Poking into the internal affairs of Manipur : New drug transit route
- The Sangai Express Editorial :: November 30, 2024 -

If matters were not so serious it would have elicited guffaws from all over for here is a case of a neighbouring State giving 'free advice' on how to deal with the internal crisis of Manipur, a crisis that has dragged on for over 15 months.

And in dispensing with its free advice, the Mizo National Front (MNF) has had the temerity to advise Chief Minister N Biren to step down, a measure which even Delhi has not deemed necessary.

In doing this, the MNF is toeing the line of the Churachandpur based ITLF and he Kangpokpi based CoTU and to think that here is a party which once headed the Government at Mizoram and things cannot get more jocular than this.

A major political party echoing the line sounded by two organisations which came into the limelight only after Manipur went up in flames from the evening of May 3, 2023, and nothing can get more farcical than this.

Maybe the MNF is yet to exorcise the days of spending its days in the jungles while waging a bush war against the Indian Nation while Mizoram was just a district of Assam.

Not surprisingly the BJP led Government at Imphal has not taken kindly to the unsolicited suggestion from the MNF and while telling it to lay off, has taken the trouble to spell out how the War on Drugs, the crackdown on illegal settlements in Reserved and Protected Forests and the check on illegal immigrants galvanised the armed Kuki groups to go on the rampage against the Meiteis, first at Torbung and then later at Churachandpur.

If the Kuki people had any grievances, it should have been directed against the Government and till today no answer has been given on why Meitei civilians were targeted at the said two places.

Imphal and the other valley districts retaliated only late in the evening of May 3, 2023, and The Sangai Express had already recounted how a former Kuki MLA came to the office of this newspaper in the evening of May 3, 2023 absolutely safe and sound.

This should be enough evidence that Imphal retaliated only late in the evening, after seeing that Meitei settlements were attacked and set on fire at Torbung and at Churachandpur.

Is the MNF aware of these facts ?

Best would be for the Mizoram based political party to go back to the said day and see how the trouble started.

This is also not the first time that the MNF has tried to poke its nose into the internal affairs of Manipur for just a few days back its Rajya Sabha MP had also sounded the same line.

The observation made here is, not in defence of the Chief Minister in any way, but telling the neighbouring State not to poke its nose into the internal affairs of Manipur.

If at all any change becomes inevitable, let Manipur handle it.

There is the BJP high command and there are BJP MLAs here as well and any change in leadership should be decided by them and not on the basis of the 'advice' from a neighbouring State.

Manipur does not come under Mizoram. This is the bottomline.

Having said this, it should also be clear that the people of Manipur cannot and should not be taken for granted for too long.

After the place went up in flames in the evening of May 3, 2023, there is nothing much to show that there is a Government in place here with many power centres emerging, each under the impression that what they say should be binding on the people and the place.

The many sit-in protests staged against the rising monetary demands, with even educational institutions not being spared, should say something significant.

The recent series of events targeting the MLAs is also a manifestation of a people frustrated by the failure of the Government to put things in order and deliver justice to the people.

It is also a reminder that there could be elements out there who are ready to dirty their hands under the mask of the public outrage, best exemplified by reports of even sacred spots inside the houses of MLAs being desecrated.

Something has to give for Manipur has been existing from day to day for over 15 months, but it is not the business of any third party to say who should remain or be the Chief Minister of the State.

Leave that to the BJP MLAs and the high command of the saffron party.

It would be much better for the MNF to study why Mizoram has become the favoured transit route for drugs in the last 15 months.