Horsing around with words : BJP's flip flop stand on AFSPA
- Sangai Express Editorial :: January 14, 2014 -

Considering National security, repeal of AFSPA needs talks. This was the BJP during a media conference at Guwahati on January 10.

Fast forward by 48 hours and the same party hummed a somewhat different tune, stating that good governance can get rid of AFSPA from Manipur.

Prior to this was the purported statement from a functionary of the RSS that repeal of AFSPA would not be in the interest of the Nation. Playing with words.

If the BJP is under the impression that they can hoodwink the people by resorting to clever use of words, then it would amount to insulting the intelligence of the people.

Take the statement delivered in Guwahati on January 10. The Armed Forces Special Powers Act has been in force in the North East States for more than five decades and the result is there for all to see.

What more is there to discuss ?

Can an Act, which empowers the Army and para-military forces to open fire even to the extent of causing death on mere suspicion, ensure the security of the Nation ?

Did AFSPA help during the Chinese incursion in 1962 ?

This Chinese lesson should be enough reason to rubbish the national security question vis-a-vis AFSPA.

Can't the Army deal with the insurgency movement in the region without the blanket immunity granted to them under this Act ?

Again, what does the BJP mean by saying that good governance can ensure or guarantee the 'riddance' of AFSPA ?

What are the parameters of good governance on the scale of the BJP ?

Toss the 'good governance' observation of the BJP in the air and the other side of the coin would read as, the continued imposition of AFSPA in Manipur is due to the misrule or absence of governance under the Congress party.

On one hand slyly and covertly justify the imposition of the Army Act in Manipur and some other States of the North East and Kashmir and on the other side blame the Congress Government for the continuation of the said Act.

Sure this is election time, and AFSPA being a sensitive issue, the BJP must have thought it best to horse around with words without actually stating its stand on the said Act, leaving the people confused and yet firing salvos at the Congress Government from the shoulders of the Army Act.

Real politiks at work.

AFSPA may not have entered the electoral arena, which was best exemplified by the election to the 10th Manipur Legislative Assembly, where the Congress, which did not say anything about the Act in its election manifesto was overwhelmingly voted back to power with 42 MLAs in the House of 60.

This is on record. However to interpret this as AFSPA being a non-issue, would be missing the trees for the woods.

It was more a case of the voters or the public not believing or giving any weightage to the promises made by political parties in its election manifestoes.

It is this very reason, why political analysts in Manipur say that elections in Manipur do not revolve around issues, and AFSPA is very much an issue, which has touched the lives of thousands of people down the decades.

This is a lesson that the BJP would do wise to digest and learn. Make no mistake about it.

Whatever the State unit of the BJP may say, its Central leaders have had their say, playing around with words and it would be interesting to see whether the State unit of the party would try to come out with some damage control exercise.

This is where the political acumen of its leaders, Th Chaoba and Meinam Bhorot in particular, would be tested.

Perhaps a point needs to be drilled into the heads of the Central BJP leaders who parachuted into Manipur a few days back.

By its very definition, AFSPA is an Act which is there to deal with extra-ordinary circumstances.

And an extra-ordinary circumstance comes within the understanding of a time frame.

The very fact that this Act has been in force for more than five decades in Manipur should be more than indicative that the situation here is not extra-ordinary but is a political issue and political issues can never be resolved by giving unbridled powers to its military.