Voting Behaviour in the Hills

Ceety Khongsai *

Nephiu Rio campaigning for NPF candidates in Manipur's Hill districts :: January 21, 2012

Introduction:

Manipur has a distinctive feature of being the hub of international drugs and arms smuggling through Moreh, a small town bordering Myanmar. Indian federalism with its diversity of races has poetically been christened as the Kaleidoscope of garden wherein different varieties of flowers are blooming simultaneously in a spirit of peace, harmony and tranquility since the time human memory can recall. Nothing can untie the tie that glued the hearts of the valley-hill people firmly founded like a solid rock by the patriarchs of Manipur.

But, things were changed drastically when the flag of the Union Jack was de-hoisted and the new Tricolor flag of the Indian Union was unfurled in 1947 with a western modeled unique and bulky constitution. The new constitution drafted and adopted to suit the needs of mainland Indians, who are racially and linguistically alien to collective Manipuris viz. Meitei, Kukis and Nagas, could not met the aspirations of the little known North Easterners. The Manipuris could not even imagined forced imposition of the hitherto unfamiliar Parliamentary form of Government by replacing their culturally engrained systems of Government that had been in practiced since the beginning of human beings realized community settlement.

Many of the research scholars loosely used the term 'time immemorial' to signify the time of events where past historical records of Manipur are unavailable in written form. The presence of different ethnic communities with divergent socio-political aspirations greatly influences voting behavior of the hill people. Some of the major factors are discussed under the following heads:

Chieftainship Factor:

In the hills, in recent times, there has been intellectual debates and discussion among the intelligentsia in various forums whether chieftainship is a boon or a curse in the face of changes that had taken place in international arena. The orthodox concept of the world of the 1960s have changed drastically that today the world has become like a nucleus family with scientific and technological advancements ushering in new system of governance in all walks of life. From head hunting to jhum cultivation, from jhum cultivation to terrace farming, the process of development, although impatiently slow, is going on in the tribal society through centrifugal forces.

The inquisitive yet budding Kuki new generation have now started questioning the constitutionality and practicability of chieftainship, in this age of e-governance and computerization. There are some protagonists who vehemently advocated for abolition of chieftainship as was done in Mizoram. Notably, however, Mizoram had made a blunder by thoughtlessly abolishing the institution of chieftainship which is the nerve centre of their society. Because chieftainship is closely intertwined with culture, and without culture the society perishes!

On the other hand, among the Kukis in Manipur, the institution of chieftainship has virtually been misused by the present day centrally sponsored scheme driven greedy and gluttonous self-centred chiefs who, by the drop of hats, buy a plot of land somewhere in the corner of the hills and construct few hamlets in the structure of a house and naming them with beautiful biblical and mythical names of places to resemble the looks of a village in order to sipped in funds in the name of development thereby becoming a crore Patti over night.

By contrast, historical Kuki Chiefs such as Pu Chengjapao Doungel, popularly known as Aisanpa; Pu Tintong Haokip, a born military genius and known as Laijangpa; Pu Lhukhomang Haokip chief of Chahsat etc were all clan heads who possesses the legitimate cultural right of becoming a chief due to the fact that their chieftaincy were sanctioned by the Kuki law of primogeniture in the true spirit of responsibility and sacrifice.

As pointed out earlier, the institution of chieftainship has been commercialized by surrogate chiefs and the corresponding consequence of this commercialization of chieftainship creates havoc no sooner did the news of election wind blows the dusty and muddy horrible roads of the hills. Precisely, as is discernible by a layman, votes are cast not by individual's free-will but, the General Will, which automatically happens to be the Private Will of the surrogate chiefs.

The misconception and misunderstanding of the conceptual theory of Rousseau's "General Will" has negative implications in the hill areas of Manipur in as much as every single vote in a village is calculated in terms of money payable in lump sum to the chiefs by contesting candidates in the form of donation for Christmas celebration, community feast, community hall construction, chief guest donations, secret deal with the chiefs on election eve, etc.

Therefore, a highlander lady, who, this writer incidentally met on her way to jhum field on poll day in the recently held election was asked about the reason for not going to cast her vote, the lady sarcastically said: "Why should I trouble myself for somebody's gain? "Will your candidate remember you after election?" These simple questions of the lady reflect the general views of the hill people and .speak volumes about how elections are perceived by the hill people vis-a-vis their most valued Indian citizenship right of adult franchise.

The simple solution to this problem lies not in abolition of chieftainship but rectification or modification of village recognition rules of the Government. It is not the institution but the surrogate chiefs that needs to be rectified. "The King is dead, long live the king" in the British constitutional reforms will invariably serve as a healing balm to the problem at hand.

Tribe/Clan Factor:

India is known worldwide for her unity in diversity. Similarly, among Indian States, Manipur occupies a prominent place in terms of diversity of communities irrespective of her small geographical area as compared to other States. It is the aspiration of each and every ethnic group or tribe to have an elected member in the State Assembly. Because having an elected member of one's own community in the State assembly is a matter of pride since it determines the status of a community amongst the galaxy of tribes living in the State.

