Central idea behind ILP demand : Beyond mere jurisdiction
- The Sangai Express Editorial :: July 11, 2012 -

Sit-in-protest demanding implementation of Inner Line Permit (ILP) on 10 July 2012 :: Pix - Danial Chabungbam

There is something uncomfortable. And this is all that more reason why the issue at hand needs to be approached in a rational manner and defeat whatever agenda there might be at hand.

Out of the blue, the issue is on the brink of plunging into a debate of whether it is within the jurisdiction of the State Government to impose the Inner Line Permit or not.

This is not the issue at all and this point should not be lost on anybody. The idea central to the demand for enforcing the ILP system is to check the large scale influx of migrants into Manipur and there are no two ways about it.

It does not matter whether it is Delhi or Imphal which can enforce ILP. At no cost should this be lost under any non-sensical debate.

If it is something beyond the purview of the State then it is all that more compelling on the Ibobi Singh Government to really understand the crux of the matter and accordingly approach Delhi.

Time to look beyond the statistics culled by the decadal head count or Census, for it is apparent that these figures have not been able to correctly reflect the demographic composition of the place.

Delhi on the other hand has more than often demonstrated that voices of concern raised from the North East region usually do not register in their mindset, giving a cutting edge definition to the concept of alienation.

The remoteness of the region is well established. It is not a question of keeping out bonafide citizens of the country from Manipur.

It is not a question of putting up an iron curtain. It is not an imaginative apprehension of the mind but a concern over the real possibility of drastically changing the demographic composition of the State.

Evidences are aplenty to drive home this point and if the ultimate authority of enforcing the ILP lies with Delhi, then no stones should be left unturned to convince the mandarins there that the threat perception is real and not imaginary.

The big question is whether the Congress Government here will have the political gumption to put across the matter to Delhi convincingly.

It was not for nothing that the slogan ‘Go Back Foreigners’ rend the air of Manipur during the late 70s and early 80s.

More than three decades down the line and there appears to be no political will to deal with the situation, which has only got aggravated with the passage of time.

As pointed out earlier in this column, there are enough material and literature on the impact of large scale, unchecked immigration to a place and this cannot be applied selectively.

There are reasons why Manipur is the destination for quite a large number of people, especially the labour class, but this is no reason to quietly sleep over the large influx of immigrants.

The ILP may be just one of the many methods available to check this inflow, but the political implications of implementing this is significant in that the political class would be demonstrating that they too are seized of the matter.

Demands should no doubt be raised to implement the ILP but at the same time it is also important for the people to look beyond this mechanism if the inflow of migrants has to be checked.

Just as there is the need to look beyond the question of who is the ultimate authority to enforce this system, it is also right for the people to ponder why migrants flow in to fill a huge void in the service and business sector.

It is also important for Delhi and Imphal to look beyond the mere statistics offered by the decadal headcount for in many cases it tends to hide rather than reflect the demographic composition of the land.