Ethnic heartburn on NC Hills new name

UMANAND JAISWAL
Guwahati April 3: Call it decentralization of power, recognition of ethnic identity, or just a way of helping militants come overground with a face-saving measure — an essential element to avoid a backlash from the public who have suffered grevious losses while being led up the garden path with utopian promises — but the name of North Cachar Hills being changed to Dima Hasao yesterday through an Assam government notification could have ramifications of its own, including serious opposition to the move from other ethnic groups, including the Zemes and even the Nunisa faction of the Dima Halam Daogah (DHD).

The Dimasa community itself has tried to play it safe. Barring a few firecrackers, celebrations in the district were largely restrained through the day today, officials of the district administration said.

“That was done to reassure the other tribal communities in the region,” explained Dethang Naiding, president of the Jadikhe Naisho Hoshom (JNH), the apex body of the Dimasas, who had pressed for the name change, among others.

“We ourselves called up the police to keep an eye on our youth to ensure that no one goes overboard and hurts others’ sentiments. The change in name is merely symbolic. Fifty per cent of the unrest in the district would be taken care of by this welcome gesture of the government but we should not send out wrong signals to other communities which, I feel, are unnecessarily opposing the move. The clarifications couldn’t have come a day too soon.”

Jona Zeme, general secretary of the Zeme Council, told The Telegraph this evening that they had moved the Prime Minister as well as the Union home minister against the change in nomenclature.

“We have in our memorandum told them that they can go ahead with the move provided they bifurcate the district,” Zeme said.

The Zeme Council has now decided to hold a protest in Haflong and Guwahati on Monday against the move.

Added to this, the Indigenous People’s Forum, another group representing around 18 non-Dimasa communities, is planning to bring out a procession in Haflong to oppose the name change.

The coinage itself, it is understood, was a climbdown from Dima Hasao Raji, or “Kingdom of the Dimasas” which was originally proposed, something the government didn’t want to take a chance with given the presence of the other ethnic groups. Even the decision to settle for Dima Hasao, or “Dimasas of the Hills” came after the government was convinced by various groups that it would be difficult to stop militants of the dreaded Jewel Gorlosa group of the Dima Halam Daogah (DHD) from returning to the jungles unless the administration gave in to at least one of their main demands. Given the political stakes involved, the Dilip Nunisa faction of the DHD, which is in a ceasefire, has also come out in protest against the move, which it said was a case of “misplaced priorities”.

“Instead of restoring peace through negotiations, the government is concentrating on changing names,” said Dilip Nunisa, its chairman.

Not surprisingly, Dispur’s declaration yesterday too was a low-key affair — a two-line press note released in the evening.

Question is, will the government now succeed in preventing ethnic unrest (which, for example, the Zeme Council apprehends) in a region that is known to be volatile when it comes to matters of ethnicity.