How can we salvage the Manipur State Legislative Assembly ?

Dr. Khomdon Lisam *

Assembly building at Chingmeirong, Imphal in February 2013 :: Pix - Bullu Raj

John W. Whitehead once shouted "Who Will Protect Us from Our Government?" Our people become sleeping sheeps and our government become government of wolves. A patriot should be ready to defend his country from his government. Denis Fonvizin once said " A fool is very dangerous when in power." Once Charles de Gaulle said "I have come to the conclusion that politics is too serious a matter to be left to the politicians." These quotations become very relevant in the context of Manipur these days.

Now the Manipur State Legislative Assembly has passed "the Manipur Regulation of visitors, Tenant and Migrant Workers Bill-2015" against the wishes of the people. Is it not funny ? I can not imagine why and how they become so worthless . The worst part is that they have done it not due to ignorance or lack of knowledge but due to their timidity and cowardice without thinking for the future of our young generation of Manipur. This Bill is found quite contrary to what the people want.

The people of Manipur want some law to protect the rights , identity, customs , culture, traditions , religion, land, language, script and mineral resources of indigenous people of Manipur. On the contrary, the Manipur State Legislative Assembly wants to protect their vote banks by protecting the rights of the migrant workers coming from outside Manipur and from Bangladesh and Myanmar and ensure their security. The mistake our Honourable Chief Minister Shri O. Ibobi Singh has committed is his too much reliance and confidence in Shri L. Ibomcha Singh, Opposition MLA , who happened to be the Law Secretary at one time. He is using his legal knowledge and expertise in destroying Manipur.

Honourable Chief Minister might have genuinely wanted to fulfil the demands of the Joint Committee on Inner Line Permit System (JCILPS). But Shri L. Ibomcha Singh might have warned or threatened the Chief Minister about the possibility of declaring such an act as unconstitutional and the possibility of the Act being struck down by the Supreme Court or the High Court. They could not see any other option.

In my article entitled "Agenda of the Manipur State Assembly in connection with Inner Line Permit System", which has been published on 4th March, 2015 in various English newspapers in Manipur, I have suggested the Title , Objectives and the main provisions of the Bill. Why should I write such an article ? Because I can visualise what is going to happen ? And this has happened. I am re-iterating herewith that the title of the Bill should reflect the main objective of the Bill.

The proposed title " Manipur Visitors and Tenants Law -2015 " is not appealing and misleading and does not reflect the main objective of the Bill. It reflects the weakness and lack of clarity of the intention on the part of the Manipur Legislative Assembly. I do not know why so many highly qualified ministers and MLAs and political leaders of Manipur could not participate actively in this law making process. They are not men of the straw but act like one. This title should be dropped without further consideration.

We should courageous enough to define the correct and appropriate title. The title may be " Protection of the Indigenous people of Manipur Bill-2015 ".This title is appealing, . attractive, reflects the main objectives of the Bill and will be able to attract the attention of the Government of India. The second option may be the "Manipur Inner Line Permit Bill -2015" . The third option may be Manipur Migrants Regulation Bill- 2015.

I have mentioned the objectives of the Bill as follows (1) to protect the identity , culture, lands, language, script and business of the indigenous people and permanent residents of Manipur (2) to regulate the entry , employment and settlement of migrants to Manipur .

I have mentioned the main provisions of the Bill as follows :-

1. Compulsory Registration on payment of prescribed fees with exemption clauses for students, employees of the Central government etc.

2. Penalty and Punishment clauses for delayed registration or non-registration as provided under the Bengal Eastern Frontier Regulation , 1873.

3. Issue of Work Permit – the trades which the migrant may take up during the course of his/ her stay in Manipur on payment of prescribed fees.

4. Extension of Registration and Work Permit on payment of prescribed fees 5. How to check foreigners coming with Birth Certificates, Driving Licences from Assam and other states.

6. Penalty and Punish clause for foreigners under the Foreigners Act

7. Base Year or Cut Off Date and Year : It may be 1st March, 1951 (Census Date ) or 1st August, 1980 ( as per agreement on 22 July, 1980 between the All Manipur Students Union(MSU) and the Government of Manipur )

8. Complete Ban on purchase of land except with the approval of the state Government.

9. All Business establishment to be run in the name of the indigenous people with Penalty and Punish clause for violating the clause.

10. Deletion of the names of the migrants, who entered Manipur after the Cut Off date.

11. Definition of Permanent Residents – the indigenous people of Manipur and outside migrants who entered and settled in Manipur before the Cut Off date will be termed as Permanent Residents.

In short, the "the Manipur Regulation of visitors, Tenant and Migrant Workers Bill-2015" passed by the Manipur State Legislative Assembly is to protect the outside migrants and not to protect the indigenous people of Manipur. This is nothing but cheating the Manipuris. Why? Because in the words of Mr. Babloo, the human rights activist, they are " Mithibong and Mitambal. Dr. Lamabam Komol in his famous poem Lei Pareng called " Sirum Narumba Meitei ".

This reminds me of one incident from the life of Motilal Nehru . When Motilal Nehru was having a heated argument with the judge of Allahabad High Court, the Judge shouted to him " Do you think I am stupid?" Motilal quietly replied " No my Lord, I do not think so . But I may change my mind ". We respect and honour our Ministers and MLAs but we may change our mind.

The people become more frustrated because the Ministers and MLAs failed to act like public leaders at this critical juncture. The Bandh called by the JCILPS is conveying the message that they will start a series of agitations after widespread involvement of many other civil societies to reach the goal. One thing we should remember is that the present situation is not the making of the present government headed by Shri O. Ibobi Singh.

