Saving beleaguered Manipur
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Dr Mohendra Irengbam
The Frost performs its secret ministry
Unhelped by the wind. [Frost at Midnight. Samuel Taylor Coleridge]
Manipur should have a new religion for all. Then, saving Manipur will be as simple as pie. It seems that Modi Bhagwan is not going to help Kukis and Meiteis in saving Manipur as he thinks that we cannot help ourselves. Which is true.
I remember reading the proverb ‘God helps those who help themselves’ in my early school years. I believed it to be true then. I did not know who said it. It is like saying, only when you eat, God will stop you feeling hungry. Much later, I knew it was Benjamin Franklin who popularised the proverb. With due respect to him for such obvious words of wisdom, I find the corollary that ‘God does not help those who cannot help themselves’ to be true as well.
In the ongoing ethnic crisis in Manipur, we do not need a self-proclaimed god like Modiji, to molly coddle us like babies. We can sort this out ourselves with some basic and simple rationale.
That Prime Minister Modi overlooks the suffering of humanity in Manipur, as he has been accused in Parliament by many MPs for his maun vrat on the civil war in Manipur, and more succinctly, by Mahua Moitra, a Trinamool Congress MP from West Bengal.
Mahua said Manipur is Modi’s biggest failure. She lambasted him over the violence in Manipur. She began to shake Narendra Modi’s Government by pointing out that the republic [India] was not created by cowards who hid behind authority, hate, bigotry, untruth, and dared to call it courage.
I watched Mahua criticising Modi so forcefully, and with sarcastic barbs, saying, “Modiji mentioned so many words starting with ‘M’ except Manipur, such as Musalman, Mullah, Madrasa, Mughal, Mutton, Mangalsutra,” in one breath.
In her fiery speech in Parliament on June 25, 2024, she challenged the Government on various issues, including the civil war in Manipur with facts and figures, and delivered with such a flow as if she was reciting a poem. As a matter of fact, she did recite a poem in Urdu: Agar Khilaaf Hain Hone Do, jaanthorihai. Ye subdhuaahai Asman thori hai”. In English: If they are against, let them be, this is not life; all this is smoke, not the sky. The moral is, for us, if Modiji is against solving the strife in Manipur, let him be.
I have brought Mahua Moitra also in this dissertation, as she spoke passionately about Modiji’s lack of empathy in the present ethnic mayhem in Manipur. She also helped to expose the Prime Minister’s present state of mind and lack of powers of reasoning and debating.
She quoted what Modiji tells in a rare interview on NDTV news channel, that he believes he has been chosen by God. “I am convinced that ‘Parmatma’ (God) sent me for a purpose. Once the purpose is achieved, my work will be done. This is why I have completely dedicated myself to God.”
Perhaps, Modiji is in a state of mind which Sigmund Freud called super ego. That is, his aspirations and ideals represent his idealized self-image of a person with an inordinate desire driven by ambition. This is shown by what he said in a rare interview to News 18, “While my mother was alive, I used to think I was born biologically. After her demise when I look at my experiences, I am convinced that I was sent by God. And my energy is not biological. God just keeps making me do things, but I cannot dial him directly.”
The misgiving over Modi’s mental equilibrium became feral when in another interview with ABO News on May 29 2024, he said that Mahatma Gandhi was unknown until after the biographical film ‘Gandhi’ by Richard Attenborough, which was released in 1982 [sic. while he himself is famous in his lifetime]. This of course, is far from the truth.
Modiji’s psyche reminds me of a book by Joy Williams, titled Ninety-Nine-Stories of God (2016). In the book, the American lady wrote about a confused, half-demented Creator (God) who stumbles from one vignette to another, trying to remember what he could have had in mind the other day.
Williams talks about a celestial gathering at a dinner party, which included God, OJ Simpson, Chekhov, a South Korean scientist, mystics, artists, a war correspondent, a German shepherd breeder, two boys with BB guns [air guns], and a rabbit named ‘Actuality.’
There, they discuss a host of topics of day-to-day human experiences. She captures the absurdities and oddities of mankind in their preoccupation with a supreme being. Modiji’s experience shows such a vignette, which though comic and aphoristic, displays the concept of a cockeyed God.
Modiji does look despaired and lonely as a cloud in Parliament as if his heart is heavy with despondency, for which I would like to suggest Your heart is full of despair, have a life; what is left in this existence ?
On the other hand, one MP Deepak Sharma, representing BJJ party from Delhi, sneered at him on 12 August 2024 with the sardonic remark ‘Bhari mehfil me akele kyong dikh rahe Modi ? Rahul’ peiron ke neeche se daree khingchne ja rahe? In English, why Modi, you seem to be alone in this crowded gathering? Is Rahul trying to pull the rug from underneath your feet ?
