Imphal, October 04 2009: The prevailing social turmoil in the state in the wake of the July 23 BT Road killings have left many heavy-hearted especially the creative community.

Talking to this writer, Sahitya Akademi awardee author Saratchand Thiyam says, "I am very saddened by the July 23 incident.

Because truth is lost and shrouded by untruth.

As a lover of truth, I feel very much.

The state is forgetting the meaning of democracy and ruling like a tyrant against the very spirit of democracy.

We may not physically sit on dharnas but every writer including myself writes about the situation and this anguish in our poems, stories etc.

so that other people read and also realize".

Theatre activist and director Padmashree Heisnam Kanhailal stated that in the present armed conflict situation, it is the common people whoare caught between the actors - the government and the insurgents.

"The crucial point is that nowadays it appears that both the government and the insurgents have gone far away from both the people as well as that value most intrinsic in achieving their goals - sincerity," he said.

Says prominent Manipuri poet based in Shillong Mr.Robin S Ngangom, "I think we are all guilty of complicities.

Many say that the common man is caught between the state and non-state actors.

But are there ordinary people still left in Manipur?" .

Calling for "a complete overhaul of our set of beliefs, ideas, and lifestyle � our middle-class ethos, in short," Mr Robin Ngangom opined, "We need to mull over these events and act soon because our survival is at stake.

I'm sceptical about movements or protests which are fuelled by emotions as they often tend to fizzle out.

The Meiteis should realize that no one can help them except themselves, not the Centre with its brazen hypocrisy, or the state or non-state actors who are presently engaged in a war of attrition" .

The crucial questions that is on everyone's mind these days is voiced by Padmashree H.Kanhailal when he posed three essential questions, "Firstly, will we continue to wait for a rising like a tsunami born of the desperate people's instinct of life and couple with their pain and sufferings? Or, will the society continue to fester thus and get extinct? Who will be the savior - the people, the state, the insurgents or all of them?" .

It may be recalled that even as women groups and civil society bodies lead by the Apunba Lup have reiterated their intention to keep the agitation alive until Chief Minister O.Ibobi resigns on moral grounds and the police commandoes involved in the incident are punished, academic activities in the state have been paralysed since September 9 following students' boycott call of educational institutions by AMSU, MSF and KSU.

In retaliatory government action, as many as nine civil society leaders have so far been detained under NSA during the ongoing agitation.

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