From the British to South Africa, NSA discusses political cultures

Dimapur, Sep. 29 (EMN): The Naga Scholars’ Association (NSA) hosted a discourse on September 28 at the School of International Studies of the JNU in New Delhi during which scholars examined various aspects of government policies that redefined the landscape of peoples and society, such as that of Manipur in India and South Africa.
The NSA issued a press release to the media on Sunday giving updates about the proceedings of the programme.
The first speaker was KK Loung Nathan, a JNU scholar, who spoke about the impact of the British policy in Manipur during the 19th century.’ He examined whether the policy can be considered non-interfering or vice-versa.

‘To understand this, Loung outlined the historical relationship between the British and the Rajah of Manipur in the context of the British-Burma relations.

“The Anglo-Burmese war (1824-1826) factored in a crucial moment in the way the British negotiated with Manipur. Considering the impending threat of the Burmese, the British tried to establish positive relation with the Rajah of Manipur,” the said.

“Consequently, the policies of the British contributed to the changes in the relations between the people of the hills and the valley. For instance, Kabaw valley was ceded to Burma by the British to appease the former, considered as an act of reconciliation. A political agent of the British was also created in 1835, who acted as a superintendent.”

As a result of the policies of the British, Loung said, there were two key ramifications in Manipur. “First was the extension of statecraft to the hill tribes by Manipur. There was cultural conquest as for instance, many of the hill areas and villages were renamed by the Rajah of Manipur.”

“The introduction of firearms to Manipur enabled the former to subjugate the hill tribes to a large extent, since the latter’s weapons (Naga daos and spears) could not match the fire arms in times of conflicts.”

The second impact was the mapping of the geographical terrain of Manipur, he said. “Since Manipur was unmapped and unexplored earlier before, the British felt the m need to create boundaries for their administrative conveniences.”

The scholar said that the boundaries that were demarcated during the colonial rule were upheld even today.
“Hence, considering these ramifications, Loung concluded that the policies of British cannot be considered as non-interfering. In fact, the present day political realities are a result of the seeds of the British policies.”

The second speaker was Shimreisa Chahongnao, also a scholar at JNU. He presented a paper titled ‘Entrenching chieftaincy in a democratic South Africa – Mirroring Tangkhul Naga chieftain’s emerging political odyssey,’ the press release stated.

The speaker tried to examine the present status and role of the chiefs in South Africa and compared them with the Tangkhul Naga society. His paper focused on the position of the chiefs among the two by touching upon key factors in the relevancy of the traditional leaders, the updates stated.

Taking the case of South Africa, he spoke about the existing differences ‘in the debate’ between the traditionalist and the modernists.

“The modernist, according to him, held that the traditional institutions are incoherent in the context of the democratic principles of today. Also, the advent of market capitalism, democracy and other such changes were bound to result in the weaning away of the traditional leaders,” Chahongnao.

Chahongnao held the view that the leadership of the traditional institutions was relevant considering the moral support that they still get from the people.

“To the extent that smaller parties in South Africa seeks to gain the cooperation of the traditional leaders for political votes. The fact that the institution of chieftaincy in South Africa enjoys constitutional mandate, reflects the former’s respect, power and authority amidst the debate on its relevancy,” the press release stated.

While making a comparative assessment of the traditional leaders of South Africa with regard to the Tangkhuls, Chahongnao remarked that ‘policy of incrementalism’ as proposed by Hanna Lerner helps in integrating the diverse groups with the formal state system both in South Africa and among the Tangkhuls.

“The state in the process tries to establish amenable means to ensure the promotion of a positive relationship among the two.” He referred to some of the Acts enacted by the state government like the Manipur Hill Peoples (Administration) Regulation Act of 1947, Manipur Village Authority (Hill Areas) Act of 1956 and Manipur Hill Areas (Acquisition of Chief’s Rights) Act 1967 and so on in Manipur.

‘Despite this, he observed, the enactment of such state laws endangers the relevancy and authority of the traditional leadership among the Tangkhul Nagas. It also resembled a threat to their conception of the equilibrium of the ‘ethnographic community social contract’ as posited by Shangrei,’ he added.

In the session’s concluding remarks, the chairperson Prof. Parmod Kumar called the NSA’s research scholars’ forum a unique and engaging platform for researchers and academics for a holistic exchange of ideas on all emerging issues and challenges facing us.

‘This will surely culminate into an inter-disciplinary think tank on the sustainable development goals as identified by UN.’