Post by Thoithoi O'Cottage on Aug 18, 2015 14:44:42 GMT 5.5
What is Muivah's existential problem?
It is not a false belief adopted to console the non-Naga selves (to be affected if the so-called Greater Nagaland dream somehow materializes) to say that Muivah & Co will have to finally either give up this dream or die dreaming it. This is the cause of Muivah's existential problem--a problem of belongingness. "Where do I belong?" Muivah asks, and he knows he belongs nowhere. He does not have any land under his feet that he calls his; that is, his country. The result is he is a refugee in the very place which could have been his home. Making himself a victim of self-alienation.
Is there a historical cause behind this?
Yes, there was a time the people from the hills suffered ill, unfair, degrading treatment at the hands of the Meiteis settling the valley in the middle of the state. There is this attitude among many Meiteis still visible today, if not as strong as it used to be. Though it was particularly the Meiteis in and around Imphal that practiced a way of life in which this attitude occupied a major space, the Meiteis in other parts of the valley treated the hills people similarly, though less intensively badly. In fact, there was also a hierarchy in the Meitei society which developed due to the adoption of Hindu religion and customs, which gave birth to the issues of untouchability. The loi communities (today's scheduled castes of the state) examples of the outgrowth of the adoption of Hinduism--they suffered very unfair treatment at the hands of the Meiteis in and around Imphal, a cause for disunity among the Meiteis visible today. Before the arrival of Hinduism, there were a broad similarity among all the settlers of Manipur in their lifestyle, customs and beliefs. It is not to say that Hinduism caused disunity among the settlers of Manipur. The hill tribes came to the king of Manipur (=Meitei king) asking for membership in the Hindu religion, but the king, knowing that they could not pay, asked an exorbitant fee for membership to be paid annually. Of course, the hill tribes did not join the Meitei Hindu community causing an alienation (exacerbated by the arrogant treatment by the Meiteis, further widening of the relationship gap) leading to the problems we are still facing.
Generations and generations of the hill tribes have lived subjected to ill-treatment by the Meiteis. Muivah's grandfather suffered this, and his father suffered this. Muivah, too, while he attended the D.M. College of Arts as a student. He also reportedly lost the secretary general contest in the students' union election to a Meitei candidate. Being a Meitei is not the guarantee that you will win elections--the commonest scene in the valley schools and colleges is Meitei students find themselves against each other in elections, and one (whoever community one may belong to) has necessarily to win or lose the contest. However, the treatment Muivah's community and he himself received at the hands of the Meiteis must have been enough to kindle a separatist fire in him, which was even fueled by his loss.
Muivah should have been a hero because he is the first person to oppose the Meitei arrogance, marginalizing the tribes, though he pushed the issue too far to the extent of him becoming an extremist he is now, a reason for his impending failure. He thought that as long as the hill tribes are living under the same political administrative umbrella with the Meiteis, they (the hill tribes) would know no end to their subordination. He did not work for the empancipation of the hill tribes under the same political administration, but he challenged the state and struggled to build a separate state (a sovereign country) for some of the hill tribes united with the tribes in Nagaland. How did it happen that the issues of the Manipuri tribes Muivah was concerned about and the Naga issues of Nagaland mixed?
That is Muivah's intelligent if dishonest construct based on some ignorant British accounts and his own political and historical concoction. Before Muivah made the connection between the Naga issues of Nagaland and those of the hill tribes of Manipur, nobody knew as Nagas the tribes now called Nagas of Manipur. Aware that the so-called Naga tribes of Nagaland were disparate and there was no unity among them, Muivah saw the chance to throw some of his tribes in Manipur among the confusion to make his tribes look like among those in Nagaland, so their issues could be combined politically into one. Why? Because, his tribes alone can make neither a strong nation nor a state. If he united the tribes in Nagaland with "his" tribes in Assam, Manipur and Arunachal Pradesh, he had a territory sufficiently big (bigger than Kosovo, about the size of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Armenia) to be a sovereign state/country. To try creating a country, he has first to unite these unrelated disparate tribes in the four states under the name Naga. Now, though these tribes were unrelated initially, Muivah's efforts have effected this unity fairly successfully, and now there is a nation called the Nagas. The next stage in Muivah's plan was to create a separate, sovereign state for the Nagas, with the "Naga" tribes (wherever they may be in the four states) taking the land with them and joining the Naga country. This is where Muivah is going to break.