Therefore, when election comes, it is the general phenomena that one community is pitted against another community almost in all hill constituencies. Generally, during elections the environment in the hills changes haphazardly from cordiality to hostility, friendship to foe, love to hate, righteousness to unrighteousness, from moral to amoral, peace to violence etc. whichever means that would guarantee the election of their candidates are adopted with the least hesitation in mind so that the five years Local Area Development Fund and other centrally sponsored schemes and, if by chance got selection among the 12 wise men in the State cabinet, would completely transform their community and their lives.

This tribe-based narrow concept of development creates unhealthy practices of all sorts, and in the process, the minority groups among the tribes are marginalized and suppressed by the numerically larger groups, depriving them of exercising their voting right through intimidation, threatening, coercion, booth capturing, and in extreme case, killing of one party by another party workers took place in the past. The election manifestoes and party affiliations have nothingto do with the hill people in matters of choice of candidates as they are more or less governed by clan/tribe affiliations rather than the charisma and leadership virtues of the candidates.

Short-Term leaders:

The terminology of leadership in the hills has become mystified as there can be no consensus regarding its definition. All popular theories of leadership studied as prescribed syllabi in colleges and universities are unsuitable to define the type of leadership which is found in the hills today. When election time comes, self styled public leaders under the most attractive and honorific title "Social Worker," business minded self proclaimed leaders sprouted like mushrooms in different corners of the hills by donning the cloaks of the mainland political Netas with a mischievous intention to hoodwink the public. A true social worker is and shall be a social worker at all times.

A person does not become a social leader by simply holding a certain post in some civil organizations. A true leader is one, who possesses in-born qualities of statesmanship, responsibility, accoun-tability, integrity, sincerity, honesty and sacrifice. Therefore, these seasonal self styled election-time social leaders are the modified version of 'Gabber Singh' in Hindi feature film 'Sholay' wherein Gabber, the valiant, terrorized the people by the barrel of the guns to extract unconditional submission. In an exactly similar case, the so­called social leaders having diffidence in getting pu-blic support in achieving their business­oriented election maneuvers exploited every available means to gain mass support.

In the process, the constitutional freedom of right to vote given to each and every citizen of India got infringed by means of threats, intimidation, coercion, and reprisals from anti-social elements for whom election is a short period cash-harvesting time which comes but once in five years only.

Insurgency Factor:

It is an undeniable fact that the development of human civilizations since ancient times are shaped and propelled by the brains of scholars and scientists. This is true to this day. As it is true, it is based on wisdom. In Manipur, the insurgency infested State, scholars and scientists are at the backstage and school drop outs occupy the centre stage. Nothing has been done by the successive Governments to tap the creative brains of the scholars and nothing innovative has been done to exploit the expertise of the scientists to move forward towards higher heights of development. Is there any works that had so far been undertaken by the Government in Manipur worth its name? Insurgency, in this part of northern States of India, had since the last many years, derailed many development processes.

Precisely, influence of insurgents in elections is an open secret which layman and statesmen alike shrewdly refuses to divulged fearing rifle butt, kicks and canning. Like the Taliban in Afghanistan, insurgents in the hills kept the village chiefs under complete control by reducing them to the status of 'Head lambus' of the erstwhile British Colonial Administration with certain powers to collect percentage money deducted from the infamous job cards wages and NREGS Schemes in collaboration with concerned D.D.O.s and D.C.s. In election as well, there are three exams which a candidate is required to get through:

(1). Selection Exams: This is a rigorous process which involves screening and scrutiny of the candidates' qualifications. The qualifications are not necessarily educational but contributions towards the organization of the party concerned. Good qualifications requires fat purse. College and University degrees have nothing to do with this selection exam.

(2). Semester Exams: After passing through the selection exam, the intending candidates are required to sit in the First Semester exam which is more or less the same with' admission test conducted by educational institutions. In order to get admission each and every candidate must deposit a certain amount of money in one installment to a certain designated officers at a certain designated place at a certain stipulated time intimated to them individually.

(3). Final Exams: This is the final exam where the fate of the candidates are decided by the power of money and bullets rather than ballots. All the selection and semester exam fees, notwithstanding strict ECI directives on election expenditures, works as magic in booking a ticket in the state assembly making them one of the most respectable persons with a license to violate all traffic norms in Imphal city as a representative of his constituency.

Conclusion:

Thus, election in the hills is basically a rigorous selection process which involves many factors. If this unhealthy system of voting behavior is not checked by the Government with a more stringent legislation, one day, the entire state will definitely be influence by the hill practice and the state assembly will invariably be flooded by power mongers in the guise of flawless lambs with jackals heart making the most solemn place of legislation a den of thieves, robbers etc. etc.

In this age of globalization, the narrow concept of ethnic consciousness has no place, and as such, the message of world brotherhood and mutual co-existence in a true spirit of love, harmony and tranquility should be spread through the nook and corner of the state. The distinctive feature of Kuki society as reflected in chieftainship institution should be reform in such a way that it cope with the changing time and situation. leadership has its corresponding responsibility towards a society.

A leader should not consider himself as divine king but in humility, be ready to sacrifice his own life for the sake of his people. Similarly, due respect and honor should be given to a leader. The problem of insurgency in Manipur is not a new development; it is as old as our independence. The need is to devise a mechanism to deal with this vexed issue in a constructive manner till a final solution.