Yearning for the roots

Samarjit Kambam *

Keithel Lairembi Ekou-khatpa at Lamphel SuperMarket in June 2011

Always two. Whenever a social issue arises, Manipur gets mired into two. In fact, Manipur is a "two-something" State.

Of late, the demand for grant of ST status by various civil society organisations is gaining momentum. And this issue is turning out into a "two way" issue. There is huge disparity, diverse opinions and polarisation among the Meeteis settling in the valley regarding this issue.

In a societal set-up like ours, discussions, deliberations and debates on the issue as per the people's opinions are of paramount importance. There is no need to draw hatchets on this issue which can otherwise be brought into an amicable and common solution or agreement through the negotiating table, otherwise, this very issue will harbour peril and create confusion and chaos amongst our very Meetei brethren.

As a member of the society and as one of the hoi polloi, I am expressing my views which I hope will contribute, however minuscule, in making ourselves take informed choices and collective decision rather than drowning ourselves in confusion and going for an eye for an eye amongst ourselves.

First of all, let me bring to the fore, a brief insight into the history of our state. Manipur, the then Meitrabak or Kangleipak resembling a mammoth volcano with a small valley surrounded by nine ranges of hills was an independent princely state since millenniums back with King Kangba as the first king in the history of Manipur which can be termed as Ancient (1405-1357 BC) until it merged with the Indian Union on 15 October, 1949 with the signing of the Shillong Accord, an accord shrouded in mystery, the real account of how the accord was signed has so far never seen the light of the day (only that Tehelka magazine revealed that the accord was signed at gunpoint) [Dec 11, 2011, Issue 49, Vol 7] thereby giving rise to valley based organisations such as UNLF, RPF, PREPAK etc after the Manipur National Union (MNU) did not succeed to regain lost glory of Manipur.

Actually, I abhor the name "Manipur", for our state was called "Meitrabak" before Warren Hastings, the then Governor General of India changed it to Manipur in 1774.

And one reason that always unsettles my mind and drive me nuts is whenever I ask to myself, "Why did Maharaja Budhachandra have to go all the way to Shillong with his entourage and army by horses and elephants as means of transport when he could have sat with divine pride and called the stakeholders of mainland India to come to Manipur (sic) Meitrabak to sign the accord? Keeping that for the time being, lets rewind back to King Pamheiba.

Prior to his kingship, the hill and valley people lived peacefully as blood-brothers. The "Mera Wayungba", a heart-rending tradition depicting a silently loud story of how the elder brother who had gone to reside in the hill told his younger brother who was left behind in the valley to lit up a light during the "Mera" season high above the ground so that the elder brother could know that his younger brother's fine, secure and well is testimony to the fact that the hill and valley people are blood brothers. It was during King Pamheiba's time and the first Hindu turned King Garibniwas that the rift between the hill and valley people began to widen.

The loblolly king Pamheiba who played smart alec was callow enough to get brainwashed by the self-made godman Santidas Gosai from Sylhet, Bangladesh. The nimrod king was so taken away by the black art of Gosai that he was completely brainwashed to forgetting even his own roots and the age old culture and traditions of Meitrabak took a complete overhaul. Black art is Science only and Gosai, a game-changer, no doubt was quite an expertise in Chemicals.

His trickery with chemicals swayed the king to almost behave like his servant. Then, our original sacred book on Sanamahism, the "Puya" was burnt to ashes with no copy left whereby "Puya Meithaba Numit" is observed every year by the Meeteis who are Sanamahists. Then, the king brought many Bangladeshi men to Manipur, forcefully marrying our dear Meetei chanuras of that time to them and then the shotgun progeny of Meetei-Pangal emerged as a lineage.

I know, there may be many who dislike this piece I am writing as well as many who support me. But using the 'freedom of expression' as my shield, I can't help myself from writing this piece, for our society, for brotherhood, for peace.

Let's understand the harsh reality which we the Meeteis are facing. We are "General" category, considered as higher echelon in the societal set-up of our state. But we have been living our lives between the twin blades of a scissor. Our hill brothers have the notion that we are exploiting them while we are taken as non-entities in mainland India. A Catch-22 situation. Whenever we go to metro cities such as Delhi, Bangaluru, Mumbai etc., we are just STs and junglees in their minds and have to flee to our home place to save our scary asses from their taunts and discrimination.

So, what are we, actually? A money without denomination, without face value, yet called money. In fact, we are objects of mockery in mainland India, objects to be ridiculed. Do we have to carry a placard mentioning "General" or stamping the word "General" on our foreheads when we go to Mainland India?

The irony is that in the eyes of people of mainland India, we the Meeteis, Nagas, Kukis and other indigenous tribes are always the same mistaking us for Chinkese because of our Mongoloid features. All along the way, since the integration of Manipur in Indian mainland we the Meeteis have always been the loser. We have been the wrong people at the wrong time all these years. Socio-economically also, we the Meeteis are always at the receiving end even though our hill brothers think otherwise.

Many intellectuals, educationists and resource persons have opined and expressed their views that the Meeteis fulfil the criteria to become ST as is enshrined in Article 366(25) of the Indian Constitution. I need not elaborate on that. The population of Meeteis in Manipur is a mere 13 plus lakhs. In fact, the figure of outsiders have far outnumbered us in ground reality even though not on official figure.

Kakching, the small town of Thoubal district has fared far better than Imphal in almost all spheres. The pool of resourceful persons have increased manifold there leaving Imphal far behind in socio economic development, education, human resource and many others.

They have become SCs, but there is no impact of deviation or implications in the religions of their choice. In fact, they have kicked behind Imphal and other valley based districts in terms of progress in many areas. The status quo in Kakching should be an eye-opener for us.

When we demand that we want ST status, it doesn't mean that we have to be half-naked, spear-born and eat meat. We can be vegetarians, yet cosmopolitans even if we are STs. Coming to religion, many of us who embrace Sanamahism will worship Sanamahi and Hindu Vaisnavites can worship their Hindu deities. There will not be an iota of problem in religion when it comes to attaining ST status. A Meetei ST can be a staunch worshipper of Lord Krishna, Lord Vishnu, Mahadev, Jesus Christ, Gautam Buddha and any other deity of his choice. We can be computer savvy, smarter, have a broader outlook even if we become STs.

I am writing this piece not for gains from the central government. Let's leave quotas and reservations at bay for the time being. What matters most is to revive the bond of brotherhood between hill and valley people who are blood brothers. As per my opinion, converting ourselves into ST is by far the most logical and best solution for a peaceful Manipur. Course, there are apprehensions galore among the hill people that granting of ST status of Meeteis will result in snatching away their quotas, reservations, grants and the likes.

But Meeteis may be granted ST status without infringing on the deserved rights of the hill people. A separate slab of quotas, reservations and the likes can be brought upon for the ST Meeteis by the Indian government without infringing on the deserved rights and socio-economic structures of the hill people.

Now, the arrival of rail connectivity in Imphal is already in the pipeline and the number of outsiders, mostly migrant workers will increase exponentially and things will get really nasty if we the indigenous people do not have a protective shield which in fact is ILP and grant of ST status to Meeteis. Otherwise, we will be engulfed in the vast sea of non-stop influx of outsiders and meet the same fate as indigenous Tripuris of Tripura.

As a son of the soil, I want my identity, culture and tradition from dissipating through assimilation by outside elements. I want our children to be proud Meeteis possessing their own unique identity, tradition and culture and live in harmony with the hill brothers.