History, the present and vision for future : CMs are there but no leaders
- Sangai Express Editorial :: February 12, 2014 -

Look back at history. Live in the present. Chart out a road map for the future.

While the people of the North East have by and large been able to look back at their history and live in the present, there is no indication that a road map for the future has been charted out, especially in Manipur.

A sure indication of the absence of a political leadership or a single leader who have or has a vision for the people and the land, say ten or twenty years down the line.

Sure, in the tradition of Parliamentary system, elections to the State Assemblies and Parliament are held every five years and each State has its own Chief Minister, but in the ultimate analysis it is more than a question of a man occupying the chair of the Chief Minister but about his leadership quality, a quality which has not been seen in this part of the country, especially Manipur for decades.

A perfect recipe for challenges to mount before the common people and it is mounting with each passing year. So what are the challenges lying before the common people, especially in Manipur ?

Disunity and distrust amongst the major ethnic communities of the land, question of identity vis-a-vis with the idea of India as a Nation and the all important question of where the people are headed in the future.

It is amid these piling issues or challenges that the people of North East have rallied together, formed the North East Core Committee at Delhi and mounted pressures on the Government of India to enact a strong anti-racism Act, social protection for North East women studying or working in the metros of India and stern action against police personnel who refuse to entertain complaints of harassments and assaults from the people of the North East region.

How effective a piece of legislation will go to curb the discriminations and racial taunts faced by the North East people in the metros of India is something which only time will tell but there is no doubt that there is a huge social and psychological disconnect between the people of North East and the rest of the country.

“When I punch, I punch not only for my community or the North East but for the millions of Indians whose blessings I receive.”

This was the young boxing star Shiva Thapa from Sikkim while addressing the media at Delhi on February 10 and it is pregnant with meaning.

No doubt a line which others like Mary Kom, Ng Devendro, L Sarita and other sports personalities who have represented India would toe.

Histories of the North East in the text books of schools in Delhi was the assurance given by Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and this very assurance is damning proof that in the past 66 years as a Nation, the North East has not been much more than an outpost, a political unit of India, but figuring nowhere in the social consciousness of India as a Nation.

As observed in an earlier commentary, given this scenario and painful reality, the abuse, the discriminations and racial profiling of the North East people in other parts of the country cannot be seen in isolation of the political issues besieging the region, particularly Manipur, after it merged with the Union of India way back in 1949.

What is happening in Delhi or other metros is something which is in one way or the other linked to what is happening at the home front too and this is where the absence of a leader in its truest sense becomes all that more palpable.