In short, what Muivah has done is this:
Judged by what Muivah means by "belonging," Muivah's love for Nagaland and the tribes in Assam and Arunachal Pradesh he calls Naga is questionable. What Muivah shows as love for the Nagas is nothing more than a political manoeuver expedient in the Naga nation-building and state-making, which is nothing but a retaliation against the Meiteis (who he thinks Manipur is for; hence his hatred for Manipur).
Now it is increasingly a given that Greater Nagaland is impossible and NSCN (IM) has to give up dreaming this. What implication does this have for Muivah's personal, non-national/communitarian, life? The implication is grave and is betrayed by his oft-repeated statement--"No solution compromising on the core issue of sovereignty is acceptable." How? Well, a Greater Nagaland state (let alone a country) is not possible at all. A lot of things are not going to let that happen, not least the three states, Assam, Manipur and Arunachal Pradesh. Then, even if Nagaland (as it is standing now territorially) is allowed an even more special treatment enshrined in the Constitution of India, that means Muivah's tribes of Manipur will remain where they have always been--Manipur, under the political administration he hates. This means that his home, his neighborhood, his village will remain where they have been. This means that a post-Naga-problem Muivah living at his home-village in Manipur will not be so great a hero as he wanted to be. The final result makes no great difference. So, whatever he has done, the dedication of a life-time, would finally turn out for the sake of Nagaland the people of which he and his tribes are in no way related to. That means a life wasted--his personal life. And more than that, a waste of hundreds of lives that died in the misguided struggle. (This means it would not be a surprise if Muivah dies at the hand of a fellow NSCN (IM) cadre or a Naga who passionately loves a Greater Nagaland, a country or an Indian state.)
If the final arrangement turn out so (as is believed), then we can ask:
It is very likely that any solution given to the Naga problem would be national not territorial. Therefore, the Nagas will politically remain where they have always been--they will belong to their own states as they are belonging to now. This national but not territorial solution would result in Muivah's home and village ending up where they have always been--Manipur, under Manipur's political administration. Thus, Muivah will find it at least embarrassing to live at home in Manipur and most Manipuris will hate him. Importantly, this solution will put him where he cannot participate in the state politics in Manipur, which means in India, the way he would like. Some, he would be homeless at home in Manipur.
He would not be able to embrace Nagaland as much as he pretended to love it when the solution has given most of all profits to Nagaland. Homeless in Nagaland. Angry in Nagaland. Feeling in Nagaland to have been a fool all his life. A hero turned something unhonorable.
Muivah has no place to grow old in peace in. He will end like not the way he has always wanted.
It is not a false belief adopted to console the non-Naga selves (to be affected if the so-called Greater Nagaland dream somehow materializes) to say that Muivah & Co will have to finally either give up this dream or die dreaming it. This is the cause of Muivah's existential problem--a problem of belongingness. "Where do I belong?" Muivah asks, and he knows he belongs nowhere. He does not have any land under his feet that he calls his; that is, his country. The result is he is a refugee in the very place which could have been his home. Making himself a victim of self-alienation.
Is there a historical cause behind this?
