The juvenile politics at play Quick turn around
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The politics at play is amazing bordering on the comical. Just one year after the Kuki Inpi, Manipur submitted a memorandum to Prime Minister Narendra Modi with a copy each forwarded to Union Home Minister Amit Shah, Chief Minister N Biren (then he was still the Honourable Chief Minister to them) and Interlocutor to the Tripartite peace talks AM Mathur expressing apprehension that vast tracts of territory supposedly belonging to the Kuki people would be compromised in the event of a final solution being inked with the NSCN (IM), the Kuki Inpi, Manipur pledged support to the mass rally organised by the United Naga Council to press for an early Naga settlement based on the Framework Agreement. Not that the ‘support’ pledge from KIM would cut ice with the UNC, for remember the Nagas know the Kukis better than the Meiteis. View the ‘support’ pledge of KIM to the rally against the backdrop of the memorandum addressed to the Prime Minister that ‘Naga areas should not be touched while attempting to address demands of any other community’, submitted by the UNC and it is more than clear that the bluff in the juvenile attempt has been called and exposed for one and all to see. Maybe KIM is under the impression that UNC must have forgotten the Kuki Black Day observed so religiously by the Kuki people under the aegis of KIM on September 13 every year. Tough to believe that Kuki Inpi, Manipur would have forgotten the numerous memorandum it had submitted to the Centre to first settle the Kuki issue before any final deal with the NSCN (IM) is inked. But not everyone owes allegiance to the Kuki Inpi and they would not have forgotten the memorandum after memoran- dum submitted to the Centre to first settle the Kuki issue before any final deal is inked with the NSCN (IM). Ethnic cleansing is the term used by the Kuki Inpi to hark back to those days when they cowered at Mapal Kangjeibung and sought shelter in Imphal and Meitei inhabited areas back in 1993 and fast forward to 2023, it continues to use the same term to refer to the clash between the Meiteis and the Kukis.
The politics of playing the victim and 30 years later there is nothing to suggest that this has changed. Certainly not a step to take things forward towards normalcy. It will take time, as Union Home Minister Amit Shah admitted during his visit to Manipur some time back, but this does not mean that no efforts should be made to normalise things. The important question is how to start the process of taking Manipur to the path of normalcy. This is where the role of New Delhi and Imphal becomes important. However with the Prime Minister refusing to even open his mouth on the violence here, save for the time when he came out strongly against the nude parade of two girls, it should be clear that any meaningful peace process should start from amongst the people. The ten Kuki MLAs themselves must be more than aware that the separate administration call is nothing much more than a pipe dream but a tactic to pile the pressure on Manipur and the Government at Imphal. The mischief factor in the separate administration call is unmistakable and it is this agenda which prompted the Kuki Inpi to pledge their support to the rally announced and staged by the UNC in all Naga areas on August 9. As stated earlier, the Nagas must know the Kukis better than the Meiteis and the ‘support politics’ of KIM would not have gone missing on the Nagas. The violence started at Torbung on May 3 and it is only right that the first to strike the match stick must be the first to silence the gun now. And if the SoO cadres are adhering to the ground rules of the pact and staying put at their designated camps, then who are the people firing at the farmers working in the fields at the foothills ?
The politics of playing the victim and 30 years later there is nothing to suggest that this has changed. Certainly not a step to take things forward towards normalcy. It will take time, as Union Home Minister Amit Shah admitted during his visit to Manipur some time back, but this does not mean that no efforts should be made to normalise things. The important question is how to start the process of taking Manipur to the path of normalcy. This is where the role of New Delhi and Imphal becomes important. However with the Prime Minister refusing to even open his mouth on the violence here, save for the time when he came out strongly against the nude parade of two girls, it should be clear that any meaningful peace process should start from amongst the people. The ten Kuki MLAs themselves must be more than aware that the separate administration call is nothing much more than a pipe dream but a tactic to pile the pressure on Manipur and the Government at Imphal. The mischief factor in the separate administration call is unmistakable and it is this agenda which prompted the Kuki Inpi to pledge their support to the rally announced and staged by the UNC in all Naga areas on August 9. As stated earlier, the Nagas must know the Kukis better than the Meiteis and the ‘support politics’ of KIM would not have gone missing on the Nagas. The violence started at Torbung on May 3 and it is only right that the first to strike the match stick must be the first to silence the gun now. And if the SoO cadres are adhering to the ground rules of the pact and staying put at their designated camps, then who are the people firing at the farmers working in the fields at the foothills ?