The change in Modiji’s persona began after the last Lok Sabha election in 2024. Again, depression is a vignette of human experience. About one out of every six adults will have it at some time in their life.
It is quite sad. But for me, Modiji Bhagwan is maujon ki rawanihai [flow of ecstasy]. My mind keeps leaping up to the possibility that after so many pudding head questions in the Rajya Sabha, one day soon, he will become a saviour of Manipur like Jesus.
Howsoever down hearted I may be, it is now time for me to go to the intent of my dissertation. Its purpose is to synthesise a theme from my memory caravan that, we must help ourselves without a soul mate from outside.
I have gone on a bit about Modiji who is loquacious where speech is not required and taciturn where a timely word or two could matter much and Mahua Moitra, a lone warrior who is secular and fearless. This is to draw the attention of the readers that, our beloved Prime Minister is most unlikely to come to Manipur or solve its current problem from the comfort zone of Delhi. This grim scenario suddenly wrenched my thoughts and stimulated writing this article.
Which brings me to the title of this essay, ‘Saving Beleaguered Manipur’. Before I go any further, I emphasise, this piece is not my advice to, or criticism of anybody or any community. It is just an expression of my personal views in trying to defuse the present imbroglio of the ethnic strife in Manipur. I am not bothered who started what and what for. I am only concerned with human suffering because of chasing an ideal which in my opinion is not achievable.
This at once takes me to the subject of UTOPIA, in the context of solving the present ethnic clash in Manipur. I have known about this word from my college days, but I never paid any real attention to it as it refers to something that I did not understand. There are many books written about it. I remember reading two of them : Utopia by Thomas More (1576) and Brave New World by AldousHuxley (1932). The meaning of Utopia remained for me something that is not obtainable.
Utopia means “no place” in Greek. It was coined by Thomas More. It refers to an imaginary place or society that has near-perfect qualities for its members, especially in terms of its laws, Government and social conditions.
Utopia refers to what is impossible to achieve, because perfection cannot be attained as everybody has different ideas in which they believe. Human beings cannot be perfect because they are free to think and form an opinion about everything around them. Besides, utopias are dangerous as their pursuits can cause profound distress and suffering to those who happen to be standing in their way. This is something we now see in Manipur during the present civil war.
These Utopian novels describe a perfect society or an ideal state in which Utopian authors try to show that human beings have a habit of creating conflict, if given enough time because they try to give people what they want, and what they want is contradictory. The most common problem is people disagreeing.
Keeping in mind the nature of the demands of the Kukis, a Kukiland, and its utopian nature, if you do not mind me saying so, my educated guess is that the Kukis and Meiteis have a gargantuan problem and it needs a solution, as quickly as possible. Otherwise, we will be ‘waiting for Christmas forever’. That is for sure. And the present conflict is not World War III in which one party must win, by destroying the other. Which means that the two warring parties must come together to find a congenial solution, where the snake is killed without breaking the stick.
Aiming for a perfect political and just social society by the Kukis is a utopia in my opinion, because the Meiteis, the Nagas and other thirty-three small tribes like Kabui, Kom, Maring, Thadou and others, entertain different ideas from the Kuki concept and they do not want to be Kukis and so on. Thus, hypothetically speaking, a proud Kukiland will have to partition it to bits and bats of small States. A utopia.
But, if the existing political and socio economic status of the Kukis are subsumed inappropriately by the majority Meiteis, this can be sorted out by talking across a table. This is equally in the interest of the Meiteis, if they want to live in harmony with all the fellow tribes, and for Manipur to prosper. The proposition thus entails a happy medium. A satisfactory compromise, ‘take some and leave some’, short of a utopian solution. The danger of utopianism comes from its political tendency, in pursuit of ‘the ideal of moral equality’. This is the doctrine that it is desirable for everyone to have the same amounts of income and of wealth. A utopia.
The simple moral for me is that, the Kuki UTOPIA is likely to end in DYSTOPIA, which again, is an imaginary place, where people are unhappy and usually afraid because they are not treated fairly. Kukis are rational people.
So, the old and trusted maxim, opposite of Utopia is, ‘All is well that ends well’ [Wm Shakespeare]. So, let us try to live in a climate of concord and tolerance, despite our many human and godly shortcomings, with mutual concessions and compromises. Instead of being despaired and deluged with negative criticisms, we should outmaneuver for the benefit of all.
Well, how does it grab you ? Forget Modiji Bhagwan for the moment. For Manipur, he is like a Catholic priest who sits and listens in a confessional in the Church, without speaking a word. Of course, the whole thing is a piece of cake for me. I am only musing. I rest my case.
