Abstract
Ideology is a very crucial component of any movement and for its understanding. Unlike other features of a movement, which are easily perceived and made explicit, ideology is often vague and may or may not be present at the early stage of a movement. The article analyses an aspect of ideology wherein its capacity to withstand economic and political forces is considerably minimised. Examination of some past and present movements supports the proposition that sometimes ideology loses its resilience when lured by economic and political incentives. However, rare instances of open acceptance of failure of ideology to withstand the lure of economic and political benefits are often misunderstood for its resilience. Ideology that shapes and protects identity of certain majority group is also bound to change to accommodate smaller groups for various reasons.
Introduction
Karl Marx introduced the concept of ideology in social sciences (Wilson, 1973: 92). John Wilson defined ideology as ‘a set of beliefs about the social world and how it operates, containing statements about the rightness of certain social arrangements and what actions would be undertaken in the light of those statements’ (1973: 91). Ideology is thus a lens through which a social system is viewed and understood. As ideology is ‘a set of beliefs’ the element of subjectivity certainly prevails and thus proliferate different views and different ideologies on a same issue. It also has a strategy of what must be done (Wilson, 1973: 93). An ideology may sometime not conform to the activities carried out by the proponents of the same. Thus, sometime even an in-depth knowledge of the programmes of a movement may not facilitate the right understanding of the ideology thus contributing to methodological limitation in a study of a movement. Similarly, defining a movement is theoretically complicated and sometime empirically deceiving. A collectivity wherein individuals share common objectives and endorsing a particular ideology carries the characteristic of social movement (Wilson, 1973: 94). However, sometimes collective actions may exist with common objectives, but with no ideology. Therefore, ideology is not invariably the indispensable criterion for a movement to begin though it is essential in any movement. A collective activity claiming to be a movement might be dismissed as unruly activity if a clear ideology is not presented. However, a collective action may also be considered as deviant activity despite a clear ideology if the ideology does not enjoy the goodwill of other group(s). Often when an ideology of a group becomes diluted or when the activities fail to agree with the ideology, a movement is viewed as experiencing a fading ideology that will herald intensified conflict within the group and bring the downfall of the movement. Some movements cease to endorse the ideology even if the movement succeeded in achieving their objectives. Better political and economic positions after a movement are likely to put the ideology of the movement to eternal sleep.
Resilience of Ideology
Resilience of an ideology means the ability of an ideology and its proponents to continue to remain unchanged despite any tangible or intangible force acting against the ideology and the proponents. The credibility and longevity of a movement or any collective action hinge immensely on the resilience of an ideology. Relevance of an ideology needs to be accounted by its compatibility with the prevailing socio-economic, political and cultural atmosphere. Ideology is an intangible force the strength of which depends on the commitment of the proponents of the same and its relevance.
Ideological resilience when put to prolonged test against the might of emerging economic and political forces might suffer from irrelevance. Ideology becomes irrelevant and fails to cater to the fast changing economic and political needs. Fragility of an ideology held by marginalised group sometimes depends on the extent of their alienation from the economic and political participation. Betterment in the economic, political and cultural provisions may lead to drifting away from the original ideology formed when their position seemed hopeless.
