The forbidden State

Kongbrailatpam Rajeshwar Sharma *

Although Manipur was once described as the "Jewel of India" by Jawaharlal Nehru, the mainland India is quite oblivious of it unless there is trouble. "India's North East remains a peripheral area drawing attention only when violence erupts, when massacres, riots, curfews and agitations spiral out of control", writes Sanjoy Hazarika in his book Strangers of the Mist.

The present violent flare-ups with arsons and indiscriminate killings of villagers in Manipur and how the mainstream media react only vindicate what the veteran Assamese journalist has written.

Based on fake narratives and sensational "morphed" video clips of the social media, mainstream media with their prejudiced and partisan manner of reporting had painted a distorted picture of what happened on the 3rd and 4th May 2023 in Manipur. As arsons and attacks go on unabated in the Manipur valley, a clear picture of who the real perpetrators and the victims are has emerged.

Now the focus of some of the mainland newspapers begins shifting towards the "nexus" between the politicians and heavily armed militants who are alleged to have been enjoying the support of the "powerful drug barons" in the State. However they have not even bothered to spare a few minutes or a small space on the incessant influx of immigrants from Myanmar across the porous Manipur-Myanmar border.

Nor does the "War on drugs" in Manipur find an ample space let alone appear as a headline on the front page of any of the National dailies. Repeated demands for fencing along the border from different civil society organizations in Manipur have fallen on deaf ears. Editors of the mainland Indian newspapers do not find them sensational enough to be reported. Nor do they take these issues as National issues.

The "Babus and Netas" of mainland India are still oblivious of the illegal immigrants crossing over to Manipur, drug trafficking across the border between Myanmar and Manipur, and what measures have been taken up to stop them.

No people in India have ever suffered from violence perpetrated on them by the State and non-State forces as the people of Manipur have. Not only have they been the victims of the current cycle of violence, but they have also been the victims of both the insurgency and the counter-insurgency operations under the Armed Forces Special Powers Act 1958.

Human rights violations, custodial deaths, fake- encounters, rapes, extortions and third degree tortures have been the violent rituals in the lives of the people of Manipur since the early eighties of the last century. In addition to these various types of violence, Manipur has also witnessed State sponsored violence such as Heirangoithong and RIMS gate massacres of the 1980s and 1990s.

None of these had ever appeared on the front page as headlines of the mainstream media. Nor was it taken up in the Parliament for discussion. Only when the Supreme Court and the High Court were moved did the mainstream media afford a small space for the events in Manipur like a line or two in a maze of thousands of words.

Moreover, nowhere in this world is economic blockade imposed in peace time. But in Manipur economic blockades are used as a political weapon in time of peace when there is no war. It is used only during wars as a tactical warfare. To get what they want, economic blockades and bandhs are imposed at the drop of the hat by militants and civil society organizations of every hue more often than not.

The State Government and the people are held hostage for days and sometimes for months by blocking the two National Highways which are the 'life-lines' of the State. Many a time petrol pump retailers have witnessed more than one-kilometer long lines of cars waiting for their turn to get refilled during the economic blockades. Ever since the beginning of the on-going violence on the 3rd of May 2023, Imphal-Dimapur National Highway has been under siege.

No mainland newspaper has ever bothered to report the sufferings of the people caused by economic blockades. No goods trucks or passenger buses can ply on the two National Highways without being escorted by the security forces. As if there is no rule of law or Government in the State or at the Centre in Delhi, no one who is involved in imposing the economic blockade or bandhs has been booked under any provision of the law let alone give him or her punishment according to the law.

A beeline of Opposition MPs of several political parties is seen making their way to strife-torn Manipur to ostensibly assess the two-month old violent situation. The question is what they had been doing before the 3rd of May 2023. Were they not aware of the issues that the State had been grappling ? Did they not have enough time to read online newspapers published in Manipur, particularly The Sangai Express?

Is it not their duty to keep themselves informed with issues and events happening at every corner of India ? Have they ever brought up in the Parliament for discussion issues like Manipur-Myanmar border fencing, Scheduled Tribe demand for Meiteis, drug trafficking along the Manipur-Myanmar border and illegal Myanmar immigrants pouring into Manipur after the military coup in Myanmar?

A vibrant democracy requires well informed members of Parliament who are able to assess the simmering situation that is ticking like a time-bomb and foresee the consequences of the sequence of events. The violent event of the 3rd of May 2023 was an explosion of a time-bomb that had been ticking for many years. It is due to their lackadaisical attitude towards Manipur. It is not only the failure of the State Government but it is also the failure of India as a Nation.

In the recent past one or the other of the Central Government Ministers paid visits to Manipur almost every week prior to the violent events that began on the 3rd of May 2023 but during the last two or three months none of them was seen coming to Manipur except the Home Minister and his Deputy. One might wonder what they were doing in the State. In spite of the Home Minister's short sojourn to Manipur, the violence in the State continued unabated.

The Central para-military forces are alleged to have been acting in a partisan manner. Did the Home Ministry not notice the Scheduled Tribe demand committee agitation ? Why did the Home Ministry keep silent on illegal immigrants and drugs coming into Manipur from Myanmar ? What concrete measures have they taken to address these issues ? It is high time they realized that these issues are the root causes of the present violent flare-ups in Manipur.

About twelve years ago, Mani Shankar Aiyar, former Union Minister in an interview with Mark Tully of the BBC, said, "..there is only one of the States (in the North East) where there is still a problem and that is Manipur, which I admit is in a mess." Since then nothing has been done to clear the mess and solve any of the myriad problems of Manipur.

Mani Shankar Aiyar would not be surprised to hear about the current cycle of violence in the State and know that Manipur is still in a mess. "Arre, who does anything about anything in this country?...It's all jugaar", said a welder while he was talking to Mark Tully near a railway crossing at Yamunanagar in Haryana.