Growing up in Nagaland in the ?70s and ?80s, National Highway 39 ruled our lives. It was our lifeline, of course. On it depended whether we would get our supply of vegetables or fruits and all essential commodities, including medicines. But ever so often it became our ?deathline?, either due to some political protest or due to a stubborn landslide on the Dimapur-Kohima (the latter being the capital of Nagaland) stretch that turned a two-hour journey into one involving many more harrowing hours.
Incredibly, decades later, as journalist Sudeep Chakravarti takes us along with him up and down NH 39?some parts have been renamed now, but no one who knows the geography of the northeast will call this national highway that starts from Numaligarh in Assam, travels through Nagaland and up to the border town of Moreh in Manipur by any other name. He tells us, ?It?s such an artery that when there is a snarl-up, chaos ensues.?
Some things don?t change.
This could be because of that area of perpetual landslip just below Kohima, or the frequent blockades on account of political protest along the stretch from Kohima south to Imphal (for the formation of a new district, or protest against it; for delayed elections to various councils, that, on paper, administer hill districts; extra-judicial killings?take your pick). The protesters could variously be angry Naga residents of Manipur?s northern hill districts, or their counterparts from the Kuki tribes, or the plains? Meiteis of Manipur who are often seen by the hill people as encroaching on their turf and lives. When a blockade happens?last year, the Nagas had laid siege on NH39 for 100 days?prices shoot up and people suffer.
When Nehru sent in troops to quell the Naga revolt?their leader Angami Zapu Phizo had proclaimed a plebiscite in 1951 as the Nagas wanted to be independent from India ??it resulted in Nagaland becoming a state in 1963, but the Nagas hadn?t been won over. As Chakravarti writes in his introduction, ?Sixty years on from the beginning of the Naga wars, though, India is still trying to ?be friends? with the Nagas even if the idea of revolt among them is much diminished.?
Through the years, there have been many faces of Naga resistance, NSCN Isak-Muivah and NSCN Khaplang (now part of NSCN Unification) are just two of the better known factions. Phizo?s child, the Naga National Council, is a faded entity now with Phizo?s daughter, Adinno, ruling from the UK. There is a ceasefire in place since 1997, but ?there is still hurt? and ?festering anger?. It?s complicated to explain Nagaland and Manipur to the outside world, but Chakravarti gives us a glimpse into the many truths and realities of lands made alien by neglect and misunderstanding. For instance, the Naga insurgent groups say their fight is for Greater Nagalim, which will include Naga-dominated areas of Manipur and Arunachal Pradesh, a demand which has created a lot of stress in Manipur. Thuingaleng Muivah, leader of the NSCN IM group, himself is a Tangkhul Naga from Ukhrul (in Manipur).
He takes us to NSCN Isak-Muivah?s main ?ceasefire? base in Nagaland?Camp Hebron near Dimapur?where ?cadres, young women and men, bristling with automatic weaponry, sit watchfully? and where ?General Phungthing? explains about NSCN-IM?s future stand. ?It is harder to keep peace than it is to keep war, because everyone will have their own way of influencing it,? he says candidly. Elsewhere, we meet a Naga entrepreneur, who annoyed a Bombay teacher by honestly saying, ?I don?t consider myself an Indian,? and who feels ?very strongly that we [Nagas] need to build the economic pillar of Naga society?. ?It is not healthy either for New Delhi or for Nagas to have a relationship that we have at the moment: a relationship of dependence.?
But though there?s a sliver of hope in Nagaland, we dare say, despite the deep hurt because of the manner in which the ?mainland? treats Nagaland, it?s in Manipur where more desperate stories are playing out. Manipur is home to dozens of insurgency groups, is under the stranglehold of the ?pincer-like? Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act and it?s where life is nearly at a standstill. Chakravarti says an Israeli visitor told him Imphal reminded him of the West Bank??The state and the people are deeply stressed.?
What Chakravarti strives to do, and succeeds, is to ?humanise? the story. This is not the first book on Nagaland and Manipur and their troubled events often make it to the newspapers, but clearly there are more stories to be told. He meets a large number of people, rebel leaders, security and government officials and ?everyday people living everyday lives?, some shattered by ?incomprehensible death or shattered by incomprehensible policy?.
So, when we travel with him to Ukhrul to visit the village?and unattended grave?of a young girl, Luingamla, who fought off a bullying army officer and was killed, it?s likely you will feel great rage at the way things are. When he takes us to meet 11-year-old Vidyarani, abducted and tortured by the forces to trap her parents, or the family of an innocent woman killed in a fake encounter, the absurdity of it all hits you. A teenager asks Chakravarti in Imphal, ?What are you doing here, man?? Then continues, ?We would like to leave?.
With his incredible journey and access to far-flung places?and people?Chakravarti gives us a slice of life in Nagaland and Manipur, otherwise lost to the ?mainland?. As he writes in the introduction: ?There is growing recognition that, as an economy of conflict is seductive for those who live by it, peace must therefore be fought for; the vultures of war must be subdued, or more generations will be lost. And there is growing official recognition that, if these regions are not reclaimed, they will be utterly lost to India; the same countries that profess partnership with India could drive a cleaver through it, with India?s abject help.? If India is indeed serious about its Look East policy and wants to foster better ties with Thailand, Laos, Myanmar, Bangladesh, Cambodia and south-western China, Nagaland and Manipur should be at the heart of it, not at the fringe.