"In moments of great peril like ours it is easy to muster a powerful response to stimuli based on hatred;
but for them to retain their effect requires the development of a consciousness in which there is a new
priority based on historical and practical aspects of the society, so that the response can be utilized to
deal with the prioritized enemies of the society"!
In our quest to find a solace from this overwhelming grip of problems we are looking to various
permutations and combinations each becoming more and more primitively worse than the other.
When future looms menacingly dark and the present unbearably uncomfortable the only escape route turns
towards the past! Rather than looking towards the future we are digging deeper and deeper into the wounds of the past
confounded with the worst problems related to religion land and ethnicity.
It is indeed everybody's birthright to have autonomy not to be ruled by anybody and ideally every one
should be his/her own ruler but living in this world full of limitations the practicality points otherwise.
It is a well known fact how big a weapon "Hatred Is". Most freedom fighters rely heavily on the intense
hatred for the so called enemies ...
But how are the elements of enemies fitting in here in Manipur? Who are the real enemies?
Starvation poverty illiteracy diseases aren't they our enemies?
Have we ever tried to direct our hatred against these issues? Despite all the propaganda to disrupt the age-old
peaceful coexistence. Tears are still shed in every Manipuri's eyes when any fellow Manipuri falls to bullets, starvation or
disease ,irrespective of places or persons whether it is in Ukhrul, Senapati ,Churachandpur, Sekmai or Singjamei.
So much Blood are shed but Blood are still donated for their fellow brothers especially in far off places reinforcing and reminding
that we still belong to the same family....
In these critical times where the demarcation between the living and death becomes blurry, the words "Love" and "peace" are slowly becoming outdated and
rapidly being replaced by hatred and violence... So natural for any living creature when given a threat to their lives.....
But then where should we direct our hatred to? A big question which many of our so called leaders manipulate according to their convenience and
political gains....
But its a question involving the lives and deaths of more than 2 million people... We sincerely hope that the leaders responsible for the
future and lives of these millions of people would act extra responsibly understanding the gravity of the
situation and not succumb to emotional and instinctive reflexes.
Though demanding for an autonomy based on hatred for a particular community has become an easy outlet for these innumerable problems, lets ask ourselves is it
a demand taken at a peaceful state of mind without a reasonable amount of doubt about the threat to fellow Manipuri brethrens, with peacefully long term solution
to all the problems of Manipur?
Even though the demands are always carried out through the medium of the common people the plight of
the common people still remains the same as it was centuries back and it is always doubtful on how much
they are going to be affected by these new demands,.
When desperations and frustrations are the norm rather than the exceptions it's so easy to put the entire blame on someone for the pitiful mess we are in,
and take political mileage out of it. No doubt it has become quite customary nowadays for an Angam in Ukhrul or an Along in Tamenglong blaming the tammee for
the pitiful conditions or a Tomba in Imphal blaming the chingmees for the unemployment and sufferings , without bothering to find out the
actual reasons behind the whole problems. How long will this blame game go on?
Its so easy to infuse hatred in each of us for the other communities but lets not forget that we will still be living next to one another sharing the same air and
sky having the same food living on the same water land trees and roads irrespective of whether we have an autonomy or not
How worthwhile the autonomy based on hatred will be? , and how long it will last? are many of the unanswered
questions, many have in their minds?
But irrespective of the questions it definitely will have such a grievous effect on the social fabric of
thousands of years of peaceful coexistence which might never be restored once it is altered.
Looking from an unbiased angle the amount of sufferings the people of Manipur are having are fast
reaching a threshold level ,and these are compelling all of us to look for destructive and SHORT CUT
alternatives, which we will regret for sure in the future .
Though we have seen numerous examples of devastation arising out of hatred based on ethnicity and religion
all over the world we still somehow feel a selective deafness and blindness to these happenings...
The living example of the recent ethnic war between ethnic groups in Africa particularly the HUTU and the TUTSI in Rwanda, where hundreds of thousands of people
were killed and millions rendering homeless ...set perfect examples on how these enmities can destroy a peaceful society
If we don't learn from these pages of history it is certain to share the same fate of destruction only to realise it when it's too late.
Strangely enough the lookout for the solutions mimics the repeated counting of money when we know that we are short of money just hoping desperately for the
amount to increase. At times of crisis of this magnitude which has the potential to destroy Manipur for good,
We need to act responsibly forgetting the mileage we can get from the issue, cutting across all barriers.
"After all we are as similar and as different as what we intend to".
When we can become families and brothers to Americans Koreans and Israelis despite the infinite difference
in all aspects why are we to search and dig out the differences between the chingmees and the tam
mee...despite similarities in almost all aspects of life.
We are definitely trying hard to find reasons to fight and focussing on the few points of difference between
us to start our own journey towards destruction.....and who gains from all these? ..lets not conclude our views about the present
problems to a short-sighted and prematurely biased solution...
As we know our society is a conglomeration of variety of people and the present condition is a culmination
of years and years of neglect lethargic indifference and inactivity not just from those who ruled but also
from ourselves.
....a compilation of problems of thousands and thousands of years..Which if at all anybody tried to
solve look distinctly half-hearted.
Thus we need an extraordinarily systematic constructive and consistently united effort from all
of us to deal with these extraordinary problems, forgetting our traditional way of pulling down
others.
We have the most important common cords between us to bind us together for the entire life Starting with
poverty illiteracy starvation unemployment disease ....... and we don't have any rights to think about
autonomy or any thing else unless we solve these problems..
Autonomy religion or land is too low a priority compared to starvation......
Lets Stand Up For The Brotherhood Of The Poor,
Illiterate Unemployed Starving People
Because That'S What We Are.....
Not Meeteis, Nagas Or Kukis
Dr Krishnananda Samurailatpam, a practising doctor in UK, contributes regularly to e-pao.net
The writer can be reached at [email protected]
This article was webcasted on June 26th , 2005.
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