The Nagas who declared independence on 14th August 1947, a day before the independence of India and later fought against the Indian army to salvage that independence are still haunted by the incident of gross human rights violations at Oinam village in Senapati district of Manipur where Operation Blue Bird was carried out in 1987. The tale of tears, rape, arson and brutality committed by the Indian soldiers were recollected and the Nagas came together on 9th July 2012 to mark the 25th year of the said Operation. Some Nagas even say that if someone claiming to be Naga does not know the Oinam incident he or she is not a true Naga. Not even a month from that day of commemoration, the Naga youths participated in Indian army recruitment held in July 2012 at Senapati district with a slogan ‘Long live India, Long live Indian Army’ (TheSangai Express, 22 July 2012). Today the Nagas cannot deny the fact that they enjoy cultural freedom enshrined in the Constitution of India. Several Nagas have benefitted from the Indian political system. For the first time in the Naga history, a political party named Naga Peoples Front (NPF), which was formed in the state of Nagaland fought in the General Assembly election of Manipur in 2012. NPF also contested in Nagaland Assembly election in 2013 a year after it had contested in Manipur. The President of NPF, Dr. Shurhozelie Liezietsu stated in a political conference, ‘If our people [Nagas] can come together on this platform to fight for the right of the people and for development of the hill region, they can make their voice heard in the MLA’. He further stated that the introduction of the political party, NPF, is not to create problem for the state of Manipur but to strengthen the legislatures (Vero, 2012). It is worth mentioning here that most Nagas of Manipur had expressed their desire to move away from Manipur and to be geographically and politically integrated with the present state of Nagaland under the contentious grand scheme ‘Greater Nagalim’. A bold clarion call for integration of the Naga inhabited areas of Manipur with the Nagaland state was made public in 2001 on the eve of the extension of ceasefire agreement between the Government of India and the National Socialist Council of Nagaland (Isaak-Muivah) faction beyond the territorial boundary of Nagaland. Apart from this Indian political hue painted in the Naga history, one of the former Chief Ministers of Nagaland even went on to become the Governor of Maharashtra. Such political developments made some individuals to question the ideology of sovereignty of the Nagas.
Undeniably, all Nagas or all Naga armed groups do not subscribe to the ideology of complete independence from India. There are Naga groups that fought and still fight for autonomy and not sovereignty. The formation of the state of Nagaland clearly signalled the differences in ideologies and aspirations within the Nagas. The miseries of military oppressions and hopelessness in armed struggle induced some groups to relinquish aspiration for self-determination and settled for constitutional rights within the framework of the Indian Constitution. Picking up the struggle of Rani Gaidinliu who fought for the homeland of the Zeliangrong, one of the collective tribes of Nagas, in the 1990s, an armed group named Zeliangrong United Front (ZUF) has been formed about 20 years after Rani Gaidinliu died in 1993. ZUF claims to fight for autonomy of the Zeliangrong people in Assam, Nagaland and Manipur. This group also fought tooth and nail against the National Socialist Council of Nagaland (Isaak-Muivah) that claims to fight for Naga sovereignty. Thus, the Nagas now reel under the conflict between sovereignty for the Nagas and autonomy for Naga sub-groups.
The element of dominance is evident even in the area of ideology. There is a tendency to witness proponents of ideologies vying for ideological dominance. Often there are ideological differences among groups endorsing a same goal. In such instance, the proponents of ideologies claim to attach more importance to their respective ideology. However, people with weaker attachment to ideology may cry for quicker solution rather than honing the sharpness of the ideology. One might be tempted to believe that the group vying for ideological dominance are purely fighting for the ideology. One must not fail to see the subtle power equation where the ideology of more powerful group tends to dominate any other ideology. We are not in want of important movements where conflicting ideologies emerged within the same group all claiming to share a goal common to all. Here it is not the ideology but the promising nature of power with a potentiality to serve their vested interests that drives them to battle for ideological dominance. It is for power.
However much a small group may adhere to an ideology, if they are economically and politically weak, they have a high chance of giving up their ideology. There are two ways that can facilitate destruction of an ideology of weaker group: (a) disturbing the internal economic and political establishment and (b) injecting economic and political incentives.
Disturbing the Internal Economic and Political Establishment
Severe and prolonged deprivation of economic stability has a strong debilitative force to shatter the ideological position of any group of people. This is so because when the economic processes are disturbed, the acute shortage of immediate daily needs can lead to physical inefficiency and consequently to moral deficiency. When this shortage and consequent inefficiency and deficiency are witnessed at larger societal level it brings moral degradation among the people. Artificial scarcity of food and other essential needs are often used as means in counter-insurgency operations. In India, the counter-insurgency operations in Mizoram against the Mizo National Famine Front, later Mizo National Front (MNF), reflect this. Villagers were evicted from their villages and forced to settle along the roads. This was done to prevent the MNF cadres from procuring foods and other goods from the villagers (Hazarika, 2011: 113–114). This measure disturbed the local governance system of the villages and their economic systems at a catastrophic level.
