Chapter 1:

Since 1871 India (including Pakistan and Bangladesh) is conducting a regular census of its population. The census records classified information about caste-language-gender-education and also about religion. After independence, "caste" factor in the census was eliminated. But other factors are still enumerated. Each census record becomes a reference for various studies and analyses. Politicians, policy-makers, and opinion-makers all study census with their own perspectives and purposes. Some information in the census is so sensitive that it is kept secret. The census can smell and even influence the future of a country.

The Center for Policy Studies, Chennai published a volume titled "Religious Demography of India". The writers Joshi, Shrinivas, and Bajaj have studied analyzed census reports of last 120 years and have also projected future trends in India's religious demography.

Some of their conclusions are as follows:

1. In the period 1881 to 1941, the population of Indian Religionists (Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Jains and other local faiths) was growing at the rate of 0.6% every year, while Muslim population grew at 1.06%. 1901 Census mentions famine to be the cause of decreasing Hindu population. By the consistent high growth rate of Muslims, it appears as if there was a premium on being a Muslim.
2. 1901 to 1941: In the area that would be Pakistan, Hindus and Sikhs had a higher growth rate than that of Muslims. After partition, it reached the opposite extreme. The area that became Bangladesh (then East Pakistan) had Muslim growth rate slightly higher than the Hindu rate, and it increased far higher after partition. Rest of India (present Indian union) had a higher growth rate of Muslims as compared to Indian religionists. And after partition, the equation remains the same.
3. Partition took place in 1947. The figures of 1941 and 1951 reveal that after partition the Muslim percentage in (present-day) India decreased by 3 points and the Hindu-Sikh percentage grew by 3 points. In the later 40 years, Muslim percentage in India became as much it was in undivided India.
4. During partition, almost entire Hindu and Sikh population was cleansed from Pakistan (then West Pakistan). The area that became Pakistan had 19.61% Indian religionists in 1941. This came down to 1.6% in 1951 census. On the contrary only one-fifth of the Muslims in rest of India had to quit. Their percentage came down from 13.38 to 10.43. But if one considers absolute figures, the number of Hindus and Sikhs that immigrated from West and East Pakistan and the number of Muslims that emigrated from India is almost equal.
5. Six big cities in UP (the state of Uttar Pradesh) have a Muslim majority (50 to 74%). All the districts of UP that are close to Nepal and Bihar have more than 40% Muslims in their population. This growth took place after partition and with a massive speed.
6. For the convenience of administration and politics, districts are often divided into two or more districts. Whenever the border districts of Bihar were divided, at least one of the new districts has a Muslim majority; e.g. the newly formed Kishenganj district is 65% Muslim. This district is strategically situated between the Nepal and Bangladesh borders. The Dhubri district of Assam is in the same narrow belt between Nepal and Bangladesh, and that too is 65% Muslim.
7. The areas of Gujarat, Maharashtra, and MP (the state of Madhya Pradesh) situated in the West, North and South of Narmada valley are largely tribal. The growth rate of Christians in this area is alarmingly high. In the Dangs, Christian population has grown 8.4 times in last twenty (1971-1991) years. The Jhabua district of MP between 1951-1991 had Christian population grown 8.6 times while the average growth was 2.9 times.
8. The book divides states in three categories:
   a) States where Indian religionists dominate: Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Delhi, Rajasthan, Gujarat, MP, Orissa, Andhra Pradesh, Tamilnadu, Maharashtra, and Karnatak
   b) States where Indian religionists are under pressure: UP, Bihar, West Bengal and Assam.
   c) States where Indian religionists are turning a minority: Jammu-Kashmir, Goa, Keral, Meghalaya, Tripura, Nagaland, Mizoram, Arunachal Pradesh and Manipur
9. The projected trend according to demographic calculation suggests that if there is no major change or breakthrough, then by 2061, Indian religionists and other religionists (Muslims and Christians) will be 50-50 % in the Indian subcontinent. From 2071 onwards, other religionists will become a majority and Indian religionists will become a minority.

"Religious demography of India" explains the demographic trend in India. It clearly shows the religious balance and identifies areas where Indian religionists are a minority or are under pressure. It does not explain what pressure the Indian religionists are facing. It does not discuss what impact this trend has on our social wellbeing, national culture, and national security. The demography book has demarcated its area and stopped short of making a comment or a political analysis. My book starts from this point. I shall attempt to analyze why other religionists are growing at an unnaturally high rate in concentrated strategic pockets and what pressure -- rather what fate -- they bring to the Hindus or Buddhists that turn a minority.

Hundreds of ancient cultures and civilizations in Africa, America, and Asia were butchered under the heels of the Cross and the Crescent. If we do not learn lessons from the present -- and the past -- the same fate awaits us. The weapons and the strategies of the invaders have changed, but the invasion is on. If we fail to save our culture and nationality from the invasion, this will be the beginning of end.

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Chapter 2:

In a tolerant and 'secular' country like India why are you studying the religious demography? I am sure my 'progressive' friends and eminent -- which usually means leftist -- thinkers are going to ask me this question. This kind of study however logical and rational it may be, will still be accused of encouraging communalism in the country. It will be hammered that there is anyway no unity in India, everything is diverse, why then this study of particular (religious) diversity. There are linguistic, ethnic, regional differences in the population. Why not study their demographic balance? The 'progressive' will also advise us to study sub-nationalities in India.

Having considered all such factors, we have chosen to study the impact of religious demography on national integration. We shall answer some arguments in the 15^th chapter of this book. This chapter will take care of one highly established misconception: 'India is a secular country'.

Those in India need a reminder of the meaning of 'secular'. Secular means everything that is non-spiritual and this-worldly. The word became a key-phrase, when the Church and the State battled over their domains of power in Europe. Give unto Caesar what belongs to Caesar. That was the spirit of secularism. That the church should not interfere in the King's powers in the temporal matters. Secular and spiritual divide signifies the rationalization of the state. Secularism in the place of its origin is interpreted as state keeping equal distance from all religions. In India however secularism is interpreted as state giving equal respect to all religions. That is quite Indian. In practical politics it means interfering equally in all religions.

Considering the original meaning of 'secular', the reality is that the Indian State is secular. It does not however mean that the Indian nation is secular. Since 3000-2000 BC-- from the period of glory of Nalanda and Taxila universities of India to the present-day Gurus like Osho, Shri Shri Ravishankar, and Deepak Chopra -- India is teaching spirituality to the world. Indians saying that we have nothing to do with spirituality that our nation is secular, is like Arabs denying that they have oil.

Had our country been dry secular, had our politics and the nation building been secular, why would Gandhi-ji support the Khilafat (caliphate) movement by Indian muslims? Why would Tilak make the Lucknow pact? Why would Savarkar run the shuddhi (purification or re-conversion to Hinduism) movement? Why would Ambedkar convert to Buddhism? And why would Jinnah demand Pakistan? None of these leaders were religious leaders. Still they built and broke movements and policies on religious basis.

