The image of the Government of India as a tolerant, secular and vibrant democracy will never be the same again. The epicentre is Manipur but the tremor is being felt in the U.S, EU parliament and around the world. The carnage, destruction and death in Manipur State is unprecedented in post independent India. WC, NNPGs sees that the body and soul of the so-called mother India lay tattered, disrobed, defiled, desecrated by her own children. Those meant to protect India’s democracy in Manipur have failed, sold their souls to party politics and communal demons. This has shamed India’s neighbourhood and the entire civilized world. Democratic India is being smeared with innocent blood on a daily basis. The Government of India (GoI) has silently allowed its much touted democracy to be stripped off all its garments, pluck all the jewels off India’s secular crown. What the world is witnessing today in Manipur, in democratic India, has not happened even in the restive, despotic Middle East, Afghanistan or in the current Russia-Ukraine conflict.
The silent non-violent peace protest by tribal communities on 03rd May 2023, against Meitei’s demand for ST status gave the ruling dispensation in Manipur to abandon fort and allow dominant Meitei community, aided and assisted by state forces to snatch thousands of automatic and semi-automatic weapons and huge round of ammunitions from state armouries and weapon depots. There is a clear undeniable communal and religious facet to the crime and cruelty being perpetrated in Manipur. It is premeditated. The Manipur state government and GoI leadership cannot claim innocence. Clearly religious doctrinal pursuit is being enforced at the cost of secular spirit and ethos of founding fathers of the Indian constitution.
The ransacking, burning down of more than two hundred Churches by Meiteis is neither tolerant nor secular. Meitei community must explain the logic behind the burning down of Meitei Christian Churches in Imphal valley. Were the Christian Meiteis too, into cultivating poppy plants and indulging in Narco terrorism? If Kukis were Narco terrorists, as Biren Singh’s narrative says, what were Meitei Christians and why did their Churches have to be torched? Meiteis must answer this pertinent question. Naga people will not stay silent against dangerous, intolerant religious fanaticism at work. It is not just about demanding ST status, UCC. It is perpetrating ethnic cleansing based on faith and religion. This is unacceptable.
Meitei women have achieved notoriety in going completely naked, displaying their nudity to the Indian Army as a mark of protest against local and militancy issues too often. If such is the culture and tradition which allows women and daughters to go naked, the same culture of nakedness should not be forced or onto other communities. To go naked on the street in single or group, protest or no protest, is not acceptable to all communities. It is against the law of human decency. No man in his right mind, be it civil or military, would have the courage to lift a head to face naked women in the street. A civilized behaviour is a correct response. WC, NNPGs find it inhuman and intolerable that Meitei men would forcefully parade naked women and girls of other communities and go on to sexually assault them. This is a crime against humanity. If their wives, sisters or daughters are treated in the same manner, will the Meitei people stay quiet? The 04th May 2023 viral video will be marked as the death of Meitei conscience. Meiteis have created an eternal stigma of shame upon themselves. As history shows, sexual violence against women is a part of state sponsored ethno-religious terrorism. That even after nearly three months of absolute anarchy and bloodbath, Biren Singh government is still standing. What an ignominious record!
The political leadership of India has committed a self-goal. The future ramification is frightening and unimaginable in the region. The socio-economic, religious and cultural, political and historical landscape of North East India is too fragile historically. The Indian Central leadership took a wait and watch approach, hoping to score electoral points by playing communal card, rather than talking and walking the path of unity in diversity, innocent blood was already flowing in the streets of Imphal and in the neighbourhood. The killing spree is unabated till today.
The GoI has set fire to its own tent in Manipur. The fire could spread. It has failed the communities again. The destruction of democratic ideals is visible. A thousand years of neighbourly co-existence between Nagas, Meiteis and Kukis have taken a brutal beating. It is time the affected communities themselves, through civil societies and sane community leaders, allow reason and conscience to overcome violent and destructive philosophy at play. Elections will come and go, the Government will come and go, Prime Ministers and Home Ministers will come and go but the very people and communities will continue to co-own, co-exist in the hills and valleys, for generations. Manipur turmoil is a failed GoI policy which has weakened the very foundation of India’s North-Eastern flank. Its core has been shaken.
MEDIA CELL
WC, NNPGs