Manipur on fire

It is very unfortunate that Manipur, which had wit nessed the re-establishment of law and order and the restoration of peace after several decades of unrest and trouble, is once again on the boil. While the immediate cause behind the flare-up is the friction arising out of demonstrations by certain tribal groups against a move to grant members of the majority Meitei community Scheduled Tribe (ST) status, there is no denying the fact that certain divisive elements had worked overtime to cause the situation to deteriorate at a fast pace. Different communities in Manipur belonging to tribal and non-tribal communities have been living in harmony for a long time, despite the birth of different insurgent groups among them. Communities in Manipur have always stood as one body during times of crises, especially those precipitated by long-drawn bandhs and blockades called by certain groups in neighbouring Nagaland. On the other hand, the best examples of Manipur’s inter-ethnic bonding are seen during sports events, when everyone puts in their best efforts to bag as many gold medals as possible for their dear home state. It is a fact that a psychological divide has existed between the hills and plains of Manipur for a long time. But then, barring insurgency-driven incidents, the people of the hills and plains had always maintained peace among themselves. Some self-styled experts sitting in the national capital have been trying to make so-called expert analyses of the Manipur situation without even having been to the state once. Some have even gone to the extent of saying that the government in Manipur, irrespective of which party comes to power, has always been dominated by the people of the plains, namely the Meiteis, who account for about 54 percent of the state’s population. The reality, however, is that at least two tribal leaders from the hills, Yangmasho Shaiza and Rishang Keishing, both Tangkhuls, had occupied the Manipur Chief Minister’s office several times. Rishang Keishing had, in fact, become Chief Minister three times, covering a total period of close to ten years. There have, however, been complaints of uneven development between the plains and hills of Manipur, one of which is more glaring in Assam when one looks at the development scenario in the three hill districts of the latter state. What Manipur immediately requires is a massive confidence-building exercise, which can best be carried out by a combination of leaders from different fields representing both tribal and non-tribal communities.