Ingenious term, ingenious tactic : How public is the blockade
- The Sangai Express Editorial :: November 21, 2012 -
The public blockade being enforced on November 20 2012 :: Pix - TSE
Ingenuity is written all over the term Public Blockade.
Stuffs that make us appreciate the meaning of copy rights. Mind the capital letters. The tactical approach is also ingenious.
In positively responding to the invitation of the Government for a talk, the Kuki State Demand Committee (KSDC) conveyed the message that it has an open mind and is ready to negotiate.
Some sort of a political master stroke.
However there is nothing ingenious or worth emulating in the very act of cutting off the lifelines of the people over a demand.
That too a demand that runs contrary to the political beliefs of others, notably a demand that contradicts the idea of Manipur as a geo-political reality.
The KSDC has already delivered its statement in enforcing the Public Blockade from November 17 and continuing with the decision to indefinitely cut off the lifelines of the people runs contrary to the spirit of a political agenda.
A written assurance from the Centre that a political dialogue will be initiated on a determined date with the Kuki armed groups under the SoO pact with the Committee also taking part, is what the KSDC is demanding at this point of time and here is yet another example of how the pursuit of a political agenda can come at the expense of a place called Manipur and her people.
The Public Blockade is not going to hurt or pinch Delhi. Let Delhi hear and respond by bleeding the people of Manipur dry ?
This is unacceptable. But then who cares ?
Deputy Chief Minister Gaikhangam may not be faulted under this poser as he was prompt in meeting Union Home Minister Shushil Kumar Shinde over the issue as well as in inviting the KSDC to the negotiating table.
But obviously the concern of the man, acting in place of the Chief Minister has not cut ice with the people helming the affairs of the KSDC.
Seven years since the signing of the SoO pact and not a single round of talks held and clearly Delhi is toying around with terms like cease fire pacts or Suspension of Operations or truce deals.
A statement on how affairs concerning Manipur in particular and the North East in general figure on the priority list of Delhi and its political mandarins.
It cannot be ignorance or even indifference, but points to a well mapped out political agenda or else how does one explain such a state of affairs even after the birth of the Union of India more than 60 years ago.
Indian historians may lampoon the British for pursuing the divide and rule policy, but remember Chanakya and his Arthashastra came much before the British did.
It is this policy which provides succour to the politics of blockade, give it any prefix or suffix.
And it is this politics which has been played out on the turf of Manipur by different groups of people for years.
Rewind a year earlier and the economic blockade called on the demand for Sadar Hills district and the counter blockade that ran concurrently and the spectre of a rerun of the same show is hauntingly real.
But where does that leave Manipur and her people ? The KSDC has already made its stand clear.
Prolonging the Public Blockade even after making its stand clear to all concerned would amount to more than pursuing a political aspiration.
This is a point which should register in the minds of the people running the show called Public Blockade.
It is also interesting to note that the United Naga Council has also had a say on the matter and dubbed the KSDC as ‘State sponsored Kuki State Demand Committee.’
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