By HH Mohrmen
The controversy which surrounds the screening of a documentary edited by a local director has made this writer recall his childhood obsession with the wild and it also became an opportunity to brush one’s knowledge about ants. Like most young boys, I spent most of my free time out of doors. Looking back one realizes that it was during those times spent wandering around aimlessly that one learnt one’s first lesson about the nature. Those of our who loved the outdoors learnt to differentiate the edible plants from the non-edible ones and also that petals of certain wild flowers like ‘syntu latuthin’ are not only edible but also delicious to eat. We know which leaves or stems of plants are edible and we also learn about ants. Generally there are three types of ants that we came into contact when we were kids, the common black ants, the bigger ants (tkhu sakyndiang) and the red ants (tkhu wasoo). The few lessons we learn while observing these tiny creatures are lessons of cooperation, discipline, dedication, and the spirit that binds the community together as one. The most dreaded of all the ants are the bigger black ants about half inches big, known in Pnar parlance as ‘tkhu sakyndiang’ because unlike the common ant it’s sting is more painful and the pain lingers for a long time. The prescribed traditional medication for such a sting is to pinch hard on ones navel and the pain will subside. The harder one pinches one’s navel, the sooner the pain will disappear.
The smallest of all the ants are the red ants. The individual bite of a red ant is not as painful and it does not hurt at all, but if one happens to accidentally step on the red ants’ nest and gets a concerted bite by the majority of ants in the nest, then we have had it. The pain will be unbearable and then in a moment the portion where the ants bit would have swollen up and one might even need medication to treat the same. That is the wonder of nature – that the strength of the little ones is not in its size but in its numbers and the value of concerted effort.
Then there is this documentary titled ‘Red Ant Dream’ (and as we are given to understand) which is about the revolution of the neglected sections of our society. The documentary was supposed to be screened at Indie8 festival organized by one of the premiere educational institutions in the State. The city police stepped in and decided to ask the Organizers that the Police needed to vet the film before it is screened. Now no matter what excuse the city police gave later, their action and the timing when it decided to act is as good as ordering that the documentary should not be screened. In other words the documentary is banned from being screened. The first questions that begs the answer is when did the City Police become the censor board? Do the Police have the expertise to do the job of a censor board? The new IGP recently stated publicly that the efficiency of the State Police in carrying out other policing jobs is affected because they are combating militancy and other non-police functions. It is true, the Police Department already have their hand full, so why did they want to add another job to their already heavy work load and take on the role of the censor board?
Isn’t this police highhandedness an insult to the intelligence of those invited to the screening (which includes this writer?) The police’s clarification that the department believes the documentary has some radical message and it was afraid lest it will influence ‘impressionable minds’ holds no water. When did it become illegal to have radical ideas? What do we mean by radical idea any way? And the next question is how can police play judge on behalf of the audience and decide that this is too radical or not so radical for the audience to watch? When did the citizen grant the police (who have no expertise in any art form) the authority to decide on behalf of the public? We live in a free country and one can decide on one’s own behalf what is right and what is wrong and even if one chose to be converted (may be influenced by the documentary) to Maoism and adopt Maoist ideology, isn’t the citizen free to have his own opinion anymore? And isn’t freedom to express one’s opinion still a fundamental right in the constitution? Even if one decided to adopt Maoist ideology, one is still good until and unless one takes up arms and rebels against the powers that be.
No one knows what kind of ant stung the State Forest Department that made the Minister in charge of Forests to declare what environmentalist have been saying for so long that the cement plants particularly the eight cement plants in the Narpuh area were set up in forest areas. People in the know maintained that the modus operandi used to clear the forest systematically before the public hearing and inspection for environment clearance is conducted by concerned authorities. But the powers that be chose to turn their deaf ears to the pleas until now. Last year this column had challenged the then Mining Minister who said that the cement plants were installed in grassland areas and this writer was detained at the Laitumkhrah Police Station based on the FIR filed by the then Minister’s henchmen for saying what the Minister of Forest has stated in the press recently. Perhaps the Minister was stung by the green ant or green bug to be precise and he was able to convince the present MUA government to change its stance with regard to the areas where the cement companies were established. The same MUA government in its previous incarnation had dissolved the High Powered Committee just before it presented its report to the Government for it was suspected that the HPC constituted by the Government has in its finding too stated the obvious – that all the cement plants were set up in forest areas. But then that was before the election to the state Assembly was held.
It remains to be seen if the Government is really serious in its intention or if it really has the conviction to punish the errant cement companies. Or maybe as some have alleged, the vague threat is simply to remind the companies to do the needful because the District Council and Lok Sabha elections are round the corner. If the threat becomes an empty rhetoric with no action taken, then people have every reason to suspect that the deal was struck under the table. Therefore the Government needs to show some action and punish the companies. The other question is about the Company which is fooling people with its wrong messaging via its hoarding that it is maintaining its green responsibility. Aren’t the tall claims made by the Companies a case of fooling the people? The Government should first ask this particular company to pull down all the billboards in which it made false claims.
This is the time not only for the red ant to sting to realize its dream; it is also time for the green ants or green bugs to strike too, before it is too late. It is the time for the hoi polloi to stand up and make its presence felt. It is time for the common man and woman to find their rightful place in the sun and strike.