A Leingak that never climbs hills

Kh Ibomcha *

Landscape photo on the road to Kamjong, Ukhrul District in September 2013 :: Pix - Deepak Oinam

Oftentimes, we hear people sloganeering "Chingmee Tammi Ammttani, Eikhoi Ichin Inaoni" mostly when Manipur gets trapped into political turmoil that seems to have potentials of harming the relationship between the hill people and valley people. It seems that the people settling in Imphal valley recall the existence of hill people and their significance only when they begin dreaming of having a separate political space with a map truncating out of present Manipur.

I wonder, if the political elites of our land are not having any feeling/love for those small boys who are walking miles every day climbing hills up and down for attending school in the fringe areas where they never visit though it falls within their constituency, while their own sons and daughters are going to school by school vans or bus or fancy private vehicles. Forget about school bus or van or fancy vehicles, they even don't have a road there - rather a walk-able path leading to their schools.

"What may the highlanders feel when they look at the valley from the hill-tops where they reside and see Imphal Valley - the abode of plain settlers, shining bright all through the night, while their villages remain engulfed in perpetual darkness like god-cursed land?" is a question I often ask myself.

Again, the same question I am asking myself leads me to another query on whether or not the ruling class in Manipur ever imagines how life would look like in the fringe villages which they have neglected where there are no roads, no electricity, no hospital etcetera and etcetera. But most of the time I ended up with the answer "no".

Of course, there are also many others (particularly hill settlers) who raise the same question that answers them nothing more than the riposte I gave myself - the "No". But from among them there, comes out a few who not only lament the asymmetrical development between hills and valley but also relentlessly seek a way to let themselves free from the shackles of underdevelopment formulating their own political imagination that often contradicts to that of valley settlers - the Meiteis.

For them development is something unthinkable as long as they remain under the valley people. They always perceive that it is Meitei people who stand between development and them taking the Meitei as the exploiting class. It should be remembered that there are many among Meiteis who have also been exploited economically by the same people or class who exploits them.

From the very idea of assuming Meitei as the chief cause of their remaining underdevelopment grows the hatred of Meitei people in the minds of hilly people that eventually widens the already existing fissure produced by the idea of 'clean' and 'unclean' rooted in Hindu religion adopted by the valley people some 280 years ago.

Most often their ire springs out of prolonged pangs inflicted on them by those sitting on the seat of power. The pangs seem to be commoditized through a process of ethnic mobilization by the same elites who are responsible for the affliction suffered by hill dwellers throwing whole blames on valley settlers and dividing the land vertically into two emotionally disjointed sets for their vested interest thus worsening the hill-valley dichotomy day by day.

The primary reason behind the underdevelopment of the hills of Manipur should be analyzed keeping in view of the roles played by ruling political elites representing both hill and valley constituencies, not only the valley representatives.

Yes, it must be analyzed considering how much funds meant to fortify the welfare and development of the people of Manipur have been fiddled up by both the valley and hill ruling political elites who share same typical aristocratic values and culture rooted in a badly distorted parliamentary form of democratic value system.

It is they who join hands and misappropriate public funds in one way or the other. They, however, playact as if they are not involved in looting the State exchequer and keep blaming others.

To yell at Meitei is one of the easiest ways or means via which tribal elites can get people's vote for them, so they use this means during election times portraying himself as a flag-waver who loves hill people even though they are not. In the process, hatred for Meitei in the mind of tribal people of Manipur grows tall and taller each day.

"No development climbs hills and this is all because of Meitei". This is an assertion commonly made by hill politicians particularly during electioneering despite the fact that he lives in a palatial mansion while his own people back at home have no roads. But they never imagine how venomous is the hate they have planted in the hearts of hill dwellers that sometimes climb to the peaks of the polarization, spewing out fear of an ethnic clash or cold war breaking all the ties of hill-valley brotherhood.

When people get stuck in the whirlpool of confusion in adjudging who are behind the teething troubles they suffer for some decades now, there are again pressure groups or civil society organizations that has also been equally caught in the same trap politically wired and communally tinged, adding fuel to the fire.

If we cut into the line "No development climbs hills and this is all because of Meitei" which tribal elites often say and become a kind of discourse among Chingmees in the post-merger political landscape of Manipur, we will see a pack of lies as well as some painful truths that motor the divide, wedging between the two people.

Well, now I would like to ask you a few questions: Is your MLA as clean as he claims to be? Is he not corrupt at all? If you're not lying to yourself, I swear, answers to the queries will be 'yeses'.

Now, on the basis of your perceived level of corruption determined by your opinion, it can be assessed that almost all the political elite of Manipur are corrupt irrespective of their location, be it hill or valley.

