The social media is once again abuzz with Mizoram Chief Minister Lalduhoma’s controversial speeches which he made during his tour in the United States about two months back. He had talked about the Chin-Kuki-Mizo (or in his words Zo) community spread across the three countries of India, Bangladesh and Myanmar while voicing the aspirations of a common nation in the future. He is going a step further from the usual rallying cry of Mizo nationalists for creation of a Greater Mizoram but for carving out a separate nation comprising territories in three separate countries.
Whether such a dream could become a reality someday is debatable, but the heat and violence generated by this idea is for real as one can see in the present happenings in this part of the world including that of the Meitei-Kuki tension. Coming back to CM Lalduhoma’s controversial September speech, it is not the first time. He is quite open about it. When he visited New Delhi in January this year, Lalduhoma while protesting to the Centre's decision to fence the border and end the Free Movement Regime (FMR) placed the same sentiments to Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Not only that, he voiced the same concerns and aspirations during a media briefing after the meet with Modi. One could not but admire Lalduhoma for putting his thoughts on the Zo brotherhood and reservations on border fencing to the Man himself. For most Mizo leaders, whichever party they belong to, they always harp on the ‘Greater Mizoram’ issue for the benefit of nationalistic Mizo ethos. When Zoramthanga openly spoke and interfered in the internal affairs of neighbouring Manipur, it was no surprise because of the state assembly elections.
He simply thought, going full throttle on the Zo unification issue while empathising with the refugees from war-torn Myanmar and the Kukis from Manipur would bring him dividends. But he went beyond that. He openly encouraged the Kuki MLAs and other leaders from Manipur, provided a platform for Kuki leaders to reach out to international bodies and even joined a public rally invoking Greater Mizoram. The new Mizoram CM, Lalduhoma, is no different. He would also continue the same political dream, how far-fetched it might be.
It is not the Mizos alone. Nagas under NSCN (I-M) supremo Thuingaleng Muivah had been nursing the aspirations of a Greater Nagalim encompassing adjoining territories in Manipur, Assam and Arunachal Pradesh within India and Naga inhabited territories in neighbouring Myanmar. After ceasefire and several rounds of talks with the Government of India, the ‘umbilical’ links with the Nagas of Myanmar had somehow disappeared.
But, the Greater Nagalim dream is still vibrant within India in current discourse. Why we are bringing in the Nagalim narrative vis-à-vis the Mizo narrative? In both Mizoram and Nagaland, the mainstream political leaders are always aligned with the underground narrative and they never shy away from voicing the same aspirations known openly although the same leaders had sworn by the Indian Constitution.
In the case of Manipur, it is not so. For the present crop of mainstream political leadership, it has always been India first and Manipur second. The ethos of a once independent nation which held sway at the crossroads of South Asia and Southeast Asia had vanished and a servile political class backed by a bureaucrat-businessmen-contractor nexus took over the reins of power in the state.
Seventy-five years hence, the state is still in a limbo and going about with a begging bowl every time the state becomes bankrupt with massive overdrafts. Its territorial integrity is under perpetual threat from both domestic and foreign forces, with the Indian state still non-committal to a Constitutional guarantee of its boundary and borders. Our Kings and ancestors had once guarded the boundaries of Manipur even with their lives. Today, our borders are uncertain and fragile in the hands of the Indian establishment and its forces. Yet, our mainstream political leaders are not ready to put Manipur first.
