Are Dimasa a Big Bully??

Having been brought up in the hill district, I have seen different shades of life and attitude of Dimasa people, the Dimaraji issue, militancy,
demagoguery, poverty et al. And one aspect I didn’t fail to notice was the attitude of the Dimasa people towards their own people and other denizens of the district; I’m more concern of the latter here and the subsequent perception of other people towards Dimasa. I guess most of the people of NC Hills have heard of IPF, Indigenous People’s Forum, a sans-Dimasa organisation of NC Hills. It’s just a couple of years old and more recently The NC Hills Indigenous Students’ Forum (NCHISF) ,. What can anyone construe from this?? Aren’t Dimasa an indigenous tribe of the said Hill district?? Why are we ostracised?? Why are anti-Dimasa mentality growing among other tribes?? Why are they against the demand of a state under Union of India?? even the renaming district’s nomenclature? I personally attribute this to the Big Bully image of Dimasa.So what have contributed developing this image of the Dimasa?? I would love to share a couple of instances which I have seen as a school kid and as a collegiate.

Maibang- I was coming home from school along with my friend when I saw two Dimasa guys bashing up a guy, a Bengali in a mechanic’s garage .He was most probably an auto driver . His only fault was that he ask the mechanic to give him the battery that he had given him to charge as he was in hurry, while the mechanic was busy on the task given by Dimasa guys. The poor guy was kicked on the jaw and the poor fellow fainted. Unsurprisingly those Dimasa guys were not from Maibang but they were from a Dimasa village 40km away from the town .He’s well known in his village area as he’s got links with some organizations and was owner of a transport vehicle.

Bangalore-Delhi- I have got this chance to speak to a friend in Delhi on phone. She is a resident of Haflong and belong to a tribe called Vaipei. Although we have not known each other for long but she was a good friend of mine. On one occasion while chatting about trifles, suddenly the topic veered towards relation of the Dimasa and other tribes. Those were the pre-Dimasa-Naga riot days and tensions were escalating. She told me that Nagas were not likely to bow down or cow-down. I was flabbergasted. What does this mean?? Are Dimasas underground gang from Mumbai or rowdies of Bangalore?? Why should anyone fear of Dimasa? why should anyone bow down to anyone?

Both these incidents coupled with several other instances made me realise , there’s something grave wrong with Dimasa people’s attitude and their mentality and social behaviour, which implicitly harm its image. Dimasa’s no Big Brother. For others, there’s no clear line between the “Dimasa militants” and "Dimasa people in general". Ain’t no use blaming the militants , its a social malaise which have to be cured right from the roots, starting from the 6 yrs old kids . Dimasa is inextricably entwined with other tribes of the district. Society can move forward as a society not individually!

“But it was heartening to see, it was a Dimasa guy who rushed the poor auto-rickshaw driver to a Hospital”.