The Periphery Strikes Back : Challenges to the Nation-State in Assam and Nagaland
Contents: Preface. 1. India\'s north-east: an illusive construct. 2. The Naga struggle: historical roots and clash of cultures. 3. The Naga struggle: insurgent politics and state manoeuvres. 4. The quest for Swadhin Asom: the makings of a mindset. 5. The quest for Swadhin Asom: conflicts and contradictions. 6. Potent causes and unresolved issues. Appendices. Bibliography.
"It is in the country\'s northeastern region, with its complex mosaic of ethnic nationalities at different stages of socio-economic and political growth, that the Indian nation-state is today facing some of its gravest challenges. Time and again, the Indian state has had to work out new strategies and adjustments to deal with the issues thrown up by the different autonomy and secessionist movements of the region. The process of nation-building received its first major jolt when the Nagas, a people virtually untouched by the freedom struggle, expressed their reservations about becoming a part of the newly independent republic and launched an armed struggle for an independent Naga homeland. But, it is the secessionist movement in Assam which seems to pose a much more serious challenge to the nation-state, especially in view of the fact that the Assamese has had centuries of socio-cultural interaction with the rest of the subcontinent and had played a major role in the national struggle. Today, with its really complex ethnic situation, the unsurmountable problem of influx and demographic change and the backward "colonial" state of the economy, Assam has emerged as the problem state of the Indian Union. This is a study which analyses in detail the socio-historical and political factors which have led to secessionist insurgency in states as different as Nagaland and Assam and shows how the future of the nation-state in India depends a lot on the ability to resolve the questions that are being thrown up by the struggles for a Swadin Asom and an independent Naga Lim." (jacket)
[Udayon Misra is currently Professor of English at Dibrugarh University, Assam. His books include North-East India: Quest for Identity.]
