Occasional strike call in multi-ethnic Manipur
- The People's Chronicle Editorial :: April 25, 2023 -
REGARDLESS of the present government's enviable track record in terms of freeing the state from the vicious cycle of bandh and strike or any movement that caused serious inconvenience to the people, it would be wishful thinking that Manipur would be totally emancipated from the scourge of disruptive agitation anytime soon.
With Manipur being a home to a number of ethnic communities, all harbouring and pursuing different socio-political aspirations, it is but natural that the aggrieved parties would resort to agitation to make the establishment accord importance to their demand or sentiment.
That the state would continue to face agitations could be comprehended from the All Tribal Students' Union Manipur (ATSUM) announcing imposition of dawn-to-dusk total shut down in the hill districts on April 24 in-spite of the appeal made by six other valley-based student organisations to drop the agitation plan and clarification issued by RIMS authorities with regard to the demand placed by the ATSUM.
As reported, the decision to go ahead with the agitation is in denunciation of alleged failure by the RIMS authorities to uphold the memorandum of agreement signed between RIMS, ATSUM and Manipur government on April 3 for reservation of specific number of seats during job recruitment in the premier medical institution.
Along with stating that the total shut down call was to prompt initiation of punitive action against the 'erring' RIMS authority and appealing to the public to extend cooperation and support to its demand for prevalence of rule of law in RIMS, there is no doubt that the day-long agitation has impacted movement and daily chores of the commoners.
Though there was no impact of the shutdown in the plains, volunteers of ATSUM as well as other tribal student bodies enforced the agitation even at the headquarters of the hill districts thereby bringing life to a standstill in the hills.
On its part, RIMS tried to impress upon the ATSUM to acknowledge the ground reality and withdraw the agitation on the ground that the agreement reached in connection with the reservation policy is under process at the level of Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.
As had been clarified by director Dr H Priyosakhi, RIMS being one of the central institutes all issues are under the control of Union Ministry and needs the former's nod to implement any new policy.
Similar to the fervent appeal made by the director going unheeded, student bodies like MSF, DESAM, KSA, etc., too would be disheartened as their request for ATSUM withdrawing its shutdown call has not been accorded importance.
As doing away with the bandh culture is one of the objectives of the present regime, it is obvious that the N Biren-led government would be utterly frustrated over occasional imposition of bandhs and general strikes by different organisations in the state.
In fact, the BjP-headed coalition government has been fairly successful in ensuring that daily normal chores are not affected as a consequence of bandh/strike.
Even on issues and demands which were beyond its ambit, the government didn't hesitate to bring those organisations threatening to derail normal life to the negotiating table, thereby underscoring its commitment to see the end of disruptive movements.
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