Indifference or inefficiency ? No ears for displaced folks

The message is clear. For the thousands who have been languishing in the different relief centres set up across the length and breadth of Manipur, the only thing they want is to go home. The stand of the Government or the instructions given to the security personnel is also clear. The Government is not in a position to guarantee the safety and security of the people once they cross the buffer zone. And hence the line, the Meiteis should stay put in the valley area and the Kuki-Zo people should not venture into the valley area. Admitting that the State has miserably failed in its duty to ensure the safety and security of the people and given this, of what use is the presence of the Government ? No answer is expected, but more than two years have passed since the displaced people have been forced to survive in the relief centres and this should certainly negate the line of the Government buying time or waiting for normalcy to return. Just as the Government has demonstrated that it cannot guarantee the safety and security of the people, it is also an admission that it is not the Government calling the shots on the National Highways and in places which are some distance away from Imphal. This is what is tough to swallow and what is even more unacceptable is the pathetic attempt of the Government to normalise the abnormal. This is where one could see or work out the design at play in the decision to go ahead with the Sangai Festival and this is indicative of the politics at work, the politics behind the stand off that has been on for over two years now. It was not so long back that the then Chief Secretary PK Singh had announced that things would be worked out to ensure that displaced folks can return home by December this year. The only exceptions were for the people driven out from Churachandpur, Kangpokpi and Moreh. What has happened to this assurance ? Or is it a case of the assurance coming from an officer who is no longer in Manipur and hence what he had to say earlier bears no significance to the present administration ? Making things worse is obviously the deafening silence maintained by New Delhi and Raj Bhavan on the matter or of steps being taken up to ensure the return of the displaced folks to the place they once called home. This silence can only add to the air of suspicion which can give more substance to the conspiracy theories doing the round. The question is, what steps have been taken up to help the displaced people return home ? Or if no such steps have been taken up, why not admit it, even if it comes with the line, ‘Time is not yet right.’ It is up to Raj Bhavan to demonstrate that it is intent on carrying out the tasks expected of it or at least show that it is trying to live up to the expectations of the people. Or is Delhi and Raj Bhavan going to be satisfied with just the guns going silent ?
Importantly, has the PR administration tried to study and understand why there is a renewed thrust in the call of the displaced folks to return home ? The answer should not be that hard to understand if only those calling the shots in the present dispensation emphatise with the condition of the people living under a state of siege for nearly three years now. How would anyone feel if they are told that they cannot move beyond a certain line drawn up under the name and marking of buffer zones ? How would anyone feel if they are told that they cannot travel along the National Highways ? How would anyone feel if they are told that the relief centre is the place for them to stay and survive ? A Government which emphatises with the sentiments of the people and understand their plight would surely have taken up some measures to address these questions. The very act of using physical force to stop the displaced folks from moving to the place they once called home is something far removed from the understanding of a Government which is there for the people. Is there any effort to understand the mental state of a people who have been forced to survive in a relief centre for nearly three years now ? From indifference in the earlier days of the clash and to now using brute force to silence the voice of the people and this is unacceptable.