Prompt response from MHA : Reading between the lines
- The Sangai Express Editorial :: December 14 2011 -

An earlier picture of the tunnel being dug for the Jiri-Tupul rail line - Pix :: TSE

The Union Home Ministry has obviously taken a serious note of the threat issued by the United Naga Council that it would stop all the railway track laying works for a period of two months from December 16.

There could be five factors for the prompt response to the new development and while it was Chief Minister O Ibobi who rightly highlighted the matter to the Centre it remains to be seen whether the Delhi's quick answer in the form of deputing its men can be understood as a response to the SOS from the Chief Minister or not.

Delhi has every reason to take the threat from the UNC seriously for in the first place it is some sort of a confrontation to the very statement of the Prime Minister of the country.

It is also significant to note that the UNC's stance came after the NSCN (IM) had made its displeasure clear on the statement of the Prime Minister on the territorial integrity of Manipur.

Secondly the Jiri to Tupul and then to Imphal rail line is a National project for which the foundation stone was laid way back in 2004 by none other than the Prime Minister, again.

Thirdly the prompt response of the Union Home Ministry to the situation may have been dictated by that universal sentiment known as the 'guilt pangs' coming as it does close on the heels of the debilitating more than 100 days economic blockade when Delhi and Imphal acted as if everything was hunky dory.

Fourthly it could mean that Delhi is very much concerned with the ongoing peace talk with the NSCN (IM) and would do everything within its means to ensure that the negotiation does not get derailed.

On the fifth count, it may be seen in the backdrop of the meeting that P Chidambaram had lined up with the NSCN (IM) leaders at New Delhi on December 13.

Or it could be an inter-play of the four possible factors which has prompted the Union Home Ministry to depute some of its men to Imphal for a hush-hush talk with the UNC.

So far so fine and this is where the important question of whether the State Government been taken into confidence for the closed door meeting with the UNC or not arises ?

Given the hush-hush manner in which the confabulations are underway between the men from Delhi and the UNC representatives, it could be anyone's guess but it would say something profound if it is a case of by passing the State Government, especially since an attempt to appease the UNC rings out.

That the need to raise such a question has arisen should wisen up everyone to the situation. In many ways, what the Prime Minister says in a public meeting is the policy and programme of the Government.

And hence it stands that what the Prime Minister said on December 3 while addressing a huge crowd at Kangla can be and should be viewed as the policy of the Congress led UPA Government.

The point is, if negotiations are to be held on the very statement of the Prime Minister of the country then it is incumbent that the State Government be taken into confidence.

The State Government figures nowhere in the ongoing political dialogue with the NSCN (IM) but the interesting point is Manipur has emerged the biggest stake holder in the peace parley.

Political expediency may have prompted the need to keep the Government of Manipur out of the loop but it defeats the very idea of Parliamentary democracy when a Government is kept in the dark in a peace talk which has already had an impact on the lives of the people here.

The economic blockades of 2005, 2010 and 2011 are but just some manifestations of the impact of the peace talk. A deeper understanding of the impact will and can come only through a dispassionate observation of the undercurrent tension that runs through the major communities residing in Manipur.

One of the immediate and most visible fall outs of the peace talk has been the manner in which the very term 'territorial integrity' of Manipur has been used as a bargaining chip by some organisations purporting to represent the interest of a community or two.

Political parties have been formed on the basis of this term and some have gone on to occupy Ministerial kursis. This applies to both sides of the Lim divide.

Whether one advocates the integrity of Manipur or the territorial break up of the State, it has been used and exploited by some unscrupulous elements on either side of Nagalim to have their day under the Sun and rake in the moolah.

The character test of the people has started and the ongoing parley between some hand picked men from the Union Home Ministry and the UNC should be understood in its entirety. Blurring the vision can only be to the benefits of some vested interest people.