The Speaking Mirror: Communalism of the Imphal valley and victimisation of the north easterners

Dr. B. Angami
[dropcap]T[/dropcap]he killings, rapes, molestations, assaults, ill treatments, hate crimes against the people from the north east region is mainly due to the communal, chauvinistic and targeting of mainland Indians in Manipur’s Imphal valley by the Meitei organisations with the connivance of the State Government. It has emerged that in most cases of assaults and violence on the north east people, the perpetrators were victims themselves or had relatives, friends and fellow deshis who were killed or meted out inhuman treatment in Manipur (Imphal valley) under the very nose of the Government of Manipur, whose inaction just as the Delhi Administration, has allowed the racism and hate crimes to continue.
To start with, Meiteis are mongoloid and to the mainland Indians who have no familiarity with the multiethnic composition of the population of the north east, they cannot be differentiated from the others. Thus out of vindictiveness and to avenge the inhuman treatment of ‘mayangs’ in Imphal valley, who were either close relatives, friends or fellow deshis, the mainlanders target the north east people indiscriminately.Since the time of demand of statehood for Manipur, the Meiteis have organized communal attack on mainland Indians, who were settled in Imphal after 19th October, 1949. Sizeable number of mayangs (mainland Indians), mostly petty businessmen, daily wage and skilled laborers have been killed, assaulted and maimed and forced to flee Imphal valley. This is still happening and the new method is to spray bullets or throw bombs into the low cost housings shared by the mayangs and also by targeting them with the Innner Line Permit issue. The hard facts or statistics are there in the local and national dailies and one need not go any further with elaborations.
It is in the baser instinct of many humans, that so called outsiders are not treated with respect or in the manner with which a local would normally be received. Basically because he (the outsider) looks different, his language or accent is different, his culture and life style is different. Granted, outsiders will feel out of place till he is accepted. India is ours, Delhi is ours, Bangalore is ours, we will say. But the fact remains that outsider within this big country is always self conscious and over sensitive of his being an outsider just as a local is aggressive in asserting his local status vis-à-vis the outsider. This is a universal phenomena and stray aberration can happen.
But organized racial attacks and hate crimes against north easterners in Delhi and other cities goes beyond this phenomenon. It is a tit for tat for the unceasing racial crimes committed on mayangs in Imphal valley over a not so short period of time to be stereotyped by the mayangs in the mainland as calling for fitting reciprocation in their locale.
But why should other north easterners be victimized and targeted for the organized atrocities that takes place in Imphal. The people in Delhi and other cities must understand that there are Apatanis, Nocte, Wangchus, Nagas, Kukis, Mizos, Garos, Khasi, Jaintia, Bodos etc, who are mongoloid but are not Meiteis from Imphal valley. Careless mistaken identity and ignorance is not fair to the other north easterners.
The intellectuals and the Government at Imphal valley must also introspect how the organized violence unleashed upon mayangs at Imphal have resulted in targeting of the north easterners in general. The non Meitei north easterner cannot accept this unwarranted victimization lying down. I or my tribesmen and tribeswomen cannot continue to be the scapegoats.
Another moot point is why are the mainlanders being targeted in the ILP issue and not the foreigners who have come from across the borders of Myanmar, Bangladesh and Nepal? Just as north easterners in general have gone to Delhi and other Indian cities for studies and employment and not for permanent settlement, the mainland Indians come to Imphal valley for economic and professional purpose and not to settle there and will pack up and go back to their respective desh after their job is done. But these foreigners will one day likely swamp the natives and rule over them. Yet, they are targeted and for which the entire north easterners have become victims of hate crimes in India’s cities.

e-mail: langami@rediffmail.com