Another concept that becomes extremely relevant and crucial in an analysis of disturbance to internal economic establishment is that of economic blockade. It is a ban on transportation of any goods for consumption or goods for trade. Economic blockade is not a democratic means of achieving demands. It is a pre-meditated gross human rights violation. It creates a condition of prolonged scarcity of essential commodities for daily consumption and trade, both at wholesale and retail markets. Even if the commodities are available, they are often procured at exorbitant rates far beyond the purchasing power of the common people. It is a crime against humanity. Such economic hurdle impedes any attempt in generating motivation among people for larger issue. Considering the magnitude of naked protest of some Manipuri women in the wake of a rape and murder of a suspected woman militant, Manorama, one could have expected a larger collective action by the Manipuri people when large section of Indians were awakened for a protest against the draconian act, Armed Forces Special Powers Act. But apart from few instances of regular sit-in protests and marches wielding placards, there was no significant change in the mode of protest against the said Act despite a protest march from Kashmir to Imphal by other Indians. This may be attributed partly to the preceding prolonged economic blockade in Manipur that continued for more than three months at a stretch by the Kukis and the Nagas along the National Highways connecting Manipur with the rest of the nation. The essential commodities for daily consumption that have been subjected to acute scarcity by the economic blockade were needed immediately and it was not conducive for mass silent or violent protest to continue for long when the people were deprived of their basic needs.
No single political system is absolute in terms of efficiency for governance. According to the North Eastern Region Vision 2020 document, the living standard of the people in the region in 2004–2005 measured by per capita gross state domestic product (GSDP) was ₹18,027. The figure was lesser by 31 per cent than the national average of ₹25,968 (Ministry of Development of North Eastern Region & North Eastern Council, n.d.: 6). The figure, however, during the colonial period, in the then undivided state of Assam was higher by 4 per cent than the national average (Ministry of Development of North Eastern Region & North Eastern Council, n.d.: 6). Thus, during the nearly 60 years of Indian independence and democracy the Northeast region did not witness steady improvement compared with the rest of the nation. Under the garb of national security and threat to lives, development activities are often overwhelmed by strategic development for national security. The nation that fought against the colonial forces for freedom and independence by means of the much acclaimed non-violence is still yet to adopt peaceful means to development and growth.
The existing political system of a weaker state rich in resources, if it is not in favour of the economic aspiration of the more powerful state, is susceptible to condemnation and destruction. Right to self-determination is the basis on which democratic politics is supposed to operate. Self-determination must not be imposed by other state or be imported from friendly neighbour. It should be based on collective conscience of the people. In this line of understanding of the concept of self-determination, it is a matter of serious concern when contemporary geopolitics is scarred by enforced democracy. It is a bartered democracy exchanged for economic gains. Democracy here no longer is based on self-determination of the people, but essentially hinges on determined economic project of the more powerful group. Thus, the democracy traded here is a corrupt democracy. This democracy is for oil, which is the most crucial resource to run an economy. We may also call such democracy as crude-democracy when it is imposed in foreign country rich in crude oil with extraction of oil as an ulterior motive.