This is the cumulative effect of many popular ministries or governments during the last 65 years. But the present ministry with its absolute majority can do many things to get an appropriate law passed either by the Manipur State Legislative Assembly or by the Indian Parliament. If the Government of India is reluctant, the Hon'ble CM may sit in protest at Jantar Mantar with thousands of volunteers. There will be complete hartal in Manipur and at the same time, there will be Dharna by the C.M in Delhi.

This is one workable strategy. We should avoid any action which may lead to undesirable consequences. But before that the JCILPS should clearly spell out what the Manipur State Legislative Assembly or the State Government needs to do.

What to do now .

1. The Bill entitled "the Manipur Regulation of visitors, Tenant and Migrant Workers Bill-2015" should be immediately withdrawn as it is contradictory to the wishes of the people. The Manipur state government should make an announcement to this effect and should withdraw it before sending it to His Excellency, the Governor of Manipur. The Hon'ble CM may kindly think why he is required to withdraw one bill after another so frequently. This speaks volumes about the discreditability and unworthiness of his ministers, MLAs, Advisors and officers in the law department.

2. All political parties must clarify to the people whether the Bill passed by the Manipur State Legislative Assembly is the same as the one recommended by them.

3. All the legal experts involved in framing the BILL must clarify to the people whether the Bill passed by the Manipur State Legislative Assembly is the same as the one recommended by them.

4. The people of Manipur should socially boycott the Ministers and MLAs who have enrolled outside migrants in the electoral roll with the stern warning to delete the names of outside migrants settled in Jiribam, Saji Tampak , Uripok, Sagolband etc. as soon as possible. Are they anti-people ? They should be warned to delete the names of the migrant workers from the electoral roll before the next Assembly session.

5. The Chief Electoral Officer, Manipur should not sit idle. He should be proactive and initiate some innovative measures to delete the names of foreigners and illegal migrants from the electoral rolls. He may visit and verify the localities where there is maximum concentration of illegal migrant workers, foreigners and delete their names from the Electoral roll. The JCILPS should monitor these steps. Documents like Driving Licence, Ration Cards, BPL Cards, Voters' IDs should be rejected. You can easily get these cards easily by giving a bribe of Rs. 200-500. They should also reject cards from Assam because Assam is known as "Exporter of Foreigners" .

6. The Manipur State Assembly and all MLAs should re-examine whether they can pass a Bill incorporating the appropriate title, objectives, main provisions for protecting the identity, culture, lands, language, script and business of the indigenous people of Manipur. If they do not have the courage to do it, they should refer it to the Prime Minister for necessary enactment in the Indian parliament. We want an implementable law. While doing so, they should not enclose the copy of the present Bill as it may have negative effect.

They can submit a draft Bill incorporating all the points like (1) Appropriate title (2) Objective and (3) main provisions like –cut off dates, ban on land purchase, deletion from electoral roll, establishment of Business enterprises only in the name of indigenous people etc. If the Government of India choose to neglect the demands of the people, the sleeping Manipuris will rise up and there may be blood bath. There are many ways of doing protests to achieve our objectives. Gandhiji and Pt. Nehru had succeeded in partition of India after a prolonged fight from 1915 to 1947 whereas Jinnah has succeeded in creating Pakistan in just two years from 1946-1947.

By saying this, I am not showing any disrespect to the our world famous leaders. But the people need to know the facts. Can anybody including leaders of the Congress in India contradict this ? We have learnt these things from Indian leaders.

We can not ask the Government of India to amend the Indian Constitution repeatedly. We have never asked to amend the Indian Constitution during the last 65 years. Most of the Manipuris think that Indian Constitution is like Gita or Bible or Quran. I have written many times that some articles of the Indian Constitution is extremely discriminatory and responsible for communal disharmony, disunity among the ethnic groups in Manipur.

The Manipur State Assembly may consider all the points for which amendment is required at one go. If the Manipur State Assembly decided to propose the amendment of Indian Constitution, they may consider the following points while making the proposal which may bring a lasting peace, unity, communal harmony and development in Manipur :-

1. The Article 3 of Indian Constitution regarding alteration of state boundaries shall not apply in respect of Manipur. The 2000 year old history of Manipur should not be destroyed.

2. Since more than 90% of Manipur is hill area and there are many valleys in the hills, many hillocks in the valley, Manipur may be declared as a Hill State.

3. All the ethnic groups in Manipur may be brought under a single uniform land laws. The land belongs earlier to the king and after independence to the Government.

4. Any person from other states of India should not be allowed to purchase lands, They may be allowed to do so only with the approval of the State Government. The whole state of Jammu and Kashmir is doing this since 1947, thanks to Jawaharlal Nehru .

5. Any person from other states of India shall require an "Inner Line Permit" to enter Manipur on payment of nominal fees to protect the identity, culture, traditions, land, language, script, mineral resources of the Manipuris.

6. To restore the Scheduled Tribe status of Meiteis, which was recorded in Government of India documents in 1931.

7. The Constitution should provide establishment of an upper house (Legislative Council) with a minimum of 40 members with 10 seats reserved for nomination and 30% reservation for women.

8. The Rajya Sabha being the Council of States, the number of Rajya Sabha MPs for Manipur may be increased to seven (7) ( two for women) on the basis of equal representation of states as done in USA and other countries. Large and small states should be treated at par in the Rajya Sabha or Council of States.

9. The Manipuri script ( Meitei Mayek) may be included in the coins and currency bank notes of government of India.

We can not expect much from our honourable MPs. We remember them only when they give out Yaipha Paojel. Further, the Hon'ble Chief Minister is requested kindly to discuss the need to amend the Indian Constitution for the survival of the future generation of Manipur in the State Cabinet and in the Manipur State Legislative Assembly and pass a resolution to submit a good proposal to the government of India in the upcoming Sate Assembly session.