image of the
state by creation of health centres,schools,etc.(This is in sharp contrast to
Saranda where area liberated from naxalites remained the same or even became
worse)
·
Information campaign was launched by the
Government exposing hypocrisy of Militant leadership which led a luxurious life
and exploited lower ranks.
·
Village level grassroot democracy was
strenghtened.
The result was that Tripura not only
overcame insurgency but is a Model State of North-East India. Between 2004-05
and 2009-10 %age of BPL population reduced from 40% to 17.4 %. This is highly
commendable considering that poverty rates increased in all North-Eastern
states,except Tripura and Arunachal Pradesh,
during this period. As per its own survey, Tripura has even left behind
Kerala in literacy by achieving 94.65 per cent rate beating Kerala's 93.91 per
cent(although this is not as per 2011 census data but a subsequent survey
reported in Tripura in 2013,http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/home/education/news/Tripura-beats-Kerala-in-literacy/articleshow/22416019.cms)
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