Posers to New Delhi and Imphal Conspiracy of silence ?
- The Sangai Express Editorial :: May 22, 2023 -

New Delhi and Imphal need to answer certain questions and sincerely at that.

In the first place, why the was the inappropriately christened ‘Tribal Solidarity March’ allowed to be held at all on May 3 ?

Did the circumstances ahead of the May 3 rally blow over the heads and consciousness of Imphal or was it a case of being indifferent to the writings on the wall, which were clearly visible to every Tomba, Hongba and Chaoba ?

How did gun wielding ‘heroes’ take part in the supposedly solidarity march, ironically qualified by the term ‘Tribal‘ ?

Why were such a huge number of people allowed to march up to Torbung which is located a good 11.2 kilometres away from Churachandpur and create mayhem, which is the spark that ignited the ethnic clash and from which Manipur is still reeling under ?

More than two weeks since trouble first erupted and why has no action been taken up against the organiser of the Tribal Solidarity March ?

Has the Government studied why trouble broke out only at Churachandpur and soon spread in no time to only Kangpokpi and Moreh and not to the other hill districts, where the Tribal Solidarity March was also organised ?

Has the State Government given any thought to this ?

Over 70 people killed, many others injured, properties destroyed, places of worship desecrated and destroyed, goods laden trucks still stuck on the Imphal-Dimapur line, fingers pointed at cadres of outfits which are under the Suspension of Operations pact with the Government and Delhi yet to utter a single word, other than the ‘keeping a close tab’ on the development here- Can Delhi explain the deafening silence it has maintained so far ?

From May 3 to May 21 and so far no one from the Union Council of Ministers has deemed it fit to visit Manipur to get a first hand account of the situation here. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who is otherwise known to be active on the social media, has been uncharacteristically quiet all these days and the natural question is whether there is a sort of a conspiracy behind the stoic silence that has been maintained so far.

These questions are all that more important for situation seems to be far from normal, a point so profoundly underlined by the Committee on Tribals Unity (COTU), Sadar Hills in maintaining that ‘forced peace is not viable.’

That this came against the background of the report that hundreds of people or volunteers came out on the road and blocked security forces, led by the SP of Kangpokpi, from visiting other villages within Kangpokpi, should paint a better picture of the reality here.

The genesis of the clash has been outlined earlier in this very column and now the job of Imphal should be study what steps should it anticipate after the clash ?

Who stood to gain from the series of clash or the mayhem that unfolded at Chura-chandpur, Imphal, Kangpokpi and Moreh ?

Was the clash engineered to give way for the call of a separate administration ?

This is where the line of thought so succinctly put forth by Professor Bimol Akojam in a television talk in The Print deserves the required attention from the policy framers of the land and the stoic silence of Delhi is not helping matters at all.

Add the accusation of cadres under the SoO pact being given a free hand by the Central security forces to the ‘call for a separate administration’ and this is where the suspicion of a bigger conspiracy at work gets closer to the understanding of a reality.

This is certainly not what is expected of New Delhi and here one is reminded of the manner in which the then Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh air dashed to Manipur after Imphal erupted in protest following the discovery of the bullet riddled and battered body of Thangjam Manorama and the nude protest that followed back in 2004.

And remember back then it was not an ethnic clash at all, but a protest against the excesses of the Assam Rifles personnel and the draconian Armed Forces Special Powers Act.

Delhi certainly needs to look back at the not so distant history.