42 hours Statewide bandh : Stormy days ahead ?
- The Sangai Express Editorial :: May 05 2016 -

42 hours Statewide bandh from midnight of May 5.

More than clear that the Joint Committee on Inner Line Permit System (JCILPS) is again ready to press home its demand.

If the past is any indication, then the 42 hours bandh may just be the precursor of things to come and Manipur or rather the valley will once again see the stormy days of 2015, when Imphal and the towns in the valley districts were literally paralysed.

Things however may be a little different this time given the fact that the hill districts, particularly Churachandpur district, erupted in protest after the State Assembly passed the three Bills on August 31 last year.

What the JCILPS is demanding right now runs contrary to what the Churachandpur JAC has been spearheading and so from a movement aimed at protecting the indigenous people of the land, it may well erupt into some sort of a confrontation between the people.

Obvious that the passing of the three Bills is not enough, at least to the JCILPS, and it expects the State Government to demonstrate that it is ready to approach the Centre to get the three Bills transformed into Acts.

On the other hand, the Churachandpur JAC has already made its stand clear and like it or not it will oppose the three Bills tooth and nail.

A clear case of the people not seeing eye to eye on something which is as crucial as protecting the interests of the local people.

The situation before the State Government is dicey and it remains to be seen how it negotiates with both parties, that is one demanding that the three Bills be transformed into Acts and the other strongly opposed to the three Bills.

Nine people killed in the protest against the three Bills at Churachandpur and one young student killed in Imphal while demanding that the Inner Line Permit System be implemented in the State.

The situation is indeed dicey and Chief Minister O Ibobi must be a worried man.

It is not a question of who wins or who loses, but more a question of why the local people cannot see eye to eye on crucial issues.

So far nothing to indicate that some thoughts have been given to this aspect and what Manipur sees today is different communities pursuing their own agenda.

The sense of distrust is deep and it is this which led to the call for a separate administration for the tribals of the State.

At the core of the ILPS demand is the influx of non-local people into the State thereby threatening the very existence of the local people.

This is where some thoughts ought to be given on why Manipur is such an attractive place to many non-local people.

Who has created the vacuum for the non-local people to arrive here and fill it up ?

Important question, but has anyone been candid enough to acknowledge that the it is the local people themselves who have created this vacuum ?

Yes some local youth have now taken up the profession of hair cutting, but how diligent are they ?

Time to stop creating this vacuum and this will help in curbing the influx of non-local people into the State.