In a democracy-deficient state of Manipur, exploration of oil has become a point of attraction. The people in Manipur are against the exploration of oil in their lands. However, disrespecting the rights of the people, the agreement signed between the Government of India and the Netherland-based Jubilant Oil and Gas Pvt. Ltd. (JOGPL), as reported in The Sangai Express (Jiribam says no to oil exploration in Manipur, The Sangai Express, 31 July 2012), decided to drill oil in Manipur. It further reports that in a public hearing held on 31 June 2012 in Jiribam in Manipur, the people expressed their disagreement for the oil exploration. Prior to the public hearing at Jiribam, it was reported in the Sangai Express in which the United Naga Council (UNC) termed the manner in which the Government of India and Government of Manipur licensed a multinational company for oil exploration in Tamenglong, Churachadpur and Jiribam as ‘highly objectionable’ (The Sangai Express, 29 July 2012) as it was done without the prior and informed consent of the people. According to the report, the UNC stated that the innocent villagers of the district Tamenglong who have no technical knowledge were duped into signing an agreement for seismic surveys by Alpha Geo Company. The UNC also claimed in the newspaper that even the Hill Area Committee instituted under the Article 371C of the Constitution was not approached for ‘… concurrence and approval of the exploration activity’. Here we see another crystal clear instance of disregard for democracy by the largest democratic nation in the world. The Hill Area Committee is instituted to represent the people and their issues through democratic means. However, when the consent of the people is doubted even the democratic institution is overridden. The nation that carried out her freedom struggle through people’s participation now doubts the people.
It is a great disappointment for the people who are already oppressed by the power of the military in the guise of counter-insurgency operations, infrastructural development is used as a mask of development by the nation while disrespecting the Constitutional Rights of the people. What is the point in instituting the Hill Area Committee under the Constitution if it is not consulted when a project is to be taken up in their area? Are the conveniences and wishes of few representatives of the company the democratic voices of the people? What is the nature of post-election democracy in India? The spirit of democracy that hinges on the conscience of the people must not be confined to the election process only. It must also not rely totally on the elected leaders who hardly know the plight of their constituency after the elections. The dwellers of the constituency experience the problems and not the elected leaders of the constituency who prefer to confine themselves in the state and national capitals.
However, one might also view from the standpoint of the other side. With immense diversity even within a single tribe or community, the relevance of the essence of democracy may also be critically examined. Should a nation risk forfeiting national security due to its soft approach towards internal dissents and disturbances? It may be hard to endorse the ideology of non-violence in dealing with internal disturbances when the external threats are overwhelming. The risks always exist when brutalities are resorted against the citizens of a nation in an attempt to quell internal disturbances. India had witnessed this since the attainment of independence. The nation could not adhere to the philosophy of non-violence even while dealing with its own people. This has raised several questions against the non-violence endorsed by Gandhi during the freedom struggle. The relevance of non-violence as a means in India may be questioned even in the context of the lady, Irom Sharmila Chanu, who claims to fight against human rights violations through non-violent means in the world’s largest democratic nation.
Injecting Economic and Political Incentives
Analysis of certain social or political issues based on economic perspectives cannot be dismissed as economic reductionism. Economic provisions have better edge than negotiations or dialogue to prevent relapse into secessionist activities. An individual who once determined to face the iron fist of the State in an endeavour to secede may fall prey to economic advancements which might not be possible even in the new form of society envisioned by the secessionist ideology.
The lure of promotion and monetary rewards has been effective in bringing about a practice of fake encounters. This is totally a deviation from the Constitutional and legal provisions. The values that hold a relation between the State and the ruled no longer seem to be the essence of the relation. Sometime some individuals under state machineries no longer execute their duty as responsible citizens, but as mercenaries. A new principle of rule emerges wherein a space for accountability diminishes and question of legality of some individuals’ actions attains immunity from Constitutional, legal and public scrutiny. This is to be expected in nations where we find people in power hierarchy who hold the view that individuals are for the state and not vice versa.
High chance of moving upward in professional status may encourage some individuals operating within the state machinery to eliminate individuals who once acted against the state but later had taken legal course to relinquish illegal means of questioning the state. The professional benefits promised by such clandestine illegal acts are too good to let go. The right to life is simply dismissed by state actors to usher in professional and economic benefits from the state. This has been clearly revealed by the fake encounter episode in Manipur in July 2009 that was reported by a news agency Tehelka (Murder in Plain Sight, Tehelka, August 2009). In one of the annual gallantry award functions given to police personnel by the Government of India before the fake encounter episode of July 2009, Manipur secured the highest number of awards. However, after the said fake encounter episode, all the recommendations for award for police personnel in Manipur were turned down by the Union Home Ministry (e-pao, June 2011).