By having a secular state and a secular constitution, the country does not become secular. If the people who run the state and implement the constitution, and the people who elect them are secular, then alone a country becomes secular. The above mentioned pre-independence leaders knew the pulse of Indian people. They knew that our masses do not rise on mere 'secular' issues. With the exception of British-made Nehru and Jinnah, all these leaders were brought up in the same religious-minded society as lay Indians. Why did Gandhi-ji use the word Harijan (God's people), why not a secular term like 'comrade'? Though inspired by Tolstoy, why did he create 'ashrams' instead of 'communes'? Why did he make people sing Narsee Mehta's devotional songs in his evening prayers? Why did he bring the religious principles of Ahimsa (non-violence), Asteya (non-theft), and Aparigraha (non-hoarding) in political life? And finally why did the masses call him Mahatma (Great Soul) -- again a religious title -- instead of a secular 'Gandhi the great'?

Unfortunately Gandhi is left only on the walls of government offices and rupee bills. So my 'progressive' friends will not understand these examples. Let me give some contemporary examples. Assume that elections are fought and governments are run solely on secular issues. Why then does a formerly pro-Hindu Prime Minister wear a Muslim Fez cap and throws out an Iftaar party and why this Italian Christian woman pours milk in the Ganga in during the Kumbh celebrations in Allahabad? The 'secular' presumption does not answer these questions. The answer is quite clear, but those who have taken a vow of blindness can never see it.

India is not a secular country. The constitution and the state are secular. And this befits our nation's nature. In fact, our constitution is more secular than those we borrowed our secular wardrobe from are. Our constitution does not require a protestant king, nor do we have a convention of making a White Anglo-Saxon Protestant our president. Persons from different regions, religions, languages have held the highest constitutional office of the President of India. The US has 'In God we trust' on its seal. Our motto is much more secular than this. It is 'Satya-mewa jayate' (Truth alone wins).

It is a misconception that a country, a nation, a people become secular, if the constitution and the state become secular. Even today the public life runs on religion. Forget inter-marriages or inter-dining, even the living place is decided by considering the religious neighborhood.

People of a particular religion live together. They run their area on their terms. And their rule does not limit to celebrating Pakistan's victory in cricket matches. Madrassas (Muslim religious schools-- that produced the Talibans) catch roots in those colonies. Mujahideens are brought up. They start organized attacks on police. They acquire ration cards from the corrupt system and infiltrate the voters' list. Old leadership is kicked out and infiltrators run the elections. Political parties appease them… and this is not happening on a small scale… Across six states, four metros, and sixty districts at the same time… Many more Pakistans are being born. Therefore, it is vital to study the impact of religious demography in the secular India.

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Chapter 3:

In the thousands of years of human history, only two civilizations lived vibrant: Chinese and Indian. Our civilization survived many invasions and grew despite many dark pauses. With the enviable blessing of Mother Nature, on this fertile land watered by mighty rivers, guarded by Himalayas, and protected in the hand-cups of oceans, a great civilization continued to prosper. It is not at all surprising that till 1500 AD, India's population exceeded that of China. Until 1^st Century AD, half of the world's population lived in two countries: India and China. It is natural that the half-frozen lands of northern Europe and the barren deserts of Arabia were much less inhabited by civilized humans. Population lives and grows where the land promises peace, stability and prosperity. That was the reason why India -- which has much smaller territory than China, America, Europe and Russia -- had a bigger population. Even today the percentage of per capita fertile land available in India is much more than Europe and China.

This enviable prosperity attracted many to India. The visitors included knowledge-seekers like Huen-Tsang from China, travelers like Megasthenes from Greece, and countless wealth-seekers. India saw invaders like Shakas and Huns and refugees like Parsis and Jews. Whoever came dissolved like sugar in milk. They accepted the oneness-of-soul of the Indian culture. They adopted costumes and languages, and respected the local faiths. Some went ahead and led India's development and fought her wars. Adopt and accommodate the new, that is the culture here. "Treat the Guest as God" that is our civilization. Many outsiders became our own in this process. They added sugar to the milk. But the Mohammedans were different. They never dissolved. Like salt granules, they spoiled the milk.

Even the Islamic guests were treated well by us. Nothing less than the throne of Delhi was given to them. They won it in the beginning, but nobody dethroned them ever. Mahadaji Scindhia, the great Maratha general who controlled half of north India in 18^th Century, dominated Delhi too. But he did not dethrone the Mughals. The soldiers of freedom in 1857 -- called Sepoys' mutiny by the British -- from various regions recognized Bahadurshah --the Mughal-- as the emperor of free India. Despite this generosity, the Muslims never accepted the oneness of culture and the national unity based on that.

'Add my god to your gods', this can be said easily to an Indian. All religions born in India preach tolerance and co-existence of different faiths. But the two religions that were imported from Arabia are different. They grew with the morale: the camel has to kick the Arab out of his tent. Quran came to India with swords and Bible entered using hundreds of ways. These two religions never accepted the oneness of the culture here. Muslims continued to embolden their identity of difference by using a different language, different dress, and utter disrespect for local culture. This later resulted in a different nationality.

Diversity does not mean separateness. The diversity in India has an unbroken flow of commonality, a oneness of soul. But civilization is something fragile, it has to be conserved and protected. As the philosopher historian Will Durant pointed: "The Mohammedan conquest of India is probably the bloodiest story in history. It is a discouraging tale, for its evident morale is that civilization is a precarious thing, whose delicate complex of order and liberty, culture and peace may at any time be overthrown by barbarians invading from without or multiplying within." (As quoted by K. M. Munshi)

We Indians have two absolutely baseless beliefs: one, that the invasions from without have stopped and two, that we don’t have any 'barbarians multiplying within'. Both these invasions are still operative and are mostly unchecked. It is therefore essential to study religious demography in a 'secular' country like India.

It is a lesson from our history that -- whenever and wherever Indian religionists decrease and foreign religionists outnumber them -- it severely damages our national existence. No invader came from outside to give birth to Pakistan. British merely played the midwife. The once-Hindu majority Baluchistan, Sindh, and West Punjab were 78% Muslim in 1941. Did this number come out of blue? No. The fathers of Pakistan had complete knowledge of the growth of this population. Leaders and rulers do not merely study demography they exploit it to run their business.

When Lord Curzon partitioned Bengal in 1905, he tied Assam to East Bengal. The population of the Hindu-majority Assam was only one-tenth of the Muslim-majority East Bengal. They were tied to East Bengal like a prey to a predator. That was Curzon's clever move for encouraging Muslims to be further aggressive. And we are still paying for that.

The flood of Bangladeshi infiltrators is the biggest contributor to Muslim population growth in India. And their mentor/partner ISI and the Islamic schools called 'Madrassa' are breeding Islamic terrorism in India. According to 1991 census, all the districts of Bihar, Bengal and Assam that border Bangladesh and some districts of UP on the Nepal border are on the threshold of Muslim majority. Assam --which faces the largest onslaught of infiltrators-- has seen in its 57 assembly constituencies, the voter's list grown by 20% within four years (1994-1997). While during the same period it grew only by 7% in rest of India. The recent state elections in Meghalaya had Bangladeshi candidates contesting from 24 seats… This invasion becomes visible only after a study of religious demography.

If we remain blindfolded and dormant as we are -- a big chunk of Bihar, UP, Bengal and Assam will be part of a new Pakistan. The narrow strip of land that connects the Northeast to rest of India will be no more with us. A mega-highway will be constructed for Mujahideens (Muslim mercenaries) from Kashmir to Assam. The Maoists in Nepal will easily facilitate the transport of arms from Mao's country to the Maoists in Andhra Pradesh. Pakistan will then rejoice for its revenge on India -- for partitioning Pakistan in 1971. And some day --not too distant in future-- we will be invited to attend the celebrations of birth of Greater Bangladesh.

