Growing defiance of the radical elements : March 8 to March 22
- The Sangai Express Editorial :: March 24, 2025 -

March 8, 2025 - It was the Kangpokpi based Committee on Tribal Unity which derailed the free movement call of Union Home Minister Amit Shah. March 22, 2025 it was the Churachandpur based Chura-chandpur District Bar Association which opposed the inclusion of Justice N Kotishwar in the five member delegation of Judges of the Supreme Court on a trip to relief centres at the said district. The open defiance continues.

First the directive of the Union Home Ministry was opposed violently and second this time a team from the Supreme Court of India has been shown the middle finger, a term used for want of better words to describe the utter disdain with which directives from New Delhi have been rubbished and consigned to the dustbin.

Yet Delhi continues to treat the Kuki elements with kids gloves to the extent of cajoling them and still prefers to keep it in its good books via the Suspension of Operation pact.

The politics at play is certainly disdainful and it certainly would not have missed the eyes and ears of anyone.

Justice N Kotishwar was dignity personified when he made it known that he would not be part of the team that would be proceeding to Churachandpur but the hurt in his demeanour is not something that would have missed the observation of anyone.

First greet the free movement call of the Union Home Minister with violence and secondly ensure that a team of Judges from the Supreme Court is told to come only at the conditions laid down by a body called the Churachandpur District Bar Association and the game that is being played out would not have missed the eyes of anyone, except maybe New Delhi which still believes in molly coddling the radical elements within the Kuki-Zo community.

And it obviously does not need a genius to work out who could have been behind the call to defy the directive of the Union Home Minister and demean the team sent by the Supreme Court of India.

So far nothing has come from Delhi on how it has taken the open defiance to the call of Amit Shah and the Supreme Court is also yet to respond to the utter show of contempt demonstrated by a Bar Association based at Churachandpur.

No one would have the gumption and the conviction to defy the Union Home Ministry and the Supreme Court and here is a case of Delhi being haunted by the very elements it had sought to ‘please’ and pamper all along, especially after Manipur went up in flames on May 3, 2023.

And if one looks at what is happening now in 2025 to the red carpet rolled out when the Home Minister came visiting in the last few days of May, 2023, one can discern the level to which politics can be dragged down. Surely Delhi should no longer pretend to play dumb or understand the situation otherwise.

The World Meetei Council (WMC) was bang on target in asserting, “Lordship (of the Supreme Court) belonging to the Meetei community....shall not step into our district’ is not only disrespectful but also a direct challenge to the authority of Supreme Court”.

The Bar Association’s statement undermines the respect and dignity that the highest Court of the country demands and it is crucial that such behaviour is condemned, continued WMC.

What has not been pointed out is how and why the radical elements within the Kuki-Zo community have become so emboldened that they now believe that they can cock a snook at anyone they like under the conviction that they will get away with it.

This is a question which Delhi should be asking itself now and whether such conduct can be linked to the long rope provided to the Kuki militants under the SoO pact.

For the record, not all roads, particularly the National Highways are open to all section of the people and Justice Kotishwar had to drop out of the visit to the relief camps at Churachandpur.

This is what happens when the ongoing clash is viewed through tinted lenses, particularly of the lens that seek to turn a blind eye to the reality and seek to undermine the understanding of Manipur.