Flogging a dead horse
- The People's Chronicle Editorial :: August 21, 2024 -

IN the current tense situation in Manipur, where there are deep-rooted trust issues over everything among the people of different communities, to say or do anything otherwise which is not line with the popular sentiment of any group is fraught with danger.

One could land in trouble even for sharing opinions or expressing one's thoughts out loud. But to see red and look for controversy in everything one does or says is definitely not a good sign of a society, howsoever mistrustful or dystopian it may be.

The recent issue of North Eastern Council (NEC) withdrawing its 'Vision Plan 2047' following detection of a factual error regarding the migration of Kuki-Chin people is a case in point.

Instead of saying from the "Chin state of Myanmar," the document of NEC's Vision Plan 2047 wrongly mentioned Kuki-Chin people came from the "Chin State of Manipur".

After chief minister of Manipur N Biren Singh reportedly raised the issue with Union Minister for Development of North Eastern Region (DoNER) Jyotiraditya Scindia, the matter is believed to have been settled with the nodal agency for social and economic development of the northeast region promptly withdrawing its vision document for necessary correction.

But it seems the matter is far from over for the Manipur Pradesh Congress Committee (MPCC) with its president K Meghachandra not willing to let go of it without seeing some conspiracy behind this error, which is more like a faux pas, rather than any intentional sinister design of the double engine government of BJP in Delhi and Imphal to break apart the territorial integrity of Manipur by 2047, as he had stated.

His concern over the possibility of "adding fuel to the already burning Manipur" is understandable, and we appreciate it.

But to suggest it was a secretively designed and proposed creation of Chin State of Manipur by the BJP government is too much of a thing to digest.

If one closely studies the "Chapter 3: Art, Culture and Natural Heritage" of the now withdrawn NEC's Vision Plan 2047, one can understand that mentioning migration of the Kuki-Chin people from the "Chin state of Manipur" instead of "Chin state of Myanmar" is more of an oversight on the part of the people involved in the preparation of the vision document.

Of course, failure on the part of the involved people to detect the error at various stages, right from typing of the text on the computer screen to proof reading of the manuscript before it was finalised for printing and publication is something unpardonable.

And, the seriousness of this error, even if it was an oversight, stems from the fact that Manipur has been on the boil for more than 15 months now following the outbreak of unprecedented ethnic violence between the Meetei/Meitei and Kuki-Chin communities since May 3 last year and the issue of illegal immigration from Myanmar is being regarded as one of the main factors for outbreak of this ethnic violence.

So, proper care should have been taken by the people involved in preparation of the vision document to avoid any factual error that could vitiate the already volatile situation in strife-torn Manipur.

Responsibility should also be fixed so that such errors, inadvertent or otherwise, do not recur in the preparation of any important government document.

But it does not behove well for any political party to look at such errors through the political prism with an eye on stirring up some controversy, even when there is none.

As a matter of fact, there are too many pressing issues which are directly related to the survival of the people in the state today.

Manipur Pradesh Congress Committee (MPCC) could very well take up these pressing issues and keep the government on its toes rather than flogging a dead horse.