Taking stock of the ugly reality : Acknowledging harsh truth
- The Sangai Express Editorial :: February 27 2016 -

Time to take stock of the reality.

A dicey and even dangerous course of agitation has been called off and while this reflects good sense dawning on all concerned, this is also the time to acknowledge certain points, however unpalatable it may be.

Perhaps it was for the first time that vehicles belonging to a particular community, Meiteis in this case, were sought to be targeted in the course of the agitation launched by the Naga Students’ Federation.

The agitation came into force from the morning of February 24 and threatened to drag on indefinitely but thanks to some damage control exercise, the stir has been called off bringing a sense of relief to the State Government and all right thinking people.

The question now is, if the matter can be resolved now, why were no efforts made earlier to avoid such an unpleasant experience ?

To the people of Manipur, two days of vehicular movements coming to a halt may not amount to much, given that they had faced much longer blockades in the past, but what made things all that more ugly is the fact that unlike in the past, this time it was openly against a particular community.

Why was such a situation allowed to surface in the first place ? This is but a natural question that follows.

What stopped the State Government from taking up disciplinary action against the men in uniform without delaying the matter ?

Moreover what stopped the Government from giving a solid assurance to the NSF team that justice would be delivered ?

On the other hand, what made the NSF come under the impression that disciplinary action can be initiated against any personnel without probing the matter first ?

Why could it not wait for some time ?

Or is it a case of the student body having waited long enough ?

Remember the incident occurred on February 14 and the ban on vehicles belonging to Meiteis/Manipuris came into force from February 24 morning.

It is this refusal to see beyond one’s nose that is a matter of concern. It is more disturbing when this failure translates into a course of action, wherein a particular community can be made the target.

As it transpired, what matter more to the people after the stir started was not so much about penalising the cops in question but about how the situation may get out of hand.

A sorry reflection of the ties between different communities in the region.

From an issue concerning a student body and some policemen, the issue threatened to snowball into some sort of a confrontation between communities.

This is what is disturbing and given the reality there is no guarantee that there will be no repeat of such a situation.

At the moment, good sense seems to have prevailed but let this be an eye opener that something, somewhere is deeply wrong with the inter-community relationship and a spark may snowball into a raging inferno.

It is this which people should be wary of.