Tiger/German Road : FNCC stir Address the root cause
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Addressing the root cause. This is what the Government should be doing while urging the Foothills Naga Co-ordination Committee (FNCC) to call off its road blockade stir. The stand of the FNCC is straight to the point. To the casual observer the bandh could be interpreted as a move to oppose the opening or construction of German/Tiger Road, a road that seeks to connect Kangpokpi to Churachandpur while passing through many areas which the FNCC claims come under their ancestral land and the road was given form and substance without consulting them or getting their nod. This much is out in black and white but to those who have kept a close tab on the conduct of the Kuki-Zo people and backed to the hilt by armed groups under the SoO pact, it will be something much more than a road connecting two places, places which the Kuki-Zo folks have claimed as their ancestral lands. The past, the recent and not so recent past should give anyone of the predatory nature of some elements within the Kuki-Zo people who have never hesitated in crossing the line and laying ancestral claim on lands and it is to neutralise any such development that the FNCC has come out so strongly against the German/Tiger Road. Look at the manner in which Mount Thangjing was found changed to Mount Thangting or the ancestral claim to Mt Koubru. Or the manner in which a number of leikais in Moreh have been found changed to Kuki-Chin-Zo names. Or more recently how a locality was found named Vaiphei Colony somewhere at Mantripukhri side. It is this penchant of this group of people to change names of any place to suit their ethnicity and in due course of time lay ancestral claim on the said place that has goaded the FNCC to come out so strongly against the German/Tiger Road. Another question, which has never been raised, but should be raised now is who has dubbed the said stretch of road as German/Tiger Road ? Could not have been the Government for the names German and Tiger are supposed to be names of some leaders of groups under the SoO pact. To the FNCC and Naga people on whose land the said road passes through, the road cannot be legitimate by any stretch of the imagination and hence the opposition. Where does Raj Bhavan stand on this ? Or to be more precise where does Delhi stand given that it is engaged in a talk with the SoO groups.
Or if the said road is an upgradation of a roadwork taken up under MGNREGS, then under what provisions of the law can a road taken up under a Government scheme be christened after the name of an individual ostensibly leading an armed group ? The Government has to come clean on so many points and while it is the FNCC which is at the forefront in opposing the said road, there is no guarantee that it will not morph into something bigger, given the current reality in Manipur. Urging the FNCC to drop the road bandh stir while maintaining a stoic silence on the status of the said road would be nothing less than singing the tune of the SoO groups and surely Delhi would not want this. The root cause is the road, a point which the Government cannot afford to overlook while trying to address the ongoing blockade and this is something serious. The road blockade stir has already crossed the 10 days mark and looks set to continue but there is nothing on ground to suggest that the Government is sincerely intent on addressing the issue. The sense of apprehension felt by the FNCC should also be understood in the backdrop of the ugly incidents just some time back, wherein a village chief and a woman were assaulted brutally by armed Kuki militants over land claims. A look back at the past, flipping back the pages of history is important but it is obvious that the Government or rather Delhi is interested in only looking beyond the border and the geo-politics that comes along with the Act East Policy. But the important point is the AEP will have no teeth if the original settlers of the land are not taken into account. The politics on the German/Tiger Road should stop. And land rights should be respected.
Or if the said road is an upgradation of a roadwork taken up under MGNREGS, then under what provisions of the law can a road taken up under a Government scheme be christened after the name of an individual ostensibly leading an armed group ? The Government has to come clean on so many points and while it is the FNCC which is at the forefront in opposing the said road, there is no guarantee that it will not morph into something bigger, given the current reality in Manipur. Urging the FNCC to drop the road bandh stir while maintaining a stoic silence on the status of the said road would be nothing less than singing the tune of the SoO groups and surely Delhi would not want this. The root cause is the road, a point which the Government cannot afford to overlook while trying to address the ongoing blockade and this is something serious. The road blockade stir has already crossed the 10 days mark and looks set to continue but there is nothing on ground to suggest that the Government is sincerely intent on addressing the issue. The sense of apprehension felt by the FNCC should also be understood in the backdrop of the ugly incidents just some time back, wherein a village chief and a woman were assaulted brutally by armed Kuki militants over land claims. A look back at the past, flipping back the pages of history is important but it is obvious that the Government or rather Delhi is interested in only looking beyond the border and the geo-politics that comes along with the Act East Policy. But the important point is the AEP will have no teeth if the original settlers of the land are not taken into account. The politics on the German/Tiger Road should stop. And land rights should be respected.