Reducing Meiteis to sitting ducks People will not forget easily
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Manipur has every reason to be angry. From the day violence erupted on May 3, 2023 to September 2, 2024 and for over 15 months the place has been in a state of war while an indifferent Delhi looks on. To many the indifference has become more than a case of ‘looks on’ but has come uncomfortably close to the understanding of backing the tales of lies which have been spelt out so convincingly. Everyone knows how the first match stick that lit the fire and has engulfed Manipur for over 15 months was struck at Torbung and which later spread to Churachandpur, Kangpokpi and Moreh with Imphal retaliating only late in the evening of May 3, 2023. A day which has been recollected more than twice/thrice in this column but yet Delhi continues to look on and the one question which has been bugging the minds of everyone in Manipur is from where and how the Kukis have received the technical know how as well as the raw materials to launch a ‘war’ with weaponised drones. Aerial attack this is and after killing two persons amid the drone attacks and injuring well over 10 persons on September 1, the attack from the air continues with the latest information coming in that at least two persons were injured at Senjam Chirang. More information along this line can be expected, even as this commentary is being penned down and the question that is doing the round and which has gone viral is, what is Delhi doing ? How about Imphal ? Isn’t this a case of everything going out of control ? What is there to show that there is a Government in place at Imphal and more importantly who is it that appears to have tied the hands of the Government here ? These are questions which only the BJP led Government can answer but can one expect an honest answer to come ? Despite the indifference demonstrated by New Delhi for over 15 months, BJP leaders at Imphal continue to ‘take comfort’ in the line that the Prime Minister has spoken on the Manipur issue at least thrice ! Nothing can get more farcical than this. The point is, Sir and Madam, the Meiteis have been reduced to sitting ducks locked up as they are within the confines of the buffer zones and one wonders what the over 60,000 security personnel pressed into duty after May 3, 2023 are doing ? Or is it a case of the security personnel silently watching while the Meitei civilians are made shooting targets of the well armed Kukis from the hills ? What are the steps that have been taken up to disarm the Kuki ‘village volunteers’ or is it a case of Delhi refusing to look beyond the arms that were looted from the police stations and State armouries in Imphal and the valley districts ? From where have the guns being used by the Kukis come ? Why is Delhi silent on this ? Or is it a case of Imphal unable or unwilling to present the reality before Delhi or a case of Delhi not at all ready to listen to the case presented by the Government at Imphal ?
The answer my lie somewhere in between the two posers that have been raised here, but it will certainly not be a case of taking the middle road when it comes to the anger and frustration of the people. Strike up a conversation with any Tomba, Hongba or Chaoba on the streets of Imphal and one can definitely see the seething anger against the Government for failing to do anything to resolve the situation and in the face of so many civilians being killed. This definitely does not portend well for the place and the people and one wonders if this fact has registered in the consciousness of Imphal or not. Do your job and do it well is the one line desire of the people but when folks are being killed, the latest being the case of a young housewife at Koutruk on the first day of September in 2024, then one can understand the seething rage of the people. It is the job of Imphal to make Delhi listen to the voice of the people here. The common refrain is, what is the meaning of the much touted and much trumpeted double engine Government when it cannot even guarantee the safety of the common citizens of the land, people who are sons and daughters of the land ? And lest the BJP leadership forgets, 2027 is just three years away and it will be here in just the blink of an eye, that is if the BJP is serious about what its Government is doing here. Important to note too, what Delhi has not done will also be remembered and more crucially many will also go by the line of what it is doing furtively. Read this line against the ‘You be in charge of the valley, I will look after the hills’ instruction from the Union Home Minister to the Chief Minister of Manipur sometime in 2023.
The answer my lie somewhere in between the two posers that have been raised here, but it will certainly not be a case of taking the middle road when it comes to the anger and frustration of the people. Strike up a conversation with any Tomba, Hongba or Chaoba on the streets of Imphal and one can definitely see the seething anger against the Government for failing to do anything to resolve the situation and in the face of so many civilians being killed. This definitely does not portend well for the place and the people and one wonders if this fact has registered in the consciousness of Imphal or not. Do your job and do it well is the one line desire of the people but when folks are being killed, the latest being the case of a young housewife at Koutruk on the first day of September in 2024, then one can understand the seething rage of the people. It is the job of Imphal to make Delhi listen to the voice of the people here. The common refrain is, what is the meaning of the much touted and much trumpeted double engine Government when it cannot even guarantee the safety of the common citizens of the land, people who are sons and daughters of the land ? And lest the BJP leadership forgets, 2027 is just three years away and it will be here in just the blink of an eye, that is if the BJP is serious about what its Government is doing here. Important to note too, what Delhi has not done will also be remembered and more crucially many will also go by the line of what it is doing furtively. Read this line against the ‘You be in charge of the valley, I will look after the hills’ instruction from the Union Home Minister to the Chief Minister of Manipur sometime in 2023.