Mohammad Jamil
LAST year on 5 August, India revoked Article 370, and political analysts presaged that with the abolition of the said Article of the Constitution 10 states other than Jammu and Kashmir which enjoy special category status could be more volatile than the Jammu and Kashmir. These are Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Himachal Pradesh, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Sikkim, Tripura and Uttarakhand. Having witnessed the plight of people of Kashmir and the acts of barbarism and atrocities perpetrated on the people of Kashmir, these states do not trust Prime Minister Narendra Modi. As regards externally, almost all smaller neighbouring countries including Nepal, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Bhutan that have been wary of India’s posturing, urge for expansionism and domination at one time or another. However, they feel emboldened by Indian troops’ humiliation at the hands of Chinese soldiers in a standoff at Ladakh.
Coming back to internal situation in India, Nagaland, which has had an uneasy relationship with the mainland, is the most volatile state, as it is unhappy over the promises made by National Democratic Alliance in the Naga Peace Accord of 2015 that remain unfulfilled, and the controversial Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2016. With the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2016, the government had planned to change the definition of illegal migrants. The Bill, introduced in the Lok Sabha on 15 July 2016, sought to amend the Citizenship Act, 1955 to provide citizenship to illegal migrants, from Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan, who belong to Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Jain, Parsi or Christian religion. Last year, the Citizenship Amendment Bill (CAB) was passed by the Upper House of Parliament by 125 votes to 105 on 11 December. It had been cleared by the Lower House two days earlier. In Nagaland, almost entire countryside is controlled by the rebels, and government’s writ is seen in the cities only during the day, but at night the rebels rule the roost. Many say that writ of the government is confined to state capital Kohima, and the rebels have parallel administration in Nagaland and the Naga-dominated areas in neighbouring Manipur, Arunachal Pradesh and Assam. Rebel groups have for several decades imposed taxes in the name of “national work”, interfered in politics and elections, and gave verdicts on family and farmland disputes. Though Nagaland has special provisions under Article 371A following the creation of the State of Nagaland, insurgency continued under the National Socialist Council of Nagaland (NSCN). In Mizoram, former Chief Minister of Mizoram, Lal Thanhawla, made his position on the developments in Jammu and Kashmir clear through a tweet on 5 Aug 2020.
He tweeted: “It has become a threat to states like Mizoram, Nagaland & Arunachal which are protected by the Constitution. When 35A and 370 have been repealed, Article 371G, which safeguards the interests and existence of lesser tribals of Mizoram is under severe threat.” Other political parties in Mizoram had also condemned the move, as the People’s Representation for Identity and Status of Mizoram (PRISM) sounded the alarm and urged the ‘indigenous people’ of the Northeast to be prepared. Meanwhile, the final Assam citizens’ list was released, leaving out more than 1.9 million Muslims. Some of the significant separatist movements in India include Naxalites or Maoists, which is second major freedom movement after the IoK in India. The seven states of north-eastern India called Seven Sisters are rocked by a large number of armed and violent rebellions. Tamil Nadu is another area where separatist movements are haunting Federation of India.
Aside from 371D, E and I, the other provisions brought under Article 371 relate to the north-eastern states and thus bestow special powers to them too. Of these, Article 371A and Article 371G grant exclusive controls to the assemblies of Nagaland and Mizoram respectively – mainly in terms of keeping local culture and religion, legislating their own laws and ignore those applicable elsewhere in India. Residents of the rest of India also require special permits to enter both these border states, along with Arunachal Pradesh, which also enjoys some extra powers under Article 371H. Most north-eastern states have observed the Kashmir development with guarded caution and unease, mainly in the Christian-majority Mizoram. A large number of people in the state are already apprehensive of the BJP’s Hindutva ideology; however, it was in Nagaland that alarm bells had rung almost instantly.
In 2016, at the funeral of NSCN (I-M) President Isak Chisi Swu at the Nagaland House in New Delhi the group’s General Secretary T. Muivah said, “The Centre has recognised that the Naga history is unique and it needs a unique solution.” By then, nearly a year had passed since Muivah signed on behalf of the NSCN (I-M) a framework agreement with the Modi Government to usher in a Naga Accord. But the deal has not yet been signed. A primary demand of the NSCN has also been to bring what they call the traditional Naga areas spanning across different NE states under one administrative formulation. On this, the leader said, “Most likely, there would be some sort of territorial council in some of the states for the Nagas with direct funding from the Centre. Nothing is fully clear though.” In 2012, the Manmohan Singh Government too had held talks with NSCN (I-M) on similar lines.
Importantly, with the creation of Ladakh as a Union Territory bifurcated from J&K, the demand from the five districts of Nagaland – Tuensang, Mon, Longleng, Kiphire, Noklak – for a separate state of ‘Frontier Nagaland’ has received a fillip. In 2016, addressing a public rally in Tuensang, Satyendra Garg, Joint Secretary (North East) at the Union Home Ministry had said that the demand of the Eastern Nagaland People’s Organisation (ENPO) for a separate state appears genuine. Thus revocation of Article 370 will have a domino effect and destabilize India.
—The writer is a senior journalist based in Lahore.
