The ad-hocism, escapism and one-upmanship the Union government has displayed have already done irreparable damage to Manipuri society
Two years have passed since Manipur witnessed one of the worst communal strives in the region that claimed more than 250 lives and rendered thousands homeless. Yet law and order in the border state continues to be a mess. In such a scenario, the latest move by a section of the BJP legislators in the state to form a government does not inspire confidence at all, as it fails to address the seriousness of the situation. Nor does it even show a path to resolving the underlying problems that plague the state.
It is ironical that the Union government and its vast machinery have very little idea of the local communities that make up this state. A section of the people of Manipur is now engaged in a civil disobedience movement protesting against the order of a central paramilitary force unit to remove the word, “Manipur”, from the destination board of a government bus. Spearheaded by the student wing of the Coordinating Committee on Manipur Integrity (COCOMI), a Meitei organisation, agitators are protesting the insensitive treatment the people of Manipur receive at their hands of senior level officers, and want them sacked.
It is this government having no idea of the hard ground realities and the complex make-up of the Manipur society that ordered resumption of traffic along the national highway despite internecine fights continuing among the two major communities in the state. Two months later, the ministry has now realised that its writ hardly runs in the state, and told a Manipuri delegation that it will not happen in weeks or months.
The ad-hocism, escapism and one-upmanship the Union government has displayed have already done irreparable damage to Manipuri society. It waited for almost two years before asking then chief minister N. Biren Singh to go though he had proved ineffective as a chief minister. Mr Singh was unable in the first place to anticipate the communal strife brewing in his small state and then he was unable or unwilling to stop the mayhem and thus spectacularly failed in stopping its spread. Yet he was allowed to continue despite his image of being a divider in an already-shattered society. The administration under him, too, strayed from the path of democratic governance and instead ran a partisan government, fanning the flames of violence already scorching Manipur.
The government next launched an experiment with a seasoned bureaucrat as governor to take the state back to normalcy. True, he has not been able to make much of a transformation in the last three months, but it will be unwise to shift him from the seat of power and bring in a non-cohesive formation even if it comprises elected representatives. The visitors to the Raj Bhavan the other day have claimed that the move has the support of 44 MLAs but the divisions within the BJP rank and file, exacerbated by the long-drawn strife, cannot be written off at a time when Manipur needs a soothing touch from a confident and concerned administration. The Union government should strengthen the attempts the governor has initiated in the state and look for long-term settlement of real issues. It is not the time for ad-hocism in the border state.