The second incentive is the political incentive. The lure of political power is hard to be resisted. It can lure individuals to fall in line and dance to the tune of the music played by the powerful who promise the incentives. There are contemporary instances of struggle for sovereignty and self-determination suffering a severe blow as a result of power sharing package. Several political movements that were not ready to accept the Constitutional provisions of an existing state may begin to consider settling the political debacle within the framework of the said Constitutional provisions that were once rejected. The MNF movement is believed to have come to an end, and MNF became an Indian political party operating within the framework of Indian Constitution. However, in a rally held in March 2011 to commemorate the bombing of Mizoram by Indian Air Force in 1966, which was the first and so far the only aerial attack by Armed Forces of India against its own people within its own geographical boundary, a placard boldly read ‘No India, No Cry’ (Times of India, March 2011).
Though the people in Mizoram still have grievances against India for the atrocities committed against them, the political elites are not ready to forfeit their political statuses and economic benefits accruing from their positions. Some citizens of this nation still cannot forget the treatment meted out by India when the Chinese invaded and reached Tezpur (Assam) in 1962. India failed to defend its people from external forces in 1962 but resorted to aerial attack against innocent villagers in 1966 in the name of fighting against the Mizo rebels believed to be hiding in the forest. These realities no longer seem to aggrieve the elite groups in Mizoram or Assam. It is not known whether the Government of India had formally apologised to the people of Mizoram for the bombardment or to the people of Assam for failing to protect.
Manmohan Singh, the Prime Minister of India under the United Progressive Alliance government, had termed the problem of Naxalism as the greatest threat to the internal security (The Hindu, 24 May 2010; India Today, 7 February 2010). But so far we have seen neither the Armed Forces Special Powers Act, 1958 being used nor aerial bombing in Naxal-affected areas to salvage the national security. Perhaps excessive use of military power, which seems to be exclusively earmarked for northeast India, in the areas affected by Naxalism would mean engendering acute alienation of the potential voters. The total number of Members of Parliament (MPs) in the Lok Sabha, from all the states of northeast India put together is 25. Some of them remain invisible for almost five years after the election result. Their total number is less than half of the total MPs from a Naxal-affected state of Uttar Pradesh, which has 80 MPs. Besides other Naxal-affected states, Bihar with 40 MPs and West Bengal with 42 MPs cannot be alienated from the power game played in New Delhi.
Often a state is not in favour of any political solution that is beyond the purview of its existing Constitutional or statutory provisions. A prolonged movement that has not seen any significant change often fall prey to the resilience of the state power. Movements are often sustained by one or few leaderships leaving a scope for quick exhaustion of endurance and resilience. However, state often has more enduring leadership by virtue of the principle of shift of leadership where leaderships keep changing after certain time period. Witnessing a downscale in the intensity of the movement in terms of its mobilisation, demands and adherence to ideology cannot be totally ruled out. The luminosity of the ideology begins to fade away making way for a grip over some power for the leaders of movement without significant loss for the state.