It may be a tall claim to say they are corrupt simply assessing on perception indices, but the fact is that everybody perceive so and they are doing what people perceive, i.e., eating or pocketing money meant for people.

In the phrase mentioned above, a truth has been exposed that the Government of Manipur is not climbing hills. If one observes it can be seen that the governance in Manipur ends at Sekmai in the north, at Kangvai in the south, at Yaingampokpi in the east and at the foot of Keithenmanbi hills in the west, while they claim Beihang (a border village in Singhat sub-divison of Churchandpur), a place where they never set foot except during elections, as integral part of Manipur, for example.

One can also observe that the Governance or Administration of Manipur concentrates within an area less than 2000 square kilometers representing valley, while the geography of Manipur says its total area as 22,365 Square kilometers.

It means that more than 20,000 Sq. Km of the total area of Manipur where highlanders inhabit is left out ungoverned, or rather not being governed. Thus development was never given a chance to climb the hills - the abode of highlanders.

Under such condition, it will be worthwhile to recall Pierre Clastres' famous phrase on which James Scott framed his argument in his book "The Art of Not Being Governed." The phrase goes as: "It is said that the history of peoples who have a history is the history of class struggle. It might be said with at least as much truthfulness, that the history of peoples without history is a history of their struggle against the state."

Like what James C Scott had projected, in some sense, the highlanders of Manipur can be thought as a disparate group of people who is trying to flee from the State because of the State's prolonged negligence of hills truncating all its possibilities to grow.

Indeed they are fleeing from the State hoping to construct their own history with a new map of their own. The point is that, to remain being ungoverned for decades is a reason why they are running off - escaping a Leingak-less Leingak.

The reason for the number of inter-ethnic socio-political conflicts Manipur witnessed today can be traced in the consistent failure of the State in climbing hills and rendering services to hill people who never get what they expect from the Government that nominally rules them. So, all the concerned people of the State must give a serious thought on it and act accordingly, the sooner the better.

In reality, one can say that the uplands of Manipur were neither ruled nor governed by the Government Manipur for quite a long period resulting in all these ethno-politico turmoil awaiting its final cataclysmic eruption where all of us - KuKi, Naga and Meitei will be reduced into cinders.

May be, it seems like nationalist version of an opinion to ask if there be "any invisible hand" manufacturing venoms to destroy the not-so-stable link between hills and valley due to depletion of faith between the two through numerous historical mistakes committed by the latter group. However, all thinking people of Manipur felt the need of putting up this question when certain prominent tribal politicians of the North-East wrote letters to the Prime minister of India requesting for not giving assent to the three controversial bills, passed by Manipur State Assembly to protect the indigenous people of Manipur, which set Churachandpur District on flames.

On September 7, 2015 in 'ISTV Gi Ayuksida' which discussed the present ethno-political conflicts of Manipur, a renowned Professor of Manipur University expressed his doubt asking if the Government of India and its think-tanks as well as the security forces have deliberately instigated ethnic clashes among ethnic groups in the North-East to create social chaos in the region so that they can impose military rule. This will enable them to mainstream mainland culture in the region destroying the ethnic identities of more than 200 ethnic groups.

If what the professor has told in the discussion turns out to be true, it would be very dangerous for all the ethnic people inhibiting in the so called the North-Eastern region of India. Here, I think it would be worthwhile to recall comrade Mao Zedong's "Who are our Enemies? And Who are our Friends?" to equip ourselves with capabilities to protect respective ethnic interests.

No wonders, with the idea of India based on the concept of Hindutava what Indian rulers categorically long for is to fragment the societal fabric of the different ethnic groups in Kangleipak by deceiving people into believing their own ethnic brethren as enemies and the Indian mainlanders as their protectors.

Instead of being at each others' throats ripping up old sores, we can think of a more comprehensive autonomy for the hill as well as for the valley, thus ending the bad blood boiling between hills and valley. I think, it is not only meaningless but also irrational to stand against the hill people when they wish to have the 6th schedule, let them be what and how they want to be - no more appeasement policy, while a more matching model of autonomy can be thought of for the valley people or even we can go for the pre-merger political status or complete self-rule like India did some 68 years ago in consultation with our public as recently done in Imphal.

With the evident existence of deep fissure between different communities in the state particularly between highlanders and valley settlers, there is an urgent need to resolve the issue via discussion on a larger podium rather than sweeping the matter under the carpet or flippantly expressing views over Chin Kangjei on Facebook or WhatsApp.

Non-realization of the fact that after the extinction of Meitei, neither Kuki nor Naga can exist as a nation would lead us to a destination where all will meet national deaths. This is where there is an urgent need to give a real thought thereby making one and all understand who our foe is and who our friends are.