Abnormal Manipur
- Hueiyen Lanpao Editorial :: July 21 2015 -
There are no two opinions on the fact that the situation in troubled Manipur is abnormal and the government has no control over the law and order situation.
Ferment of all sorts are hampering development, throwing normal life out of gear and the harassed common people including those in urgent medicare are fuming.
The Congress government ought to realise that the people cannot be swept off their feet by the JCILPS and that it is a spontaneous response.
Chief Minister Okram Ibobi has not explained why he had doctored the draft bill approved by the all political parties committee since it was a known fact that there would be protests to this sleight of hand.
Besides the governor could not accept the word Migrants who, to borrow the expletive of Ibobi, enjoy constitutional protection to stay anywhere in the country.
But then nobody is explaining why the ILP is denied to Manipur although 3 NE states are having it. Manipur deserves special consideration since it had its own form of ILP before being merged to India.
It is not known why the chief commissioner had abolished the ILP, albeit in another nomenclature on November 18, 1950.
Like some earth shaking agitations including the June 18, 2001 upheaval Manipur is poised for another gridlock which will dislocate normal life.
The centre cannot and should not remain as a disinterested spectator when the state is thus taken to ransom.
All sections of people are floundering for no fault of theirs.
Modi ought to intervene since the fire fight by the state government has aggravated the situation.
Since police seem to get carte blanche to brutalise the people (witness the way Robinhood was killed and how the home minister exculpated the trigger happy policemen) there are fears of more Robinhoods in the foreseeable future.
A central intervention can extricate Manipur from catch-22 even at this late hour.
Though the government had all the time in the world to make amends since it was a foreknown fact that the Bill would get botched it is still stalling for time.
Some circles fear that as the result of the time consuming process the people’s movement will peter out. But the government will be proved wrong and it is written on the wall.
Doing away with technicalities and personalities the bill should be drafted flawlessly so that it can be seen whether the governor, the president for that matter, shall give assent.
It is a big question mark as to whether the impatient people and suspicious JCILP can wait that long.
In any case, the centre cannot remain as a silent spectator.
Since it had rejected the demand for ILP which is in vogue in 3 NE states it is its duty to make some arrangements since the Manipuris face threat much worse than those of the 3 states.
As there is an abnormal situation in Manipur the centre should intervene in the interest of the people.
* Comments posted by users in this discussion thread and other parts of this site are opinions of the individuals posting them (whose user ID is displayed alongside) and not the views of e-pao.net. We strongly recommend that users exercise responsibility, sensitivity and caution over language while writing your opinions which will be seen and read by other users. Please read a complete Guideline on using comments on this website.