FCI's noose on NH-37 ? The highway politics
- The Sangai Express Editorial :: June 02, 2012 -

NH-2 and NH-37 that connects Jiribam to Imphal :: Pix - TSE

The agenda is not only unholy, it is insidious. It is also crystal clear.

The instruction of the Regional Office (Dimapur) of the Food Corporation of India to stop the transportation of PDS items like sugar, rice and wheat till Jiribam by train as well as the directives issued to the transporters that 80 percent of the goods taken from its godown should traverse along the Imphal-Dimapur stretch of National Highway 2 is a clear manifestation of powerful forces, which are inimical to the interest of Manipur, flexing their muscles.

The question is whether the Congress Government in Manipur will be able to live up to the challenges thrown up by the latest orders from the FCI, which sound more than just an office circular.

From overtly blockading the Imphal-Dimapur stretch of National Highway-2 to covertly using its reach and influence to doctor orders which can have a negative impact on the lifelines of the State, the strategy of some powerful forces to dictate the lives of over 25 lakh people has come full circle.

Highway politics which has been interpreted and enforced as 'economic blockades' has not only meant holding to ransom the lives of over 25 lakh people but has also eaten into the very idea of the existence of Manipur as a political and social entity and it is against this reality that the agenda behind the latest orders of the FCI, regional office, Dimapur should be studied and understood.

It is not just an office notification which has been issued. It is not a question of which routes transporters should take.

It is also not about whether essential commodities should be brought in by train till Jiribam. It is more than these. It is about the existence of Manipur as a distinct political and social entity that is at stake here.

On what grounds did the FCI, regional office, Dimapur issue those orders ?

What is the rationale behind instructing the transporters that 80 pc of the goods taken from the FCI godown at Dimapur should traverse along NH-2 and 20 pc along NH-37 ?

The answer should not be hard to find. The intention is not lost on us and should not lose on the Congress Government either. It is nothing but a blatant act of trying to make the people of Manipur rely only on one lifeline.

It is this agenda that should be defeated at all cost. The politics of economic blockade has already taken a heavy toll on the people of Manipur and to the forces which are against the interest of the people and the State, such politics serve two concrete purposes.

For one such a strategy serves the purpose of demonstrating the muscle and gun power of the groups concerned and secondly and most importantly it serves to sow the seeds of communal distrust and even hatred, thus assaulting the very foundation on which the idea of Manipur rests.

The question that remains is whether Mr Okram Ibobi Singh and the Congress Government will be able to rise to the challenge and take things to its logical conclusion or whether they will be caught on their wrong foot, swayed by the inability to take any decisive course of action or not.

Perhaps this is the first test for Mr Ibobi in his third consecutive stint as the Chief Minister of Manipur.