Political insensitivity to suffering of fellow citizens
- The People's Chronicle Editorial :: November 22, 2023 -

THE ethnic conflict between the Meitei/Meetai and Kuki-Chin communities in the tiny northeastern Indian state of Manipur has been raging with no sign of any solution even after nearly seven months with the latest incident of gunfight claiming lives of two people in Kangpokpi district on November 20.

The conflict, which broke out on May 3 last following a Tribal Solidarity March taken out in all the hill districts of the state in protest against a high court directive given to the Government of Manipur for sending the requisite recommendation for recognition of Meitei/Meetei as scheduled tribe (ST) turned violent in Churachandpur district, has so far led to loss of hundreds of precious human lives and displacement of thousands of families on both sides of the clash divide, not to speak of the untold suffering caused to people of all communities living in this multi-ethnic society.

While the failure of the state government and its law enforcement machineries in controlling the ethnic conflict from escalation is well-known to all and Chief Minister N Biren Singh himself had admitted to this fact when he said "security lapses and intelligence failure led to the large-scale violence in the state," the manner in which a vocal Prime Minister like Narendra Modi has remained conspicuously silent even from uttering a word of concern over what is happening in a small state of his own country, not to speak of sparing some time from his busy schedule to pay a visit to the strife-torn state and meet the suffering people, has also given ample opportunity to his political detractors for launching scathing attack alleging derailment of the double-engine Government of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which is in power both in the state and at the centre.

Even to the extent of stalling the proceedings of Indian Parliament session, the opposition parties, especially the Congress, have been taking full advantage of this opportunity to deride the Prime Minister at every possible forum, much to the disadvantage of the ruling party BjP, whose reputation is at stake not just within the country but also at the global stage for its failure to resolve the conflict in Manipur despite claiming to be the biggest democracy in the world with well-trained security forces which could control any riot within 24 hours.

With the violent conflict between the Meitei/Meetei and Kuki-Chin communities barely a week away from completion of seven months, whether anything Prime Minister Narendra Modi says on the Manipur issue would now make any difference to the people of Manipur is a big question.

But the Congress party has lost no opportunity to take a swipe at Prime Minister Narendra Modi when the latter took time off from his supposedly busy schedule to watch the final match of Cricket World Cup that was played between India and Australia on November 19 at the gigantic stadium in Ahmedabad which has been interestingly named after the Prime Minister himself.

In a post on microblogging site X, general secretary of Indian National Congress (INC) Jairam Ramesh said, "PM found time to be at the stadium in Ahmedabad he got named after himself. From tomorrow, he'll be back to abusing and defaming Congress in Rajasthan and Telangana. But still, he hasn't found it fit and proper to visit Manipur that is still tense and suffering. His priorities are clear."

Caught in a perplexing situation, where the people of two communities who have lived together side by side for years sharing the ups and downs of daily struggle for survival until May 3 last are baying for each other's blood today, we are concerned not so much about the usual political wranglings of one-upmanship between the Opposition and ruling party; but exploiting the situation in Manipur for gaining some political mileage over one another is simply despicable.

This shows how the political class in the country regardless of their ideological leanings or proclivities have been looking at the protracted ethnic conflict in Manipur - just another opportunity to play to the gallery without realising that the ethnic conflict has now turned into a serious humanitarian crisis, which would be hard to reverse, thanks to their insensitivity to suffering of their fellow citizens to whom they would invariably return to when election comes.