Kishalay Bhattacharjee
Monday, November 17, 2008: As many as a dozen tribes live in the Mizoram hills, their histories of origin being diverse. One can trace ancient waves of migration from Mongolia, China, even Myanmar in them. Mizos are constituted of tribes like Hmars, Paites, Mara and Pwais. Other than those, there are Chakmas in the south and Reangs or Brus in the west. The unifying thread has been Christianity and the Mizo language.
''Traditional system of life, we don't find even in the interior villages today. Therefore Christianity has changed society. It has also enforced a change in cultural life. Mizos couldn't persist to continue to live in traditional system,'' said Henry, professor, Mizoram University.
The rise of Mizo insurgency in the 60s led by the Mizo National Front and its leader Laldenga, demanding independence from India, acted again, as kind of unifying force.
But contained in the old movement is an unfinished battle that we grapple with even today. Despite Mizoram being a Christian majority state, its biggest uprising was not on religious but ethnic lines.
Though Mizoram was granted statehood in 1987, within the state the ethnic caldron bubbles. There's a realisation that individual identities have been lost in centuries of religious cohesion.
The need to assert those original ethnic, tribal identities hasn't taken a very violent form unlike elsewhere in the north-east India, but tensions simmer within.
For instance, the Bru tribe that was ousted to neighbouring Tripura during the 90s is organising to return. They have formed a militant outfit, the Bru National Liberation Front.
Chakmas, Maras and Lais run autonomous councils for governance, but feel sidelined by the mainstream.
The entire region is dotted with ethnic and sub-national armed rebellions.
''See, southern part of Mizoram, which has La and Hmar people and the Chakmas, the Brus and the Paites, who would like to distinguish themselves. They want votes, and these groups would like to be wooed,'' said Henry, Professor, Mizoram University.
86-year-old Brigadier Sailo is the patriarch of Mizo politics, the man who healed the wounds of its insurgency years.
As the oldest candidate today, he says that the ethnic unrest is fuelled by the economic deprivation, each feeding off the other.
''If fight between Mizo and Indian Army had continued, the alienation would have been deep-rooted. There I can say I contributed something. It's a part of India today. But it is the most underdeveloped state in the north-east,'' said Brig Sailo, former chief minister.
A battle of ethnic identity, a battle against economic anonymity, whether this voice of Mizoram going to find any space in this democracy is the big question.
Source: NDTV.COM
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