The politics of Homeland : Notion of Us Vs Them
- The Sangai Express Editorial :: November 17, 2012 -

Manipur is on sale. It is on auction, with Delhi ostensibly wielding the hammer.

The bidders have come in the form of the Kuki State Demand Committee and the Isak-Muivah faction of the NSCN along with the United Naga Council on the other side.

Not the latest news, but which have continued to dog the geo-political entity known and called Manipur.

Public blockade is the new term that has been ingeniously coined by the Kuki State Demand Committee and the interesting part is the timing.

It cannot be a co-incidence. The public blockade and the call for a Kuki State with such renewed vigour has come at a time when Delhi is reportedly readying the final pact with the NSCN (IM).

The politics of homeland can take different turns and twists and at the centre of it all is the political and social entity called Manipur to the rest of the world.

The map issued by the Kuki State Demand Committee is equally interesting and intriguing. Literally it overlaps with the Nagalim map mapped out by the think tank of the NSCN (IM) and the areas demarcated by the United Naga Council for an Alternative Arrangement, outside the Government of Manipur, pending a solution to the Indo-Naga political dialogue.

We have already commented on the significance of the area to come under the purview of the public blockade and it all boils down to the question of territory and territory.

How far the Kuki State Demand Committee will be able to take the Kuki people along with the "map' and the decision to impose the public blockade is a question that falls in the realm of speculation at this moment, but its significance cannot be dismissed that easily.

Kukiland or Zalengam and Nagalim or Alternative Arrangement.

Terms which have come along with some high sounding fundamentals such as peaceful parting of ways, existing as peaceful neighbours etc but which are driven by an agenda which refuses to look beyond one's political beliefs and ideologies.

Tne contradiction arises when one factors in on the politics of hate that drives and sustains such a notion.

A policy of Us Vs Them.

Ironic it is but in the very process of trying to disseminate the geo-political entity called Manipur, the demands of Kukiland and Nagalim or Alternative Arrangement are on collision course.

Who stands to gain from such a situation ? Definitely not the people on whose behalf such calls have been raised.

Providing a living and breathing space to the political ambitions of some crafty persons who know what it takes to fuel the passion of the people, is what it is in the ultimate analysis.

Making the recipe complete is the mindset which has wittingly or unwittingly made sure that everything that has to do with Manipur is centric to a particular community - the Meiteis in this case.

The Meiteis too have a lot to answer for the present chaos, confusion and uncertainty that has enveloped the place and her people.

A failure of the majority community to take all the people, especially the tribals, the Kukis and the Nagas, along with the idea of a Manipur.

This is a point which we have raised in this column on more than one occasion and there is a reason why this point is being repeated again.

Chauvinism and belligerence make an effective cocktail to pose a threat over the existence of a geo-political entity.

But who cares ? Lip service to Manipur is not what is prescribed here.