Manipur’s CM N. Biren had been stripped of the power of law and order and unified command for more than a year. The center’s failure to control the crisis and a political sacrifice at this point will not solve the crisis unless an honest approach is adopted and those who initiated the violence are punished.
Since May 4, 2023, one day after the violence broke out, Kuldiep Singh was appointed as the security advisor. Rajiv Singh was appointed as the DGP of Manipur on June 1, 2023. Since then, for all practical purposes, the Chief Minister of Manipur, Shri N. Biren is rendered powerless in maintaining the law and order situation of the state. This was cemented when Kuldiep Singh assumed the role of head of the unified command.
With the sidelining of CM in the recent high-level meeting on Manipur led by Union Home Minister Shri Amit Shah, the political speculations on the state are riling up. Some say PR is on the way, some say suspended animation, some say reshaping in the government is approaching, and some say no change in political leadership.
Whatever may be the case, central BJP leadership and the new government have to accept that the Manipur policy since last year has not been working and something new must be done.
The overwhelming dominance of looted weapons in discussions without any significant discussions on the free flow of weapons due to open borders shows the skewness of the policy directions. This is just one of the points, but without a completely honest and holistic approach, a skewed policy will be hard to solve the crisis in Manipur, which deepened due to one year of inaction from the central government.
State, center, media, NDA, and INDI Alliance are not talking enough about those moments when AK-47s were widely seen carried by Kuki militants on 3rd May, 2023. Without addressing these basic facts and justice being delivered, peace in the true sense may be a reality too far.
Who allowed these Kuki militants with AK-47s to initiate burning Meitei homes? It has been over a year, and none have been arrested. Are they even Indians? If they are Indians, is our intelligence network so weak that capturing them is like an impossible task? Are they in SoO Kuki militants or non SoO Kuki groups? In either case, how were these allowed to happen, and why haven’t we seen any response from the Bharat?
Kuki militants with AK-47s during the so-called peaceful rally, burning Meitei houses on May 3, 2023.
Without addressing these decades-old problems, a political sacrifice in the state to divert the blame is unlikely to deliver peace in the troubled state.
Whether the state government, central government, or the BJP accepts the inaction or not, voters have shown their resentment by voting out the BJP and its allies in the recently concluded Lok Sabha election. Congress won both inner and outer seats. If BJP wants to win the next state assembly election, serious actions and outreach will be a must, to say the least. The appeasement policy which neglected core voters, didn’t gain anything either. PM Narendra Modi’s silence and refusal to go to Manipur are also major factors among the people of Manipur.
Shaking up political leadership for a crisis, the leadership didn’t start while keeping one year without any meaningful power, may be seen as a tactical move to shift the blame to the state government while the power resides in Delhi.
Suppose the reward for starting a war on drugs, stopping forest encroachments, detecting illegal immigrants, and saving Indigenous people is showing the way to exit for reasons he is not responsible. In that case, it will be pretty demoralizing for any future leader thinking of taking bold steps for the overall betterment of society.
If the present CM is fully aware of being a lame duck, what’s stopping him from doing something meaningful for the state, for example, standing up boldly and speaking what’s what for everyone to see?
Beyond the smog of propaganda, illegal immigration, massive poppy farms, demographic changes, uneven distribution of land areas, deprivation of ST status for Meiteis, massive deforestation, and forest land encroachment are the issues that need to be solved. Simply shaking up the political leadership without dealing with these issues will not bring meaningful peace in Manipur.
Will the center use the sacrifice route or reinstate power to restore the state to a respectable federal structure? Voters will be watching carefully on the steps the Modi 3.0 government will take with regard to Manipur.
-Pukning Warol
