Manipur the Land with Too Many Demands with no Concrete Solutions

The first question people usually ask me on knowing I am from Manipur is 'is the place very beautiful?' The answer I normally give is 'yes,' an open ended response, which in many ways implies 'I don't want to talk about my home state.' In very rare cases there were interjections like 'oh Manipur is very famous in sports,' which once in a while make my face light up. For reasons best known to mainland Indians, even the educated lots don't know much about Manipur and other North Eastern States, which in many ways again make my life easier with lesser questions to answer about my trouble torn state. Militancy, kidnapping, bomblast, rampant corruption, frequent agitations, strikes, bandhs, etc, I feel are not positive things I can boast about to my friends and co-workers.

Is Manipur really going to the dogs? If yes, who is responsible for dragging us nearer and nearer to the dog's mouth? Everyone can make a long list excluding their own names. We all have become very good in blaming others. Every day is scary, every week and months are risky and every year in Manipur has become unpredictably uncertain. There is always someone or some group to be blamed; there apparently is no scarcity of scapegoats in Manipur. The latest blame game trend, moreover, have gained sort of a communal identity. The gap between the various communities living in Manipur seems to be widening every day. It would not be wrong to say that we unconsciously have adopted an attitude something like 'We are Meiteis, don't listen to what the Nagas are shouting,' 'We are Nagas, why should we care what others think or speak,' 'We are kukis, Meiteis and Nagas shouldn't interfere.' I have come across open and unrestrained lambasting between the people of the major communities of Manipur in many social networking sites.

What have we all molded Manipur into? There is nothing wrong with the land; it's we the people who are sympathetically making this 'Switzerland of the East' into 'Somalia of the North East.' Gun culture is fashion of the day. The common man has almost come to a frustrating conclusion that elected representatives are meant only for piling up public money and the militants are for dancing with their guns and looting both the have and have not. The word ‘peace’ has become nonexistent for people of this small state. The concept of ‘a small family a happy family’ at least is not applicable for Manipur although it works so well for smaller states and Union Territories in India. There are too many demands from every nook and corner of the state that have no feasible solutions in sight. Most of these demands have their root in discontentment with the system in place. All the governments that have ruled the state, on retrospect were and are only good in hiding the wound rather curing it. Attention is given only when the wounds get pestered and become hopelessly worst.

Blocking the National Highways have become a favorite sport for the people to address their woes; sort of a suiting tactic to wake a sleeping government I should say, though it won’t be legal in other states. However, everything seems to be legal in Manipur. We all shout for integration and end up working for disintegration. The art of listening to what others feel seems to have been buried long time back. People, groups and communities in this small state finally have mastered the art of imposing on others. We all know what can be the outcome of two people sitting together with each of them shouting to the other ‘you shut up and listen to me.’ This imposing attitude make the parties involve alienate further rather than make them think and speak alike. Sense of belongingness gets distorted when voices are muffled. Will I want to call home as home if my voice is not considered as a contributing factor in making and maintaining that home?

Why do Manipur have the largest number of militant groups in the country when it is such a small state? Why do we have militants at all? Why are people putting up seemingly unending demands? Well, I feel these ugly facts speak volumes of how united and happy we are. As a person not so much inclined to politics, I have no ready political theories to offer as solution to the pestering situation in Manipur. Maybe, it’s time for us to drive home the example of bigger states that are much peaceful in spite of being multi-ethnic and cultural like ours.