Identifying with the idea of Manipur : Responsibility sans rights ?
- The Sangai Express Editorial :: February 14, 2023 -

Chief Minister N Biren Singh was not off the mark in observing that the Meitei community has sacrificed a lot for the sake of a united Manipur and this is a line which The Sangai Express has been stressing on all these years.

Come to think about it, it is only the Meiteis who truly identify themselves with Manipur while the same cannot be said of the other communities, with some even having gone to dub the Government of Manipur as ‘the so called Government of Manipur,’ not so long back. Such a line of thinking connotes so many things and this is perhaps best exemplified against the backdrop of the demand for a Greater Lim and a Kuki Homeland.

Go to any part of the country, any place where a large number of students from Manipur proceed to for their higher studies and members of any student organisation qualified with the name Manipur, comprises of only the Meiteis.

Look at any young student from say Ukhrul or Senapati district and they most probably will be members of Naga Students’ Organisations, whether it is Delhi, Chandigarh, Bengaluru, Chennai or Kolkata.

Likewise any student from Churachandpur or Kangpokpi will align themselves with Kuki Students Organisation, qualified with the suffix, Delhi, Chandigarh, Bengaluru, Chennai or Kolkata, as the case may be.

This is the reality and take it to a larger canvass and what one finds is the fissiparous tendency that has been tearing at the idea of a Manipur and it is against this fact that it is only the Meiteis who have been identifying themselves with the existence of a geo-political reality called Manipur.

And it is against this reality that the Chief Minister took the trouble of exhorting the Meitei people to be more accommodating and ‘sacrifice for the sake of unity.’

The unofficial ‘elder brother’ (Mayamba Ahan or Ahal) tag and this should ideally come with its share of responsibilities and rights, but when rights part is understood only in the context of more political representation, as understood in the larger number of MLAs one gets to send to the floor of the Assembly, then nothing can be more tragic than this.

The number of MLAs that the valley area gets to send to the floor of the Assembly is by sheer dint of the larger population and not through any reservation and this is a point that should not be overlooked.

Again there is no guarantee that such an equation will continue as delimitation can always alter this to a large extent and once this happens the Meiteis will have the right to contest for election in less than 40 Assembly seats.

On the contrary anyone can contest in the 40 Assembly seats which fall in the valley area and are thus unreserved seats.

Simply put, the Meiteis can and will lose out on the political sphere too as the other seats are reserved for the hill people while the seats in the valley area are open to anyone.

A look at the living space of the Meitei folks will also underline another important point and The Sangai Express has already aired its stand on the propensity of christening any area of settlement to identify it with a certain community.

Along with urging the Meitei community to ‘sacrifice for the sake of unity,’ perhaps the Chief Minister may also see what steps can be taken to ensure that the understanding of responsibility does not defeat the understanding of survival of the Meitei folks. Responsibility should go along with ‘survival’ and this is where one may take a long, serious look at the cry raised to provide some sort of a Constitutional protection to the Meitei people.

Sending the requisite recommendations to include the Meitei folks in the ST list of the Constitution of India is a necessity that cannot be overlooked.

The geographical space of the Meiteis plus their political space absolutely need protection and there can be no two ways about it.

How long can the Meiteis survive on just 10 or so percent of the total geographical area of Manipur while the remaining 90 or so percent are strictly off limits for them ?

10 percent of the land open to 100 percent of the population of Manipur but 90 percent of the land closed to the Meiteis just does not square up.

The idea of Manipur can be protected in the survival of the Meitei population and there can be no two ways about this.