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Chapter 4:

"The dream of Greater Bangladesh that we cherished since 1931 is now close to reality. It was natural for the ISI (Pakistan's intelligence agency) and the Pakistan government to have helped us, but we are grateful to the state government of West Bengal, the Marxist Party, the Congress Party and their governments in Assam, and all parties that ruled Delhi for their priceless support in the formulation of Greater Bangladesh. We have succeeded in liberating six districts of Assam, eight districts of West Bengal, and four districts of Bihar that were rightfully ours. Ten districts of UP have joined us, that is a bonus gift from India. We would further like to thank the secular opinion-leaders, -- who by misleading the AASU (All Assam Students Union) -- saved our claim in Assam. The corrupt government officials of your country generously gave ration cards (a valid identification for citizenship) to our people. Your local politicians enrolled our migrants into voters' lists. The recruitment officers of your police and security forces enrolled our people in their forces, and the political parties fought for the 'rights' of our illegal emigrants. We thank all of them. And we take great pleasure inviting you to celebrate the formation of Greater Bangladesh." It is possible that such letter will reach the Prime Minister of a shrunk India from the government of Greater Bangladesh.

The passage above does not make any sense to most of us. We are totally unaware of the demographic invasion of Bangladesh on our territory and the role that governments and politicians played in it. The union home minister told the parliament (on May 6, 1997) that the country has 10 million illegal Bangladeshi migrants. The state of Assam alone is hosting 4 million of them. And as the then Governor of Assam pointed, all of them are Muslims. Hindu population in Assam grew by 41.89% in last twenty years (1971-1991), while Muslim population grew by 77.42%. The average growth of Muslim population in rest of India -- during the same period -- was 55%. This did not happen all of a sudden. The seeds were sown when All India Muslim League was formed in Dhaka. Muslim League had raised the demand for 'Bange-Islam' -- a Muslim country comprising Assam and Bengal -- much before the British Viceroy Curzon partitioned Bengal. At that time -- beginning of 20^th Century -- undivided Bengal was Muslim-majority and Assam was Hindu-majority. The population of Bengal was ten times that of Assam. Had Bange-Islam happened, Assam would have melted into an Islamic country. But the anti-partition 'Banga-bhanga' agitation caught fire all over the country, and the partition of Bengal was withdrawn after six years in 1911. The first attempt of Islamic conquest of Assam was thus foiled.

Towards end of 1920s, Muslim laborers -- mostly landless -- began migrating in huge numbers to the extremely fertile flatlands in the lower Brahmaputra valley of Assam. The people of Assam initially welcomed them, for they were seen as the hardworking cheap labor. Those laborers learnt the Assamese language. They registered themselves as Assamese in the census. On the contrary, Bengali Hindus always kept a separate identity as Bengalis. Bengali Hindus came with the arrogance of having lived in 500 years of Mughal rule and 200 years of British rule. They preferred living secluded from the Assamese Hindus who had always been independent. With this contrast, Assamese Hindus found the hardworking East-Bengali Muslim laborer a closer ally than Bengali Hindus. Within four-five years, the volume of Muslim migrants grew tremendous. Thousands of Muslims from Mymensingh district of East Bengal (now Bangladesh) migrated and settled in the Kamrup, Golpara, Barpeta, Dhubri areas of Brahmaputra valley of Assam. The migration was so overwhelming that the British superintendent of Census in 1931 called this 'an invasion of ants'. He also expressed 'serious concern' in his report that if it continued the local indigenous people would completely vanish in this invasion.

The Government of India Act passed in 1935 granted provincial autonomy and popular governments were elected in provinces of British India. Assam had Congress and Muslim League ruling by turns. The League government led by Sir Mohammed Sadullah introduced 'Grow more food' scheme. In the name of this scheme, they encouraged and brought thousands of Bengali Muslims and settled them on the reserved forest lands, government lands, government and private grazing grounds in Assam. Lord Wavell the then British Viceroy understood this game very well. In a letter to state secretary in Britain he wrote: "Sadullah's scheme is not 'Grow more food', it is 'Grow more Muslims'."

As per 1901 census, 2% population of Mymensingh district controlled entire fertile land. 98% were landless. Literacy was a mere 4% and the density of population per sq. mile was 618. When partition by Curzon (1905) clubbed East Bengal and Assam in one province, thousands of the landless from Mymensingh migrated to the sparsely populated neighboring district of Golpara in Assam. Within one decade (1901-1911) the migrants from Mymensingh grabbed every piece of fertile land in Golpara district. The Muslim population in Assam grew by 26% in this period.

All the migrants from Mymensingh, Pabna, Bogra and Rangapur districts of East Bengal and their descendents came to be known as 'Mymensinghias' in Assam.

The onslaught of migration continued unchecked even after the partition was annulled in 1911. With Golpara already covered, the next decade saw Kamrup and Naugong districts of Assam gulped by the Muslim migration. The third decade saw Darrang district invaded. In the first decade of migration (1901-1911) Muslims grew by 26%, but the next two decades had increasingly higher growth rates. 1911-1921 saw Muslims increased by 39.29% and during 1921-1931 period, Muslim population in Assam grew by 45.91%.

The next demographic game was played by the pawns of two districts of East Bengal. Though the partition of Bengal was annulled, two Bengali-speaking districts viz. Sylhet and Cachar were kept with Assam. This move gave its results after 36 years. While the rest of Assam had a 25% Muslim population, the Muslims of Sylhet and Cachar added to it, the Muslim proportion in Assam turned 34%. That was a mere 4% less than the Hindus in Assam. On this ground alone, Jinnah and every leader of Muslim League after him claimed the right of Pakistan over Assam.

The cabinet mission plan of 1946 had proposed three groups, viz. 1) Hindu-majority provinces, 2) Muslim majority provinces, and 3) Muslim-majority Bengal and Hindu-majority Assam together. The three groups were going to have autonomous governments. Congress and League both had accepted this proposal. Fortunately --for the country and for Assam -- thanks to the visionary leader of Assam 'Lokpriya' Gopinath Bordoloi. He led a strong agitation against this proposal. He knew that if Assam were tied to East Bengal, Pakistan would swallow it. He ran against the current and entire Assam rose with him. Gandhi-ji fortunately supported him and another game of Assam's Islamic invasion failed.

This did not deter Pakistan from licking lips at Assam. Zulfikar Ali Bhutto writes in his 'Myth of Independence' that "if anyone assumes that Kasmir is the only dispute between India and Pakistan, it is wrong. The dispute that is at least as important as -- if not more important than -- Kashmir is that of Assam and other districts that border East Pakistan. Pakistan is more justified in its claim on this region ".

Much before the birth of Bangladesh, the father of Bangladesh Sheikh Mujib-ur-Rehman wrote in his 'Eastern Pakistan: Its Population and Economics' that "East Pakistan for its growth needs sufficient land and Assam has surplus forests, minerals, coal, and petroleum. Therefore for the economic empowerment of East Pakistan, Assam must be included in it." Sheikh Mujib was supposedly a friend of India!

