The reality in Manipur today : Surviving the place
- The Sangai Express Editorial :: September 11, 2024 -

Surviving Manipur. In a state of mere existence. But living?

The answer could be anything for it is more than obvious to many that the past 16 months have been a case of living from one moment to the other, not really knowing what would happen next.

So even as a man sleeping peacefully in his bed can have his life snuffed out with a bullet, an elderly man can be fatally hit by an explosive that comes flying from quite a distance, a young mother can become a sitting duck for a sniper to claim yet another booty, Imphal and Delhi continue to fumble in the dark on how to bring the situation under a semblance of normalcy.

In response to this, thousands of students come out on the streets of Imphal and confront the State police and Rapid Action Force personnel and make their way to the Raj Bhavan to present their demands, which among other things include handing back the custodianship of the Unified Command, which was so unceremoniously and in a sort of a hush-hush manner taken away, back to the Chief Minister.

Other demands in brief included enforcing the National Register of Citizens to identify illegal immigrants, to abrogate the Suspension of Operation pact with Kuki militants among others.

The students took to the streets after Chief Minister N Biren along with other ruling MLAs personally handed over a representation to the Governor, underlining among other things the points mentioned earlier.

In short one of the main demands of the young students out on the roads and streets of Imphal is removal of the Security Advisor and the DGP, two officers who were handpicked and sent here by the Centre after Manipur erupted in violence on May 3, 2023.

What has been happening in Manipur in the last 16 months should show how the two top officers, handpicked by the Centre, have been dispensing with their duties and connect it with the demand raised by the students to hand over the Unified Command to the Chief Minister and things should be a little clearer.

Surely the politics that Delhi has been playing is just too prominent not to miss the eye.

Continue with the Chief Minister and the popularly elected Government but take away the authority and power of the Chief Minister should sum up the politics of intrigue that is being staged on the soil of Manipur and this cannot be acceptable in any sense of the term.

Is this what Union Home Minister Amit Shah meant when he announced on the floor of Parliament that the Chief Minister of Manipur is co-operating ?

If this is the case then this is something which will not go down with Manipur and perhaps the street battles that students fought with the police and RAF personnel for two straight days should underline this point.

In reading the situation right, Imphal did the right thing in declaring closure of all schools and colleges from September 6 till September 12.

The interesting point is the closure of the educational institutions was initially till September 10, but now it stands extended till September 12 but such is the conviction of the young students that this did not stop them from coming together and rally around the main roads of Imphal, constraining the police to be out in full strength and forcing many to take alternate routes to go about with their daily activities.

Media persons in particular had to face a tough time in even reaching their own office as many of the roads were blocked by protesters.

In other words, Imphal is caught in a war like situation, with no one knowing what will happen next and the presence of a Government which just does not seem to know what it should do has only compounded the matter.

What happens in Imphal obviously will have no impact on Delhi and this could be one reason why Prime Minister Narendra Modi deems it better to play peace maker in Russia and Ukraine and go on foreign jaunts while a State in his own country has been burning for over 497 days.

This is where one is reminded of former Congress Prime Minister Manmohan Singh who promptly landed at Imphal when Manipur erupted in protest after the battered and bullet riddled body of Th Manorama was discovered after she was picked up by Assam Rifles personnel the day earlier.

One also still remembers when the BJP led Government under Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee responded to the situation here after Manipur went up in flames following the Bangkok Agreement in 2001.

Fast forward to 2023/2024 and the reality of an indifferent Prime Minister should be clear to everyone.