Getting more and more audacious : The politics of silence
- The Sangai Express Editorial :: June 12, 2024 -

The audacity is getting more brazen.

From gun wielding elements openly taking part in the Tribal Solidarity March of May 3, 2023 to the systematic attack on Meitei settlements at Torbung then at Churachandpur and which quickly spread to Moreh and Kangpokpi to now targeting the advance security team sent ahead of the proposed visit of the Chief Minister to Jiribam and clearly it should be an open and shut case of outfits under the SoO pact leading the attacks.

Even as the systematic attacks on the Meiteis and everything that the Government of Manipur stands for is getting more brazen, the silence of the Prime Minister becomes more and more ‘sinister’ with each passing day.

The political design behind the selective silence of the Prime Minister on the more than one year old ethnic clash is getting clearer day by day and in the process has given room for a number of speculations to do the round.

Speculations which do nothing but hit at the understanding of India, which is a union of States with Manipur being one of the princely States to merge with the Indian Union in 1949.

The silence of the Prime Minister must be understood against the cacophony of bullets being fired and the systematic arson and targeting of Meitei settlements, rendering thousands homeless.

The latest is the case of Jiribam where hundreds are compelled to take refuge in relief centres set up by the State Government.

It is against this stark reality that chief of the Rashtriya Swayam-sevak Sangh (RSS), Mohan Bhagwat spoke out about the need to give priority to the Manipur issue.

Widely understood as the ideological mentor of the ruling BJP, the statement of the RSS chief, though it has come after one year of the violence erupting, should say something significant.

It is not only Manipur and her people who are perturbed by the silence of the Prime Minister but even the RSS and the umbilical cord that ties the two entities cannot be wished away with a wave of the hand.

This is the primary reason why The Sangai Express ran a four column story on the observation of Mohan Bhagwat though the reference to Manipur stretched just two paragraphs.

It is not just the ideological mentor of the BJP which has emphasised that the issue in Manipur must be given priority, or top billing in the scheme of things of the new BJP led Government, but right wing publications such as Swarajya.

It was with a reason why an article in the said right wing publication called for a direct intervention of the Prime Minister in the Manipur issue and which was also carried by The Sangai Express.

As things have transpired, it is more than apparent that it is beyond the State Government to resolve the issue, for the issues involve elements from Myanmar which are being actively backed by China, all in the name of having a greater influence in the Indo-Myanmar region.

A clear case of geo-politics having a definitive say in the ongoing ethnic clash and this is primarily the reason why Kuki militants have been able to strike at will, anyplace, anytime.

This should also explain why the Kuki militants have been able to sustain the clash for over a year and this should also answer the question of why they never run out of ammunition.

These are facts which New Delhi should admit and come to the point that Manipur cannot be made the sacrificial lamb in the politics of the Great Game East.

An ethnic clash that has dragged on for over a year and clearly the politics at play is unmistakable and Delhi should have been able to understand and work out which force is sustaining the clash.

Delhi may be under the impression that it is the compulsion of geo-politics, the need to keep a check on the growing influence of foreign powers in the Indo-Myanmar region but it is along this line that so many in Manipur have begun to interpret the silence of the Prime Minister as well as the long rope given to the Kuki militants by Central agencies, which are here to guard the Indo-Myanmar border.

Such line of politics goes against the understanding of India as a Nation, a country of different States, each unique in its own way and alienating Manipur from the idea of India will not do the country any good.

A new Government has been sworn-in, and while it is the same faces which were there when Manipur went up in flames on May 3, 2023, the understanding of the third term of Modi as PM should be made more meaningful.