More like a game of cat and mouse : Looking beyond TI and AA
- The Sangai Express Editorial :: October 30, 2012 -

Either the Centre is playing a game of cat and mouse with Manipur, vis-a-vis the Naga political issue, or else Chief Minister O Ibobi is taking refuge under the 'written form' alibi.

Three meetings within a span of less than thirty days and the Centre yet to clearly list the points of agreement or concurrence with the NSCN (IM) to the State Government and this is stretching things to the point of the ridiculous.

In 'written form' sounds too bureaucratic, not that it is not important, but this should not become the crucial link to what the Centre has to convey to the State Government.

Creating an ambience of doubt and uncertainty can only add to the air of confusion and further stir the already muddied water of inter-community relationship.

A situation which may work to the advantage of Delhi but which will prove counter- productive to the people on either side of the political divide.

If the Centre has not clearly spelt out what is on the agenda of the pact, which is supposedly to be in its concluding stage, then the State Government should lay its card on the table and convey its stand in clear, lucid terms. The need to take the people along is necessary at this point of time too.

The United Naga Council has already made its stand known in clear lucid terms, in the form of Alternative Arrangement.

The question now is what is this Alternative Arrangement ? The significance of 'Outside the Government of Manipur' is gradually beginning to emerge and this should be studied against the belief of 'Territorial Integrity of Manipur.'

Is the idea of Manipur as a political entity only about her territory and boundary or does it entail something more ?

Unfortunate it is that no one, least of all the civil society organisations, which have been trumping this term has deemed it wise to delve into its core meaning and accordingly look beyond the mere question of land and boundary.

There must be reasons why Chief Minister O Ibobi has been trying to take refuge under the 'written form' alibi all these days.

And this is where he needs to take the people, the people who matter into confidence, for tackling a political plot, which may have been scripted by the masters at Delhi will not be something easy.

Maybe it may need more than the Chief Minister to take the people along with him, but for the people to stand by him at this crucial juncture.

The Sangai Express is not an apologist for the Chief Minister but when there are issues which confront the very idea of Manipur, then it is natural that the people should flock around their elected leader.

It is the issues and not the individual that should matter. At the risk of repeating ourselves, being accommodative should cut both ways.

The possibility of beating the understanding of 'territorial integrity' is huge for politics can always provide rooms to keep this term intact while skirting it in spirit.

And the back room boys at Delhi are master craftsmen of this art. India and Chanakya came much earlier than the British.

The proof of this pudding lies in the manner in which Delhi allowed a peace process with the NSCN (IM) to drag on for 15 long years. If the 'accommodative spirit' bandied about by Delhi is acceptable to the people, then fine go ahead with the model that has been worked out.

But if it is not then a rethink is in line.

Both sides, those advocating for Alternative Arrangement and those standing by the Territorial Integrity of Manipur should realise that belligerence is not the answer to the issue right now.