Getting ready to step into 2026 Idea of Manipur

Will Manipur step into 2026 with a renewed sense of hope, ready to come over the bitterness of the days after May 3, 2023 or will the coming of the new year mean just another change of year in the calendar ? The answer lies to a great extent on what  Manipur wants and how the people respond to the situation in the coming days. For over two years, Manipur has seen them all. The muscle flexing exercises, the violence, the mindless killings, the stand offs and in the process the emergence of several power players and this need not be carried over into 2026 for what is at stake is the future, the future of the people and the place. So how should Manipur go about it ? No easy answer here, but it would help for the people to sincerely look back at the days gone by, take a deep breath and see how to move in a direction that would be beneficial for the people and the place. The coming of a new year should ideally come with a sense of optimism with the mindset that the ugly days of the past two years need not be carried over into the new year. Just how ready and willing are the people to abandon the negatives of the past two years and embrace the coming year with a sense of optimism ? 2025 is coming to an end and this is the right time for Manipur to look back and question whether the people have been able to identify the friends from the foes and in the process also admit to the many shortcomings of the great human society that makes up the collective understanding of Manipur. Can the idea Manipur be complete without the hill dwellers ? Why is it that there are forces at work to chip away the understanding of Manipur as a distinct political reality ? More importantly how many identify themselves with the idea of Manipur ? This question is important for in the frenzy of drumming up the idea of Manipur, many have not deemed it fit to question why there are some who have refused to tag along with anything called Manipur. As the major community of the State, it is incumbent on the part of the Meiteis to question why many are hesitant to identify themselves with anything to do with Manipur. Is it a failure on the part of the Meitei community to take everyone along or is it a case of some community refusing to have anything to do with the place called Manipur. No easy answer here, but the fact is not all are willing to go along with the understanding of Manipur as a distinct socio-political reality. This is the fact and refusal to acknowledge this would amount to evading the truth. This is where serious thoughts ought to be given on how to take everyone along with the understanding of Manipur as the place which has enough for all to share. Nature has been kind to the place and the water that the people drink and use, the air that one breathes and the food one eats have all come from the soil of the land which belongs to all.
Even as Manipur needs to step into 2026 with a sense of optimism and a new mindset, President’s Rule would be knocking at the door of the one year mark, come February 13. Will PR continue or not is also another question that Manipur will need to contend with and each passing day also means that the State will be taking one more step nearer to 2027, the year Assembly election is due. This would not have blown over the head of the Central leadership of the BJP, but it should be obvious to all that the number one priority of the people and the place need not be the next Assembly election, but when normalcy, as understood universally will return. Will take time for differences to be resolved, is the line maintained by RSS supremo Mohan Bhagwat during a recent public do at Kolkata and the crucial point is whether this is an implicit indication that the PR dispensation will continue for some more time. All questions at the moment, but nevertheless important, for this is about how Manipur will progress in the next 365 days. In a couple of days, Manipur will join the rest of the world in stepping into 2026 and to make the new year different from 2023, 2024 and 2025 will depend to a large extent on how the people are able to truthfully acknowledge the reality and see how to take everyone along with the idea of Manipur. That Manipur is for all is the point that should be stressed and obviously lip service is not the way. Important to not carry the baggage of the last three years into the new year.