Manipur crisis and centre's indifference
- The People's Chronicle Editorial :: November 11, 2024 -

RECENT spurt in communal violence in the interior villages of Jiribam and Bishnupur districts; during which houses were torched, charring a woman to death, and a woman farmer succumbed to gunshot wounds, underscores that attacks and counter-attacks would occur occasionally between the warring Kuki and Meetei communities in case the central government does not accord importance to addressing the conflict situation at the soonest possible.

Lamentably, the national media had been projecting the Manipur conflict as a feud between tribal and non-tribal communities, unmindful of the fact that only Kuki and Meetei communities are involved in the clash out of over 30 recognised scheduled tribes and scores of other communities in the state.

In the formative stage of the conflict, too, reports by the national media and news agencies portrayed the crisis as a conflict between Hindus and Christians, probably believing in the narratives of Kuki political figures, and church and civil organisations.

As national media reports in the first few weeks of the violence primarily referred to torching and defiling of churches, contrary to significant numbers of religious structures and shrines of the Meetei, a community having believers of different faiths including Hindu, Christian and the indigenous 'Sanamahi', the international community also had the notion that the conflict was orchestrated by the rightwing BJP governments in the state and at the centre.

Such a false perception, however, died a natural death as global leaders and organisations realised that the conflict had nothing to do with religion or tribal versus non-tribal, but fallout of the government's crackdown on encroachers in reserved forests, cross-border influx and poppy plantations, with a high court order pertaining to the Meetei/Meitei's demand for granting scheduled tribe status triggering protests, leading to the violence continuing unabated.

As such, rather than making concerted efforts to resolve the protracted crisis, the centre seems to be living under the impression that doling out relief packages and directing the central forces stationed in the state to facilitate the public purchase essential items from the unit canteens would pacify the affected section of the society.

With both sides in possession of automatic weapons and seemingly determined to cause collateral loss of lives and properties, indifferent attitude of the central leaderships to distress and suffering of the people, coupled with apparent lack of commitment and efficiency to prevent armed attacks by the central forces, especially requisitioned to contain the violence in the state, would naturally be perceived as implementation of the diabolic agenda to keep the flame burning for achieving alternative objectives, unmindful of the fact that the crisis had seen over 200 casualties and thousands displaced from their home and hearth.

With additional central para-military forces numbering thousands unable to effectively contain the violence and the warring communities accusing the forces of taking sides, it could be safely stated that the affected communities have lost trust in these forces.

Another worrisome aspect of the violence is that the present regime has been occasionally attributing the ongoing humanitarian crisis as a carryover of the past government's policy.

Thus, failure or reluctance of the incumbent government to provide succour to the suffering people and instead holding the Congress accountable compels one to wonder whether the BJP leaderships are merely following in the footsteps of the Congress, and consider the latter's political stalwarts as their role models.