There are two theories quite popular in Bangladesh. First, in this era of globalization Bangladesh labor must get a free entry in Indian markets. Second, is that of 'lebensraum'. Lebensraum the German word means 'living space'. Lebensraum theory propagates that if your country has lesser living space then it is just to acquire extra living space proportionate to your population. Capturing the land of the neighbor country is justified as a right under Lebensraum. This theory -- now popular in Bangladesh -- was what Nazi Germany used to swallow Poland. Is India ready to play Poland?

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Chapter 8:

A careful look at the northeastern Indian states brings to attention certain bold changes in the demography there. The six small states (excluding Assam) have a higher growth-rate of population than rest of the country. The total population of these six states in 1951 was 2.2 million. In 1991, it was 9.1 million. It grew 4.1 times in four decades, while the national average growth was 2.3 times. Nagaland and Tripura have registered highest growth rate of population.

The most striking feature of demographic change in the six states is the continuous decline in the number of Indian religionists (Hindu, Buddhist, and other local faiths) and the rise in Christian population. The census of 1901 recorded 91% people as Indian religionists; while in the 1991 census they remain a meager 56%. In the same period (1901-91), Muslims in this region have decreased from 6.61% to 4.69%. On the contrary, Christian population has grown from 2.22% to 39%.

The state of Nagaland had 0.59% Christians in its population in 1901, which now records (1991) 87.47% as Christians. American Baptist Church claims that more than 90% of the population in Nagaland is Christian. The state of Arunachal Pradesh did not allow entry to Christian missionaries for a long time. In 1971 census, the state had less than one percent Christians in its population. 1981 census recorded 4.32% Christians, while the Christian population galloped to 10.29% in the 1991 census.

99.7% of the population of --the area now recognized as-- the state of Mizoram was Indian religionist in 1901 census. In the population of 82 thousand, only 45 persons were Christians and 206 Muslims. The 1991 census shows 86% Christians in the state's population of 700,000. The states of Meghalaya, Manipur, and Tripura have recorded similar changes. These changes have not happened overnight, nor are they coincidental. They have happened as per planned strategies changing the religious demography of northeastern India to disintegrate the country further. Each northeastern state has a different story to tell.

Nagaland has the most shocking story of perversion, separatism, and foreign-engineered creation of a fake nationalism. A few months ago, Prime Minister Vajpayee was negotiating a peace-deal with the leaders of National Socialist Council of Nagalim (NSCN) in Bangkok, Thailand. The previous Prime Minister P V Narsimha Rao held similar talks in Paris and his predecessor H D Devegowda tried the same in Zurich. Since 1995, such "Prime Minister-level" talks are on. It is ridiculous that the Indian rulers are negotiating with terrorists when there is a legitimate elected government in the state. And this comes as a sequel to the four decades of battle between Indian armed forces and the Naga rebels ("freedom fighters" - to use their term). Still, the Nagaland riddle is unsolved.

Many are hoping that --in the present negotiations-- the Naga leaders will compromise their demand for a separate country. The aging leaders of NSCN (I-M faction) Muivah and Svu --now in their seventies-- are in exile for last three and half decades. They are tired and the Naga people are fed up of violence. 'Negotiate some peace at the earliest' is their likely mindset. It must be clear to them by now that come what may, India is not going to grant them "freedom". But the bone of contention is different now. It is the demand of "greater Nagaland" or "Nagalim". NSCN(I-M) is demanding a sovereign and independent "Nagalim" that shall include the Naga area of Myanmar, Naga-tribes' areas from the states of Manipur, Assam and Arunachal Pradesh. This makes it further clear that the Naga identity --or the so-called nationality-- is uncertain and it flexes as per the wishes of those who define it. Their intention certainly is not the peace, but the continuation of the problem.

Naga leaders are claiming many tribes to be Nagas. There is some tribe every other day, which suddenly rises and calls itself Naga. Interestingly, the only thing common in all such tribes is the American Baptist Church! An even more interesting fact is that the negotiations between two warring factions of NSCN were held in the headquarters of Baptist Church in Atlanta, USA. The web-site of this church (baptistpress.org) has scores of articles supporting Naga 'freedom'. This article will give an idea of how the American Baptist Church created the apparently Naga -- but practically Christian -- nationalism of Nagaland. The next article will explain why they are trying to keep the problem alive instead of helping peace.

Nobody knows the real number of "Nagas". Indian census (since British times) records tribes in their local name; e.g. Tangkhul tribe inhabits the hilly north of Manipur State. Indian census registers this tribe as Tangkhul. But this tribe since its conversion to Christianity calls itself Naga. There are many such tribes that have turned Naga. 'Naga' is not even one language, so the lingual population figures also can not give the number of Nagas. Naga Hoho (the pan Naga organization, dominated by the Church) claims 16 tribes in Manipur to be Nagas. This claim has no reasoning --language, tradition, law-- nothing supports this claim. As anthropologist Robbins Burling points out, Nagas speak 30 different languages.

In a recent article on the languages of northeast India, Burling had to take the trouble to separate the political project of Naga unity from the languages spoken by the people who call themselves Naga. "Today, the people known as 'Nagas' certainly recognize some common 'Naga' ethnicity", Burling writes, "but this recognition may have come only after the British gave them the name 'Naga'. Most of the indigenous people of Nagaland, together with some ethnic groups in the bordering areas of Manipur, Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, and Myanmar are, by general consensus, now accepted as 'Nagas', but this term should not fool us into believing that they must have some linguistic unity". Naga, Burling emphasized, "is not a linguistic label". Particularly striking to Burling was that some groups, "whose language a linguist would, without hesitation, classify as 'Kuki', have declared themselves to be 'Nagas''. Yet, adds Burling, "everyone agrees that Nagas and Kukis are sharply distinct ethnically. Indeed, they have been killing each other from time to time".

John Hutton, the British writer in 1922 mentioned that the expression Naga "is useful as an arbitrary term to denote the tribes living in certain parts of the Assam hills, which may be roughly defined as bounded by the Hokong valley in the north-east, the plain of the Brahmaputra Valley to the north-west, of Cachar to the south-west and of the Chindwin to east. In the south of the Manipur Valley roughly marks the point of contact between the 'Naga' tribes and the very much more closely interrelated group of Kuki tribes -- Thao, Lushei, Chin etc."(Hutton, 1922: xv-xvi) The area that Hutton called 'roughly defined' is now being demanded as independent Nagalim. The 80 years since Hutton wrote this have seen lot of activity that forged a Naga nationality.

The ethnic landscape of the hills, writes James Scott, has always confused outsiders -- states as well as ethnographers. The taxonomies about the hill peoples have been almost always wrong, groups identified as distinct were later found to be not `uniform, coherent, or stable through time'. The ethnic landscape has had a 'bewildering and intercalated gradients of cultural traits'. Whether it was linguistic practice, dress, rituals, diet or body decoration, neat boundary lines had been impossible to draw. Tri-lingualism, for example, is fairly common (Scott, 2000: 21-22). Thus in the case of the Nagas, ethnographers and missionaries engaged in what Julian Jacobs and his colleagues describe as a struggle 'to make sense of the ethnographic chaos' they perceived around them: hundreds, if not thousands, of small villages seemed to be somewhat similar to each other but also very different, by no means always sharing the same customs, political system, art or even language' (Jacobs, 1990: 23).

