More than two months after a communal clash between two of Manipur’s major communities – Kukis and Meiteis – broke out, there is still little sign this agonising crisis is drawing to a close. Sporadic and fatal gun violences are still reported at the foothills ensuring that the dangerous atmosphere of bitter antagonism and mistrust between the two communities remain unextinguished, and with it the potential for raging infernos breaking out again.
It is obvious the state government is clueless on how to proceed and resolve the crisis. Quite intriguingly too, the Centre apparently lacks the commitment to end this distressful stalemate, despite flying in over 40,000 paramilitary troops into the state. The deafening silence of the Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, not extending even a single word of consolation on Manipur’s excruciating trauma is beginning to be seen by many as an additional insult to injury. This injury is slowly turning into a cynicism which can have lasting consequences. It can for instance become another fountain of emotional fuel for Manipur’s waning insurgency challenge among both the Kukis and Meiteis.
While Kuki militant organisations are not officially banned and 25 of them have formally entered what is known as Suspension of Operations, SoO, agreement with both the Central and State governments, all Meitei insurgent groups are banned and none has agreed to come to the negotiation table so far. With their support bases waning, the latter were increasingly getting marginalised. If the current crisis is not handled well, either or both of these groups can rise again.
Two events in Imphal in the meantime grabbed headlines. One was a two-day visit starting June 29 of Congress leader Rahul Gandhi to the state, and the other the spectacle of the state BJP Chief Minister N. Biren Singh, first making known his intent to resign and then retracting it after his supporters blocked his way to the Raj Bhavan. He also allowed his supporters to theatrically tear up his resignation letter in a televised event that happened right in the middle of the road.
Under normal circumstances, the proximity of the two events would have gone unnoticed, but these are certainly not normal times. Moreover, there were also too many coincidences. Gandhi’s trip self admittedly had nothing to do with politics and was prompted just by his desire to share the pain of the people of state, in particular those displaced by the violence. To reiterate this, he held no press conferences though the press did cover his visit.
On June 29 afternoon, after arriving in Imphal by a chartered flight, he and his team, including local Congress leaders, left by road for Moirang and Churachandpur straight from the airport. At Bishnupur however, he was stopped by the district police on the plea of possible compromises to the safety of the public figure, though the entourage had all necessary official clearances. They had thus to return to Imphal and fly by helicopter instead.
The sorry event, if it was meant to prevent Gandhi getting media attention, had the opposite effect. Numerous people, notably women, coming out in support of Gandhi to plead for his passage to Churachandpur, not only overwhelmed a few in the sidelines holding placards with slogans like “Rahul Gandhi Go Back”, but ensured Gandhi received very good press as well.
The next day, June 30, the drama intensified. Gandhi visited more relief camps, one in Imphal and then another in Moirang where he again travelled by helicopter. He also met with several civil society leaders after this, and in the afternoon, he was to meet the Governor of the state, Anusuiya Uikey, before heading back to Delhi.
In a parallel development, hints about Manipur Chief Minister’s resignation intent became known from leaks to some media outlets. The resignation was first expected in the morning, but this kept getting postponed first to 1pm and then 3pm. This was about the time Gandhi completed all his appointments, including with the Governor.
A crowd of the Chief Minister’s supporters had begun forming from late morning on the 200 meters stretch of road between the chief minister’s bungalow and the Raj Bhavan, but no visible effort was made to disperse the crowd though this is a high security zone. When the Chief Minister finally emerged from his office about 2.30pm, he was stopped by his supporters. Among them were some of his cabinet colleagues, one of whom read out the Chief Minister’s very short resignation letter before handing it over to a woman in the crowd to do the needful.
Many now think the two events are a competition for good press, and rival camps now have their sets of questions. Did Rahul Gandhi choose this uncertain time to visit the state to win hearts and future votes or was it a genuine gesture to show he cares for those in agony? Was it timed to reap maximum dividends from the growing anger on the streets at the Prime Minister’s refusal say anything to console the people of the state or to encourage reconciliation?
On the other hand, was Chief Minister N. Biren Singh’s decision to resign and then to theatrically retract the decision, a counter ploy to upstage and usurp the positive media space Rahul Gandhi and his party were winning? Why did he not try to avoid the crowd of his supporters blocking the road if he was serious about his resignation? How did his resignation letter land in the hands of a cabinet colleague who read it out to the crowd on a megaphone, and thereafter handed it over to a woman leader in the crowd to tear it up?
The scrambles over the Chief Minister’s move did manage to dislodge the Congress leader from the headlines the next day, but not longer than just a day. If what happened was indeed a game of political publicity stunts, the question that remains after the media storm is, what tangible purpose did it serve. It has done nothing towards ameliorating the state of uncertainty those caught in the violence live in. Villagers in the foothills would still be continuing to live in fear of becoming casualties, just as the estimated 45,000 now living in relief camps would still be in despair staring into a future for themselves and their children getting dimmer by the day.
The article was first published in The New Indian Express. The original can be read HERE
Editor, Imphal Review of Arts and Politics and author
