Army Chief's words

Chief of the Indian Army, General Manoj Mukund Naravane on Friday made a very significant statement pertaining to the Northeastern Region. According to him, the perception that India is the mainland and the Northeast must align with that mainland is flawed and contemptuous. General Navarane was addressing the annual seminar of the Assam Rifles and United Services Institution over evolving security challenges in the Northeast and the way forward, when he passed this remark. The Army Chief however also said that a common thread that runs along the North-eastern States is a lack of coordination amongst various agencies. And then he went on to state that policy disconnect is further accentuated by the feeling that affairs of the North-eastern region are being run from Delhi. It is also important to note that the Army Chief Naravane has also said that the headquarters of most of the Central Armed Police Forces and Central agencies are located in the national capital. According to him, national priorities, political compulsions of the North-eastern states and the aspirations of the local people are hardly aligned, which, according to him, has been creating dissonance in execution. The Army Chief also pointed out that another distinctive factor that reinforces the feeling of alienation amongst the people in the Northeast is dismissive, sometimes indifferent and often contemptuous approach. But what is most significant is the observation the Army Chief has made on the "efforts' of certain people – including self-styled intellectuals and self-styled experts – of asking the people of the North-eastern to integrate with the "mainstream". As he rightly said, one would often hear the need to "integrate" the people of the North-eastern Region with the "mainstream" or "mainland India". He then went on to describe as flawed and contemptuous the perception that India is the "mainland" and its people the "mainstream" and that the people of the North-eastern have to align themselves to the ways of the mainland. This is a very strong statement which should be also understood properly by the national political parties, including the BJP, the Congress and whatever little has been left of the Left parties.