Of leikai heroes and heroines : The enemy within
- The Sangai Express Editorial :: December 12 2023 -

Rightfully, condemnations have come pouring in from different sides, but the Meiteis as a community should look beyond the condemnations and seriously study what is wrong.

And accordingly see what corrective measures may be taken up.

This is the age of the new media and while the major newspapers missed the story, Imphal woke up to information on the social media of two Rongmei girls being assaulted at Bishnupur on December 8.

Not unexpectedly this particular report sent shock waves across all right thinking people and out has come a series of condemnations starting from the Forum for Restoration of Peace, the World Meetei Council and others.

Even as this commentary is being penned down, came reports and news on the social media of how a particular voluntary organisation had rounded up a leader of a Bishnupur youth organisation and put him under serious questioning to dig out who all were involved in the assault of the two Rongmei girls.

Even as course of actions were being lined up to pull up the wrong doers, came a particular short write up on how the Nagas have been victimised in the course of the ethnic clash between the Meiteis and the Kukis.

And all the victimisation stories had the Meiteis as the perpetrators.

One particular, short write up under the heading, ‘Are we safe in Manipur’ went viral on the social media and it recalled the assault of four Tangkhul girls while they were on their way to the airport on May 24, the killing of a Maring lady on July 15 at Imphal East, the assault of three Tangkhul boys on December 3 and the matter is still hanging in the air with Ukhrul organisations having set a deadline of 48 hours and the said timeframe having already elapsed and the assault of two Rongmei girls at Bishnupur on December 8.

Just 24 hours after the May 24 assault of the four Tangkhul girls came to light, the Co-ordination Committee on Manipur Integrity (COCOMI) issued an unqualified apology.

This should have been enough for the people to learn some lesson, but no one is ready to listen to reasoning.

It is this ‘leikai heroes and heroines’ mindset that is a cause of deep concern.

It is this mindset which comes out in all its ugliness when anyone out on the road in Imphal in the night is ordered to stop and questioned with lines such as ‘Kadaidagi lakeeno’, ‘Kadaida chatlurino’ ‘Mei muthatlaga thou’ etc and even media persons who work late into the night are told to drive after switching off their headlights.

It is this ‘order’ from the leikai heroes and heroines which led to a staff of The Sangai Express to bang his car on the road obstacle put up right in the middle of the road.

Such vigilantism is not helping the cause of Manipur or the Meiteis in any way and on the contrary it is akin to making more enemies.

This is the time that Manipur must be looking out to take everyone along but when innocent girls and boys are harassed and assaulted just because they happened to be outside their home and do not belong to the Meitei community, then the very idea of defending what Manipur stands for will stand defeated.

Enough damage has been done and one wonders if the people, the so called vigilantes have acknowledged the immense harm they have done to the people.

As usual, the Government is silent and it is voluntary organisations which have jumped in to pull up those who were involved in the December 8 assault of the two Rongmei girls.

Identify the villains in the piece, take them to task and deliver justice, for the biggest enemy of Manipur or the Meiteis have come from within and it is time to weed out such nemesis, who try to cloak their real self under the excuse of doing something for the people and the place.

The seriousness of the issue at hand must be clear to all and this is not the time to play leikai heroes and heroines.

Let better sense prevail.

Manipur can only create other enemies at its own peril and it is a tragedy that there are some elements who are out there to create as many enemies as possible.