Was the recent mob fury in Imphal mainly fuelled by extension of the ceasefire area only?
No, there were other factors also which need to be seriously given thoughts by politicians especially the Meitei.

Ever since the recent trouble has erupted in Manipur, a group of Meitei politicians, leaving behind the cool comforts of their luxarious bungalows in Babupara in Imphal, are camping in Delhi. Blaming the extension of the ceasefire area for their present ‘refugee status’ they demand the withdrawal of the same from the State. But a close study of the present situation reveals that the Meitei politicians are under the fetters of their own misdeeds. If today they find it unsafe to stay in their houses fearing an attack on their lives, it is simply because of the fact that over the years the same group of politicians encouraged Naga-Meitei division for the sake of some narrow political gains, giving least respect to the great tradition of communal harmony in the State. It is still fresh in the memory of the people that how the same group of politicians Nipamacha Singh.

But after successfully dislodging a democratically elected government by undemocratic means what did these politicians do? Their so-called unity was amiss immediately after the installation of a new government headed by a Meitei. All the leaders forgetting their primary responsibilities of serving the people joined the rat race for Chief Ministership. As a result, State Administration was collapsed. The State slipped into a financial mess. Developmental work came to a standstill. Law and order situation turned from bad to worse day by day. As the insurgent outfits active in the valley enjoyed the blessings of the Meitei politicians, no resistance whatsoever was offered when its cadres used to just walk in to a police station and snatch the arms and ammunitions. When the Centre took strong exception to these unlawful happenings, the then chief minister W. Nipamacha Singh, instead of trying to bring the culprits to the book, unarmed the police force making it the most ineffective in the entire country. Ironically, those guns which were then tarining the Nagas, have now turned its nozzles towards the Meitei politicians, who were instrumental in arming the ultras. Had the government of the day initiated proper and timely actions against the ultras, the Meitei politicians could well live in their bungalows without fearing for their lives.

Not only in case of snatching political power from the Nagas, the Meitei politicians also deprived the Nagas of their share of development. Though the Meitei politicians are arguing today that sufficient funds were made available to the development of the hill region of the State and that funds could not be misused as it was mandatory to mention the allocations in the budget, the figures show that the hill region always got less amount of funds than the valley. For a progressive and prospering Manipur, according to many experts, the allocations of funds for development works should be much more in the hills considering the difficult terrain and backwardness of the region. But the Meitei politicians never entertained this school of thought. How the Meitei politicians neglected the development of the hills can be judged from the fact that in the mid-nineties the Planning Commission allocated funds for creating 39 playgrounds in the State to prevent the youths from being misguided by the secessionist forces. While the then chief minister Rishang Keishing was totally committed to create the playing fields for the budding talents of the State, his deputy and the then finance minister Radha Binod Koijam insisted that all the 39 fields should be established in the valley and not in the hills. As a result of the tug-of-war between the chief minister and his deputy, the funds remained unutilised and the money was returned to the Planning Commission.

As there are 40 Assembly seats in the valley and only 20 seats in the hills, the Meitei politicians perhaps thought that they would always be able to hold the reins of the State even ignoring the hills. That is why the Manipur Peoples Party (MPP), the oldest regional party in the North-East region, never tried to expand its base outside the valley, especially in the Naga-dominated areas. This clearly showed that it was the Meiteis who never thought the Nagas residing in the hill areas of Manipur as Manipuri, although it was under the chief ministership of a Naga that the Manipur Assembly unanimously passed a resolution condemning and rejecting the demand for the creation of a Greater Nagaland, comprising the hill areas of the State. The Meitei politicians thought that whatever decisions they took, must be binding on the Nagas not remembering the fact that one community cannot speak on behalf of the entire State. Today the anti-Naga campaign of the Meitei politicians has made it difficulty for a Meitei employee to serve in the hill region of the State. Meitei doctors and teachers are not willing to serve in the hospitals and the schools of the hills. Yet the Meitei politicians claim that only they can decide the fate of the Nagas living in the hill areas of the State.

Creation of a new State is nothing unprecedented in India. Since independence, many new states were carved out mainly to expedite the developmental process and to fulfill the hopes and aspirations of the sons of the soil. States like Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Mizoram and Meghalaya were created by bifurcating Assam. More recently, Jharkhand, Chattishgarh and Uttaranchal were created by dividing Bihar, Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradeshrespectively. In future, more new states can be created if the people are in favour of it. It is the people’s desire, not the whims and fancies of a particular group or community that gives a mandate to creation of a new State. But it is not all alarming for the Meitei politicians. Because the Centre has already made it clear that only after an unanimous resolution passed by the State Assembly the issue of creating a new State can be taken up.

Your Visit No