It is a difficult effort to maintain a unique identity of an ethnic group scattered in two or more politically defined nations. They do not enjoy the benefits of dual citizenship of two different nations. They are different in terms of nationality. An Indian citizen cannot be a citizen of Myanmar simultaneously. The concept of dual citizenship does not apply in most cases. What binds an ethnic group settled in more than one country is their shared history, culture and an enduring belief in common origin. Their aspirations to be acknowledged as sharing common history and culture may find wide acceptance across the nations but to be united geographically distinct from the existing political system of the two nations is susceptible to interpretation as secession. One might relate this position with the stand taken by the National Socialist Council of Nagaland (Kitove-Khole)/NSCN (KK) on the impeachment and expulsion of Khaplang the Chairman of NSCN (Khaplang). NSCN (KK) has expressed its hope of securing the support of NSCN (Isaak-Muivah)/NSCN (IM). NSCN (KK) has forsaken the common goal of all Nagas to be united geographically. They have gone softer on the issue of sovereignty and strongly endorsed for more political power within the existing state of Nagaland and preferring even the goal of Greater Nagaland to take slow steps and be materialised if the other states where all the Nagas are settled agree to the proposed Greater Nagaland. Thus, the Nagas of Myanmar have been pushed away. In an interview with Kitovi Zhimomi, Prime Minister and General Secretary of the newly formed NSCN (Khole-Kitovi), while referring to Khaplang, the leader of NSCN (K), he stated, ‘He [Khaplang] is from another country and lives across the border. It would be illogical for India to interfere with the integrity of Myanmar’ (Tehelka, July 2011). They seem to have realised that prolonging the Indo-Naga talk that had been going on since 1997 will bring no solution in complete favour of the Nagas until they compromise something that was once dear to them. Based on NSCN–KK, for the Nagas in India the compromise had to be articulated by dissociating the long cherished bonds shared with their own Naga brothers and sisters on the other side of the politically defined boundary. Whether it is Assam movement or MNF, one thing that changed them was the lure of political power. Perhaps some Nagas too saw a bright political career within the arena of powerful electoral politics even if it means forfeiting their ideology of Nagalim for all Nagas with unity of Naga identity.
The state has a better edge in dealing with such complexity. It is easier for the state to disintegrate the aggrieved people with a lure of political incentives. Here the aggrieved people begin to endorse the Constitutional provisions of the state, which they have been fighting tooth and nail as unacceptable. The shared history and culture with a belief in common origin becomes expendable when measured against the imminent political status to be attained in the nation where they are located. They begin to see the ideological irrelevance of one nation for one group comparing with their expected positions.
Ideology of Identity
The intricacies associated with identity of certain communities in north-east India are assuming a more complex feature than ever. No doubt, one will not be surprised to find seekers of power trying to fish in such troubled water. Often due to lack of written records oral tradition has been the widely depended source of legitimising the credibility of a group’s identity. Unfortunately, absence of written records facilitated narratives over narratives on a group’s identity. This has greatly reduced the reliability of the narratives. Some narratives are engendered with an objective of strengthening a majority group by including certain minorities within the ambit of the already existing identity narrative of the majority group. A minority group may also subscribe to the narrative of the majority while expressing their desire to retain their original identity and enjoy a position of sub-group of the majority group. This was evident during the Kuki–Naga conflict, which was intense in Manipur during the 1990s. Kom, which is categorised under Kuki group, had a swinging identity during the said conflict. Kom villagers settled near Naga villages and expressed themselves to be Nagas and thus avoided confrontation with the Nagas. But Kom villagers who settled near Kuki villages also made similar claims to avoid enmity with the Kukis. In a collective effort for identity formation, we find two strands of beliefs or ideology. One is associated with pride and the other with survival. Identity of a group is formed or reformed either to retain or reclaim pride or to widen the scope for survival in conflict ridden human society.