The Frost performs its secret ministry
Unhelped by the wind. [Frost at Midnight. Samuel Taylor Coleridge]
Manipur should have a new religion for all. Then, saving Manipur will be as simple as pie. It seems that Modi Bhagwan is not going to help Kukis and Meiteis in saving Manipur as he thinks that we cannot help ourselves. Which is true.
I remember reading the proverb ‘God helps those who help themselves’ in my early school years. I believed it to be true then. I did not know who said it. It is like saying, only when you eat, God will stop you feeling hungry. Much later, I knew it was Benjamin Franklin who popularised the proverb. With due respect to him for such obvious words of wisdom, I find the corollary that ‘God does not help those who cannot help themselves’ to be true as well.
In the ongoing ethnic crisis in Manipur, we do not need a self-proclaimed god like Modiji, to molly coddle us like babies. We can sort this out ourselves with some basic and simple rationale.
That Prime Minister Modi overlooks the suffering of humanity in Manipur, as he has been accused in Parliament by many MPs for his maun vrat on the civil war in Manipur, and more succinctly, by Mahua Moitra, a Trinamool Congress MP from West Bengal.
Mahua said Manipur is Modi’s biggest failure. She lambasted him over the violence in Manipur. She began to shake Narendra Modi’s Government by pointing out that the republic [India] was not created by cowards who hid behind authority, hate, bigotry, untruth, and dared to call it courage.
I watched Mahua criticising Modi so forcefully, and with sarcastic barbs, saying, “Modiji mentioned so many words starting with ‘M’ except Manipur, such as Musalman, Mullah, Madrasa, Mughal, Mutton, Mangalsutra,” in one breath.
In her fiery speech in Parliament on June 25, 2024, she challenged the Government on various issues, including the civil war in Manipur with facts and figures, and delivered with such a flow as if she was reciting a poem. As a matter of fact, she did recite a poem in Urdu: Agar Khilaaf Hain Hone Do, jaanthorihai. Ye subdhuaahai Asman thori hai”. In English: If they are against, let them be, this is not life; all this is smoke, not the sky. The moral is, for us, if Modiji is against solving the strife in Manipur, let him be.
I have brought Mahua Moitra also in this dissertation, as she spoke passionately about Modiji’s lack of empathy in the present ethnic mayhem in Manipur. She also helped to expose the Prime Minister’s present state of mind and lack of powers of reasoning and debating.
She quoted what Modiji tells in a rare interview on NDTV news channel, that he believes he has been chosen by God. “I am convinced that ‘Parmatma’ (God) sent me for a purpose. Once the purpose is achieved, my work will be done. This is why I have completely dedicated myself to God.”
Perhaps, Modiji is in a state of mind which Sigmund Freud called super ego. That is, his aspirations and ideals represent his idealized self-image of a person with an inordinate desire driven by ambition. This is shown by what he said in a rare interview to News 18, “While my mother was alive, I used to think I was born biologically. After her demise when I look at my experiences, I am convinced that I was sent by God. And my energy is not biological. God just keeps making me do things, but I cannot dial him directly.”
The misgiving over Modi’s mental equilibrium became feral when in another interview with ABO News on May 29 2024, he said that Mahatma Gandhi was unknown until after the biographical film ‘Gandhi’ by Richard Attenborough, which was released in 1982 [sic. while he himself is famous in his lifetime]. This of course, is far from the truth.
Modiji’s psyche reminds me of a book by Joy Williams, titled Ninety-Nine-Stories of God (2016). In the book, the American lady wrote about a confused, half-demented Creator (God) who stumbles from one vignette to another, trying to remember what he could have had in mind the other day.
Williams talks about a celestial gathering at a dinner party, which included God, OJ Simpson, Chekhov, a South Korean scientist, mystics, artists, a war correspondent, a German shepherd breeder, two boys with BB guns [air guns], and a rabbit named ‘Actuality.’
There, they discuss a host of topics of day-to-day human experiences. She captures the absurdities and oddities of mankind in their preoccupation with a supreme being. Modiji’s experience shows such a vignette, which though comic and aphoristic, displays the concept of a cockeyed God.
Modiji does look despaired and lonely as a cloud in Parliament as if his heart is heavy with despondency, for which I would like to suggest Your heart is full of despair, have a life; what is left in this existence ?
On the other hand, one MP Deepak Sharma, representing BJJ party from Delhi, sneered at him on 12 August 2024 with the sardonic remark ‘Bhari mehfil me akele kyong dikh rahe Modi ? Rahul’ peiron ke neeche se daree khingchne ja rahe? In English, why Modi, you seem to be alone in this crowded gathering? Is Rahul trying to pull the rug from underneath your feet ?
