Do you feel at home?

The exodus of Northeast students and others from various parts of the country to their native region is unprecedented. India had never witnessed this kind of a panic migration. True, our brethren from the Northeast are being paranoid. But their paranoia speaks volumes about the level of confidence the northeasterners have in our governments, state and Central, when it comes to providing security.

Clearly, this situation is not just a law and order issue. It is about the lack of emotional security emanating from a lack of sense of belonging that is at the root of this situation.
Lured by vote-bank benefits, illegal migrants were provided all sort of support and benefits at the cost of the original residents who were then forced to migrate for jobs. Now, since they consider their lives are threatened in places where they had migrated as well, they are going back home. Would one allow this to happen to our brethren from Rajasthan, Kerala or Bihar? Kokrajhar and Chirang were allowed to burn because they are in the Northeast. Out of sight, out of mind and now, perhaps, out of control, too. It certainly is our collective failure that fellow citizens from the Northeast continue to feel not-at-home outside their region. What causes concern is that there is little awareness about this sordid situation and its impact on the nation’s unity and integrity.
Only about two months ago Guwahati witnessed a massive rally organised by the Northeast Students Organisation (NESO) to highlight repeated incidents of discrimination against youths from the Northeast, either studying or working in other parts of the country. While the occurrence of such incidents is not new, what is noteworthy is the organised expression of popular anger against such incidents.
Notwithstanding the fact that several MPs were and always are at the forefront in voicing concern against such acts of discrimination in Parliament, it’s the people of the country who need to be sensitised about the Northeast.
Imagine, while on a bus ride in Delhi or Chennai a co-traveller stares at you and asking upfront: Are you from Uganda or Tanzania? Imagine, in crowded market, murmurs about you being a foreigner and when you tell them about your native place, they ask: Where is this place? In India?
Regional divide is not new in India. But post-Independence, the North-South divide was diluted mainly because of large-scale migrations for livelihood facilitated by a massive railway network connecting the North to the South. Besides, thanks to their high academic performance, many South Indians made it to high-ranking positions in the government as also the private sector. All this enhanced the pace of assimilation, erasing, to a large extent, the psychological divide.
If the railways and Bollywood movies are the two most effective binding factors in India, in the Northeast at least one of them has only a limited influence. The railways continue to have a weak network in this region. There is no rail connectivity between Delhi and five out of seven capital cities of the Northeast. Bollywood movies do draw crowds but the fact remains that no moviemaker has so far found a story dealing with the Northeast attractive enough to base his movie on. As if there is no India beyond Bengal.
Northeast India has suffered due to geographical isolation, leading to a psychological distance. Sustained and concerted efforts with a long-term vision in an array of sectors are long overdue if we want to achieve integration and begin emotional healing. Unless these efforts, especially through development schemes and using the media and academia effectively, are resolutely undertaken, the decades-old trust deficit cannot be overcome.
It is high time we used the electronic media to enhance literacy about the Northeast. And what better time than now, when Mary Kom, a mother of twins, has won for India an Olympic bronze in women’s boxing. While we take pride in her success, how can we continue with our ignorance and look at people with Mongoloid features as foreigners.
To better understand the interesting culture and history of the people of the Northeast, we need to introduce “northeast studies” in our education system, especially in the secondary school system. Why is it that in our history books there is hardly any mention of the Northeast? When the freedom movement is discussed, there could be a section on the Northeast. We can have stories by Northeastern authors in language books. Why can we not give incentives to schools and colleges to conduct study tours in Northeast? Helplines for the students of the Northeast in other parts, Northeast information centres in major cities and a national museum of the Northeast could be some of the other measures.
For assimilation to lead to emotional linkages, people from other parts must visit our border areas, especially the Northeast. With the 50th anniversary of India-China war just round the corner, let’s also think of incentives for people in the border area to visit other parts.

The writer is director of Rambhau Mhalgi Prabodhini, an academy for elected representatives in Mumbai