Even amid all the plaudits that accompanied Narendra Modiji wherever he went in America, he could not get rid of a complex that clings to hrnment im like a chronic cold wherever he goes. He had to refer to a 1000 years of “foreign” rule, from which he poses to be saving India single-handed. With that statement alone, he humiliated India much more than Rahul Gandhi did in American and British Universities when he criticized his government. 

Were we nothing more than slaves for a thousand years, when, for example, India led the entire world international trade, when Marco Polo or Captain William Hawkins could only admire the marvels they witnessed in this country? When the entire West was eager to have a glimpse of this great land?

In any case, if Modiji has a right to remember a 1000 years of India’s subjugation, the tribal communities in India have a right to remember a longer period of humiliation, marginalization and exploitation by the dominant section of Indian society… the section to which he is proud to belong.  

Speaking in the Constituent Assembly on December 19, 1946  Jaipal Singh, a tribal representative from today’s Jharkhand, referred to the “disgraceful” way his people were treated for over 6000 years (Shashi Tharoor, Ambedkar: a Life, Aleph, 2022,  pg 172). Dalits would have a more bitter tale to tell. 

The Neglect Continues

Jaipal Singh referred to the gross “neglect” that his community suffered from top brass for millennia. The same neglect continues. No further proof of ‘neglect’ is required than the Prime Minister’s total indifference to Manipur. He has time to visit four states in two days to inaugurate infrastructures and win acclaim: in UP, Telangana, Chhattisgarh, and Rajasthan.

Sixty-eight days have passed, and he does not have a word for Manipur, which he had visited a dozen times earlier on popularity hunt. Further, the Opposition request to discuss Manipur in Parliament has been outright rejected. ‘Prison Reform’ is more important than peace and reconciliation in Manipur. 

The Centre did not accept the proposal for an all-party delegation going to Manipur. They made it as difficult as possible for Rahul to visit affected areas in the state. What he saw were disasters, what he heard about were horrors. A fact-finding team of National Federation of Women has described the clash between the Meiteis and Kukis as “state-sponsored”. They see a relationship between the recent tragic events and the discovery of petroleum in Kuki areas in 2017. 

Some corporate houses are eyeing the mineral rich areas. But in any case, they had no doubt that the armed groups in the plains had the government’s sturdy support. Leftist MPs who visited Manipur found the situation “appalling”! Global Manipuris from Sydney accuse the Chief Minister and MLAs of total inaction.

Hard to Read Minds

It is indeed hard to read the minds of those who decide issues today. With Narendra Modi silent, Amit Shah distant, Mohan Bhagwat hesitant, J.P. Nadda uncertain, how does a nation of 1.4 billion still hold together and run normally? It is because of the ‘constitutional values’ passed on to our society by our Founding Fathers like Gandhi, Nehru, Ambedkar, and Patel, and the “constitutional morality” to which the Supreme Court referred to recently, which still influences the Indian masses (Tharoor 147). 

But moments of anxiety are intensifying. Mehbooba Mufti says, India has gone far beyond Hindutva already. This is Godse’s India. If before there was a strategy for ‘marginalizing’ those who differ, today there is a stronger strategy for plundering the ‘margins’. She condemns government’s strategy of ‘importing’ lakhs of people into Kashmir in the name of giving land to the landless. 

Outsiders shall dominate Kashmir, and indigenous people remain passive observers. The Government of India is looting the assets of Kashmir and distributing jobs and roles to imported aliens as “spoils of war”. Kashmirisation awaits Manipur, Manipurisation awaits the North-East. Remember, Modi was wielding Chola sceptre (Sengol), when Manipur wept.

Mild Progress

There are new stirrings. State and Central authorities seem to be taking things seriously. Biren Singh gets bunkers removed. Vigilance has increased. Stray incidents replace planned attacks. Himanta Biswa Sarma, the Chief Minister of Assam, assures that situation in Manipur will improve within 7-10 days.  How does he know unless he is one of the strategy-evolvers? 

Zoramthanga, Chief Minister of Mizoram, has welcomed over 12,000 Kuki refugees from Manipur. With refugees also from Myanmar and Bangladesh, he has generously taken on responsibility for over 50,000 people. He has sought help from the Centre. He calls for a halt to killings which have risen to139. He does not want to see any more videos of churches being burnt, he says. They are heart-rending. Kuki-Zos could have their own territory within Manipur; or else, the state can be divided, as Assam was, he points out. 

Regional Wisdom

Regional wisdom can help a great deal if it is not forced to bend to the archaic Hindutva notions that Nagpur seeks to impose on the North-East. The agents of Nagpur-Delhi in the region must be asked to move on to Vanaprastha! If BJP’s last election victory in Manipur was due to Himanta’s and Biren’s political manipulation of specific groups, they cannot avoid responsibility for the present catastrophe as well. Multiple fingers point to them. If Nagpur-Delhi still expect them to intensify their saffronsation drive in the North-East, they are merely preparing for further anxieties.

Dramas like 1,100 Advasis laying down weapons before Himanta may continue. Peace will not necessarily come. It is reported that ULFA (I) has camps with NSCN (K) in Myanmar, that Myanmar Army is providing arms to Manipur plains. People like to dialogue with leaders with ethical codes… who combine national loyalty with consideration for indigenous concerns, who are perceptive of cultures and their worth, ethnicity and their respectability. Sensitivity and sincerity smoothen the path.

‘No’ to hero worship

Ambedkar was no hero-worshipper.  He addressed Mahatma Gandhi as Mr. Gandhi. He rejected his concept of Rama Rajya. For him it was an outdated idea (Tharoor 191). Our future is not built by returning to “antiquity”, he would argue (Tharoor 85). What he opposed most of all was any form of “hero-worship” that would damage ‘social democracy’ (Tharoor 112). 

