Line of ‘First sanitise the place’ : Raj Bhavan on the go
- The Sangai Express Editorial :: February 20, 2025 -

Raj Bhavan seems to have started off on the right foot, if one goes by what has been put into action in the last few days, but there is still a lot more to go.

And it was along this line that Manipur woke up to the news that a man from Kangpokpi has been arrested with drugs and ammunition and Rs 34.2 lakh at Churachandpur on February 18.

Rounding off this particular news were the reports that another man, a leader of an armed outfit has been arrested on charges of extorting from the people and the arrest of yet another high or middle rung leader of an armed outfit at Churachandpur which is not a signatory to the SoO pact.

This development must have come like an air of fresh breath to the people, folks who have been fed ‘demand letters’ from different power players.

The said developments fall in line with the one line agenda Raj Bhavan has reportedly set itself, ‘Sanitise the place.’

And what better way to sanitise Manipur than by cracking down on all the power players who have had no compunction in imposing their writs and diktats on the people, so much so that some entities have come under the impression that the people ought to pay them what they call ‘taxes’.

First sanitise the place is the line that has been bandied about and this line comes with the understanding ‘First sanitise the place before a new Chief Minister is named or the Assembly is revived.’

How well this will go down with the people is anybody’s guess, but the need to show that there is a Government in place is something that has been felt for long, in fact ever since Manipur went up in flames in the evening of May 3, 2023.

It is the same in the hills too with nothing to show that the writ of the Government runs there too and this is perhaps best exemplified by the fact that ‘check points’ have been put up at different points to check private vehicles to see if they carry any member of a particular community, the Meiteis in this case.

Other than this one may recall the time when the SP of Kangpokpi police was injured in the free for all show of strength when a huge mob attacked Kangpokpi police station on January 3, 2025.

This was a little over a month back and one hopes Raj Bhavan has taken due note of this and it would help too for the Governor to look back at some of the ugly incidents across the State in the recent and not so recent past if the one line statement, ‘First sanitise the place’ is to have any meaning.

It would also help if Raj Bhavan can give a new understanding to the word ‘normalcy.’

To many, and rightfully so, normalcy would entail letting people lead life the way it was before violence erupted on May 3, 2023 but Raj Bhavan may take up steps to ensure that normalcy is actually much more than this.

It should mean giving substance and meaning to the understanding of leading a normal life, a life that is not disturbed by tall, threatening talks, a life during which one’s child can go to school freely and return freely, without the parents and elders of the family having to worry what will happen during school hours, a life in which one can take a leisurely walk down to the market to buy the day’s vegetables without any apprehension.

This in short is what Manipur needs and the understanding of normalcy should encompass how the ordinary citizen leads his life on a day to day basis.

No one knows how long the PR stint would be but one hopes attention is paid to the need to open up the National Highways so that it is a highway and is not reduced to a zone where it is a free for all for some gun toting cadres to extort and verify the identity of the passengers of a bus or any vehicle.

Crack the whip, rein in all the muscle flexing tough men and tough women who have never given a second thought in taking the law into their own hands and focus on the drug dealings-Break the nexus and unmask the big fishes.