Gol ready; PM speaks, finally !
- The People's Chronicle Editorial :: July 21, 2023 -

AT long last, 78 days to be precise, the Government of India has finally agreed to discuss the issue of Manipur which has been witnessing unprecedented violence following the outbreak of clashes between the Meetei/Meitei and the Kuki-Chin communities since the evening of May 3.

After a “Tribal Solidarity March” organised by All Tribal Students’ Union, Manipur (ATSUM) in the hill areas of the state against the Manipur High Court’s directive to the Government of Manipur for sending recommendation to the Central Government for inclusion of Meitei/ Meetei community in the ST list of the Constitution of India turned violent specially in Churachandpur town with some Kuki youths backed by armed elements assaulting innocent people belonging to Meitei/ Meetei community and setting ablaze their houses; life of the people in this tiny north-eastern state, which is home to more than 30 ethnic communities, has never been the same.

Apart from hundreds of precious human lives that have been snuffed out and thousands of families on either side of the divide uprooted from their homes and hearths, thus, forcing them to take refuge in the various relief camps set up across the length and breadth of the state, the heat of this unprecedented communal hatred between the Meetei/Meitei and the Kuki-Chin communities has engulfed the entire state and put people of every ethnic community in a tight situation.

With no sign of any slowdown in the violent confrontation between the two warring groups despite the Government of India invoking Article 355 of the Constitution and deploying large number of central security forces to contain the volatile situation, the opposition parties have been exerting pressure on the central government and seeking a response from Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who, till Thursday, maintained stoic silence over the crisis in Manipur.

Against this backdrop, the Government of India announced that an all-party meeting held on Wednesday is “willing" to discuss the Manipur situation in the Parliament, whose monsoon session commenced from Thursday.

Talking to the media after the all-party meeting, which is said to be a customary get-together on the eve of of the Parliament session’s start to discuss various issues to be tabled in the Parliament, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi is quoted to have said that “all the parties want a discussion on Manipur and the government is READY to discuss it.”

The choice of the words - willing to discuss the Manipur situation and the government is ready discuss it - is what has caught our attention, and it might be the same for many other people who have been seriously concerned about the evolving situation in Manipur.

Regardless of on which side of the fence one stands in the current crisis, everyone has been questioning why an otherwise vocal Prime Minister like Narendra Modi had not said even a word of concern over the protracted violence in a state of his own country and why the government of India has done nothing serious to end the crisis despite invoking Article 355 of the Constitution and deploying large number of central security forces.

Does the government of India have an ulterior motive behind prolonging the senseless violent clashes between the Meetei/Meitei and the Kuki-Chin communities?

Perhaps, answers to all these million-dollar questions seem to have been found in the willingness and readiness of the government of India to discuss the Manipur issue at long last, after hundreds of precious human lives have been lost, thousands of families displaced and caught the attention of the international community.