Is Manipur Waiting for Talibans to Rule Us?

Robert Lourembam *

Name it and Manipur has it all (I mean the problems).

The sad part is whatever problems we have in Manipur never get resolved. Even before a problem is looked into a tad seriously, umpteen problems crop up, and we live in this never ending 'vicious cycle'.

Who is to be blamed?

The first thing that comes to our minds is obviously the politicians and the bureaucrats not to forget the terrorists too. It almost seems to me that nobody is bothered about whatever is happening in our state (Do I hear screams of disagreement from the show stoppers?) in fact, I can!

Talking about the education system, it has completely gone haywire. I fail to comprehend the rationale behind boycotting the educational institutes for months together to fight against the government.

Why target the educational institutes and spoil the future of the children and youth, who are undoubtedly going to be our future leaders? Doesn't it pinch us when we see the board students shivering in limbo about their exams and wanting to fulfill the expectations of their families, all concerning about their growth and future?

Has the government and the people together become so blind and heartless that they get busy fighting against each other?

What's the immediate impact of this nonsense? Obviously we suffer and the students suffer the most. Feeling of nothingness and meaninglessness dominate the minds of these youngsters and hence, the proliferation of crimes committed by them.

Drug abuse is one of the serious crimes, which is so common amongst our youth today. There are drug addicts everywhere in Manipur and they only increase in numbers by the minute.

The so-called self-proclaimed vigilantes, NGOs and the rehabilitation centers are evident enough to prove the gargantuan number of drug addicts. Interestingly, many of them are in their teens, leading all of them to develop a common hysteria.

But like the old adage goes, "Life goes on." Life indeed goes on no matter where we are heading to. Manipur in short is so used to getting on with the! "Okay Attitude," which never leads to resolving any problems but adding more to them.

Why do we always allow us to be the easy targets of all this nonsense? It's about time we shifted from the victim's role and girded ourselves up to face a more challenging and meaningful one.

I blame everyone, beginning from myself as the biggest oppressor.

Why oppressor? Because I do not rebel nor do I contribute towards the amelioration of our systems. Like myself, there are thousands of fellow Manipuris who watch as passive viewers and shirk their responsibilities quite easily.

May I also reiterate that it's humanly impossible to obliterate the umpteen problems we have in Manipur within a short time but what we can definitely do is to focus on the immediate issues and leave the rest for a while? Who is going to reopen the educational institutes and set free the children from the shackles of politics?

Why target the children, and why not the politicians and the government directly? It's utter nonsense to make use of the innocent students to fight against the system. What can one think of a state where education is denied to the students?

Are we waiting for Taliban rules in our state? I guess if we continue to live this way, then the day is not far anymore when we will see Talibans in each one of us. So, get on guys and break the system to better it!

Let's honour ourselves with the sense of individual responsibility and shirk no more from it!