Clear the Imphal-Dimapur Highway : Not the time for appeal
- The Sangai Express Editorial :: June 26, 2023 -

A bucket of cold water after a hot shower.

Read this with the line ‘damage control exercise’ and this analogy should sum up the all political party meeting convened by Union Home Minister Amit Shah.

The June 24 meeting elicited tremendous interest, at least to the media in Manipur, concerned as everyone is with the situation in Manipur, but it sort of ended like a damp squib.

Prime Minister monitoring the situation was perhaps the only line that came somewhere close to the understanding of something new from the Union Home Minister but to many this may also gone down as another desperate attempt at damage control exercise, in so far as the image of the saffron party is concerned to the discerning people of not only Manipur but to all who are concerned with the human crisis that is besetting the State since the evening of May 3.

So what came out from the all political party meeting other than receiving the report that the Government is committed to solving the problem by taking everyone along ?

A question which everyone connected with the job of disseminating information and keeping the people informed must have been cornered with in the evening of June 24 and morning of June 25.

The standard one line response from the Editors, Sub-Editors and Reporters of most of the newspapers published from Imphal must have been ‘oh a reiteration of the call for peace and normalcy and another break up of the number of security personnel deployed here.’

A sensitive issue which needs to be handled with sensitivity, Prime Minister Narendra Modi keeping an eye on the issue since day one, are lines which are understood to have been spelt out during the all party meeting, but what is the way forward ?

An answer to this or something close to what New Delhi can and should do was something that was expected and this should not be interpreted as people expecting a magic formula for New Delhi to spin out.

More than evident that New Delhi and Imphal are still groping in the dark, not knowing where the switch box is located to switch on the light and dispel the dark from the room, which in this case is Manipur.

But as a Government which has been trumpeting the ‘double engine growth’ line, something more is expected.

And the question at this very moment is, what tidings will Chief Minister N Biren Singh bring back after his meeting with Amit Shah at New Delhi one day after the all political party meeting ?

The question still hangs even as this commentary is being typed onto the computer, but there is one pertinent point that has still not been addressed.

The all party meeting did not address the blockade along the Imphal-Dimapur line, a blockade which has been in force since the evening of May 3.

Or if it was addressed, nothing was given to the media to report on it.

Amit Shah was here on a three day visit, and the only approach that was adopted and is still being adopted is ‘appeal’ to lift the blockade.

That it has not worked is there for all to see.

So what steps has New Delhi taken up to clear the highway, a National Highway at that ?

The importance of this question need not be over emphasised, and it does not need rocket science technology to understand that this in many ways mean that the highway has been left free for highwaymen to impose their own version of diktats and cut off the lifeline of a people whose primary residence is the Imphal valley.

Hate is writ large on the blockade.

And it is more than obvious that appeals have failed to soften the blockade sponsors.

Why is Delhi still quiet on this and why has no fitting representation on this point being presented by Imphal and the people whose lifeline has been cut off to New Delhi ?

Can a path to peace and normalcy be charted out without first addressing the lifeline of a people ?

Clear the hurdles for the people to walk on the peace path.

This should be simple enough and it should not be too tall a call for New Delhi to take.