The funny thing is that Scott and Jacobs and their likes never understood that entire India is made up of villages that are "somewhat similar… but also very different". Language changes every twelve miles and each village has its own Gods and Goddesses. They call it "ethnographic chaos"; we call it diversity. Over plateau and other flatlands, the circumference of similarity is wide, for human communication and exchange of traditions is easier. In mountains, the difficult geography narrows down this circle of similarity. The nomadic groups and those who practiced shifting cultivation naturally had variety of languages and customs. It is the greatness of our culture that despite this variety, even outsiders can feel the "somewhat similar" nature of villages.

Christian Missionaries found their way out from these "ethnographic chaos". The first missionary stepped in the Naga areas 100 years ago (1903). According to the missionary records of history, Nagas had the practice of head-hunting. It was believed that unless a fresh human head is sacrificed, farms do not yield good crops. It was natural that even neighboring villages were die-hard enemies as they looked to each other for heads. The villages spoke dialects that were totally incomprehensible to their neighbors. The first few missionaries were beheaded too. But with great courage, they continued coming in. In 1931 census, Nagaland had 12.81% Christians. In next two decades (1951), the percentage of Christians rose to 46. Next four decades (1951-91) saw a record growth of Christians, with their percentage reaching 85. According to historian Richard Eaton it was "the most massive movement to Christianity in all of Asia, second only to that of the Philippines" (Eaton, 1997: 245)

Historian Sanjeeb Baruah writes in Journal of Peace Research: "The single most important development that made the imagining of Nagas as a collectivity possible was their conversion to Christianity… Today Christianity is an essential part of Naga identity. Except for the Zeilongrong Nagas, most Nagas are Christians. Eaton estimates the percentage of Christians to be 90%… and the NSCN-IM puts the figure at 95%. It was the American Baptist Mission that accounted for most of the proselytizing among Nagas; but the conversions of a number of Naga communities happened after the end of colonial rule and even after the Indian government expelled foreign missionaries from India. The profound destabilization of traditional Naga institutions during colonial rule, however, had set the stage for this profound cultural transformation. The village chiefs were the leaders of the community when Naga society was organized on a war footing. But when head-hunting was criminalized by colonial rulers and inter-village warfare ended, the traditional leaders lost their hold over younger warriors and it was these `would-be warriors' who, according to Richard Eaton, responded most readily to Christian teachings."

Missionaries printed the Bible in selected Naga dialects such as Ao, Angami and Sema and in the process gave those dialects a written form using the Roman script. This meant a simplification of the Naga linguistic landscape -- for while the chosen dialects became recognized as standard, many other dialects disappeared. As literacy and education became a key to social mobility, Nagas realized the advantage of learning those standard dialects. Hundreds of young men from different areas, who were trained in the secondary schools and missionary training schools run by missionaries, were able to communicate with each other. To this generation, the idea of Nagas as a single identity became real. Conversion to Christianity separated their identity from the majority Hindu and Muslim populations of rest of India. It was Christianity alone that gave birth to a separate nationality amongst Nagas. The movement for political separatism or 'freedom' was based on their Christian identity concealed under the label Naga. The political and military struggle that Naga rebels carried on was firmly founded on their conversion to Christianity.

British transferred power to India in 1947. Myanmar acquired some part of Naga Hills, but majority of it remained with India. The leaders of Naga National Council (NNC) met Gandhi-ji, and he assured them that they would not have to join the Indian Union against their wishes. Nowhere in British India or in princely states was anyone given such choice. Nagas did not get any special treatment. Like all other Hindu-majority Indian populations, they were integrated to the Indian union. There were Naga leaders like Queen Gaidenlieu who had fought against the British and firmly supported union with free India. The Christian converts -- who dominated the NNC -- however, thought otherwise and in 1951, conducted a 'referendum'. With American and other foreign missionaries still present and dominating, the result of the referendum was not surprising. (Foreign missionaries were expelled only after 1955.) The way the referendum was conducted was ridiculous. Volunteers of NNC went from village to village and collected thumbprints of villagers on the referendum documents. They declared that 99.99% of the villagers wanted independent nation of Nagaland. A biased agency conducting referendum amidst illiterate people without giving an opportunity for the other side to reach them was not a joke; it was a clever conspiracy to legitimize Naga separatism.

Around the same time, Indian army occupied the sensitive border areas of Naga Hills. Small-intensity conflicts with the Naga rebels began. Common people suffered atrocities from both sides. Popular opinion turned anti-India. The reasoning was simple. The Indians visible to Naga people were mostly soldiers who did not speak their language, were armed, and their goal was to maintain law and order. Christian propaganda added fuel to fire. That gave birth to the NSCN slogan, "Nagaland for Christ". NSCN (National Socialist Council of Nagaland) was not fighting for a 'National' or 'Socialist' cause, they had this clear goal: Nagaland for Christ. Even today, the guerrillas of NSCN carry two essential things: one, a packet of salt (to avoid dehydration at high altitudes) and two, the Bible. NSCN is running a parallel government for last many decades. Nobody -- be it a street-side vegetable vendor, or a federal government official -- can live without paying a 'tax' to NSCN. Before killing a 'traitor', the guerrillas yell "Nagaland for Christ" at him.

Daily Herald recently (May 5, 2003) published a story of a Naga pastor who went to the US as a Baptist missionary. This Naga pastor, Fr. David Jameer came to the US in 1952. He later organized the handful of Nagas that lived in the US to support Naga freedom. He played a crucial role in negotiations for re-union between rival fractions of NSCN, as well as their negotiations with the Indian government. Fr. Jameer expressed his frustration in these words: "It's as if the Naga church is frozen in time, stuck in a 50-year-old morality… If you take a drink or have a smoke, then it's like you're a bad Christian, but if you pick up a gun and kill people - the church suddenly has nothing to say… 'Nagaland for Christ' what does that mean?"

Jameer after so many years has understood something that all religious nationalists/separatists should understand. Religious fanaticism --be it for any religion-- creates uncontrolled chauvinism and a superiority complex that demeans human respect. Fanaticism corrupts true religion and brings no good. It is unfortunate that -- the people of Kashmir gripped in the 'Jehadi' fanaticism, the people of Punjab under the spell of 'Khalistani' pride, and the people of Nagaland under the heels of 'Nagaland for Christ'-- have learnt this after a costly human sacrifice.

Christian Conversion created the so-called Naga nationality. This is a fact as clear as sunlight. The states of Mizoram, Meghalaya, Arunachal Pradesh, Tripura, Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh are walking on the same "Christian" path. Ignoring the advent of Christianity and Christian proselytism in those areas shall prove suicidal to our national integration. More on this in the next article…

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Chapter 9:

When a Hindu saint says, "Sabai bhumi Gopal ki", it means that the entire Earth belongs to God. It does not create or recognize divisions. It does not teach conquest of a Dar-ul-Harb by Dar-ul-Islam. Hindus do not have to be in a majority for the land to belong to God. The Hindus believe that it does not make difference to God who is in the majority. The world always belongs to Him. In a Hindu-majority land, one will never find slogans like "this land is for Gopal, not for Ahmed, not for Joshua". We Hindus have an official (blind) belief that all religions are same. It is difficult for Hindus to understand this "Nagaland for Christ, Mizoram for Christ". And it is impossible to comprehend, "Oh Mother Mary, when will become the queen of Jhankhand?" Some Mary that existed in Arabia 2000 years ago… how is she going to be queen of the state of Jharkhand in India? But that's what the slogan was for the separatist movement sponsored by Christian missionaries. Are these Gods or temporal invaders? They try to grab and own a piece of land. Hindu gods fortunately never tried this.

