Mr Modi at his combative mood was taking on the Congress party and its leaders during his speech in Parliament some days ago. Responding to opposition allegations suggesting he ignored the interests of Manipur during the recent outbreak of ethnic violence, he had lashed out angrily against the role played by Congress in the NE region since independence.

He cited the IAF bombing of suspected Mizo separatist hideouts as only one example of the Congress-ruled centre’s long misrule in a sensitive region, at the time. Other BJP leaders duly mentioned how in 1962 then Prime Minister the late Jawaharlal Nehru had , as they put it, virtually written off the people of Assam in a defeatist message, even as the Chinese offensive was in full swing.

In recent NE-based media reports, a wide ranging reaction has been seen from political leaders and opinion makers to the sad, old Mizoram episode. However, the mainstream national media’s silence on the issue has been somewhat perplexing in this regard.

Expectedly, GOI’s decision to bomb certain areas in Mizoram at a time when the Mizo national Front (MNF), the main vehicle of Mizo political aspirations had not been banned, has evoked strong condemnation even after 57 years ,in 2023 . Influential leaders in Delhi saw the struggle led by Mizo leader Mr Laldenga for an independent Mizo state as a violent, foreign-backed secessionist agitation.

In terms of instant political fallout in 2023, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) naturally scores heavily against Congress by default — no ultra nationalist right wing party was ruling India in 1966!

Some reports from Mizoram and Assam quote leaders asking, who and which party, were ruling India at the time? What had led them to order the bombing against the relatively small Mizo tribal population in independent India?

To date, NE leaders asserted, it was the only instance of central Indian Delhi-based leaders ordering the country’s air force to drop bombs on Indians themselves! Following up, leaders have also asked, why such facts are kept out of textbooks for schoolchildren in India? There is no reason why contemporary history should not be written in a free and fair manner in a free, self proclaimed democratic country.

Significantly, it is not as though the BJP has been spared of all criticism while Congress alone has been pilloried. It is a measure of the strong feelings of common people in the NE region on the matter that some leaders have urged upon Mr. Modi to do more than simply engage in political point-scoring. The least the present Modi-led BJP government could have done was to issue a public apology unconditionally.

Ironically this line of thought has received support from the BJP leaders of the region as well — a fresh statement from the ruling party at the centre on such a sensitive issue should fit in well with the BJP’s stated objective of bringing relatively unknown historical facts to light, to highlight especially aspects of history and human experience that pro-Congress school of historians are often so keen to conceal!

Young independent Indians, say NE leaders, have every right to know the basic facts about their country, about the issues that had arisen and incidents that have happened since 1947. It was the only way to build a strong, confident India.

Unfortunately, the official emphasis in -post 1947 India had been on concentrating on selected aspects of Mughal and British history, with little space for anything else, NE leaders said.

Even Mr Modi had only done his duty as a BJP leader in referring to the Mizoram bombing during Congress rule. He should have done much more — beginning with an unconditional apology from GOI would be a good start. Also, let the entire issue be debated publicly once more and let the people know the facts of the matter — surely a basic right they were guaranteed by constitution!

If this was tantamount to ‘rewriting history by the BJP’ as the opposition alleged, then so be it, NE leaders stressed. (IPA Service)