When X-users speak up for Manipur
- The People's Chronicle Editorial :: October 12, 2023 -

WITH the exception of Bnei Menashe, a section of the Kuki-Mizo-Chin tribe who considered themselves to be one of the ten lost tribes of Israel, talking of the war being fought between two Palestine and Israel in faraway Middle East is not going to make much sense to anyone living in the northeastern Indian state of Manipur which has been roiled by an unprecedented ethnic conflict between the Meitei/Meetei and Kuki-Chin communities for more than five months now.

The conflict that broke out in Churachandpur district on May 3 last following a Tribal Solidarity March taken out in protest against the demand for recognition of Meiteis/Meeteis as scheduled tribe has so far led to loss of hundreds of precious human lives and rendered thousands of families homeless, but the Prime Minister of the county Narendra Modi has said nothing much nor done anything substantial for restoration of peace and normalcy in the strife-torn state.

So, when he tweeted "Deeply shocked by the news of terrorist attacks in Israel. Our thoughts and prayers are with the innocent victims and their families. We stand in solidarity with Israel at this difficult hour" on X within hours of Hamas, a militant group fighting for the cause of Palestine, launching attacks on Israel, the reaction of the netizens was hard to miss.

Many of the X-users have been asking why the Prime Minister is having the similar feeling of deep shock and showing solidarity with the suffering people of Manipur.

One of the X-users, who tweets as @CaptPKRajRif has even parodied the tweet of the Prime Minister by posting, "Our thoughts and prayers with innocent victims and their families. We stand in solidarity with Manipur at this difficult hour" while another X-user, @ManikCoyal said, "It's surprising that you expressed shock within a few hours of the Israel incident, yet you remain silent about the dire situation in Manipur, which is a state within our own country. This breaks all records of hypocrisy, Mr. Prime Minister".

Such is the disappointment of the people towards Prime Minister Narendra Modi over his silence on the Manipur violence, which has already been confirmed as a transnational conspiracy by Myanmar and Bangladesh-based leadership of terror outfits to wage war against India by exploiting the current ethnic unrest in the state, that when he posted another tweet thanking the Prime Minister of Israel for his phone call and providing an update on the ongoing situation, netizens were up in arms again asking whether Prime Minister Modi has made or received any call regarding update on the situation in Manipur.

If one X-user wanted to know "Any phone call from Manipur, the state of our country burning since May 3??," another with the username @swamiraj636 sarcastically said, Sir, it would have been better if you had made a call to the Chief Minister of Manipur, anyway, nowadays incoming and outgoing calls are free) before reminding, "The situation in Manipur has been very scary for the last 6 months, now even the United Nations is worried...".

But it is the tweet from @ shailendraydv12 which took the words right from our mouth when he said, "manipur ke baare mein to aapane ek shabd nahin bola... aapako manipur par bolane mein sharm kyon aatee hai? aapako ek kattarapanthee ijarailee kee hatya ka dukh hai lekin aapako is baat ka dukh nahin hai ki manipur pichhale kaee maheenon se jal raha hai. laakhon log ghar se beghar ho gaye.. hazaaron jaane gaee lekin apane ek shabd nahin bola... kya ye sharma-naak nahin hai...?"

(You did not say a single word about Manipur... Why are you ashamed to speak on Manipur? You are sad about the murder of a fundamentalist Israeli but you are not sad that Manipur has been burning for the last several months. Lakhs of people became homeless-thousands died but did not speak a single word...sn't this shameful...?).