To further understand those chauvinistic and invasive religions, see this passage from an article "Who are the Nagas?" by two Naga writers:

Hindus think all religions are equal. Obviously the Christians and their missionaries think otherwise. They make Naga converts call themselves pagan. This is religious chauvinism. 'A state without Christ is out of track' this is another difference. Hindu gods never run states. The passage above says '…for freedom that is subjected to the will of God'. Whose will is will of God? That is the question. In Christianity, Church stands between devotee and deity. There have been so many reform movements within Christianity against the 'mid-man' role of Church. Different sects were born, they refused to recognize the Pope and claimed monopoly rights of deciding the "will of God". The American Baptist Church has those monopoly rights in Nagaland and Mizoram. This Church decides what is 'will of God', that means those who run this church decide 'the will of God'. The two factions of the terrorist NSCN and the Chief minister S.C.Jameer of Nagaland meet in the Baptist HQ in Atlanta in USA, because the 'will of God' is controlled from there.

Why does the will of Baptist God from USA take so much interest not in spiritual, but political freedom of Nagas? Why does it indoctrinate that their freedom must be subject to 'will of God'? Another passage from the same article gives some insight:

It is so obvious. The most crucial resource today is Oil. Wars are being fought and countries enslaved for the control over oil. For the US that crushes a mighty Iraq for oil, a tiny independent Nagaland is nothing. But this Nagaland that "sits on the mount of gold and floats on oil" is unfortunately still with India. How can the will of American God be fulfilled?

The above-mentioned passage speaks of 'alien domination' that prevented material development. That is absolutely ridiculous. The American Baptist church that -- turned Nagas hostile to India since 1947, churned entire population in their terrorist activities, destabilized the region and blocked development efforts -- is responsible for lack of development of the Nagas. They opposed each and every development initiative by the Indian government. A proposed nuclear reactor in Meghalaya that would have supplied electricity to three states did not materialize because of the fierce resistance by local Christian organizations. They declared they would not let India take Meghalaya's Uranium. The Christian terrorists did not let any Indian industries enter their zone. Only 17% of population in Nagaland is urban. There are no major industries there. The density of population in villages is increasing at a rapid rate. Farming and hunting both are becoming redundant livelihoods. No employment in cities, no land in villages: how are poor Nagas going to feed themselves? The Christian terrorists and their mentors should answer this. If there is no material development and tremendous poverty how did the poor Nagas get money for expensive assault rifles like AK47, machine-guns, light artillery and tons of ammunition that they used to kill thousands of Indian soldiers and citizens in last four decades? Those who poured millions of dollars to sponsor terrorism are now speaking of 'war on terror'. They are making an issue of lack of development and are blaming it on India. This is the 'will of God'!

With the population of Nagaland exploding, and the state ravaged by terrorism, the Church and their pet terrorists have now started a new 'business'. Nagaland is already crucified. Now they are eyeing the neighboring Arunachal Pradesh and Manipur states. Arunachal especially is the biggest target for Christian separatists.

The geographical area of Nagaland is 16.6 square Km. And that of Arunachal Pradesh is five times bigger. (83.7 square Km.) But the population of Nagaland as per 1991 census is 1.5 times that of Arunachal Pradesh. The sparsely populated Arunachal is comparatively more prosperous and has a gift of Nature's beauty. Arunachal recently became a state. Previously it was called NEFA (Northeast Frontier Agency) and was directly ruled by the Federal government. The state legislature passed a "freedom of religion" bill and prohibited missionaries of all kinds. No missionaries means no terrorism and no separate nationality crisis. Arunachal's state language is Hindi. Education, literature, and films in Hindi created a tighter knot between Arunachal and rest of India.

Why were there no conversions in Arunachal (or the erstwhile NEFA)? It is quite entertaining to read that in the words of Naga rebels:

It is incomprehensible how India or anybody could convert those who were already Hindus to Hinduism. But this passage reveals how much Arunachal bothered the Christian separatists. This passage is quite a certificate to the hard work of Vivekanand Kendra and other nationalist organizations and the alertness of the state government that protected the local culture.

In 1971, Arunachal Pradesh had less than 1% Christians. In 1981 they grew to 4.32% and in their percentage share more than doubled in one decade reaching 10.29% in 1991. According to 1991 census, the Tirap district (of Arunachal) that borders Nagaland is 18% Christian and the Lower Subansiri district that borders Assam has its 21.83% population converted to Christianity. Arunachal Pradesh became a state between the 1971 and 1981 census. Within this decade Christians grew from 0.79 percentage points to 4.32%; that means their population increased 7.4 times in ten years. An expert is not required to tell us that this much growth does not happen because of higher birth rate or higher fertility. The process of conversions and the galloping growth of Christians continued in the next decade too.

All this was happening when Arunachal had closed doors for missionaries and conversion. Missionaries opened their soul-harvesting shops on the Nagaland and Assam borders of Arunachal Pradesh. A teacher-social worker from Maharashtra who lived in the Northeast region for seven years writes about the modus operandi of missionaries:

The Christian encircling of the state of Manipur is advancing fast. It is caught between the Christian-majority states of Mizoram and Nagaland. Imphal valley is in the center of Manipur State. It comprises of three districts and has a higher density of population. Of the total 1.8 million population of the state, 1.18 million live in these three districts. The other five districts that surround the valley are mostly hills and are relatively less populated. The northern districts, viz. Tamenglong, Senapati, and Ukhrul are the victims of Christian terrorists of Nagalim. They want to grab these areas for their Greater Nagaland (Nagalim). The tribes in Manipur's hills -- especially Tangkhul tribe-- are also claimed as Nagas by the NSCN (the Naga Christian terrorists). History however shows that these tribes have had closer ties with Manipur rather than Nagaland. A British resident in the court of Manipur (1896) observed that 'the installation ceremony of the Manipuri kings called for the queen to appear in Naga costume; the royal palace always had a house built in Naga style; and when the king traveled, two or three guards with Naga arms, dress and ornaments accompanied him'. (Johnstone James, 1971 (1896). Manipur and the Naga hills, Delhi: Vivek Publishing House)

In the post-independence period too the Tribal leaders from the hills of Manipur have not only participated in the politics of Manipur but they have also been Chief Ministers. The tribal leaders are facing trouble today for most of their voters have converted to Christianity. The slogan "Nagaland for Christ" is increasing its force. And this force is born of bullet. It is difficult to resist Naga Christian terrorists. The majority of Manipur's population, which lives in the Imphal valley is die-hard opposed to Nagalim demands. Their feelings and resistance on this issue is strong too. The federal Government, recently (2003) goofed up a peace deal with Naga rebels by including Manipur hills in its cease-fire. This meant that Indian security forces could not fire bullets at Naga terrorists --not only in Nagaland-- but also in Manipur. This gave an uncalled for protection to Naga terrorists in Manipur. The entire state of Manipur roared against this cease-fire and threatened counter-violence. The Vajpayee government withdrew the cease-fire in Manipur hills (and limited it to Nagaland State).

