Sadar Hills : Call off blockade, Khichdi solution ?
- The Sangai Express Editorial :: August 03 2011 -

The oil tanker which knocked down three women before plunging into the road side

Some plain talking is in line. This is enough. Chief Minister O Ibobi has certainly mastered the art of side tracking burning issues and coming up with a dummy or two and the latest attempt is the pathetic "Khichdi model" that he has come up with while addressing the demand to upgrade Sadar Hills to a full fledged district.

On the other hand, the economic blockade imposed on the National Highways on the said demand should be called off now !

Blending is an art and it has done wonders in the world of gastronomy not to talk about the finesse needed in coming up with a palatable cocktail in the bar, but when it comes to mixing issues and placing them on a platter, it is highly unpalatable.

This is what the Chief Minister tried to dish out when he said that the Congress led SPF Government is looking into the demand to upgrade Sadar Hills to a district status along with the demand to bifurcate Ukhrul into two districts as well as Churachandpur. For far too long the Sadar Hills hoax has been allowed to linger on.

If it cannot be upgraded to a district then say so. If the Government intends to upgrade it to the status of a district then it should accordingly take up the needed steps.

What is not needed is any ambivalent stand nor talking in riddles which do nothing except add to the confusion and give rise to false hopes. The grand announcement of the Chief Minister definitely falls into this category.

What did the Chief Minister mean by stating that Sadar Hills is being discussed along with the newly emerged demand to bifurcate Ukhrul into two districts as well as with Churachandpur and some other cases ? This is not only insensitive but also mischievous.

For all we know the demand to upgrade Sadar Hills to a district predates the idea to bifurcate Ukhrul into two districts by decades. Moreover this idea was mooted by Phungyar AC MLA Wungnaoshang Keishing only recently and it was the NSCN (IM) which gave it a degree of legitimacy by ambushing the MLA and his convoy some time back.

What is the justification for clubbing Ukhrul and Sadar Hills ? This is a joke. However this is not the time for a joke, much less a juvenile joke, which is nonetheless potentially dangerous.

There is absolutely no business for anyone to club the demand of Sadar Hills and the idea to bifurcate Ukhrul into two districts together. This is rubbing salt to the wound and exposes the Chief Minister as a man without a trace of sensitivity.

Maybe the Chief Minister is looking for an alibi to pass the buck or buy time, but this cannot go on forever and this is certainly not the time to play politics with an issue as sensitive as Sadar Hills.

At the same time, a review of the present mode of movement taken up by the champions of Sadar Hills is also urgently called for, lest the situation takes a turn for the worse.

Lodging a complaint or taking to the streets to draw the attention of the Government is one thing, but it is a totally different ball game when people start getting killed, either through accidents or because of accidents triggered by the activities of the movement. Hence the suggestion that the blockade be called off.

Three women knocked down to death by a truck, trying to escape a volley of stones and missiles hurled by the blockade supporters cannot be a part of any democratic movement.

The three women had nothing to do with the issue called Sadar Hills and the violence perpetrated by the blockade supporters or advocates of Sadar Hills betrayed a misplaced sense of anger and frustration.

Apart from this, the unnecessary loss of human lives is an indication that the leaders or think tank spearheading the current blockade are motivated more by a sense of hatred than the desire to see the realisation of Sadar Hills as a full fledged district.

Okay it was an accident, but the accident was a result of the attack launched on the oil tanker by the blockade supporters and there can be no two ways about it. Refusing to accept this would amount to compromising with truth and truth, we believe, is the foundation on which the movement for Sadar Hills was launched in the first place.

Justifications can be rolled out for the intensified demand to upgrade Sadar Hills to a full fledged district, but there can be no justification whatsoever for the loss of three precious human lives. Besides the loss of human lives, the very act of violence betrays the complete absence of a shrewd mind.

The years down the line should have been more than clear that there are certain influential forces which have been working over time to derail the process of upgrading Sadar Hills to a full fledged district and this should have been more than enough to wisen the leaders of the movement that the issue needs to be taken on a bigger canvas.

Acts of violence leading to gory deaths such as the one that has just been witnessed will only succeed in burning the bridge that connects the heart and soul of the demand to the outside world or to the people whose support and empathy may be felt necessary when the time of reckoning comes.

Such is the complex nature of the issue at hand, that no leader can afford to confine the voice or demand of Sadar Hills within NH-39 and that too only within the areas which are understood to compromise Sadar Hills.

However when the bridge of connectivity is burnt, it amounts to forcing oneself to live in an island, cut off from everyone and no movement can succeed in such an environment.

In short, each act of violence, each truck that is put to flames not to speak of the deaths caused, is nothing but another nail driven into the coffin of Sadar Hills.

It is a tragedy that three precious human lives had to be lost on account of the movement resting on blind hatred and motivated by a false sense of justice.