Arrested, released, ‘escorted’ to Delhi : From 2010 to 2019

Arrested, released, stopped from coming back to Manipur and then ‘escorted’ to Delhi. A case of the cycle coming full circle and the mystery or the secrecy under which the whole exercise has been enacted smacks of a greater design to keep away former Chairman of the UNLF RK Meghen alias Sanayaima from his birth place. Back in 2010, it was all about whether Meghen had been arrested or not or more precisely where he had been kept after he was picked up by intelligence personnel. The proscribed outfit which he headed, the UNLF, had then claimed in 2010 that RK Meghen was picked up from Dhaka on September 29 and it was the BBC which carried the news of the arrest of the rebel leader on October 13, the same year. And it was only on November 30, the same year that the Government of India declared that the UNLF leader has been arrested but not at Bangladesh but at Motihari in East Champaran district of Bihar. What was however not kept in secret was that the rebel leader was sentenced to jail by a Special NIA Court in 2016 and it was after serving the full sentence that Meghen was ‘set free’ on November 9, 2019. As widely reported in the media, out walked Meghen from Gauhati central jail, but the question still lingers on whether he was actually set free, for “he was kept under constant surveillance.” And not allowed to return to Manipur, his home State. No official reasons have been spelt out why the former rebel leader was ‘banned’ from returning home, but this was not the end, for the very next day it was learnt that he had been ‘escorted’ to Delhi for ‘debriefing.’
Given the situation in Manipur, is one reason cited for keeping RK Meghen away from home and one wonders whether this is in any way an admission that the Government still acknowledges the spirit to rebel within him is yet to be reined in even after ten years and when he is in his mid 70s. There could be many other reasons why the former rebel leader has been whisked away to Delhi to be ‘debriefed’ and herein lies the interesting question. Where is he being kept and is he still under strict surveillance there at Delhi too ? There may not be any official statement issued to confirm or deny this question, but already the Government of India has made it clear that it does not want to take chances and explicit in this stand is the admission that it is still under the impression that the former Chairman of the UNLF still has immense potential to influence the people. A final pact with the NSCN (IM) any day in the coming days, the compelling need to keep RK Meghen away from his home State, days of street protest to drive home the point that any attempt to compromise with the interests of Manipur would not be tolerated and are any of these realities connected to asking Meghen to stay put at Delhi ? The set in the jigsaw puzzle is yet to be put in but these are questions which must be dogging all keen observers.