The reference in the Vision Document to the largely Mongoloid people of the North-Eastern States as ‘immigrants’ (which, according to the Concise Oxford Dictionary, means those who have come to a country other than one’s native land) has sent waves of protest across all the N.E. States. The outraged people of the region have taken it as an affront as it challenges the very concept of the people of the North-East being Indians. The belated attempt at damage control by the BJP by trying to explain away the bloomer as a ‘typing error’ or a ‘printing error’ has found no takers here.

What has made the people of the North-Eastern States seething with anger and indignation is their being dubbed by the ruling party at the Centre as ‘immigrants’ while they themselves are facing the threat of large-scale illegal immigration from Bangladesh and Nepal. It is they who have been constant victims of violence in Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore and other places in India. Some of them have been killed and many injured. It is a common experience for people from this part of India to be teased and taunted as ‘Chinki’ or Chinese, abused, threatened and thrown out of shops. On top of all these, comes the ultimate insult that they are not Indians.

Guwahati saw angry street demonstrations against the BJP. Protests by the AGP, the powerful All Assam Students Union (whose one-time president Sarbananda Sonowal is now a BJP minister in the Modi Cabinet), the North-Eastern Students Union (NESO), which is an umbrella organization of the students unions of Assam, Meghhalaya, Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Mizoram, Manipur and Tripura issued a condemnatory statement and called on the students of the region to unite in protest.

At Guwahati, the NSUI gate-crashed into the BJP office and burnt the BJP flag, while the Krishak Mukti Sangram Samity resorted to street blockades. The Prime Minister’s effigy was burnt at Guwahati and other places while processions displaying festoons saying ‘Modiji, change your mindset’ hit the streets.

Why this sudden explosion of public anger for a reference to the people of the region as ‘immigrants’ by the BJP? In fact anger had been building up ever since last year’s Lok Sabha polls for a number of reasons. During the poll campaign, Narendra Modi assured the people of Assam that all Bangladeshi infiltrators would be deported after he came to power. Actually not a single ‘infiltrator’ has been identified, caught and deported. Secondly, the issue of exchange of enclaves between India and Bangladesh has become a sore point with the people of Assam as they see in this exercise a move to cede Assam territory to Bangladesh. They are dead opposed to parting with any part of the State’s territory.

Thirdly, though the north-eastern States are endowed with immense natural wealth, the region is one of the most backward. Their GDP is one of the lowest in India. According to latest figures (2012-13 to 2013-14) Assam at the top has a GDP of Rs. 1,62,652 crore and Mizoram at the bottom a mere Rs. 8,053 crore. The people have seen no tangible initiative being taken by the Centre to accelerate development. Some road building and other projects have been cleared but they are all defence-related, like roads along the Indo-China border.

On the other hand, some hydro-electric projects taken up in Arunachal Pradesh like the hugely controversial 2000 MW Lower Subansiri Hydel power project at Geruamukh on the border of Assam and Arunachal Pradesh has met with stiff resistance from the people of both the States since its very inception during the UPA regime. It is feared that it will inundate large areas of land in both the States, displace people, cause more siltation in the Brahmaputra and have an adverse ecological impact.

The Krishak Mukti Sangram Samity stubbornly resisted the transportation of construction and other heavy machinery to the project site by river and road. The construction of the project has practically been stalled, creating uncertainty about its future. The people of Assam and Arunachal complain that New Delhi has never shown any understanding as to what type of development will suit the climate, ecology and environment of the region. As far as the Centre’s stand is concerned, they find no difference between UPA and NDA. All the pent up anger was waiting to be released any moment. The BJP’s Vision Document proved to be the primer. (IPA Service)