[dropcap]T[/dropcap]wo things in the front page of Monday’s edition of this daily speak volumes. One, we saw the seven Chief Ministers of the seven North Eastern States exclusively posing for a group photo session with Prime Minister Narendra Modi (Except West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, rest of the States were said to have been represented by their Chief Ministers in NITI Aayog meet on Sunday). The other one was the comment of Defence Secretary Radha Khrisna Mathur---“India is developing Northeast infrastructure”.In Case One the Chief Ministers from the North East region were sieved out from the conglomerate of Chief Ministers of the country and made them to be identified as just one entity i.e. simply from the Northeast region.
In Case Two the Defence Secretary spoke of two entities i.e. India and Northeast.
Here, from these Two Cases we understand how the larger Indians perceive the smaller Northeast people and their region. In the mindset of the mainland Indians we (the Northeast region and its people) are yet to get ‘dissolved’ in the very term ‘Indians or India’. So, it appears that we are Insoluble solute or substance in the Solution called India or Indians. We do not know whether it is because of the solute or because of the solvent. Somewhere the Chemistry is not right.
It is an age-old trend for the Central leaders or the mainland Indians to view this part of the country as one group or region not dissolved in the mainland Indians or India. We often hear these Central leaders saying something like “…for India including the Northeast…” Or, “…I will tour the whole country including the Northeastern States…”
Is it because these seven states often share similar problems and that they often jointly voice their grievances in unison that the Central leaders club together these states as just one entity? Or, is it because of our resemblance of physical features and cultures?
The majority mainland Indians can play a Big Brother role if the true Unity in Diversity should be the case for India.
