Making a beeline for New Delhi Politics of silence
- The Sangai Express Editorial :: June 19, 2023 -

The politics of silence. Remaining silent is itself a decision and the man central to the present politics of silence is Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

And it is this silence which has drawn quite a large number of MLAs from Manipur to New Delhi in a bid to strike a date with the Prime Minister.

Add leaders drawn from different political parties and clearly Delhi is the place to be for quite a large number of political leaders while tension and uncertainty continue to define Manipur.

Not yet clear whether the Prime Minister will be inclined to meet the MLAs and political leaders from Manipur, but it is more than likely that the first few words the Prime Minister delivers on the present issue may well decide the direction of the ongoing clash between the Meiteis and the Kukis.

More than 100 people have died in the clash that erupted in the evening of May 3.

Thousands have been rendered homeless and are presently taking shelter at the many shelter homes that have been set up.

While Kuki localities in Imphal and other valley districts have been purged Meitei settlements at Churachandpur town and at Torbung have been razed to the ground.

Gun fights continue at the foothills of Manipur with different and often contradictory reports pouring in and no Meitei would today dare to travel by the Imphal-Dimapur road, with vigilantes keeping a close watch to detect anyone from across the clash divide.

The internet has been shut down since the evening of May 3, but rumours and wild, loose talks continue to spread and influence the people, underlining the point that a speed breaker or a brake to keep loose tongues from over speeding is yet to be invented.

This is the ugly reality that has come to define Manipur since the evening of May 3 and there just does not seem to be a way forward.

The silence of the Prime Minister has only made things more uncertain and as all measures seem to have fallen short of taking the State to the path of recovery, it is a word from the Prime Minister that everyone here would be looking forward to.

No one would expect a magic formula to come tumbling out of the closet of the Prime Minister, but the sense of urgency in waiting for a response from Narendra Modi must be understood in the context of the separate administration call raised by the 10 Kuki Chin MLAs, the growing demand to abrogate the SoO pact with the Kuki militants and by the failure of the proposed Peace Committee to take off the ground, even before its first meeting.

What could be the reason for this politics of silence ? No easy answer here, but what is certain is that the silence has created enough room for a whole host of speculations to do the round and in the process throw up a number of conspiracy theories.

And speculations and conspiracy theories will run counter to any effort to put Manipur on the track of recovery. Given the present reality and the fact that this has been dragging on since the evening of May 3, the best politics would be to break the politics of silence.

Tough to say if and when the political leaders from Manipur who have rushed to Delhi would be granted an audience, but the best course available would be for the Prime Minister to speak out and in the process lay down what steps may be taken up.

For all practical purposes, law and order and administration has practically collapsed and that this should be happening under a BJP led Government at Imphal is a point that would not have gone unnoticed to the Prime Minister.

This is where the importance of the query, ‘what could be the reason/s for the Prime Minister to adopt the politics of silence’ lies.

The longer the silence is maintained the more the conspiracy theories will do the round and the more one would see people coming out and imposing their own understanding of neighbourhood vigil and this will certainly run counter to the idea of restoring normalcy.

Silence cannot be the better part of valour when Manipur is burning.