This fear of Ambedkar is coming true in our days under the Hindutva regime, which according to social critics is nothing but an “electoral autocracy” (Tharoor 193). He did not want the country to be entrusted to some ‘great man’ who would subvert institutions (Tharoor 113). That is just the tragedy that is taking place, with Modi-bhakti. He felt Bhakti, hero-worship, was too strong in India. It can lead to “degradation and eventual dictatorship” (Tharoor 114). That is what we witness with flatterers increasing, sycophants multiplying, devotees proliferating. Further, India today is in the grip of majoritarianism (Tharoor 165). 

It is in this context that we must show respect to communities that refuse to be mere suppliants and order-takers in Manipur or elsewhere. They have rights of their own and they expect them to be respected.

Selfless Service, Spotless Sacrifice

India lost its independence in the past, Ambedkar says, because of internal treachery. Amit Shah remembers Mir Jaffar (a Mulsim) who betrayed the Nawab of Bengal to Clive. Others remember Jagath Seth (a Hindu), the banker, who played the foul game of linking the two. What is wrong is wrong no matter what religion or ethnicity one belongs to. If the majoritarian leaders feel that the foul game they play in Maharashtra, Karnataka and a dozen other places is within rules because they set the rules, we need not wonder that we move from betrayal to betrayal, disaster to disaster. There is no ruling of the state/nation today, but competition for looting posts and plundering positions. Policy-makers move from resort to resort to distribute the booty, not from slum to slum to assist the poor. China may offer a bulkier sum! 

Here is where Ambedkar’s call becomes relevant. What is important is “selfless service and spotless sacrifice”, he says (Tharoor 72). That is patriotism, not shouting “Jai Shri Ram”. Struggling for people’s rights Ambedkar considered a ‘spiritual struggle’ (Tharoor 92). One thinks here of Fr. Stan Swamy. Ambedkar was committed to putting people’s issues before personal interests and sectarian concerns. He was capable of taking on the established order and its one-sided presumptions. “Brahminism is the very negation of the spirit of Liberty, Equality and Fraternity”, he had the courage to say. But he did so, excelling in “detailed reasoning and clarity of thought” (Tharoor 107).

At a Nagpur meeting of 1937, Ambedkar proclaimed, “It is a matter of joy to fight this battle. The battle is in the fullest sense spiritual”.  It builds up confidence in oneself and faith in the ideals that one stands for (Tharoor 92). He organized a meeting of 5,000 delegates at Mahad in Kolaba to fight for their rights, education, and access to public services (Tharoor 37). The entire programme ended with the public burning of Manusmriti in a pyre (Tharoor 38). 

The upper caste belief that the lower castes and tribals are suffering their “karma” for their failures in the past life… such beliefs must go (Tharoor 90). Their claim that their privileged position gives them a right to fleece the poor and exploit the weak… that their companies can monopolize mineral resources and raise prices sky-high at will, must change. 

Ambedkar says, “History shows that where ethics and economics come in conflict, victory is always with economics” (Tharoor 86). We stand for the victory of ethics no matter how much its costs. Nitin Gadkari felt proud that 70% of the India-Thailand road via Myanmar (1,400 km) is ready. Whether it is a road for Highway Robbery of indigenous people’s resources is what indigenous communities want to know. Ambedkar warned, “The Brahmin enslaves the mind and the Bania the body” (Tharoor 157). Before you are aware, your land and resources belong to a corporate giant. Mehbooba Mufti sees land alienation right before her eyes in Kashmir. 

The Supreme Court is quoted as having instructed lawyers not to bring “anything and everything” to them. People wonder whether that included the trifling cases, petty accusations, that the Ruling Party members file to defame and humiliate Opposition leaders: e.g. mispronouncing the Prime Minister’s name, matters related to Hindutva legends and fables. The Supreme Court is the guardian of the spirit of the Constitution, not a promoter of the ruling regime’s interests. 

Be Proud of Your People

Ambedkar was proud of his nation and his fellow citizens, but he could be hard on the elite section of society that took advantage of his people. He called conservative vegetarian Hindus “pigmies and dwarfs”, wanting in stamina, nine-tenths of whom would be unfit for military service (Tharoor 173). However, when he renounced Hinduism, his voice choked. Half a million people followed him. He referred to it as a Great Conversion (Tharoor 128). A Great Conversion is due now.

Ambedkar was aware of the potentiality within his people. Today Indian diaspora are winning world attention. About 1% of Americans are Indians; but they contribute 6% of the tax. They are law-abiding, productive and cooperative. One out of five doctors are Indians. 

The World Needs to Know

However, the world needs to know the other side of the Indian story as well. It was only when Ambedkar spoke at the Round Table Conference in 1930 describing one-fifth of Indian population as serfs/slaves, did British society wake up (Tharoor 52). Today the world needs to know how the tribals are treated in India. 

When a single individual was shot dead in France, the entire nation paralysed. President Macron cancelled his programme abroad. When hundreds of people were killed in Manipur, Modi set out serenely for a world trip. On his return, having raised the UCC issue to distract public attention, he went on another 4-state trip. Manipur matters have been left to his subordinates’ subordinates. Manipuris don’t matter, tribals don’t count!

Eric Garcetti, the new American Ambassador to India, said, there is something like ‘human concern’ when people suffer. But, first of all, a “sense of belonging” should be cultivated. People are killed, hacked to death, shot, beheaded. No issue for Modi Government! Prison Reform has priority. Social activists and critics of the Government have been placed there. They should not be too comfortable!

Ambedkar was proud of Tukaram. He was fond of quoting him, “We possess the wealth of words. With weapons of words we will fight”. Tell the untold tales of Manipur. People have a right to know. Let the world shed tears!