Muivah’s native village still awaits the leader’s visit
By Nishit Dholabhai
The pandal built for Muivah’s visit at Somdal. Picture by Nishit Dholabhai
Somdal (Manipur), May 14 : NSCN (I-M) general secretary Thuingaleng Muivah missed the bus to church in his native village on May 7.
Any visit after this date will be all about anger and politics.
That day in 1923, an American missionary, Reverend William Pettigrew, proselytised the first Tangkhul (the community to which Muivah belongs), R. Raichumhao.
“He had to come here on the most important day for the village. Now, his visit is pending. We are waiting,” said village council secretary, Raripam Rungsung.
Portraits of Raichumhao alongside Muivah’s and a khadi-clad Suisa can be found in the village. A specially constructed hall with a blue polythene roof standing on bamboo at the flattened ground still gets soaked in the rain. On the hill a few metres above, sandbag bunkers which the NSCN cadres were to use as sniper positions, were no more manned. The 5000 people, who drove in slush to Somdal, about 115km from Imphal, have returned home. Muivah’s brothers James and Asui have left, only elder brother Shongreihan is staying back at the modest family home where he is expected to stay.
Hope is alive in Muivah’s native village but the enthusiasm has turned to tolerance among some. The wait here is with a mix of patience and anger.
His 84-year-old cousin M. Tuizar awaits the visit but said somehow he could not make it. “It is God’s will,” he said.
“It is 47 years since we sent him to Delhi to study law but he went missing — later he told us he joined the national workers. When leaders visit the Maharaja temple in Manipur or the Kamakhya temple in Guwahati, why not him,” said Tuizar.
Muivah had been influenced by Naga rebels while studying at St Anthony’s College in Shillong. The religious grounding, however, never left him.
Posters and banners announcing “Welcome to Ava Kharar” (literally father-elder or godfathers) continue to stand at village gates on the way to Somdal where youths stand guard. Near the village church, a foundation stone to be unveiled by him has now stained curtains from the fresh paint and rain.
A mix of anxiety and anger against the Manipur government are highlights at Ukhrul.
Confrontation is, however, brewing in the air 30km away in Ukhrul. Tension is palpable here.
In Ukhrul town, the Assam Rifles today decided that the NSCN blue flags with the rainbow and the Star of David couldn’t be allowed to be displayed on cars and in the town.
The difference between Somdal and Ukhrul seemed similar to the distinction between religiosity and armed rebellion in Muivah himself. While in Somdal, most reactions were of patience, in Ukhrul, politics is in the air, especially as the state government wants a successful autonomous district council election, an exercise the NSCN may foil.
An altercation ensued in Ukhrul town as Assam Rifles jawans confiscated the flags. NSCN men and the paramilitary forces reached a compromise later, sources said. But the incident showed nerves were beginning to fray.
An NSCN member had called up an Assam Rifles officer, arguing that if the flags were allowed in Delhi and nothing was being said against the Centre, why were they being disallowed in Ukhrul.
At Hunphun, said to be the old Ukhrul village that is now part of the town lying on the way to Somdal, young people from the village stood guard the entire night. In other colonies too, the tension was apparent, as people remained indoors after 6pm, rare for a town, which is usually alive till at least 8pm.
The administration too is apprehensive. Asked about the situation and anxiety, deputy commissioner N. Ashok Kumar was crisp. “Please do not ask us anything about this, we do not know.
Tuizar felt that the Nagas were treated like slaves while Muivah’s 29-year-old nephew Notnang was even more radical. “I cannot say that this is not a communal problem. Would he be disallowed if he had been a Naga chief minister? You see there can be a civil war if he is not allowed in,” said Notnang, an NSCN activist.
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