Who is doing the politics ?
- The People's Chronicle Editorial :: January 16, 2024 -

WHEN Chief Minister N Biren Singh, who is leading the BJP government in the strife-torn Manipur, questioned whether it is time to do politics by holding rallies as the opposition Congress party's Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra led by Rahul Gandhi kicked off on Sunday, there may by none who disagrees with this observation.

Manipur has been rocked by an unprecedented ethnic conflict that broke out between the Kuki-Chin and the Meitei/Meetei communities since May 3 last year following a Tribal Solidarity March organised by All Tribal Students' Union, Manipur (ATSUM) in protest against the directive given by the High Court to the state government for sending the requisite recommendation for considering the demand for recognition of Meetei/Meitei as one of the scheduled tribes under relevant provisions of the Constitution of India.

The supposedly peaceful march, which was taken out simultaneously in all the hill districts of Manipur, turned violent only in Kuki-Chin dominated areas, where Meitei/Meetei people were targeted and their houses burnt down, forcing the Meitei/Meetei in the valley to retaliate.

The violent conflict between the twd communities, who had lived together side by side in mutual harmony for years, has been going on for more than eight months now with no sign of abatement and so far, hundreds of precious human lives have been lost and thousands of families on both sides of the clash divide rendered homeless forcing them to seek shelter in relief camps that have been set up across the length and breadth of the state.

Apart from people of the two warring communities who are baying for each other's blood, the conflict has caused untold suffering to people of other communities living in the tiny multi-ethnic state but maintaining neutrality from taking side in the conflict.

So, it is definitely not the time for any political party to do politics at the cost of human suffering.

Rather, it is the time to protect lives and properties, and provide consolation, as the Chief Minister has stated.

However, Chief Minister N Biren Singh seems to have raised eyebrows when he questioned if Rahul Gandhi came to Manipur to worsen the situation when it has been getting better slowly.

It would be naive for anyone to think or believe that the law-and-order situation in Manipur is improving today, just because there is no more burning down of houses and senseless killings that were witnessed in the initial days of the conflict.

Peace and normalcy that the Chief Minister claimed to have returned in the state is only a wishful thinking. People who fled their homes and hearths are yet to be resettled and their suffering only magnifying with each passing day.

Rather than improvement in the situation, aggression of the armed Kuki militants not just on the innocent villagers living near the foothills or in periphery areas, but also on the state security personnel detailed for preventing unwanted incidents has been intensified and the communal divide between the Meitei/Meetei and the Kuki-Chin people is only widening.

So, it is ironic, to say the least, when Chief Minister Singh said, "The situation (in Manipur) is becoming better, and we doubt if he (Mr Gandhi) has come to mess with it."

And, this irony has been further accentuated when the Chief Minister went off the track by claiming that "whenever he (Rahul Gandhi) comes, there is problem."

It would have been truly honourable on the part of Chief Minister Biren Singh to remember that when Rahul Gandhi came to visit Manipur for two days in june, 2023 and interacted with displaced people living in the relief camps, no problem had been caused other than the commotion created by the state police when they stopped his convoy from going to Churachandpur by road fearing violence along the route.

On the contrary, dozens of houses were set on fire and gunshots reverberated through the valley and the hills as security personnel went after suspected militants targeting civilians while Union home minister Amit Shah was in the state on a four-day peace mission after 27 days of outbreak of the conflict.

Is this what they call political amnesia? Betcha.