Nagaland politics on the other hand is taking some interesting turns. The ruling Congress party chief minister in Nagaland S. C. Jameer is close aide of Khaplang faction of NSCN. The state Congress party committee led by him recently (2000) declared that "We (Nagas) were never one nation, nor did we have a united and defined system of State". The rival leader Muivah (he leads NSCN-IM faction) belongs to Tangkhul tribe -- now claimed as Nagas -- from Manipur hills. Jameer has opened one more card to ridicule Muivah by declaring that 'the future of Nagaland shall be decided by the Nagas of Nagaland, not by outsiders'. When Naga politics is taking these turns, it will be quite unwise of the Manipur hill leader to support greater-Nagaland. They will lose whatever hold they have in Manipur politics and they will not get any space in Nagaland either. Realpolitik is fortunately saving the country from disintegration.

Since the times of Mahabharat, Nagas are related to central and northern India. The Naga Princess Ulupi was married to Arjuna from Delhi (Indraprastha). The court of Manipur --in the recent times-- also had a place of honor for the Nagas. Naga queen Gaidenlieu had joined the Indian freedom struggle and led her people against the British. Her followers protected the indigenous Harakka religion and opposed Christian terrorists even by taking up arms. After independence, they dissolved Harakka army and became law-abiding citizens of India. The queen died in mid-1980s, but the Harakkas are still holding to their culture and are proud Indians. They are Nagas and have never demanded a separate nation.

Christian missionaries however, succeeded in sowing anti-India hatred in the Nagas. They ridiculed and killed the tribal culture, westernized the people, destroyed their roots. They poured millions of dollars to nourish terrorism, gave birth to a blatantly false and artificial Christian nationality, disguised it as Naga identity, and succeeded --to a great extent-- in dividing our country. The forest-and-mineral-rich Nagaland was sacrificed for the success of Christian separatism. Thousands of young lives were lost in the storm of terrorism. Hundreds of families uprooted. The cultural mosaic that connected Naga tribes to each other and to India was brutally crushed under the Cross. When Nagas were being destroyed by the American Baptist terrorists, Manipur and Arunachal watched. Now they are falling prey to the Christian terror and rest of India is watching…

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Chapter 15:

The separatists in tribal areas are now sporting a new mask; in fact the mask is already old and well used but its scary canines are increasingly becoming obvious. India's peculiarity is in her diversity. Finding cleavages in this diversity, and widening them has been the strategy of the missionaries and their European-American mentors. Their current formula is 'not conversion, but perversion'. Once cut from the roots that unify the tribes with the Indian mainstream, it becomes much easier not only to convert, but also to enslave. The success of this strategy in Nagaland and Mizoram gave a big boost to the missionary business. The clever strategists made some timely improvements in their packaging. That gave birth to hundreds of organizations like 'Adivasi Ekta Parishad', 'Shramik Mukti Sanghtana', 'Jharkhand Mukti Morcha', 'Tripura Liberation Tigers' and so on. It has become so common that whenever one notices the word 'liberation' or 'Mukti' (which also means liberation) in the name of an organization, it is surely a sign of neo-colonialism. Each organization has some separate words, but the principle is one: Mukti, liberation from India!

"Shurpanakha (a female demon from Ramayana) was a tribal woman. To insult the her tribal beauty, Ram and Lakshman -- the Aryans -- cut her nose and ears." This is what the liberationists-- notably the Adivasi Ekta Parishad-- campaign in the tribal areas. Tribals traditionally say 'Ram Ram' as a greeting. But the Ekta Parishad brainwashes that 'you should stop saying Ram-Ram. Say Ravan-Ravan (the demon) instead. For he was your ancestor… Hanuman was a tribal man, the Aryan invader Ram enslaved him and forced him to sit by his feet'. These are the public speeches of AEP leaders. That is exactly what the missionaries want: insulting and degrading local faith. This is what they achieved in Nagaland; the Nagas learnt to call themselves 'spiritually blind pagans'. Nagas were forced to forget that they had a religion. That's what Ekta Parishad is doing in central India (Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, and Maharashtra): destroying the local faith and paving way for the Christian missionaries.

Hanuman (the so-called Monkey god) from Ramayana was not a monkey. He was a minister to the tribal king Sugreeva. The tribe was called Vaanar (which means monkey) and had the tradition of wearing animal-tails as a body decoration. Hanuman, the intelligent minister engineered a pact of friendship between Ram and his king Sugreeva. Ram always called Hanuman his friend. That was Hanuman's status. But the Ekta Parishad has declared him a slave of Ram. Ekta Parishad fails to explain why Ram -- if he was an "Aryan invader"-- did not come with an Aryan army. Ravan is projected as a non-Aryan indigenous king. This is another lie. 'Arya' is not the name of a race. The word Arya means 'cultured'. Ravan's ministers -- as depicted in Ramayana -- call him 'Arya' to give him respect. His wife calls him 'Aryaputra' (Son of Arya). If Ravan were anti-Aryan, non-Aryan, it would not have been so. But Ekta Parishad likes to project Ram-Ravan war as an Aryan vs. indigenous war. Ramayana was written by a great sage who himself was a forest-dwelling tribal. All this does not make any difference to the great speakers of Ekta Parishad for their intention is creating divisions and widening them. It is quite a joke because Ekta means unity, and the Ekta Parishad is never able to see anything that unites India.

"Vanvasi Kalyan Ashram and the RSS are forcibly converting us the Adivasis (indigenous peoples) to Hinduism. Their brahminism must be crushed. If their (RSS's) ex-students contest elections, break their legs and kick them out…" This was said in a speech at Ekta Parishad mass-convention in the Thane district of Maharashtra in November 2001. Ekta Parishad strains its vocal cords so much to bash what they call 'forcible Hinduization and invasion on Adivasi culture', but it never even mentions the Christian conversions. They exhaust their energy in protesting against the alleged atrocities on 'Christian tribals' and blaming Hindutva for that.

They never even by mistake say 'Hindu Adivasis', because they insist that 'Adivasis' is a different culture, they don’t have a religion, they are not Hindus. But they have no problem harping 'Christian Adivasis'. They shed tears for the rights of Christian Adivasis and the protection of those rights and the fight for that. If Adivasis were really different peoples, why does the Ekta Parishad not protect them from both: Hindus and Christians? This behavior of the Adivasi Ekta Parishad is not surprising at all, for a dog never barks at its master, and the Ekta Parishad is a well-trained dog.

For those who are unaware, this is a brief backgrounder. This idea of a separate Adivasi culture and the concept Adivasi -- which means indigenous people -- are both foreign sponsored lies. British rulers paid Max Mueller to create a myth of Aryan invasion. Aryans were depicted as white invaders coming from the northwest to India. (There is no proof of this; it is a blatant lie. But one can still find it in some school textbooks in India.) The intention was double-edged: to teach Indians that they were always slaves, and to create a divide of indigenous-extraneous within the Hindu population. If one goes through census records since 1871, it becomes obvious how this divide was created. The British enlisted some tribes under a schedule and forced census officers to count them as 'animists'. Census officers complained that it was difficult to distinguish between Hindus and animists. But they were forced to separate the tribes from the Hindu mainstream. In next few censuses, the tribes were termed 'aborigines' or Adivasi. The famous Indian anthropologist G. S. Ghurye exposed the British myths and proved this division wrong in his book "The Scheduled Tribes". He insisted that the tribes are Hindus and that if one needs to categorize them separately, they can be called 'backward Hindus'. (I am trying to be brief on this. Refer to Ghurye's book and to "Aryan invasion and Indian nationalism" by Shrikant Talgeri for more.)

