Of India, but apart
The year is 1948. ROBERT REID, the ex-governor of the Northeast provinces, travels to the then Naga hills (now Nagaland) as India is newly independent, where the events surrounding partition, and the turmoil and trauma it brought about, are quickly unravelling. There's political uncertainty with regard to the Northeast provinces: what is their future in this vast subcontinent?
Amidst this sensitive historical moment, Reid hears of the assassination of MK Gandhi at the hands of Nathuram Godse, a staunch Hindu nationalist. In his shock and grief, he tells his Naga host, the Konyak chief Changrai, that Gandhi is dead. The historian Yasmin Saikia, in her book on Assam, Fragmented Memories, captures this telling encounter between Reid and Changrai.
Changrai is baffled and says he does not know who Gandhi is. Reid explains it was Gandhi who brought about Indian independence and is the reason the British are leaving India. Changrai laconically replies: 'I see, it is he who has caused all this trouble for the Nagas.'
This moment captures a depth of irony over what Indian independence and its promise of
