Manipur needs to keep her focus straight What is the way forward ?

What is the way forward ? Not the first time this poser is being raised and the very fact that the need to repeat this has arisen should tell its own story. For 16 months, since the evening of May 3, 2023 Manipur has literally been in a state of ‘war’ and it is more than obvious that Imphal just does not know how to deal with the situation. If Imphal is still fumbling in the dark, not knowing what is the next step to be taken, it is equally true that someone, something or some powerful entity is at the helm which decides when the place should be plunged into days of madness with no coherent response coming from the authority concerned. And this is what is being seen at  the foothill villages and in the most unlikely of all places, Moirang just a few days back. If it is about firing, weaponised drones and rocket propelled bombs at places away from Imphal, in the capital it is about torch rallies, student marches, confrontations with the cops and for media persons to avoid the road blocks while returning home late in the night. No one knows when things will improve but the points being sought to be delivered via the bomb explosions, the weaponised drones, the bomb fitted rockets would not have escaped the eyes and ears of the keen observers of what is going on here in Manipur. And Imphal seems to be reacting in exactly the way the perpetrators of the offensives would like. Just a day after Chief Minister N Biren and some of his Council of Ministers met the Governor and submitted a representation highlighting that the Unified Command must be brought back under the Chairmanship of the Chief Minister, that SoO must be  abrogated, NRC be implemented with 1961 as the base year, that the integrity of Manipur cannot be compromised to please anyone, womenfolk staged a torch rally along Tiddim road in Imphal which was followed by road blocks along the same said stretch of road. The next day, that is September 9, Imphal saw hundreds of young students coming out and staging a massive rally raising the demand that the Chairmanship of the Unified Command must be handed back to the Chief Minister. The day rally of the students is set to be followed by torch rallies to be staged by womenfolk at some places in Imphal, including Thangmeiband and let it be clear to everyone that the slogans and voices of protest raised in all these rallies are the cries of the people who have been reeling under a state of war for over 16 months now. If Imphal is lost on how to deal with the situation, Delhi seems to have totally cut itself off from the human tragedy that is being rolled out here on a regular basis. One is reminded here of the earlier claim of the Chief Minister that the Prime Minister and Union Home Minister are personally monitoring the situation and this is where one is tempted to question whether this monitoring part has missed out on the mayhem seen across the length and breadth of the State.
More than right for Manipur to look beyond the obvious and study who stands to gain from prolonging the crisis no end. One need not look beyond the elements who have raised the call for a Separate Administration, which may come in any form such as a Union Territory or a State or it may come in any other avatar under the different Articles of the Constitution of India. But the important point is to question whether any act of commission or omission may just be giving more room to the SA demand to get more audible. The point that Manipur should be raising now is for Delhi to intervene more effectively and not let its perceived sense of geo-politics blind them to the reality. The focus of the people should be on how to get the Central armed forces, such as the Assam Rifles, to get their act together and neutralise the Kuki militants. Questions should be raised to Delhi on why it has so far kept mum on the weapons used by the Kuki militants while the weapons looted from the different police stations and armouries in Imphal have been noted by no one less than the Union Home Minister. The focus of any protest should be on why Delhi is still quiet on the status of the SoO pact. Remember it was no one less than the Chief Minister himself who admitted on the floor of the Assembly that the though the SoO pact has not been extended, it is still in force. A logic which The Sangai Express had questioned on more than one occasion in this column. Manipur needs to get her priority right and not let her action be clouded by any type of politicking.