India’s northeast may be said to be the hot bed of diversity—ethnic, linguistic and geographic. It is like a garden with thousand flowers of different species. Shared history, culture and common aspiration bind the people together. Colonialism created disharmony among people, separating brothers from brothers, sisters from sisters. With colonial intervention, Man-Nature tranquillity was disturbed in the tribal dominated areas; hill/valley division was created.
The recent violence in Manipur which killed more than 180 people and thousands forced to flee brings forth the consequences of bitter ethno-religious division created by the colonisers. During Nehru’s time in post independent India, the Tribals were left into their own destiny; development projects did not reach the tribal areas, integration of the tribal people to the national life was overlooked. Conflicting ethnic narratives also contributed to create disharmony. Alienation of the region with the rest of the country deepened. Militancy took hold.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in his address to the nation on August 15, from the red fort, assured Manipur of the nation’s solidarity and expressed optimism about the improving situation. Earlier, speaking in the parliament, Prime Minister Modi connects to Manipur and with its past , “Manipur is filled with rich Indian culture and heritage. Manipur is the land of innumerable sacrifices”
He blames Congress for the problems in Manipur: “The situation of Manipur is being presented as if the problems cropped up now. If anyone is responsible for this, it is the Congress. The people of Northeast are not responsible” Modi reiterates his emotional attachment to Northeast. In the recent years since BJP came to power, development measures have reached out to the forlorn areas. More than seven lakh crores invested to develop the infrastructure in the northeast region since 2014. New projects were taken to take the region to the new height of development: Agartala got connected with rail connectivity, Goods train reached Manipur, green airport was constructed in Arunachal, Sikkim connected with air travel, AIIMS opened in Assam, National Sports university established in Manipur, Indian Institute of Mass communication came up in Mizoram. Heroes from Northeast Lachit Borphukan, Rani Gaidinlu got due recognition at the national level. Earlier during Vajpayee Government another great son of Bharat Mata, Gopinath Bordoloi who fought bravely Muslim League’s conspiracy to make Assam part of Pakistan and ensured that Assam remains part of India was conferred the highest civilian award of the country. Another prominent artist from northeast, Dr Bhupen Hazarika was also conferred the Bharat Ratna during NDA rule. So many militant groups have given up arms and come to the mainstream during this period. Narratives of violence is being replaced by the narratives of development. People are getting new hope in the emerging new India. To strengthen the bond of brotherhood among different ethnic communities of the region and establish lasting peace, one needs to debunk the colonial narratives that created binaries in the region: hill/valley, tribal/non-tribal, Assamese/Bengali binaries have created atmosphere of distrust and disharmony. A look at the trajectory from the colonial to post colonial period reveals that respective Congress Governments after independence continued with the colonial policy affecting national integration.
Nehru continued the colonial policy in post colonial India
Colonialism in (north) eastern Bharat, like the rest of the country, worked to subvert the native culture and impose Western values upon the people. It created division among people on ethnic, linguistic and religious line to perpetuate its hegemony. Hill/plain division was created and many Tribals were taken away from their roots and converted. In 1881 there were only three persons converted to Christianity in Nagaland , in 1891 census the number was 211; total Christian population of Naga Hill district was 0.18 per cent. It increased to 22908 or 12.81 per cent of total population in 1931. In 1901 Nagaland’s Christian population was 0.59 per cent of the State’s total population. It increased to 46.05 per cent in 1951. In Garo Hills Christian population was 0.61 per cent in 1881. In Lusai Hill district (now Mizoram) there was not a single person converted to Christianity till 1881. In 1891 two persons were converted to Christianity. The colonisers prohibited the entry of Hindu saints/pandits and other people to the Hill areas from the plain while facilitated the Missionaries to establish their base in the hills. In Lushai Hill (now Mizoram) Christian population had risen from 0.05 per cent in 1901 to 80.31 per cent in 1951.The general perception that British East India Company followed a policy of non interference in the social, religious and cultural life of the people of India till the first half of nineteenth century does not hold much water. Policy of non interference was replaced by the undeclared policy of suppression (of native culture) and conversion.
In a letter dated February 3, 1846 , the then British Commissioner Jenkins urged upon the Company Government to keep away the Garrows away from Brahminism because that may make the Garrows professed Hindu:
“…if merely Bengali schools are established under native teachers the Garrows will inevitably become professed Hindu and I would respectfully urge on the consideration of Government whether the practicability of saving these races from the bonds of Brahminism should not be attempted at the time that instruction is afforded them in reading and writing by employing Missionary Gentlemen as superintendents of the schools”
In the plain area also, Christianity was promoted by the British East India Company. In a letter to the under Secretary to the Government of Bengal, Judicial Department On March 27,1846 Jenkins informed about the completion of a Church with Government aid:
“I beg to inform you that the Church for the construction of which at this station the liberal aid of Government was therein authorised has been completed as originally projected…”
“In 1850 the Bishop of Calcutta first visited, or in his own earnest language, “took possession of”, Assam.(Major Adam White in A Memoir of the late David Scott, page 231).David Scott worked as the Agent to the Governor general of British India and was Commissioner of Assam.
