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Rebel outfit bans Hindi in Manipur

Nitin Gogoi in Imphal

A proscribed outfit in Manipur has banned the use of Hindi throughout the Imphal Valley and also asked cable operators and cinema hall owners to stop screening "Indian" channels and movies.

In neighbouring Tripura, the Durga Puja celebrations were sought to be prevented for second year running by the banned National Liberation Front of Tripura while in Assam, insurgents of the National Democratic Front of Bodoland have warned that they would blow up trains in Assam from October 20 unless the Army withdraws its campaign against the outfit. The NDFB is at loggerheads with an influential democratic organisation, the All Bodo Students Union over the use of Devnagri as the script for the Bodo language. The NDFB is in favour of the Roman script.

In Manipur, the ban on Hindi films, music and serials began in mid-September after one senior leader of the outlawed Revolutionary Peoples Front was killed. While the Assam Rifles, a counter-insurgency force under the operational command of the Army claims that MC Simon alias Kh Tomcha was killed in an encounter, the outfit says Simon was captured and tortured before he died in custody on September 12.

As a first step, the RPF, arguably the most powerful of the 18-odd insurgent groups operating in Manipur, banned the screening of Hindi films and ordered a ban on use of Hindi. It also enforced a 36-hour general strike across the valley from October 16. Combined with the "anti-merger day' (Manipur was merged with India on this day in 1949, which is still not accepted by many) called each year throughout Manipur, the protest evoked total response in the valley.

During the general strike, members of the RPF confiscated over 10,000 audio and video cassettes of Hindi films and music and burnt them. The RPF also imposed a ban on screening Hindi films in cinema halls across the valley. The RPF says it has been forced to take the step to stop the "Indianisation" of Manipur.

The ban has placed the cinema owners in Manipur in a great dilemma. On the one hand, they are forced to obey the militants' diktat while on the other, many of them have been served with a showcause notice by the government for not screening Hindi films in cinema halls. Apparently, under the directive of the Union home ministry, authorities in the Imphal West district have asked the cinema exhibitors to show cause as to why their cinema halls are functioning under the directive of an organisation which has been banned by the central government. Failure to respond to the notice would invite cancellation of the cinema hall licenses, the hall owners have been warned.

Cinema exhibitors in Imphal have said that distributors are unwilling to send films to Manipur now. They also said on account of the ban on Hindi movies, it has become difficult for them to run their cinema halls with only English movies, as supply of English movies in the state is limited. Under these circumstances, they have to make do with old stock. Manipuri films available at present are too few to run the shows. Due to the ban, their major source of income has also been taken away.

On October 16, both the primary cable networks operating in Imphal were shut down indefinitely by the RPF for violating its ban order on Hindi films and programmes. The Front also seized equipment from operators violating the ban. A spokesperson of the RPF told reporters somewhere in Imphal East that the Front had decided to close down cable TV for an indefinite period of time as punishment against airing of Hindi film and entertainment programme on October15. Sources in Imphal claim the closure of cable networks came after Assam Rifles forced the cable networks to air Hindi Films on October 15. Personnel of the Assam Rifles, in a bid to break the ban, had brought along with them Hindi cassettes and ordered the operators to air it. Both the network were forced to run the Hindi films, one of them repeatedly. Assam Rifles and Manipur state government officials have, however, denied the charge.

This, however, is not the first time that such a ban on Hindi has been imposed in Manipur. In the early 'eighties, says an administrator, "A similar ban was imposed in protest against the failure of the Centre to recognise the Manipuri language by including it in the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution."

In neighbouring Tripura, NLFT militants issued a diktat in early October ordering the indigenous tribal people to stay away from Durga Puja celebrations and warned that any tribal members seen taking part in the festival would be killed. In a statement, the NLFT said it wanted all tribals in Tripura to become Christians because the practice of Hinduism has led to them being marginalised by people of Bengali origin living in the state. Durga Puja is the biggest festival to be celebrated by Hindus from Bengal. Tripura, bordering Bangladesh, is rocked by clashes between tribals and non-tribals over the last 10 months, leading to the death of at least 200 people. The indigenous tribal population in Tripura perceives the Bengalis as a threat to their existence. The NLFT, with strong Christian moorings, thinks that salvation for the tribals, who have been reduced to about 31 per cent of Tripura's population from the 51 per cent at the time of Independence, lies in Christianity.

In Assam, the NDFB has been involved in a fratricidal clash with the All Bodo Students Union over the adoption of a script for the Bodo language. NDFB militants even killed the president of the Bodo Sahitya Sabha, an influential literary-politico organisation for advocating Devnagri as the script for Bodo language. The NDFB wants to apply Roman script to the language in line with other tribal dialects and languages in the north-east. Mizo, Khasi and Garo tribals, to name just three, have adopted the Roman script for their language under the guidance of Christian missionaries.

Says ABSU president Urkhao Gwra Brahma: "Despite its strong-arm tactics, the NDFB has failed to garner any support for its demand and hence the threat to blow up tracks and trains."

The clashes and the simultaneous pressure applied by the Army, have forced the NDFB to issue a threat that hits the people the most. Its threat to blow up trains brought the entire Railway Board to Guwahati this week which reviewed the situation with the state government and decided to strengthen security along the tracks.

Says an Army official involved in counter-insurgency: "The NDFB is merely trying the classic diversionary tactics. By issuing such a threat it is hoping that we would shift our focus towards guarding the railway lines and ease the pressure on the outfit along the international border with Bhutan." NDFB cadres are mainly based in the jungles of southern Bhutan and are adept in hit-and-run tactics in Assam before retreating to the safety of their hideouts there.

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