The gap between the Meitei people in the valley and the hill people in Manipur needed astronomical measurement prior to the year 2001. It was in 2001 when the ceasefire was signed between the Government of India and the Naga Socialist Council of Nagaland (Isaak-Muivah) was proposed to be extended beyond the boundary of Nagaland. However, the outlook of the Meitei people towards the hill people, especially the Nagas changed. The ideology of brotherhood became the staple food of Manipur in films, dramas, songs, festivals and even in formal education and politics. Manipuri films began to speak against discrimination practised by Meitei people against the hill people. Marriages between Meitei and hill people began to be eulogised in films and dramas and in reality. Marriage between a Tangkhul boy and Meitei girl was published in electronic news media, which otherwise would have remained just another tasteless event confined within the boundary of the village. Print and electronic media began to give more attention to the desired cordial relation between the Meitei and the hill/tribal people. This change within a short span of time was indeed perplexing considering the extent to which the Meitei people practised discrimination against the hill/tribal people. Based on the tale of some elders from the hills, earlier the Meitei people did not even allow a hill/tribal person to set their foot on the veranda of a Meitei house. If some from the hill/tribal person wishes to buy vegetables from Meitei vegetables seller, he or she must not touch the vegetables with his or her hands. If the vegetables were touched or lifted to check the quality then the Meitei vegetables seller would force the hill/tribal people to buy all the vegetables, including those that were not touched. This was done because the Meitei vegetables sellers thought that the vegetables were already polluted with the touch of the hill people. Such practice was experienced by elders of hill/tribal people long ago and they still carry feelings of dejection and discrimination.
In the history books prescribed by the Board of Secondary Education, Manipur for the first time had something about personalities from the hills or tribals only in 2005 in class VIII book. It was only in 2009 that class X students in Manipur got to read something about leaders from the hills or tribals. It is often heard from Meitei people saying ‘chingmi tammi amatani’ meaning hill people and valley people are one. This has been said very often by elders even before the political debacle of 2001. The ideology of identity embedded within ‘chingmi tammi amatani’ is strong for political mobilisation and never in reality until 2001. Another ideology of unity of identity is ‘ching tam amatani’ meaning hill and valley are one. This is sometime taken literally and refuted even by some Meitei people. The physical representation of the words is taken and the symbolical meaning embedded within ‘ching tam amatani’ is refuted. For them hill and valley are different though the settlers of hill and valley are one. Narratives of the inseparable relation between the hill people and the valley are becoming more vocal than ever. Some of them were never heard before and seriously doubted and more critically examined. A relation of fraternity is often projected in media and in public forum. A primordial cordial relation between the hill people and the Meitei people is preached and popularised. However, these newly painted pictures of fraternity are not true completely and this fact is accepted even by some influential people among the Meitei people. The relation between the Nagas and the Meitei people got politically strained and became more bitter after the extension of the ceasefire agreement between the Government of India and Naga Socialist Council of Nagaland (Isaak-Muivah) and it was crucial to engender narratives of brotherhood to herald a new chapter of relation in the hope of salvaging the boundary of the state of Manipur. Some Nagas of Manipur expressed their desire to be integrated geographically, politically and economically with the state of Nagaland by dissociating from Manipur. This needed to be contained at any cost even if it meant doing away with the ideology of purity of Meitei group. The ideology of purity of Meitei identity is now gradually discarded as it has put the territorial integrity of Manipur at stake. Thus, the pristine position ascribed to ideology of majority’s identity too changes when their territorial boundary is questioned by the minority. This is not to say that none of the Meitei people stood for true fraternity with the hill people. However, the event of ceasefire extension of 2001 gave the impetus to make their effort more political which would otherwise have remained local and dormant.
Conclusion
Ideology has often been given less emphasis in a study of movements. Much emphasis has been on the part of causes, mobilisation, objectives and the outcomes. They are all important in an understanding of any movement. However, the crucial driving force of any movement is ideology. When the ideology is lost or becomes ambiguous, it becomes susceptible to external forces acting against the interest of the movement. Often ideology is taken recourse to for examining the legitimacy of any collective action. The clarity of an ideology is also taken for judging the justification of a movement. Thus, ideology is a link that connects actions at present and the outcomes of the movement. Therefore, a clear glimpse of ideology of any movement gives a lens to see the characteristics of a movement and get a comprehensive picture of the movement. It is here that the resilience of an ideology, of any movement may be understood against the prevailing economic and political forces. It is in this light that one can understand the forces that disrupt the ideology and bring changes in a movement with a change in ideology. A change in the course of a movement may be located in the change in ideology the causes of which may be examined beyond the boundary of the movement to which its proponents are susceptible to change.