The curse from across the border From Keishing to Gangmei

Back in 2024, when the State Assembly was alive and kicking, Phungyar Assembly Constituency MLA Leishiyo Keishing had flagged the problem of large scale intrusion from the across the border and how the number of immigrants had outnumbered the local people of the Naga villages located near the border. The assertion of the MLA from Phungyar AC in a way served something of a purpose, in that a 12 member House Committee was formed to study and detect the number of people who had crossed over the international boundary. Back in 2024, Myanmar was in the thick of the bloody civil war, forcing many to cross over to the Indian side of the border and seek refuge. As The Sangai Express found out following a little digging here and there, the number of immigrants or refugees back then was pegged at a little over the 10,000 mark and while this was more than a year back, no one seems to know whether the immigrants have gone back home or are still in Manipur or how many of the 10,000 have actually gone back and how many have merged with the local population. The figure of 10,000 back then covers the whole of Manipur and while those who crossed over on the Ukhrul-Kamjong side of the border could be marked and kept separate the same could not be said in the case of people who sneaked in via Moreh and Churachandpur. It was for this reason, why The Sangai Express had voiced the need to open refugee camps, identify those who had crossed over, monitor their movement so that they do not meld in with the local population. This line of thought and suggestion was floated before Manipur went up in flames on May 3, 2023 but back then the popularly elected Government refused to pay any heed, preferring to stick to the line that there were no cases of refugees in Manipur. Post May 3, 2023, this position however has changed if one goes by the narrative that the conflict was ignited by illegal immigrants ! A clear case of Imphal preferring to stick to a line, a line with what would please the political bosses and not what was actually happening at the ground. This is a brief look back at the years gone by, and fast forward to 2025 and it should be clear that the stand maintained by Nungba AC MLA, Dipu Gangmei falls perfectly in line with what Leishiyo Keishing had stated on the floor of the Assembly more than a year back. This in brief is the reality of Manipur today. Long before what the MLA from Nungba has had to say occupied page 1 of The Sangai Express, this newspaper had carried a number of articles written by a young Naga scholar pointing to the increase in the number of MLAs of the Kuki-Chin-Zo community, from the days before Manipur attained Statehood to the present. If only those in positions of power and authority had taken note of the informative inputs from the many scholars and well thinking citizens of the land, then things may not have been as bad as it is today. Rather the Government back then seemed to prefer cracking down on those who struck a line different from the ones adopted by the powers that be.
Another interesting point is to see the Assam Rifles getting directly involved in the destruction drive of poppy plantations in the hills of Manipur, for it is the same force which at one point of time had maintained that destroying poppy cultivation is the job of the State Government and not theirs. It could be due to any reason, but it is significant to note that the Assam Rifles too has joined the drive against poppy cultivation and one seriously hopes that the Government looks beyond this and try to unearth those behind the poppy cultivation. Who or which force is standing behind the poppy cultivation. The man, physically planting the poppy, physically harvesting the pods, can at best be just tillers of the soil, who do it for a fee. A fee which must be definitely higher than what one earns from planting maize or vegetables like cabbages or beans. Who takes away the harvested poppy ? Who markets them ? This is a whole chain, no doubt, but to make the War on Drugs campaign more meaningful, it is the chain that needs to be exposed. This is what is expected from the Government, not just the pulling up of some tillers of the soil. A call which went unheeded earlier should be heard now.