Friday, June 12, 2015

"The road to Transition"

"You can't hold a man down without staying down with him." Booker T. Washington.

I read an article "Roots of Manipur insurgency" by Binalakshmi Nepram. The article gave me a good insight on how insurgency was born in Manipur. And it is rather interesting circumstances leading Manipur to become a part of India on October 1949 reluctantly. The rest is history however, I cannot deny the fact the underground organizations in Manipur came into existence out of resentment to Indian rule since then. Hence, labeling the state of Manipur as Disturbed Area before the revolution can turn into shape and made an impact.

In my opinion, the present problem with the many underground organization in Manipur is the lack of direction and goals despite the history of Manipur as their reliable alibi. Based on their timeline, it is clear they are not interested with the political solutions or negotiation but rather independence from India. In retrospect, it doesn't mean that the central government should ignore the history of Manipur and conceal every facts regarding the root cause of insurgency. I stil believed 'now' is the right time for all the underground organizations in Manipur to come under one roof and change their ideology for political solutions rather than armed struggle. They really need to make sense of their existence with principles rather than extorting and moral policing with threats.

The choice is there on the table; and they got to decide sooner than later because the present Indian Army onslaught of insurgency groups in Manipur and around the international border in co-operation with Myanmar can annihilate their existence. For the love of Manipur and for better future, lay down the arms and manned up for political solutions. Follow the Mizoram model of insurgency to electoral democracy because holding guns against the Indian Army or the Police won't bring peace and solution but only bloodshed. 

Whereas on the other hand, 'we' as the people Manipur also comes with the responsibility to make our state a better place for today and the future. Unfortunately, we've been electing and supporting the wrong politicians to represent us in the state assembly, Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha for too many years. Just look at our current chief minister, cabinet ministers, MLAs, two MPs in Lok Sabha and one member in Rajya Sabha. Do you really believe they are the right people working for us and for the state? I don't think they got the balls to stand up for the people and lead us to right direction. But how did they become our elected representative? You gotta be honest with your answer... :)  

We are very aware that Manipur is one of the most corrupt states in India. As long as we continue to elect the corrupt politicians and until the underground organizations make sense, don't ever think the central government is going to revoke the AFSPA and withdraw the army. It has to be joint efforts in order to successfully clean up Manipur for responsible governance and better future. Our individual responsibility is to choose our representatives wisely not influence by coercion of the Rs. 500 note. We are better than this. Do you not agree? 

The Indian army doing their job with command from the central government but the system got to change. I just cannot fathom the fact that they are not accountable to civilian court as per the AFSPA although they are working under the directives of our constitution. Assuming, if we can persecute the President or PM of our country for any wrongdoing or against national interest, why is it not possible in army? It is about the accountability as a citizen of this country but not as army. After all, defence services are very much part of public services as envisaged under the constitution. Think about it!

Food for Thought: "When a man is denied the right to live the life he believes in, he has no choice but to become an outlaw." Nelson Mandela.

Thank you.

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