The change in Modiji’s persona began after the last Lok Sabha election in 2024. Again, depression is a vignette of human experience. About one out of every six adults will have it at some time in their life.
It is quite sad. But for me, Modiji Bhagwan is maujon ki rawanihai [flow of ecstasy]. My mind keeps leaping up to the possibility that after so many pudding head questions in the Rajya Sabha, one day soon, he will become a saviour of Manipur like Jesus.
Howsoever down hearted I may be, it is now time for me to go to the intent of my dissertation. Its purpose is to synthesise a theme from my memory caravan that, we must help ourselves without a soul mate from outside.
I have gone on a bit about Modiji who is loquacious where speech is not required and taciturn where a timely word or two could matter much and Mahua Moitra, a lone warrior who is secular and fearless. This is to draw the attention of the readers that, our beloved Prime Minister is most unlikely to come to Manipur or solve its current problem from the comfort zone of Delhi. This grim scenario suddenly wrenched my thoughts and stimulated writing this article.
Which brings me to the title of this essay, ‘Saving Beleaguered Manipur’. Before I go any further, I emphasise, this piece is not my advice to, or criticism of anybody or any community. It is just an expression of my personal views in trying to defuse the present imbroglio of the ethnic strife in Manipur. I am not bothered who started what and what for. I am only concerned with human suffering because of chasing an ideal which in my opinion is not achievable.
This at once takes me to the subject of UTOPIA, in the context of solving the present ethnic clash in Manipur. I have known about this word from my college days, but I never paid any real attention to it as it refers to something that I did not understand. There are many books written about it. I remember reading two of them : Utopia by Thomas More (1576) and Brave New World by AldousHuxley (1932). The meaning of Utopia remained for me something that is not obtainable.
Utopia means “no place” in Greek. It was coined by Thomas More. It refers to an imaginary place or society that has near-perfect qualities for its members, especially in terms of its laws, Government and social conditions.
Utopia refers to what is impossible to achieve, because perfection cannot be attained as everybody has different ideas in which they believe. Human beings cannot be perfect because they are free to think and form an opinion about everything around them. Besides, utopias are dangerous as their pursuits can cause profound distress and suffering to those who happen to be standing in their way. This is something we now see in Manipur during the present civil war.
These Utopian novels describe a perfect society or an ideal state in which Utopian authors try to show that human beings have a habit of creating conflict, if given enough time because they try to give people what they want, and what they want is contradictory. The most common problem is people disagreeing.
Keeping in mind the nature of the demands of the Kukis, a Kukiland, and its utopian nature, if you do not mind me saying so, my educated guess is that the Kukis and Meiteis have a gargantuan problem and it needs a solution, as quickly as possible. Otherwise, we will be ‘waiting for Christmas forever’. That is for sure. And the present conflict is not World War III in which one party must win, by destroying the other. Which means that the two warring parties must come together to find a congenial solution, where the snake is killed without breaking the stick.
Aiming for a perfect political and just social society by the Kukis is a utopia in my opinion, because the Meiteis, the Nagas and other thirty-three small tribes like Kabui, Kom, Maring, Thadou and others, entertain different ideas from the Kuki concept and they do not want to be Kukis and so on. Thus, hypothetically speaking, a proud Kukiland will have to partition it to bits and bats of small States. A utopia.
But, if the existing political and socio economic status of the Kukis are subsumed inappropriately by the majority Meiteis, this can be sorted out by talking across a table. This is equally in the interest of the Meiteis, if they want to live in harmony with all the fellow tribes, and for Manipur to prosper. The proposition thus entails a happy medium. A satisfactory compromise, ‘take some and leave some’, short of a utopian solution. The danger of utopianism comes from its political tendency, in pursuit of ‘the ideal of moral equality’. This is the doctrine that it is desirable for everyone to have the same amounts of income and of wealth. A utopia.
The simple moral for me is that, the Kuki UTOPIA is likely to end in DYSTOPIA, which again, is an imaginary place, where people are unhappy and usually afraid because they are not treated fairly. Kukis are rational people.
So, the old and trusted maxim, opposite of Utopia is, ‘All is well that ends well’ [Wm Shakespeare]. So, let us try to live in a climate of concord and tolerance, despite our many human and godly shortcomings, with mutual concessions and compromises. Instead of being despaired and deluged with negative criticisms, we should outmaneuver for the benefit of all.
Well, how does it grab you ? Forget Modiji Bhagwan for the moment. For Manipur, he is like a Catholic priest who sits and listens in a confessional in the Church, without speaking a word. Of course, the whole thing is a piece of cake for me. I am only musing. I rest my case.