The whole issue is one of great importance, because in a sense it is about ushering in a renaissance of India, not only from the historical aspect, but from every aspect of life where senseless beliefs dominate. Belief is the keyword in this renaissance. The Uniform Civil Code (UCC) must deal specifically with what Article 44 of the Constitution of India and the Supreme Court rulings on the matter which amplify unambiguously the customs that have developed out of flawed religious practices, or initiated by and from religious doctrines and dogmas. And in this respect, as citizens of North East India, we can boldly claim that religious practices have never come in the way of our customs and social practices, of that there can be no doubt. Even so, it is imperative that we do not become gloomy on hearing the words “Uniform Civil Code.” It has its use as we will discover.
In this particular day and time there is much that the UCC can mitigate from the threats that we in North East India face. Above all we should not underestimate the fact that religious teachings and religious animosity is aggravating the social lives of millions of people throughout India at this very moment and especially in Manipur at present. As long as there are religious fanatics from India to the Middle East and beyond, there unquestionably will exist a peculiar social irritation and rancour against religious fanaticism. Dr. B R Ambedkar was one of the most eloquent advocates against the threats that religion brought into our social lives and he made no secret of the need to rid the country of everything that caused these threats, hence Article 44 of the Constitution of India. Today there exists, throughout the country from South to North, East to West, a peculiar social prejudice against the religious ideal that a political Party is perpetuating, and we should not overlook that.
This fact persists even to the present day; it alone justifies the need to treat the North East of India as a separate entity in the UCC. There are many more reasons for this demand which will follow. To address the matter thoroughly and in an unambiguous manner, we need to remind ourselves of the build up towards where we are today, in North East India that is. During the Independence days the Khasi Jaintia Political Association looked forward to independence but they did not want the change to result in others ruling these Hills – the same feeling persists to this very day. The people wanted to be separate from the Union and this was taken before Nehru when he visited Shillong in early January of 1946, he refused to acknowledge their demands and this set about the great suspicion that the people of these hills developed for the plainsmen of the Indian mainland. This is a common feeling throughout the North East. It is therefore desirable that the UCC treat the entire North East as one group and not as separate entities.
The old belief that there is an abundance of “no man’s land” in the North East as compared with a “no more land for man” in the Indian mainland still holds true to this day as it was then, and we believe that our lands will be swallowed up by men from the country of “no land for man,” if they were given the chance. Therefore the UCC shall once and for all establish as a code the Land Tenure Systems of Meghalaya and the Land Transfer Act of Meghalaya in particular and the rest of North East India in general wherever such laws exist. Let this be the first clause in the UCC for North East India. From there we will progress with mutual belief and in good faith.
Both, to repeat, the Land Tenure Systems and the Land Transfer Act, pertain to a type of anti social fanaticism that the people of the North Eastern States possess, for the simple reason that the people instinctively strive to optimise favourable conditions under which their way of life can thrive, prosper and mature so that they attain the maximum state of human development singularly instructive to what is their discernment of what is a higher state of being. For them the need is to break down every kind of intrusion that serves more as a distraction and a hindrance that obstructs or could obstruct their path towards progress. It was this realisation that prompted India’s first Prime Minister to state, “leave them to develop on their own genius.” Let that statement remain alive now and even for the future.
What is this optimism that the people of North East India seek after? Our answer is an optimum condition for the highest and the boldest spirituality in the existence and the development of our society – others may perish but we and our ways must not. We are not unbiased witnesses and judges of the value of our way of life. We know that we have gone through many turbulent days in the history of our development and we know what it is that we cannot do without…our freedom and our dignity, the latter being the thing that the Caste System will never offer us.
We want freedom from compulsion and disturbance that others want to impose upon our way of life. All in all we think of the ideal stage of human development that leads to a divine state above the life of greed and desire – ours is a repose for a life that blends with our natural conditions because it is from there that we can attain our highest fruitfulness. We know this is possible but first and foremost we must be assured of the riddance from the threat and customs of other people from the mainland who are doing everything they can to impose their ways on the people by guile of enmity and sowing seeds of discord between groups with the use of monetary enticements, which is very evident in the funding of schemes under “Jhum Scheme” in Meghalaya – the entire fund being provided only to the non Christian Khasis.
Little do they know that the people of the North East and especially the people of Meghalaya do not like to be disturbed by enmities or by friendships which are easily forgotten and this is exactly the case when money is the medium – the people easily forget and they easily despise the perpetrators of such means. They think it in bad taste to act against their belief that the people of the mainland come with pre conceived intentions of taking advantage of their simplicity. They have an even greater doubt at the sight of huge unexpected gatherings. And with the recent events of the communal clashes and genocide in Manipur this feeling has only intensified knowing that this is abnormal and that the cause for the abnormality is the outsider – especially the priestly class and their RSS support base. The fear of the saffron clad outsider from the mainland has spread to every State in the North East.
