Mr Modi has picked the right imagery, for Manipuri society is divided by the communal strife which started in May 2023 and is continuing with varying intensity even now
Prime Minister Narendra Modi calling on different ethnic groups in the strife-torn Manipur to build a bridge of harmony is a reflection of the urgent need of the hour or the border state but the onus of it lies on the Union government as much as it is on the people of the state.
Mr Modi has picked the right imagery, for Manipuri society is divided by the communal strife which started in May 2023 and is continuing with varying intensity even now. That Prime Minister has made the exhortation while making his first visit to the state nearly two-and-a-half years after it witnessed the worst-ever ethnic violence which claimed more than 200 lives and rendered thousands homeless is also significant.
The deep divide is there for all to see: people are still living in refugee camps, some of which Mr Modi visited. It was aided and abetted by the governments at the Centre and in the state: If the violence had its historical reasons that reached the breaking point by a high court order, the silence and inaction of the state government, led by a chief minister who belonged to the Prime Minister’s party, have been inexplicable. Mr Biren Singh as chief minister led a clearly partisan administration aiding in no way the restoration of peace. While Mr Singh and the government he headed were culpable for their acts of commission, the Union government is in the dock for its acts of omission, including its failure to step in despite the Supreme Court’s 2023 observation about the total failure of law-and-order machinery in the state. The Union government sent Mr Singh packing only when it reached a point where even people who belonged to his ethnic group felt that his continuance would undermine their survival.
The strife is as intense or more now than what it was when it all started and it is now best explained by the representation all the 10 Kuki-Zo MLAs in the Manipur Assembly, including the seven who belong to the BJP, made to the Prime Minister during his visit. They have demanded either a separate administration or a Union territory for the hill areas where the tribes people live. This demand has been there in the air for quite some time but it has now acquired a shrillness that the government cannot ignore anymore.
If Mr Modi is serious about helping the people of Manipur build a bridge of harmony, he and the Union government should help them find the rock on which its foundations are to be laid. For the minority tribes people, it will be justice and fairness on which the bridge needs to be built, an idea the majority Meitei community will have no objection to. This exercise will require an active involvement of the Union government which should act as an impartial referee. If this were to happen, then it will call for a change in tack for the NDA government which has been banking on ad-hocism and avoidance while dealing with a serious issue in a border state.
It is up to Mr Modi and the Union government to show to the people of Manipur that they are committed to bringing peace and prosperity and will remove all the impediments in its way, irrespective of their political affiliations. Mr Modi will score a point if positive actions of the Union government now follow his exhortation to the people of Manipur.
