Art of keeping silent : Sound of Silence
- The Sangai Express Editorial :: July 07 2011 -

It takes knowledge, wit and a good sense of humour to be a smooth talker, smooth as understood in its positive sense, but it takes something much more than knowledge, wit or a good sense of humour to know when to keep quiet and this is a quality which calls for wisdom and a deep understanding of the sensitivity of the issue at hand.

This quality is also what sets apart the statesman from the politician, a leader from the wannabes and yes a loud mouth from a keen observer of human behaviour and the reality surrounding him.

Like any other positive attributes of mankind, the ability to draw the line between when to speak and when to keep quiet does not come easy and seldom is it an inborn quality.

The art of talking is as much as the art of keeping silent and this becomes all that more relevant in times of crises such as the one that Manipur is passing through currently.

With different forces threatening to rip apart the idea of a Manipur as a distinct political and social entity, the divide along the line of a Greater Lim has never been felt so prominently and the divide runs not only along the geographical understanding of territory but also along the line of ethnic affiliation.

However, deep the divide may be and irreconcilable it may seem, there is still some common threads that run through the champions on either side of the great divide and it is these common threads that all should try to build upon.

Maybe it is the inherent attributes of mankind or some socially imbibed qualities, but these common threads unfailingly come to the fore whenever an unseen hand, an impostor tries to impose its agenda which ultimately will lead to nothing but mutual destruction.

The manner in which people on either side of the Lim divide, or to put it precisely between the Meiteis and the Nagas, closed ranks and stood shoulder to shoulder when the mischievous Naga Crusaders served the quit notice on the Meiteis some time back testifies this observation.

This is what is heart warming and gives us hope in the innate goodness of mankind and it is this quality which all should try to build upon and take it further, not only during times of crises.

The situation demands not only the unanimous stand against such mischievous designs but also calls for all to exercise wisdom while dealing with the issue. This is where the importance of being discreet becomes important.

For this we need to study and try to understand the bigger plot of the Naga Crusaders and the first and most important point is to acknowledge that their agenda cannot be anything but to whip up communal passion and sow seeds of suspicion and hatred.

A false alarm and a panic reaction to the quit notice is the ultimate objective of such pretenders. Extinction is a term generally associated with the great and powerful beasts such as the dinosaur and even today the majestic and powerful Bengal Tiger lies close on the brink of being obliterated from the surface of the earth but not the wimp of a creature-the mosquito.

This analogy is drawn to help us appreciate the fact better that while many brave souls have departed from this earth in the pursuit of their dreams and aspirations, scallywags like the elements behind the Naga Crusaders continue to survive and carry on with their agenda.

As things stand today, these demented minds have resurfaced and they are up to their old tricks again-distributing pamphlets in some hill districts and renewing the quit notice call. Some of the pamphlets were also reportedly found near the bus counters at North AOC.

In the face of such a mischievous but nevertheless potentially harmful agenda being staged, the situation calls for all, cutting across political beliefs and Lim affiliations as well as ethnic ties, to demonstrate maturity of thought and action.

It is here that the observation that the art of knowing when to keep quiet becomes important. The latest development is now no longer a top State secret or a classified information but is known to people who matter.

Yet the point lying before us whether it would be in the fitness of things to go ahead and sing like a canary or decide that silence is the better part of valour. There is something significant in the observation that it is better to keep a sensitive issue within the knowledge of 10 people than 100 people.

The profundity of this observation becomes self evident when viewed against the backdrop of the great harm that may be caused by wild talks or baseless rumour or even hate campaigns, which is just what the mischief makers are after.

The Naga civil society organisations have already come out in the open to voice their staunch opposition against such mischievous game plans. So too has a good number of organisations from the plains of Manipur.

The NSCN factions have also spoken out strongly against the design of the false crusaders. The question that begs an answer is what steps the State Government has taken to either neutralise the game plans of the sick minds or to instil a sense of security amongst the people.

On second thought, this may amount to expecting too much and it would be much more practical for the people themselves to act as the policemen. Time and again the people have demonstrated that they can live up to the challenges at hand and we are sure that they will this time too.

However it never hurts to be cautious and careful and the first step is to send the bogus Naga Crusaders packing where they belong...in the deepest recesses of our collective consciousness. Amen.