Delhi dependency culture : Romancing the Centre
- The Sangai Express Editorial :: January 18, 2013 -

It is an uncomfortable thought.

How has situation come to such a pass that the State Government and political parties cutting across the board should deem it necessary to approach Delhi and secure the arrest of a man accused of molesting, abusing and assaulting a woman in full public view ?

This is indeed a haunting question.

Top this off with the show of one upmanship that is on full display, with the NSCN (IM) first and now the Manipur unit of the Naga People's Front, dismissing the Chandel outrage as a 'petty matter' and things cannot get murkier and uglier than this.

From the manner in which the indefinite bandh was launched against the molestation to the manner in which the State Government responded to the situation to the outlandish dismissal of the matter as a 'petty matter' by the NSCN (IM) and now the NPF and everyone seems to have lost their sanity.

In the process the real issue has been sidelined and what has come to the fore is the ethnic divide, a divide that appears so deep that even a universal issue as the assault and molestation of a woman cannot bridge it.

It is against this backdrop that several representatives of different political parties are presently camping at New Delhi to press the matter with the Prime Minister and the Union Home Minister.

How the dice will roll is a matter of speculation, but what has increasingly become clear is the fact that the Chandel incident and the days of unrest that followed have only exposed the sharp polarisation between the Meiteis and the Nagas and this is the biggest tragedy.

Rest assured Delhi will at the most pay some lip service and the representatives of the political parties will return empty handed but with a smug expression that they have done what they ought to have done.

Conveniently overlooking the fact that if the matter had been handled with the sensitivity and care that it deserved then things would not have taken such an ugly turn.

That it took more than three weeks for the State Government to act and splash the photo of the accused in the media is an indication of the shabby approach adopted by the authority concerned towards the issue.

Now it is Delhi that everyone seems to be banking on to take the matter to its logical conclusion thereby making the Delhi dependency culture complete. It has been like this whenever any issue concerning the NSCN (IM) has occupied centre stage.

It happened during the blockade days of 2005, 2010 and 2011.

It happened when Dr Kishan and his two subordinates were bludgeoned to death and it is happening now after a woman was physically outraged by a cadre of the NSCN (IM).

It will happen if anything bad, God forbid, happens to Irabanta, who has been missing for months now.

The understanding of romancing Delhi cannot get more clear than this.

The status of Manipur as a province of India cannot get more pathetic than this.