Significant 2 hours delay in leaving Imphal Conflicting demands

United Naga Council (UNC) backing the demand for a separate flag and Constitution and integration of all contiguous Naga areas to take the negotiations between the NSCN (IM) and the Government of India to a logical conclusion. The Kuki Inpi, Manipur (KIM) making it clear that no Kuki inhabited areas should be included in the final pact to be signed with the NSCN (IM) and to first settle the Kuki issue before any final pact is inked. The Co-ordination Committee on Manipur Integrity (COCOMI) asserting that the interest of anyone should not be hurt while signing the final pact with the NSCN (IM) and to grant special status to Manipur. These are all points put forward to Union Home Minister Amit Shah during his one day visit to the State on December 27 and it is surprising that the Scheduled Tribe Demand Committee, Manipur (STDCM) was not among the CSOs to have met the Union Home Minister to present its case. All points which stand opposed to each other and this is the reality in Manipur today, with the CSOs (barring COCOMI) speaking, acting and batting on behalf of one community and not for Manipur per se. This is the unfortunate reality in Manipur and while the points put forward to Amit Shah would not have come as a surprise to anybody, what turned out to be a pleasant surprise was the report that the Union Home Minister delayed his return to New Delhi by at least  two hours for he had to meet representatives of different CSOs. This is perhaps the first time that Manipur has heard of a visiting leader from New Delhi delaying his departure due to meetings with CSOs which all had opposing stands on the idea of Manipur as a political reality. The CSOs have made known what they had to place before the visiting Union Home Minister, but the question of greater importance is what position did the State Government spell out to Amit Shah ? What was Amit Shah’s response to the stand of the State Government ?
This is a question which has been put up by a senior gentleman of Manipur on his Facebook status and this is something very relevant. As mentioned many times in this column, the flag and Constitution demand could turn out to be just a decoy and what if in its place, the NSCN (IM) pitches in with something like, ‘Fine we understand you cannot give us a separate flag and Constitution, so instead of that give us Naga integration ?’ This may sound far fetched, but remember in Th Muivah the NSCN (IM) has a far sighted leader and all possibilities should not be dismissed with a wave of the hand. Remember the Census of 2001 and the Delimitation exercise that may be taken up on basis of the head count of 2001. More than obvious that there was a much bigger conspiracy at work here, a plan being hatched with an eye on the long run and if at all there is a lesson to be learnt here, it is to acknowledge that a far sighted mind was at work behind the head count of 2001. Juxtapose the demand for Naga integration with the reality of student organisations in other parts of the country where a large number of students from Manipur study and things should get more clear. As now and long before the ceasefire pact was signed, no  student from the tribal community was part of the different student organisations which all had the name Manipur. No Naga student from Manipur identified himself or herself with the Manipur Students’ Association, Delhi and instead were with the Naga Students’ Union, Delhi (NSUD). It is the same in other cities too, such as Kolkata, Chandigarh, Bengaluru etc. The line had been drawn much before the ceasefire pact was signed and this example should more than say that here is a far sighted personality making it much easier to divest the idea of Manipur from the hill people.