Seven Sisters' Tale

P.C. Chatterji November 06, 1996 00:00 IST Seven Sisters' Tale -0001-11-30T00:00:00+05:53

THIS book is a monumental work dealing with India's northern border states which have been smouldering for 50 years since Independence while the country's attention has been fixed on Punjab and Kashmir. One important difference between insurgency in these two states and the North-east is that to a considerable extent the former has been fanned by foreign powers but in the northeastern states the motivating factors have been mainly internal. To unravel the complicated strands of the people's frustration is the principal aim of the author.

A second way in which the North-east has differed from the other states mentioned is that leadership in the former has come from the younger generation, the students. Nearly 10 of the most powerful organisa-tions which Verghese mentions have been students unions. They have played a major role in the Assam valley, in the hill states of Nagaland, Meghalaya, Mizoram and among the tribals of the plains such as the Bodos. One question is whether this new leadership provides a hopeful sign for the future.

The book...