Yes, there was a time the people from the hills suffered ill, unfair, degrading treatment at the hands of the Meiteis settling the valley in the middle of the state. There is this attitude among many Meiteis still visible today, if not as strong as it used to be. Though it was particularly the Meiteis in and around Imphal that practiced a way of life in which this attitude occupied a major space, the Meiteis in other parts of the valley treated the hills people similarly, though less intensively badly. In fact, there was also a hierarchy in the Meitei society which developed due to the adoption of Hindu religion and customs, which gave birth to the issues of untouchability. The loi communities (today's scheduled castes of the state) examples of the outgrowth of the adoption of Hinduism--they suffered very unfair treatment at the hands of the Meiteis in and around Imphal, a cause for disunity among the Meiteis visible today. Before the arrival of Hinduism, there were a broad similarity among all the settlers of Manipur in their lifestyle, customs and beliefs. It is not to say that Hinduism caused disunity among the settlers of Manipur. The hill tribes came to the king of Manipur (=Meitei king) asking for membership in the Hindu religion, but the king, knowing that they could not pay, asked an exorbitant fee for membership to be paid annually. Of course, the hill tribes did not join the Meitei Hindu community causing an alienation (exacerbated by the arrogant treatment by the Meiteis, further widening of the relationship gap) leading to the problems we are still facing.
Generations and generations of the hill tribes have lived subjected to ill-treatment by the Meiteis. Muivah's grandfather suffered this, and his father suffered this. Muivah, too, while he attended the D.M. College of Arts as a student. He also reportedly lost the secretary general contest in the students' union election to a Meitei candidate. Being a Meitei is not the guarantee that you will win elections--the commonest scene in the valley schools and colleges is Meitei students find themselves against each other in elections, and one (whoever community one may belong to) has necessarily to win or lose the contest. However, the treatment Muivah's community and he himself received at the hands of the Meiteis must have been enough to kindle a separatist fire in him, which was even fueled by his loss.
Muivah should have been a hero because he is the first person to oppose the Meitei arrogance, marginalizing the tribes, though he pushed the issue too far to the extent of him becoming an extremist he is now, a reason for his impending failure. He thought that as long as the hill tribes are living under the same political administrative umbrella with the Meiteis, they (the hill tribes) would know no end to their subordination. He did not work for the empancipation of the hill tribes under the same political administration, but he challenged the state and struggled to build a separate state (a sovereign country) for some of the hill tribes united with the tribes in Nagaland. How did it happen that the issues of the Manipuri tribes Muivah was concerned about and the Naga issues of Nagaland mixed?
That is Muivah's intelligent if dishonest construct based on some ignorant British accounts and his own political and historical concoction. Before Muivah made the connection between the Naga issues of Nagaland and those of the hill tribes of Manipur, nobody knew as Nagas the tribes now called Nagas of Manipur. Aware that the so-called Naga tribes of Nagaland were disparate and there was no unity among them, Muivah saw the chance to throw some of his tribes in Manipur among the confusion to make his tribes look like among those in Nagaland, so their issues could be combined politically into one. Why? Because, his tribes alone can make neither a strong nation nor a state. If he united the tribes in Nagaland with "his" tribes in Assam, Manipur and Arunachal Pradesh, he had a territory sufficiently big (bigger than Kosovo, about the size of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Armenia) to be a sovereign state/country. To try creating a country, he has first to unite these unrelated disparate tribes in the four states under the name Naga. Now, though these tribes were unrelated initially, Muivah's efforts have effected this unity fairly successfully, and now there is a nation called the Nagas. The next stage in Muivah's plan was to create a separate, sovereign state for the Nagas, with the "Naga" tribes (wherever they may be in the four states) taking the land with them and joining the Naga country. This is where Muivah is going to break.
In short, what Muivah has done is this:
1. He hates the Meiteis for their ill-treatment and subordination of "his" tribes. He wants to live with dignity, and he wants himself and his parents, children and his tribes to be treated honorably. He wants to live with dignity in his own birthplace, a small village in Ukhrul District.What is actually causing Muvah's existential problem?
2. This hatred grew to become a hatred of Manipur, because until his tribes lived under another political administration, he thought, they (his tribes) would know no end to their degrading subordination, which means that his tribes should not be part of Manipur.
3. He arbitrarily connected the issues of his tribes with the political issues Nagaland was having with India, so the problem is larger. To make the problem still larger, he connected "his" tribes of Assam and Arunachal Pradesh with the magnified Naga issue. Thus, he has created a larger Naga nation, incorporating tribes Phizo (father of Naga issues) and his followers once did not recognize as or know to be Nagas.
