Seeing the mote and missing the beam
- The People's Chronicle Editorial :: October 09, 2023 -
WITH the strife-torn northeastern Indian state of Manipur showing signs of recovery from the conflict between the Meitei/Meetei and Kuki-Chin community which has entered its sixth month, the relevance of the core issues that led to the outbreak of the conflict in the first place seems to have been relegated once again from the collective conscience of a nation that is as fickle as its ruling dispensation.
Even as Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who has been remaining conspicuously silent from uttering even a single word of concern over what is happening in a small of his own country, took time to tweet on X to convey that he was shocked by the news of terrorist attacks in Israel, and "Our thoughts and prayers are with the innocent victims and their families. We stand in solidarity with Israel at this difficult hour,"
the focus of the media and news channels in the country which were covering the Manipur violence 24x7 too has been shifted to the Israel-Palestine conflict.
With the sound of gunfighting remaining silent for the past few days, life in Manipur may be slowly returning to normalcy with curfew relaxation hours becoming longer, market places reopening, schools and colleges resuming academic activities and some of the displaced people returning to their respective places, but the truth is, the situation in the state continues to remain tense as there is looming fear of gunfight erupting again.
This volatile situation is going to remain as long as the core issues that have been identified as the main factors for fuelling the conflict have not been resolved.
Without resolving these core issues, peace in Manipur will remain elusive even if the battle-weary people on both sides of the clash divide try their best to piece together their broken lives and homes.
From the way the issue of Manipur has been overlooked by the ruling dispensation and brushed aside by the national media in favour of a war that is taking place in faraway Middle East, some 3,777 km away from New Delhi, the people of Manipur should realise that no one is going to come to their rescue and they themselves have to join hands in finding solutions to the problems besetting the state.
They should have the guts to swallow the bitter truth and wake up to the fact that the conflict in Manipur that has so far led to loss of hundreds of precious human lives, reduced private and public properties to ashes and rendered thousands of people homeless, forcing them to see shelter in relief camps, was nothing but fodder for the national media and news channels, which could never understand the complexity of the issues involved other than looking through the lens of religious clashes between the majority Hindu Meitei/Meetei and the minority Christian Kuki-Chin or conflict over controlling the land.
Now, with their bellies filled, it's natural for these media outlets to look elsewhere.
On the other hand, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who has taken a vow of silence on the Manipur violence, which has now been acknowledged as a part of a larger transnational conspiracy to wage war against India by terror groups based in Myanmar and Bangladesh, lost no time in condemning the terrorist attacks in Israel.
Within hours of Hamas launching a surprise attack on Israel, the Prime Minister took to X and announced that India stands in solidarity with Israel but he has not tweeted anything on the over five-month-long conflict in Manipur, which could have given some sort of solace to the suffering people.
So, it would be futile on the part of people of Manipur to expect anything from such a leader who sees the mote in other's eye and not the beam in front of his own eye.
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