Addressing issues, not problems : Back to the future
- The Sangai Express Editorial :: May 14, 2012 -

If Delhi is really sincere in solving the issues confronting Manipur, then it should first acknowledge that there are issues which need deliberations.

Imposing Acts like the Armed Forces Special Powers Act and in the process literally militarising the place and situation is nothing but a blatant act of intentionally turning a blind eye to the real situation here.

The statement made by former Union Home Secretary Mr GK Pillai some time back that either the Prime Minister or the Union Home Minister should apologise to the people of Manipur for the past mistakes is pregnant with meaning and should be seen in its correct perspectives.

That Delhi has deliberately turned a deaf ear to the suggestion of a man, who knew and knows something about where Manipur stood and stands in Delhi's scheme of things, is even more meaningful than the suggestion put forward by Mr Pillai.

That the present is the fruit of the past is a truism that does not need the stamp of approval from a brilliant social scientist and to really understand the issues besetting Manipur, one has to go back to the Merger Agreement.

Extending the political dialogue offer without going into the provisions of the Merger Agreement would amount to nothing less than trying to fetch water with a bottomless vessel. It sounds not only shallow but insincere.

Our understanding of Mr Pillai's call is that either the Prime Minister or the Home Minister should apologise to the people for the past mistakes dates back to this period when the Merger Agreement was signed and the political development that followed.

From an independent State which fought against the invading British imperialists to the Merger Agreement to the status of a Part C State and finally the granting of the status of a full fledged State in 1972, the story of Manipur has to be understood in its entirety if the present issues confronting the State are to be dealt with any sincere intention.

The question of racism, discrimination, and racial profiling that has raised its ugly head with renewed vigour presently is in a way a spill over effect of the past.

As we see it, it was to neutralise this to a certain extent that Mr Pillai sought the apology from the political leadership of Delhi. Not that a sorry or an apology would undo or heal all the past wounds, but it could nevertheless be the first meaningful step towards the destination called 'political solution.'

The other aspects of the spill over effects can be seen in the carrot and stick policy adopted by Delhi now and then in the form of financial sops offered with the unstated but nevertheless made amply clear message that Imphal 'should fall in line or else....'intention thus giving rise to a subservient political culture, where the political class of the State has forgotten that there are certain things which should and can be demanded as laid down in the 'federal in structure but unitary in spirit' Constitution of India.

In fact so ingrained in this political culture in the mindset of not only the political class but the general public that the best leader is deemed to be the one who can best place the 'begging bowl' at the doorstep of Delhi.

This yields electoral gains, no doubt about it, but at the same time it has also strengthened the 'dependency mindset' which Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh so succinctly spoke out against during his recent address to all the Chief Ministers of the 28 States of India.

Delhi and Imphal need to seriously self introspect and acknowledge the fact that the issues confronting Manipur cannot be resolved or worked out by merely looking at the recent past or the present but from the very beginning. This is no doubt a challenge but then leadership quality demands dealing with the toughest challenges.

The question is whether Delhi and Imphal are ready for this or not and apart from what Mr Pillai had suggested, it would be in the fitness of things not to confuse between 'problems' and 'issues'.