4. Now that he has a sufficiently large territory to claim, he dreams for a Naga country.
Judged by what Muivah means by "belonging," Muivah's love for Nagaland and the tribes in Assam and Arunachal Pradesh he calls Naga is questionable. What Muivah shows as love for the Nagas is nothing more than a political manoeuver expedient in the Naga nation-building and state-making, which is nothing but a retaliation against the Meiteis (who he thinks Manipur is for; hence his hatred for Manipur).
Now it is increasingly a given that Greater Nagaland is impossible and NSCN (IM) has to give up dreaming this. What implication does this have for Muivah's personal, non-national/communitarian, life? The implication is grave and is betrayed by his oft-repeated statement--"No solution compromising on the core issue of sovereignty is acceptable." How? Well, a Greater Nagaland state (let alone a country) is not possible at all. A lot of things are not going to let that happen, not least the three states, Assam, Manipur and Arunachal Pradesh. Then, even if Nagaland (as it is standing now territorially) is allowed an even more special treatment enshrined in the Constitution of India, that means Muivah's tribes of Manipur will remain where they have always been--Manipur, under the political administration he hates. This means that his home, his neighborhood, his village will remain where they have been. This means that a post-Naga-problem Muivah living at his home-village in Manipur will not be so great a hero as he wanted to be. The final result makes no great difference. So, whatever he has done, the dedication of a life-time, would finally turn out for the sake of Nagaland the people of which he and his tribes are in no way related to. That means a life wasted--his personal life. And more than that, a waste of hundreds of lives that died in the misguided struggle. (This means it would not be a surprise if Muivah dies at the hand of a fellow NSCN (IM) cadre or a Naga who passionately loves a Greater Nagaland, a country or an Indian state.)
If the final arrangement turn out so (as is believed), then we can ask:
1. How are you going to feel about this, Mr. Muivah? Your house still remains where you hate it--Manipur.Muivah's existential crisis: Homeless at Home in Manipur, Homeless in Nagaland
2. You will want to retire honorably at a peaceful home when you are old. But your house remains where you hate it, and you will not be honored the way you want, and of course there will be more of them who hate you at home. You will not want to participate in state politics in Manipur either. It's clear you who have fought against Manipur will not be very welcome in Manipur. Will you live at home, in Manipur?
3. Will you be happy in Nagaland? I think all who you love live in the small village where you were born. And how happy you would be away from them just because you hate Manipur and Manipur hates you, and there will be no emotional reconciliation actually. Do you really love Nagaland?
4. If you love home and if you hate where it is, and if you leave home due to that, you are homeless. You are homeless, Mr. Muivah. If you build a nice and luxurious house in Nagaland and if you cannot connect to it as much as you love your native village, then how happy your "patriotic" personal life in Nagaland? Would you be able to think Nagaland is your sweet home? If Nagaland does not feel like home to your heart, then you are homeless in Nagaland, too. Moreover, you will surely feel you have been foolish that all the gains of your lifelong efforts have gone to Nagaland while your home and native village and your loved ones remains out of the "solution," when you will have agreed to "revolt" no more. I am sure you will be an angry, frustrated, outwitted old man living silently in the semblance of peace.
It is very likely that any solution given to the Naga problem would be national not territorial. Therefore, the Nagas will politically remain where they have always been--they will belong to their own states as they are belonging to now. This national but not territorial solution would result in Muivah's home and village ending up where they have always been--Manipur, under Manipur's political administration. Thus, Muivah will find it at least embarrassing to live at home in Manipur and most Manipuris will hate him. Importantly, this solution will put him where he cannot participate in the state politics in Manipur, which means in India, the way he would like. Some, he would be homeless at home in Manipur.
He would not be able to embrace Nagaland as much as he pretended to love it when the solution has given most of all profits to Nagaland. Homeless in Nagaland. Angry in Nagaland. Feeling in Nagaland to have been a fool all his life. A hero turned something unhonorable.
Muivah has no place to grow old in peace in. He will end like not the way he has always wanted.