The North East is no dump: Why Modi govt's transfer of governors is in poor form

One IAS from Andhra Pradesh, who was allotted Assam, remembers his family’s reaction when they came to know about it: ‘When I told my mother that I was posted in Assam, she started crying. I asked her why. She said that the only time she heard about Assam was in a Telugu movie in which the hero punishes the villain by putting him in a train to Assam.'

That is an excerpt from a piece in the _South Asia Multidisciplinary Academic Journal titled ‘Q_uestioning the Role of the Indian Administrative Service in National Integration’ by Dalal Benbabaali.

On 25 February, the government relieved three IAS officers—Jitendra Narian, posted as secretary-cum-commissioner (labour), Nandini Paliwal, director (finance), Delhi Jal Board and More Ashish Madhaorao, posted as deputy commissioner—and transferred them to Mizoram. It was apparently clear that the officers were sent to the northeastern state because they had been cherry-picked by the UPA’s political bete noire Arvind Kejriwal to work in the Delhi government.

The NDA government at the Centre has taken that trend a notch higher by sending even governors it finds inconvenient to the North East. I n its editorial  ‘Northeastern purgatory’ on Monday, The Indian Express said:

“… Kamla Beniwal, erstwhile governor of Gujarat, who had taken on Narendra Modi on several occasions when he was chief minister, has now been sent to Mizoram. There is talk of Sheila Dikshit, governor of Kerala who refused to quit her post, being sent to a northeastern state as well. It is unfortunate that this creates the perception that the Northeast is some kind of banishment for inconvenient governors, that those most visibly out of favour with the government are sent there.”

Legally, the Centre has the power to transfer governors to any part of the country. But the problem is the Union government’s psyche is still clogged geographically in two distinct divisions – mainland and hinterland, the latter being primarily the country’s North East.

It has long been criticised by researchers, observers and scholars on the north-east that it’s hypocritical for the Central government to not  consider the whole country, irrespective of a place’s distance from New Delhi, as one single unit. On the one hand the government is trying to promote the North East and integrate it with the mainland by allowing relaxation in holiday travel norms to North East.  A copy of the circular is available here . Ironically, on the other hand, the same government also considers the region as some sort of exile.

What compels the government to consider the North East as some forsaken land? The problem is with the thinking. It is undeniable that the North East is culturally distinct and remotely located. But that is hardly reason to consider the region as any less Indian then any other part. Such an attitude also diminishes the the good works the Centre has done for the region. This time the Railway Budget made an outlay of Rs 5,116 crore for projects in the North East, a 54 percent jump over allocations in the previous year. The Union Budget also gave prominence to the North East.

And still, even after programmes to assimilate the region with the so-called mainland through government schemes, the tendency to alienate continues.

The question is, what is the difference between Beniwal as the Gujarat governor or Beniwal as the Governor of Mizoram? Is it not the same constitutional post with the same authority, dignity and pay package and perks? Technically there is no difference, but the abrupt transfer seems to suggest the government views it differently.

So, even though the North East is actually a corridor of wealth for India given its proximity to ASEAN nations, though the North East can be India’s new gateway to prosperity if  existing trade and geographical challenges are surmounted, the region suffers from a problem of perception as alienated.

Reacting to the death of a young student from Arunachal Pradesh, Nido Taniam, allegedly after being beaten up by a Delhi trader, then Gujarat chief minister and now Prime Minister Narendra Modi had said , “Nido’s death will awaken the entire nation’s sentiment. I feel and understand the North-east region, people, culture and sentiments fully, as I have travelled to North East as part of the party’s organization work.”

It is time to put that in spirit and not consider the North East as a mere dumping ground. The previous UPA government did not budge when Manipur faced a 121-day economic blockade from Naga organisations. People in Manipur were forced to pay a whopping Rs 200 for a litre of petrol and Rs 2,000 for one LPG cylinder. The new regime in Delhi has already erred by shifting Beniwal from Gandhinagar to Aizawl in the manner they did. It is high time the NDA government realises that its treatment of the North East should be quickly corrected.