Of our identity
- Imphal Times Editorial :: June 08 2019 -

One would not need to struggle to find appropriate adjectives to describe the state- except for descriptions like “Dull” or “Normal”.

The slew of activities keeping the public on tenterhooks, albeit for reasons seemingly unrelated for the last couple of days is not something out of the ordinary in this place.

It might even be called the eternal spring of delusion- for all the expectations, hopes and opportunities that has been dashed and wasted.

It would not be an exaggeration to state that the present social developments, as had always been in the past, present a dual aspect, depending on one’s perspective.

One is the unfortunate yet necessary reorientation of social priorities and order, as would the authorities and administrators put it.

The other would be the festering law and order situation which is slowly yet surely morphing into a collective attitude of suspicion and mistrust made worse by a sense of alienation and demarcation between the influential and the powerful on one end with the commoners on the other.

Perfection is often said to be an impossible ideology- proven more often with glaring shortcomings by even the most well-meaning and more resourceful states and leaders.

Yet it is not the failure to achieve perfection that is picking at the conscience of the public and stirring undesirable emotions, but the failure of those who have been entrusted with the power and the authority to make a sincere and determined attempt at making the best out of whatever is being received or offered, or is endowed as the case may be.

While the law and order situation in the state, or more precisely, the cause of it is very much debatable, it is beyond the comprehension of one’s rationale when a government fails to even sit up and take notice, much less act on it, when its existence is threatened.

The succession of incursions and intrusions into the territories of Manipur either by Myanmar or neighbouring Indian state on various instances is but a manifestation of the persistent effort of a greedy entity taking undue advantage of a lethargic and reluctant authority which is still not able to make up its garbled mind on the sequence of actions to be taken up, if it is to be taken up at all.

The acute indecisiveness of the state government has become rather viral, seeping down to every ancillaries of its machinery.

Then again, the uncomfortable development is the recent threats to the existence of the identity of the state and its people due to various policy who are in power at the center.

The identity of the indigenous people is at stake with the government planning to introduce certain legislation in their effort to make sure that India of today will by a Hindu nation tomorrow.

No doubt many or say majority of the Meitei follow Hindu religion but it should be noted that being Hindu does not say that we are part of their culture.

Manipur adopted Hindu in late 17 century but then it had its own history and religion.