During the 2022 Independence day celebrations, portraits of freedom fighters and unsung heroes were projected on the walls of the Red Fort as part of Azadi ka Amrut Mahotsav. Among portraits of freedom fighters such as Chandrashekhar Azad of Madhya Pradesh and Lokmanya Tilak of Maharashtra was the portrait of a face and a name that is heroic to the Mizos – Ropuiliani often called Lalnu Ropuiliani or Queen Ropuiliani.
A brief story on Ropuliani was highlighted in the Azadi ka Amrut Mahotsav website where she was projected as “an ardent anti-colonial ruler who never bowed down in front of British authorities and their plans to annex her territory”.
While Ropuiliani has become a name akin to a woman of bravery and courage for her strong resistance against British authorities, there were mixed reactions among the citizens of Mizoram when the news of her portrait hung on the walls of the Red Fort was shared on social media platforms. While some saw it to be a sign of inclusion and progress, others believed that the Mizo freedom fighter was projected in a false light.
TBC Lalvenchhunga, a politician and navy veteran tweeted with much excitement about the inclusion of her portrait, writing, “I’m absolutely ecstatic to see the poster of Lalnu Ropuiliani, the Mizo women chief, who defied the British empire from annexation of Lushai Hills into colony, being suspended on the wall of Red Fort. A symbol of valour and sacrifice.”
However, there were a few citizens who showed strong resistance to the news, “Ropuiliani did not fight for India’s Independence and we should not celebrate her as an Indian freedom fighter. Rather she stood up against the mighty British empire to protect the sovereignty and freedom of Mizo territory and its people, paying the ultimate price with her life. It is anachronistic and it goes against the Mizo self-understanding of the period to portray her as fighting for ‘India’s’ freedom. If she was alive and saw how they are projecting her today, she might have been quite angered by it. She would not have been a person who would sell the freedom of her people for praise and honour. This is a strategy of careful assimilation and cooptation of our history and our identity. They want to build up the idea of an India that is different from the idea of our India. They are taking the stories of our heroes and aligning these stories to suit their ideals,” said Rca Jongte, a PhD candidate and theologian.
F Lalramhluni, a concerned citizen from Aizawl told EastMojo that she believes such measures are part of an attempt of the RSS to push towards cultural and ethnic identity assimilation, “Ropuliani has been recognised as an Indian freedom fighter by the Central government. But it raises a huge question if Ropuiliani was fighting for the freedom of the country and if she believed the territory she was fighting for was considered part of Indian territory. We have to learn to react and counter the attempt of the RSS and Hindu nationalists to make India a Hindu Rashtra where one of their methods is to align our culture and politics as per Hindu nationalism. How Northeast India and mainland India have experienced colonialism is different. We must pay heed to how ‘Sanskirtisation’ and Hinduization project is being carried out. RSS are experts of cultural and ethnic identity assimilation.”
An attempt to portray a war hero from Manipur as an Indian Freedom fighter also saw strong resistance among people of the state last week, to the extent where copies of comics depicting the same were burned by members of the Joint Students’ Coordination Committee (JSCC), comprising of four student bodies, AMSU, MSF, KSA and SUK. In a comic book published by Amar Chitra Katha under the Culture Ministry in connection with the 75th year of India’s independence, Paona Brajabasi, a war hero from the state was depicted as a tribal freedom fighter of India.
JSCC convener, S Bidyananda was quoted in a report saying, “Brajabasi was a war hero of Manipur who laid down his life in the Anglo-Manipur War of 1891 and his patriotic act is not related with the freedom movement of India as Manipur was merged with the Union of India in 1949.”Copies of the comic book were burnt and sales were banned in the state capital.
Formerly, attempts to portray British resistance fighters from Mizoram as Indian freedom fighters had seen strong resistance from student bodies in Mizoram. The former President of the state’s apex student body Mizo Zirlai Pawl and now the Youth President of Zo Reunification Organisation, L Ramdinliana Renthlei said, “While this seems to be a great feat, one cannot help but question if Ropuiliani would have liked to have her photo on the Red Fort under initiatives taken by the Indian Union. It seems like the Indian government is slyly trying to project Mizo warriors who fought against the British as Indian freedom fighters. Earlier, the Central government had tried to project Khuangchera as an Indian freedom fighter, but the MZP(Mizo Zirlai Pawl) and MSU (Mizo Students Union) joined their hands together and opposed it.”
In 2016, the two student bodies, MZP and MSU had written to the Prime Minister’s office, speaking strongly against its attempt to pay tributes to Khuangchera, a Mizo warrior who died trying to resist advancing British troops in 1890. “During that time, Khuangchera or any Mizo did not know anything about India, let alone fight for its freedom…Mizoram (then known as Lushai country or Zo country) was not under the rule of any country,” they said in a statement.
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