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Is India’s Act East Policy Flawed Due to AFSPA, Hindutva, and Drugs?

The Act East Policy (AEP) has long been discussed in India’s foreign policy circles; it was upgraded from the Look East Policy (LEP) shortly after Narendra Modi was elected Prime Minister in 2014. Since then, India’s engagement has expanded beyond the Southeast Asian region to include the broader Indo-Pacific region as well as with East Asian countries. The AEP is India’s ambitious strategy for countering China’s influence in the Indo-Pacific region while bringing development to the North East Region (NER). 

The NER has received particular attention during the policy implementation of AEP, which has increased connectivity. Although the region is troubled by the oppressive Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act (AFSPA), which has undermined the region’s democracy. The region has a long history of secessionism, ethnic conflicts, and widespread illegal drug trafficking from neighbouring countries. These challenges and the Hindutva project of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) have jeopardised the region’s indigenous religious identity and ethnic diversity. The party’s failure to address these challenges has been a major setback for India’s AEP. As a result, the AEP may become a flawed strategy. 


The Oppressive AFSPA 

The BJP’s victory over the left-wing parties in Tripura was a watershed moment. Other states where the BJP is in power include Assam, Manipur, and Arunachal Pradesh. The BJP has formed a coalition with regional parties in Sikkim, Nagaland, and Meghalaya. Given its campaign promises of development agendas, good governance, and corruption eradication, the BJP was successful in these states. 
 
However, the BJP’s inability to permanently repeal the AFSPA from the region has significantly impacted the region’s democratic fabric and the party’s governance. Although the BJP has partially lifted AFSPA in parts of Assam, Manipur, and Nagaland, locals have praised the party’s demilitarization efforts. 

In his book ‘Durable Disorder: Understanding the Politics of Northeast India,’ Sanjib Baruah writes that ‘AFSPA has institutionalised authoritarian practices in the region,’ instilling indefinite fear among the people of the northeast. It has oppressed the region in the name of security, preventing it from reaching its full developmental potential. 

Furthermore, the killings by India’s 21st Para Special Forces of the Assam Rifles (AR) in Nagaland’s Mon District on 4 December 2021 brought AFSPA to the forefront. It sparked public outrage and condemnation, with Nagas calling the killings a genocidal act. The incident prompted India’s Home Minister, Amit Shah, to issue a statement in parliament expressing his regret. Later, it bolstered the Nagas’ efforts to repeal and revoke the AFSPA from their land.

Hindutva in Northeast India 

Now, the region is confronted with a new force threatening its multifaceted culture and ethnic diversity. The BJP and the RSS’s cultural imposition of Hinduism on indigenous religions have had an impact on the region’s diverse ethnicities. It has the potential to spark inter-ethnic conflict and violence among the region’s various ethnic groups, with the majority group dominating other ethnic minorities. 

As part of its larger Hindutva project known as Akhand Bharat (unified Indian subcontinent), the RSS is indoctrinating the region’s culture by assimilating with the mainstream Hindu religion. This has gradually eroded the region’s rich ethnic diversity. The RSS is achieving its goals by embracing and revisiting the historical legacies of regional patriots such as Rani Gaidinliu and Haipou Jadonang, who were opposed to Christian indoctrination into indigenous religions. 

The RSS has mainstreamed the region’s anti-colonial history as a unified freedom struggle for India’s independence from the British Empire. On the contrary, the region was fighting to protect its indigenous religious beliefs and sovereign territory against the Empire. To spread mainstream Hindu nationalism, the RSS is igniting an ethnonationalism movement in the region. They are accomplishing this by instilling fear in indigenous peoples about a possible takeover of the region by illegal immigrants from Bangladesh and Myanmar. In its organizational efforts to incite Hindutva politics, the RSS has misinterpreted the region’s history. 


Drug Trafficking Corridor 

On the other hand, illegal drug trafficking across the India-Myanmar border poses a serious security threat to India. According to an article published by the Centre for Land Warfare Studies (CLAWS), drug traffickers bring drugs into India via Moreh (Manipur), Champai (Mizoram), Dimapur (Nagaland), and Guwahati (Assam) from the Golden Triangle (Myanmar, Thailand, and Laos). These are then distributed across the country. The number of manufacturing units, drug abuse, and crime are all on the rise. Illegal poppy cultivation in the region’s hilly areas is causing frequent landslides and may cause long-term environmental damage. 

Drug trafficking in the region has evolved into a transnational organized crime involving insurgent groups and civilians. The growing nexus between them has put India’s security at risk. The region has emerged as a drug trafficking corridor, transporting manufactured drugs from Myanmar to Bangladesh via the northeast. 

Despite this, the BJP is transforming the NER from a periphery to a core, and the region has been dubbed ‘India’s new growth engine.’ It has already implemented several development initiatives, the majority of which are focused on connectivity. Through the Ministry of Development of the Northeastern Region (DoNER), it has implemented several centrally funded schemes and policies, encouraged foreign investment, and aggressively promoted tourism. 

The NER is central to India’s AEP; it will transform the entire region from a landlocked to a peaceful and prosperous region. It will energize India’s neighbourhood policy as it passes through the northeast. Diversifying its economic and cultural engagements can strengthen India’s regional and multilateral engagements. However, ongoing illegal drug trafficking, combined with AFSPA’s authoritarianism and the Hindutva project of the BJP and the RSS, has harmed society and seriously jeopardized the region’s democracy and ethnic diversity. 

As a result, people living along the northeast India border are dissatisfied despite the BJP’s national integration policies. The BJP must ensure that people in border areas are satisfied. To achieve this, the party must bring equal development throughout the region, strengthen democracy, solve the crises of drug trafficking through proper coordination between the Centre and states and neighbouring countries, and refrain from interfering with its religious practices. Effective foreign policy begins at home; without the Northeast, the AEP cannot be effective and must be driven by the Northeast. This will prevent the AEP from becoming a flawed strategy. 


The article was first published in The People's Chronicle on December 14, 2022

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