Oct 27, 2025: The ethnic and cultural identity of a group is indispensable and imperative for strengthening one’s ethnicity; however, it has become and is seen as an easy instrument to divide the unity of the Northeast region, stated All Manipur Students’ Union (AMSU-HQ) President Bruce Pebam. He expressed his views while attending the 3-day-long ‘Mising Sports Carnival’ as the chief guest of the event held from October 23 to 26 at Gogamukh, Dhemaji, Assam.
The event, organized by the All Mising Students’ Union (Takam Mising Porin Kebang, TMPK), one of the second-largest tribes of Assam, was also attended by AMSU (HQ) Organisation Secretary Thingbaijam Sanachand, HRD Secretary Mayanglambam Kumar, and former Assistant Finance Secretary Alen Naorem.
Bruce Pebam maintained that the emergence of ‘ethnocentric nationalism’ in the region has become a new cause of division among the people of the Northeast, who are struggling and fighting for survival. Such a rift, driven by ethnocentric nationalism, is the biggest loss to the people and an example of the advancement of divisive policies employed by larger powers, he added.
The student body leader further stated that in the name of development, both multinational corporations (MNCs) and rulers are trying to exploit the region’s invaluable natural resources without the people’s consent, under a systematic policy that must now be closely monitored. He warned that such developmental aggression could lead to future challenges and doom.
He concluded that the Northeast region might not have been in its current situation if the government and its leaders had been honest and upright since 1947—the inception of new India—and if Indian leaders had respected the region’s unique socio-political-cultural identity and history.
