Seeing, treating all as equals First among equals
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Yumnam Khemchand was bang on target in asserting that he is not the Chief Minister of any single community and as CM of Manipur he sees and treats all communities as equals. The profundity in the stand of Yumnam Khemchand is noted and in as much as he is not the Chief Minister of any particular community, it should also stand that none of the Ministers in his Cabinet should be seen as portraying oneself as representing the interest of any particular community. Do the two Deputy Chief Ministers actually subscribe to the viewpoint of the Chief Minister and see themselves as not the Deputy Chief Minister of any particular community but as the Deputy Chief Minister of all communities in Manipur ? How about the other two Ministers ? Do they also subscribe to the viewpoint of the Chief Minister ? This is where one may question why a Naga woman felt constrained to put a question along this line when she asked the Chief Minister why Deputy Chief Minister Nemcha Kipgen has not bothered to even visit Konsakhul, a village from which the 6 slain Naga men hailed and falls under Kangpokpi AC. As a Deputy Chief Minister of Manipur, why has Kipgen not thought it fit to visit Konsakhul, is the question raised by the Naga woman, the video clip of which has gone viral on the social media. Political compulsion of the day may have goaded Delhi to advise that the post of the Deputy Chief Minister go to both the Kuki and the Naga, but doesn’t this run against the logic that the post of Deputy Chief Minister should be given on merit and not on community affiliation ? Or is it a case of ‘political expediency’ getting the better of political ideals, ideals such as the elected member being seen and understood not along community affiliation ? The answer is out there but the stand of the Chief Minister should actually send the people who matterf scurrying for cover and find answers to the questions that have been raised here. The significance of this question lies in the fact that many things just do not add up. The Chief Minister was again bang on target in stating that peace can come only when the society is no longer weaponised, meaning when people are not in possession of illegal arms. The stand of the Chief Minister is acknowledged and is perfectly in line with the earlier call issued by the Governor, when Manipur was under President’s Rule, to surrender all illegal arms. What followed is there for all to see but it should not be forgotten that much of the problems seen in Manipur today and the loud reports of gunfire echoing in the hills may not exactly come under the understanding of illegal. It is not without a reason why there has been a growing call to abrogate the SoO pact and while the Chief Minister may stick to the line that it is a pact in which the Centre is also a signatory, the bottomline is the arms of the SoO cadres should be kept deposited at the different designated camps. Does the Government of Manipur really know the number of arms of the SoO outfits kept in the designated camps ? This is where one is bound to question ‘when was the last time any of the SoO camps were inspected ?’ During a brief interaction programme, this question was raised by The Sangai Express to a senior Army/Assam Rifles official and the response was, ‘The initiative has to come from the State Government.’
Soon after Manipur went up in flames in the evening of May 3, 2023, Security Advisor to the Government of Manipur, Kuldiep Singh, came out with statements, more than once, of inspection drives being carried out at the SoO camps. This was three years back and now no one knows what has happened. One can understand the position of the State Government when it comes to the SoO pact, but the least it can do is inspect the camps and if possible give a handout to the Imphal based media houses. If protocol and the rule permit, then why not invite medial professionals during any such inspection drive ? Or if this is not possible, then the least that is expected is of the State Government to check and inspect the different SoO camps. Or is it a case of the inspection drive being classified information and hence cannot be divulged for public consumption ? If the answer is in the affirmative then was the rule different when the Security Advisor issued the statements about the inspection drive at the SoO camps ? Too many things are just not clear and one is not sure if keeping things under a tight lid is the right move.
Soon after Manipur went up in flames in the evening of May 3, 2023, Security Advisor to the Government of Manipur, Kuldiep Singh, came out with statements, more than once, of inspection drives being carried out at the SoO camps. This was three years back and now no one knows what has happened. One can understand the position of the State Government when it comes to the SoO pact, but the least it can do is inspect the camps and if possible give a handout to the Imphal based media houses. If protocol and the rule permit, then why not invite medial professionals during any such inspection drive ? Or if this is not possible, then the least that is expected is of the State Government to check and inspect the different SoO camps. Or is it a case of the inspection drive being classified information and hence cannot be divulged for public consumption ? If the answer is in the affirmative then was the rule different when the Security Advisor issued the statements about the inspection drive at the SoO camps ? Too many things are just not clear and one is not sure if keeping things under a tight lid is the right move.