Regional vs national in the Northeast

The Northeast is a federal entity whose political geography reflects its linguistic, ethnic, and religious diversity

The new, yet-to-be-named political party announced by Meghalaya chief minister and National People’s Party (NPP) chief Conrad Sangma and TIPRA Motha leader Pradyot Manikya DebBarma, among others, is an interesting experiment. There is no shortage of regional parties in the Northeast, but a pan-regional party is rare. The NPP was founded as a pan-Northeast outfit in 2013, but it has remained a Meghalaya-centric outfit. TIPRA Motha has failed to win office even in its home, Tripura, where it advocates special privileges for the indigenous communities. The proposed party intends to combine the agendas of the NPP and TIPRA Motha — a regional agenda and the rights of indigenous people, respectively — which are mostly at variance. The Northeast is a federal entity whose political geography reflects its linguistic, ethnic, and religious diversity. Regional parties here have built their case by articulating subnationalist agendas and prioritising the local over the national. These parties have also worked together with the party in power at the Centre to ensure political and fiscal stability in the states.

Any party that wants to articulate a common vision for the region will have to reconcile the differences and project a federal and inclusive politics. (@SangmaConrad X/ANI)

The relationship among the national, regional, and indigenous in the Northeast is riddled with contradictions because of the nature of state formation in the region. Waves of migration have changed demographies, turning “indigenity”, a tenuous concept, into a political issue in almost all states. Any party that wants to articulate a common vision for the region will have to reconcile the differences and project a federal and inclusive politics. That’s no easy task. However, with the BJP holding its place as one pole and the Congress in decline, a new third pan-regional party may eye the 25 Lok Sabha seats in the Northeast.