“Mr Scott exerted himself to promote the labours of the Missionaries in the districts subject to his control; and, on his application to Government, a Baptist Missionary, Mr Rae, was allowed to proceed to Assam. Mr. Scott was in the habit of distributing the New Testament in the Assamese language amongst the Natives; and always maintained the opinion, that people in a rude State of civilisation, like the Garrow and Cassyah mountaineers whose ideas of future State, and the Supreme Being, were vague and indistinct, were much more likely to be converted than races further advanced, like the Hindus and Mohamedans of the provinces; in whose hearts more elevated notions of religion were enshrined from childhood by the endearing cares of their parents, sanctified by the pompous ritual and observances of their respective faiths, and in mature manhood riveted in the understanding by the intellectual labours of their hierarchiers the members of which were interested in supplying them with reasons for the faith that was in them ” (Major Adam white , page 7-8 in A Memoir of the late David Scott)
Mill acknowledged that British Government’s policy adversely affected the native education system; Sanskrit education system was gradually marginalised:
“We are constrained with regret to acknowledge that education in the country, under the enlightened Government of England, is in a retrograde State! During the prosperity of the Native Government, the education of the respectable classes in Sanskrit knowledge always formed an object of the social care and an attention of the State. In every important village there existed public schools to train up the youth in the knowledge of Sanskrit literature and science; and so much was then the general thirst for Sanskrit knowledge, that numerous youths travelled to Nuddea and Benares to receive instruction in the abstract sciences. Since the annexation of the Province to the British Empire, Sanskrit education, owing to the want of encouragement, has gradually been abolished.”(Mill’s Report on the Province of Assam, page 105)
What is regrettable is the fact that even after independence, British policy was continued in different spheres of our public life. Pandit Nehru made an agreement with the Head of the Church of Nagaland, Verrier Elwin and Hindu saints were banned to enter Nagaland and the construction of Hindu temple was banned in Nagaland. But Missionaries continued to enjoy privilege and thus proselytising mission continued in full suing. In 1947 Christian population was twenty percent of Nagaland’s total population; in 1991 this increased to 87.47 percent and 87.93 per cent in 2011. In Manipur, Christian population constituted 11.84 percent of the State’s total population in 1951. In 2001 this increased to 37.37 per cent and 41.29 per cent in 2011.
Congress Government rejected any proposal/bill which wanted to restrict induced conversion. In 1955 a bill to regulate conversion came but was rejected by Nehru. Another bill in 1960 was introduced in the parliament in order to protect SC and ST ‘from change of religion forced on them on grounds other than religious convictions.” It was also rejected by the Congress Government. Minister B.N. Datar rather rejecting the bill eulogised the Missionaries, “They were carrying on Christ’s mission by placing themselves at the service of mankind and such work was one of their greatest contributions t o the world” (qtd by Sita Ram Goel, in Pseudo-Secularism: Christian Missions and Hindu Resistance, page no 13). Such approach helped conversion mission undertaken by the Missionaries. As a result Christian population increased by 171.1 per cent in the 1951-71 period. At a critical juncture of history when China attacked India in the eastern frontier 1962, Nehru bid the region farewell. “My heart goes to the people of Assam,” Nehru declared in a radio message.
Congress indifferent attitude continued even after the Nehruvian era. Illegal migration from east Pakistan and later Bangladesh continued to pose serious threat to Assam. But Congress, instead of deporting the illegal migrants, started treating them as ‘vote bank’. Demography altered; Islamic separatism fostered by Congress, especially by the Muslim leaders in the Congress. Those who raised voice against illegal migrants were mutilated. In the famous Assam Movement, 855 Assamese youths were killed. After formation of BJP Government in Assam, the victims’ families have been given financial assistance and a memorial park is being built up in memory of those killed in the Assam movement.
#Pandit Nehru was not only concerned about the safety of the missionaries but also facilitated them. In a letter dated 17th October, 1952 Prime Minister Nehru commanded the Chief Minister of all States to take ‘particular care that there is no discrimination, much less harassment’ of the Missionaries. Nehru admitted that ‘some of them in the north-east encouraged separatist and disruptive movements.’ He, nevertheless, citing the constitution, justified proselytism: “We permit, by our constitution, not only freedom of conscience and belief but also proselytism.” Pandit Nehru’s approach encouraged the Missionaries to increase their activities in India. Later in March, 1954 the Supreme court declared the right to propagate a fundamental right applied to citizens and noncitizen alike. This further encouraged the missionaries.
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