3 troubling questions about Manipur’s crisis

New Delhi : I’m going to start this column as I have never begun before. With a statement of intent. I shall strive to be as measured, balanced, objective and fair as I can be. That’s essential when the subject is Manipur. Though I want to make three important points, I do not wish to scratch unhealed wounds or inflame passions.

First, why has Biren Singh not been removed as Chief Minister? After 65 days his inability to handle the situation – or incompetence – is surely beyond question. Even his own legislators have lost faith in him. In May, seven BJP Kuki MLAs, who demanded a separate administration, publicly stated they had no confidence in their own Chief Minister. In June, eight BJP Meitei MLAs submitted a memorandum to the Prime Minister stating “(the) public have lost complete faith in the present state government”. That’s 15 of his 32 MLAs.

Facts apart, there’s a deeper moral reason to dismiss him. 16% of Manipur’s population, the Kukis, blame him for what’s happened. They regard him as a Meitei chauvinist and anti-Kuki. Last week his official Twitter account seemed to corroborate this accusation. The Indian Express reports it “took on those criticizing him as being Kukis and ‘belonging to Myanmar’.” Screenshots show the Biren Singh account replied to a comment he should resign by asking “Are you from India or Myanmar?”

What hope can there be of reconciliation if the man the Kuki appear to hate most of all continues as Chief Minister?

The second point I want to raise is about an incident at the end of June. An estimated 1,500 Meitei women, probably Meira Paibis, surrounded the 3rd Army Corp camp in East Imphal forcing the release of 12 Meitei militants belonging to the Kanglei Yawol Kanna Lup. This is the group responsible for killing 18 soldiers in a 2015 ambush in Chandel. The twelve militants included a man who calls himself Lt. Col. Moirangthem Tamba, the alleged mastermind of the ambush.

These men should never have been released but they were. What’s worse is the women were supported by a BJP Meitei MLA, Thounaojam Shyamkumar Singh. He doesn’t deny he was present but insists he did not ask for the release of the militants. However, security officials have told this paper a different story. “The MLA was the one negotiating with the forces.”

The paradox is this happened just after The Hindu reported Biren Singh had been told by the Home Minister to reach out to Kukis and to be bi-partisan. BJP MLAs in Imphal were doing exactly the opposite.

Why wasn’t the Shyamkumar Singh story picked up by other papers? Why did no one question the government, either in Imphal or Delhi?

My third concern is not just distressing but disillusioning. For over two months Manipur has been deeply troubled. We’ve had arson, mob violence, targeted killings and, now, a ghastly beheading. Yet our Prime Minister has had nothing to say. In his most recent Mann ki Baat he spoke of the cyclone in Gujarat but ignored the far worse trauma of Manipur. When a terrible earthquake hit Turkey, he was amongst the first to sympathize. But regarding the people of Manipur, his own citizens and, in fact, his voters, he’s stayed stubbornly silent.

About this every Manipuri I’ve interviewed, Meitei, Kuki and Naga, feels let down. First, they were upset, then angry, and later they felt betrayed. Now, they believe they’re unwanted.

The Home Minister has said he’s briefed the Prime Minister every single day about the Manipur crisis. I don’t question that. But it makes it even harder to accept Modi’s deliberate refusal to speak. Beyond duty and constitutional requirements, there’s a moral demand for a head of government to articulate the nation’s concern. If he spoke it would be on behalf of all of us. For he would speak as our prime minister. But if he has nothing to say Modi’s silence is only his own. It cannot represent the rest of us.

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