The Indian government is mulling the arrangement of polls for early next year in this region amidst the threat of large scale insurgencies by the United Liberation Front of Assam – ULFA and its associates among the CPI (Maoist) left leaning political parties that exist in the state very predominately.

Once Maoist cadres’ numbers were only around 300, now, how many nobody knows. Neighbouring Arunachal, Nagaland, Meghalaya and the sovereign country of Bangladesh are encouraging these fronts.

The protagonists are engaged in seeking all sorts of support. Bangladeshi people once were and still are soft on them, they think and express their memory that previously the Bangladeshi peoples needed support from the Assamese, in the period of the liberation war that was staged in 1971. Thus this link of today.

India’s Home Affairs minister for the first time formally declared Assam as a Maoist-hit state. Insurgencies are predominant there. However, why are people of the state witnessing such painful scenarios every day? These are agro-based states in the India. However, minerals are another salient feature. Agriculture is dominant though over other elements.

The State Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi noted that the Maoist movement is still at its embryonic stage, but could soon emerge as a potent threat to peace, security and stability. The adjoining areas in Arunachal Pradesh, were established with some co-operation of the left-wing insurgency-rife states of Odessa and Jharkhand.

Tripura

Chief Minister of Tripura Manik Sarkar says, the insurgency has not been uprooted yet, despite all out efforts. Militants are still on the operational mode in interior places of the state. Few months earlier, a treaty was signed between central government and the insurgents residing in the state.

However, Border Security Forces along with other forces like Tripura State Rifles, and Tripura Police are jointly performing their duties to keep peace in the state but in most of the cases, without success. Sociologists opine that the budget that the centre sanctioned for the state is adequate. That pains the people of this state. They are not able to compete in the pace of development as other developed states like, Uttarpradesh, Gujrat, Madyapradesh, Kerala, Karnataka etc.

Nagaland

Nagaland is one of the seven states of North East India, which are also called the ‘seven sisters’, surrounded by four countries, viz. China, Myanmar, Bangladesh and Bhutan. These states are connected with mainland India through a 22km wide corridor at Siliguri, called the ‘chicken’s neck’.The people of Nagaland, like the rest of the North East states, belong to the Indo-Mongoloid group and speak the Tibeto-Burman dialects. Traditionally, the people followed animistic religions until their recent rapid conversion to Christianity. Nagaland was carved out of ‘greater Assam’ in 1963.

The Tuensang Tract was also included in Nagaland, which was a part of North Eastern Frontier Area at that time. Naga people were deprived of any development works, suffered in employment opportunities, becasue of poverty, maltreatment and uncaring political hegemony that made them unruly and furious and sometimes pushed them to resort to armed struggle. Narendra Modi government has signed a peace treaty recently but the development package is yet to follow and that makes them once again aggrieved .

Arunachal

Arunachal is a state which identifies as a next-door neighbour to Myanmar, Bhutan and Bangladesh. As New Delhi is far from the state, it demands its sovereignty because the people of this state see they are deprived of all modern amenities and facilities that are being enjoying in the rest of the country. Over the course of time, the protesting people formed Bodo Liberation Tigers and began to fight against the armed forces to liberate themselves. All Students Union joined with their struggle and at one stage matters went beyond the control of the central government.

Finding no other way, the government established ties with the insurgents eventually but there has been no development. People are collectuively groaning amidst torture, and misrule.

Meghalaya

Meghalaya is a North East Indian state that lies at the doorstep of Bangladesh. China is very near to the state and the insurgents take opportunity to bring in weapons from that country as the Untied Liberation Front of Assam – ULFA – in Assam did and does. Social injustice, economical deprivation and political hegemony make the state restless. State and central government take very little care and this makes the majority of people aggrieved, yet again.

Government initiatives do not make them happy. The state supplies coal and other natural resources to the whole country but the people get nothing that they aspire to. The youthful forces, along with the support of Chittagong Hill Tracts insurgents, make them stronger. This strength mounted more and more plus the Assamese began to help them to fight against government forces. Now the government is striving to pacify the insurgency but pragmatic strategy by the Indian government has not followed.

Manipur

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s high-level Task Force on the Northeast wants the army to be pulled out of counter-insurgency duties in Manipur and Nagaland, and re-deployed east to guard the porous border with Myanmar. Like the other members of the seven sisters, Manipur is replete with in-demand natural resources but the people of this state do not in-full get their rights and privileges as other Indian states enjoy.

Justice and humanity itself speaks loudly for the provision of this state its full due of shares and rights that they need to enjoy life. However, the central government fails to serve the people of this state. No neighbouring country has time to ignite other’s insurgencies, as they are busy with their own domestic needs and problems.

Mizoram

The 20-year long insurgency in Mizoram led by the Mizo National Front was resolved as far back as in 1986, and the State has, since, been at peace in terms of that stream of insurgency. Nevertheless, the ethnic polarization and tensions provoked by the MNF insurgency continue to trigger occasional violence linked to a range of other armed groups, some of them located in and operating from neighboring states.

On February 2, 2015, armed militants suspected to be from National Liberation Front of Tripura and Bodo Democratic Front of Mizoram abducted 22 people from an area close to the Indo-Bangladesh border in Mamit District of Mizoram.

Sources disclosed that around 10 militants armed with sophisticated weapons later released 20 of them, while holding back two hostages – Hokum Singh and Mohammad Buizul Islam. The hostages are employees of the Border Roads Task Force. On February 1, 2015, the Mizoram Police and Assam Rifles, in a joint operation, arrested two arms dealers from Vanzau village in Champhai District near the Indo-Myanmar border. These incidence are unceasing.

What has come to light in recent days is the effect of a decision of the central government to allow Hindu refugees from Bangladesh into Assam, and the locals in these states are worried about getting swamped, and see this as a move to alter the demographics with next years election in mind.

With the situation already tense due to non-application of minority rights, and an over-reaching New Delhi political stretch the Modi government needs to pay special attention to what is happening in Assam and bring the Assamese into the dialogue when making policies.

See the blog of Shamsul Basunia here: http://basuniahumanist.blogspot.hk/2015/08/assam-debacle-engulfs-peace-and.html?spref=fb