Over 100 days and no sign of normalcy : Nail the trouble makers
- The Sangai Express Editorial :: August 17, 2023 -

Start identifying the trouble makers, nail them and blacklist the organisation/s to which they belong and if necessary ban them.

Remember the Government of India did not hesitate in banning the All India Sikh Students’ Federation back in 1984 when Punjab was in flame and very much caught up in the Khalistani movement.

The Government will need to go back to May 3 or the days running up to it and study who sowed the seeds for the current conflict between the Meiteis and the Kukis.

Book the people or the organisation responsible for organising the Tribal Solidarity March on May 3, for trouble started from this march.

Investigate and find out who set the Anglo-Kuki War Memorial gate at Leisan village, which is just 7 kilometres away from Churachandpur town.

Identify the groups or individuals which are responsible for keeping the flame of hatred not only burning but also spreading even after more than 100 days.

The BJP led Government at Imphal had earned a certain degree of notoriety and was infamous for dubbing anyone an anti-National and invoking the Sedition Law and one wonders what has happened to all the bravado that was demonstrated before May 2023.

What is stopping the Government from pulling up all the trouble makers, who have not hesitated to churn out their own set of stories to suit their narrative ?

People on either side of the clash divide should call the bluff and the lies that are being tossed around for ultimately it is the people who suffer and not those instigating the people and not those who have raised the war cry.

It is the people in the different relief camps, the young students who have not had the opportunity to pursue their education in the right atmosphere who suffer.

It is not the people who live in the comfort of the air conditioned rooms in other parts of the country who suffer, but the people.

Certainly it is not those who raised the battle cry on May 3 and led to the demolition and burning of houses at Torbung and inside Churachandpur town on May 3 evening and which invited a backlash on such a scale from other parts of the State, notably at Imphal and in some valley districts.

The truth is, it is the people who are suffering. Imphal is today no longer the Imphal that was before May 3.

The vegetable market place along Nagamapal is incomplete without the Kuki ladies selling their marois, laphus, Nga ayaiba etc and it will look more incomplete when the Yongchak season comes in the winter.

Churachandpur town can never be complete without the Meitei leikais and the bustling market places of Kangpokpi along the National Highway would not be the same without the roadside tea stalls that serve the hot, steaming bora and kanghou with cha-ngang complete with the slice of lemon, and run and managed by a Meitei lady.

Moreh will never be the same without the Laxmi Rice Hotels.

But this is the reality today and judging from the hate and manufactured words that go on to make up some fantastic stories that come as statements issued to the media daily, the current reality seems set for a longer innings.

It is these elements that the Government will need to crack down.

Apart from singing the peace tune, the Government will also need to act tough and nail all those who continue to propagate hate and come out with one fantastic story or the other.

Just banning mobile internet cannot be the answer, for this should go hand in hand with the rumour mongers and more than these, it would do good for the Government to crack down hard on all those who continue to propagate hate under some lofty sounding political agenda.

The people should not be made to suffer longer to serve the political ends of some booted and suited elements.