NE ignored despite ties with national parties, unified political entity needed: Daniel Langthasa

Assam-based People's Party founder Daniel Langthasa, who is set to be part of the newly announced pan-Northeast political entity, said issues from the region have been ignored for years and their voices have been rendered insignificant by scant representation in Parliament, despite several alliances in the past between local and national parties.

Langthasa joined hands with Meghalaya Chief Minister and National People's Party president Conrad Sangma, Pradyot Manikya of TIPRA Motha and former BJP spokesperson Mmhonlumo Kikon to announce the new political entity on Tuesday, a development that has created a flutter in the Northeast.

A musician-turned-activist and now a politician, Langthasa comes from Assam's Dima Hasao district, a Sixth Schedule area that comes under the North Cachar Hills Autonomous Council. He has been raising issues related to illegal mining, illegal immigration, and land-related issues of the tribal dominated area.

''For a very long time, issues of the Northeast have been ignored. Alliances have been made, like the North-East Democratic Alliance (NEDA) under the BJP and during the Congress too,'' Langthasa told PTI over the phone.

However, he said their voices are not heard as there are very few MPs from each northeastern state.

Langthasa said there is a trend in the Northeast to align with the party in power at the Centre. ''Before the BJP came to power in 2014, there was no footprint at all of BJP in the Northeast.'' Suddenly, within a couple of years, all states were either ruled by the BJP or the ruling regional parties have become BJP allies, he said. ''That is why we feel that a unified political entity -- not an alliance -- a new party needs to be there.'' Langthasa has been vocal about the land rights of the tribals in his area, which are protected under the Sixth Schedule.

Giving the example of a recent move to allocate land to a cement company in Dima Hasao ''against the wishes of locals'', he said, ''This projection that tribals are anti-development has put us in a very bad light. But we are not anti-development. And we understand that some mines and minerals are important for the country,'' he said.

''Talking specifically about Dima Hasao, our population of the whole district is still 2 lakhs only. And in this, the tribal population must be around 1.2-1.3 lakh. The Sixth Schedule was meant to give protection to tribal areas but norms are being violated and the state and central government do not care, he said.

''In Sixth Schedule areas, as per our traditional way, land is a common property. We mostly do shifting cultivation, or jhoom cultivation. So that no one person is the owner of one particular land,'' he said.

He said now this ''beautiful system'' is being taken advantage of. The state government wants to push projects and they have already signed MoUs without taking the consent of the council, who are bound by it, Langthasa said.

''What the council is doing is -- all this common land, they are now calling it council khas land. So, from the property of the village, now it is becoming the property of the council. And now the council can sell it to a private company or whoever they want,'' he said.

In August this year, the Gauhati High Court had expressed shock and displeasure over the Assam government allotting around 3,000 bighas of land to a private cement company for the purpose of mining in the Dima Hasao region of Assam.

''This case was fought by the villagers and it's still ongoing. So people have resisted and when resistance comes, the council comes to buy off the villagers and offer them money,'' he said, alleging that locals were threatened by council members and armed hooligans over the case.

He also slammed the Assam government for allocating around 9,000 bighas of land for limestone mining in Umrangso, Dima Hasao district. Umrangso is an ecologically sensitive area which is a winter roosting site for the Amur falcon, an endangered migratory bird.

Asked if these issues may impact the state elections next year, he said dissatisfaction was brewing among the people over issues of land, illegal migration from neighbouring countries such as Bangladesh, Myanmar, and Nepal, as well as migration of workers from other states.

''We are not against anyone, but it's for our own survival, because the numbers are less, we will just be eradicated in a few years,'' he said. ''There will be a pushback. If the government does not take it seriously, there will be serious repercussions...'' he added. When asked about the detention of Sonam Wangchuk, Langthasa called for the climate activist's release, and said the Sixth Schedule in Ladakh was ''a genuine demand''.

He said Wangchuk's treatment has been ''very unfortunate. ''All these labels have been put on him that he's anti-national, he's a Chinese spy... That is very unfortunate.'' ''Sonam Wangchuk needs to be released. And the demand for six schedules is a genuine demand,'' the Assam-based leader said.

He added that Ladakh, being a border area, would be strengthened by the Sixth Schedule. ''At the end of the day, you cannot fight bigger battles without having the locals on your side. That is impossible,'' he said.

''Just look at the Northeast. You know what is happening? Why are there a lot of refugees, a lot of fights by people who are coming from Myanmar?'' he said, asserting that the government would need the support of locals for it.

''You just cannot take an army filled with people who are from different parts of the country and just start fighting against each other. Their fellow Indians. That has happened all throughout the Northeast for years. Look at AFSPA and everything,'' he said.

Langthasa said he told Wangchuk during his visit to Haflong last year that while it was good to demand the Sixth Schedule, it is ''not the gold standard of protection'', as it is believed to be.

Wangchuk was detained under the stringent National Security Act (NSA) on September 26, two days after violent protests demanding statehood and Sixth Schedule status for Ladakh left four people dead and 90 injured in the Union territory. The government had accused him of inciting the violence.

The NSA empowers the Centre and states to detain individuals to prevent them from acting in a manner ''prejudicial to the defence of India''. The maximum detention period is 12 months, though it can be revoked earlier.