A Disturbed Existence in the Backdrop of Serene Green? A Literary Analysis of North-East India

Essay from the year 2015 in the subject Literature - Asia, Banaras Hindu University, language: English, abstract: My study will seek to provide a cumulative aspect of the rise of the political insurgency and historical violence throughout years in North-Eastern India. I am going to analyse these different facets through the following eight sections - Reorganization of States at the time of British Raj and Second World War: Literary Representation of the Roots of Insurgency, Christianity and Missionary Education, Immigration Issue, Socio-political and Ethnical Crisis: Conflict between Tribes and Outsiders, Indifference of Government, Birth and prosperity of militants, Secession Movement, Literature of Protest.

North-East India as we call it a land of 'Seven Sisters' consists of the states namely Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Manipur, Meghalaya, Tripura, Mizoram and the lately added Sikkim with 250 social groups and more than 175 languages. This North-East part of India is connected to the rest of India through a narrow strip of 22 kms called the Siliguri Corridor or Chicken's Neck. Interestingly, it also shares a great part of its border with the neighbouring countries like Bangladesh, Bhutan, Myanmar, China, and Nepal. So, it can be seen that the people of these states must have social, political, cultural and linguistic commonalities with its neighbouring countries and therefore the region embodies a rainbow of cultures and traditions that varies a lot from the rest of India.

Unfortunately, the histories, cultures as well as the literatures of the North-East India have always been perceived as a monotonous and homogenous entity, without really pondering over the myriad problems that permeate the geographical, cultural, religious, literary and political borders within and outside the North East. It would do well to recall how J. B. Bhattacharjee's Roots of Insurgency in Northeast India (2007) points out the 'real' insurgency and the 'made-one' while at the same time appealing not to homogenise.

Similarly, as against such generalisations, we have certain North Eastern writers such as Indira Goswami, Temsula Ao, Mitra Pukhan, Mamang Dai, Easterine Kire, Sanjay Hazarika, to mention a few, who problematise and interrogate such oversimplifications and apathy of 'mainland' people, writers, leaders, even several other Indian and foreign governments.