Ekta Parishad claims that it represents the tribals. Their speeches offend and are deliberately hurting to non-tribal population. Quite logically the non-tribal or urban population is not going to give donations to Ekta Parishad. Their leaders are supposedly dedicated, which officially means that they are not amassing riches. Yet they go on foreign tours. They attend international conventions of the Alliance of Indigenous peoples and they sign anti-India pacts. Who sponsors all this? It is worth investigation as to who fathers the Adivasi Ekta Parishad.

If one goes to -- and this writer has done so -- any tribal village in the Maharashtra-Madhya Pradesh border area, and asks a lay-villager as to what does the Ekta Parishad do. The villagers have one answer: Ekta Parishad convenes mass meetings. They arrange free transport on trucks to take villagers to towns for mass-meetings and villagers even get a bottle of liquor as an incentive. What welfare of tribals is Ekta Parishad achieving by only arranging mass-meetings? Their single-minded clear purpose is brainwashing the tribal people to believe that they are not Hindus and that they are a separate people, so that they can be cut from the national mainstream.

The Naga Christians are themselves saying that they were pagans, never had a religion, worshipped spirits and it was conversion to Christianity that showed them the light. They are ashamed of their own culture and history. That has denationalized them. The missionaries achieved this by decades of brainwashing. The Ekta Parishad 's bubbles about 'Ravan being the tribals' ancestor' are a beginning of such brainwashing. Confuse the tribals about their religion. Make them believe that they don't have a religion, that their faith is blind and fake. Force them to shed off their old faith. The vacuum of faith then created can readily be filled by the missionaries. The same old game, the difference is they are playing new cards.

The Ekta Parishad is affiliated with International Alliance of Indigenous Peoples (IAIP). The 'Charter of Indigenous Peoples' rights' made by the IAIP is signed by the Ekta Parishad. This charter has demanded 'sovereignty' for indigenous people. Recognizing indigenous populations as 'peoples' is accepting their separateness. The government of India has consistently opposed the term 'peoples' and has always used 'populations'. The charter signed by Ekta Parishad leaders has many anti-national provisions; e.g. If an International institution (like the World Bank) wants to implement development project, it will be through a tri-partite agreement between the national government, World Bank, and the tribal organization.

Ekta Parishad and their brotherhood 'Mukti' organizations had planned a 'Bhilkhand' movement demanding a separate Bhil tribal state by breaking up territory from Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh. Many volunteers and activists quit this movement when they understood the real intention: to divide and denationalize the Bhil group of tribes. The activists who walked out rang a red alert. Social organizations and governments took quick action and the Bhilkhand movement never caught any momentum. Bhilkhand was intended to be a remake of the Jharkhand movement. Jharkhand agitation had demanded "Jharkhand for Christians" right in 1947. But the leaders of Jharkhand Party were fortunately corrupt and were bought by the ruling party at the center. This always hampered the progress of Jharkhand movement. After the Jharkhand 'Mukti' Morcha was founded, non-Christian leaders like Shibu Soren were projected. They too were sold out and the dream of offering an independent Jharkhand to Christ could never be fulfilled. On the contrary infidels of the BJP are ruling the state.

Tribal majority belt starts from the Thane district of Maharashtra and Selvassa south of Gujarat (both close to west coast) and stretches diagonally upwards to the northeast. It is a continuous belt covering the Dangs (Gujarat) and Nandurbar (Maharashtra), Narmada valley, southern districts of Madhya Pradesh and covering almost the entire states of Chattisgarh, Jharkhand, Assam and the rest of Northeast. The illegal term Adivasi is used quite often to indicate the tribal people in this belt. If this belt is cut into another country/countries, India will be partitioned into at least four parts. The part to the south of this belt will become Dravidistan. This tribal belt will be called Philistan (Palestine); northeast will be divided into many countries, and whatever remains in the north will be Hindustan! This vision becomes quite clear if one works at grassroots level in the affected areas. There are random web-sites like dalitistan.org that even project the maps of those partitions. That is the dream of liberationists; and Maoists are hand in hand with them.

Each are in this west-to-northeast belt -- or the would-be Philistan -- is facing some kind of disruptive movements. Wherever law and order is almost absent and the jungle is deep, the gun-power of the Naxalites (the Maoist terrorists) is ruling. The Naxalites of the MCC (Maoist Communist Center) from Jharkhand are spreading their wings to the adjacent northern areas of Chhattisgarh. The Naxalites of the PWG (People's War Group) from the southern state of Andhra Pradesh are infiltrating in the southern districts of Chhattisgarh. The Naxalites from Gadchiroli district of Maharashtra -- though in small numbers -- are entering the western areas of Chhattisgarh. While writing this article, the alliance between these three -- MCC, PWG and the Maharashtra unit of PWG -- was almost final.

It is true that the tribal youth angered -- by the atrocities of Government officials and their partnership with the exploiting capitalists and landlords -- takes up arms and becomes a Naxalite. But who instigates the tribal youth to take up guns? While the tribals live in extreme poverty and in dearth of basic necessities, who supplies them costly guns and expensive ammunition? Rising in rebellion against injustice, fighting for rights is always justified. Godavari Parulekar -- later famous as the queen of Warlis -- was also a communist and led a successful Warli revolt. She led the Warli tribals to acquire their rights, but never taught them to take guns.

Naxalites are Maoists and their organizations have mushroomed in many places forming a chain from Mao's country to Andhra Pradesh. Starting from Maoists in Nepals and linking those in Bihar, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Maharashtra, and Andhra Pradesh -- it is a continuous chain. When this linking becomes clear, it becomes clearer how poor tribal youth can afford the expensive AK47s when they turn naxalites.

There are still some weak links in this Maoist Chain. North Bengal (the small part of the state of West Bengal situated to the north of Bangladesh) was one such link. It is now filled up by the Mukti-ists of Kamtapur Liberation Organization (KLO). They demand Kamtapur or North Bengal as a separate state. In this recent military action by the Bhutanese army, the terrorist training camps of KLO within Bhutan were destroyed. The other weak link is the area of Narmada valley that borders Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh. Adivasi Ekta Parishad is doing its best in this area -- especially in the districts of Alirajpur and Nandurbar. In 2001, Naxalites too attempted a beginning in this area. This writer has seen posters for birth-centenary celebrations of Charu Mazumdar -- the founder of Naxalite movement -- in the Dhadgaon-Molgi area of Narmada valley. Police took a quick action and the celebrations were foiled.

Maoists and Liberationists both are growing. Foreign writers or eminent researchers have not written any major book on them. The movements are not old enough for big historians to take note of them. They are not enough famous yet, for the Parliament to take cognizance or for the army to act. Except the Jharkhand-Maharashtra-Andhra forest belt, their terror is not enough to run parallel governments like the Naga terrorists. Government has not appointed any Enquiry commission to investigate. Witnesses and evidences are not collected yet. So shall we assume that these separatists do not exist? The information in this article is visible and obvious if one travels in the tribal areas of the country. Can we still turn a blind eye and acquit Maoists and Liberationists as innocent for lack of evidence?

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Chapter 16 -19 coming up soon…