Belligerence not the answer : Avoid a showdown
- The Sangai Express Editorial :: November 12, 2012 -

File pic of a drive taken up to identify illegal migrants in the State and (inset) Gaikhangam :: Pix - TSE

Belligerence is not the answer.

With the Joint Committee on Inner Line Permit System (JCILPS) setting November 19 as the deadline to initiate the necessary procedures for issuing permits to non-Manipuris who have come to the State after 1947, a showdown with the Government cannot be ruled out at all.

Perhaps it is the ‘politics of pressure’ that has constrained the JCILPS to set the deadline, but no Government will stand aside and let a pressure group erode its legitimacy.

And no pressure group will easily retract from a publicly pronounced stand. The question is, does Manipur really need such a situation to arise at this present juncture, in the first place ?

The spirit behind the demand for enforcing the Inner Line Permit System needs to be appreciated.

That the large scale influx of migrant workers is a cause for worry need not be stressed or elaborated here.

Equally important too is to acknowledge the fact that the ILP, which has been in force for decades in Nagaland has not been able to stop the incursion of migrant workers, legal or illegal.

The same may be true in the case of Arunachal Pradesh. However the spirit in which the demand to enforce this Act, which restricts the inflow of outsiders into a State, should be understood in the context of the demographic composition of the land, which many have termed as skewed.

It would be wrong to say that the State Government has been indifferent to the spirit behind this demand, either. The very fact that the State Legislative Assembly passed a resolution to impress the Centre to enforce the ILP cannot and should not be overlooked.

The need to appreciate and understand the position of the State Government too is important.

It is the appreciation of each others' position that is of utmost importance in the present context.

The uncertainty and apprehension over the deal which is reportedly being readied between the Isak and Muivah faction of the NSCN, the banner for Alternative Arrangement raised under the aegis of the United Naga Council, the demand for homeland championed by the Kuki National Organisation under the SoO pact and clearly this is not the time for the people to be seen as being pitted against the State Government on any other issue.

A confrontation over the ILP demand is the last thing that is needed at this juncture. By all means the insensitive statement of the Union Home Minister to the resolution passed by a democra- tically elected Government of a State of the Union of India should stand condemned. But that fight should not be seen as being taken against the State Government.

The influx of outsiders is no doubt a worrying reality and it would be that much more positive if only mobilisation drives are carried out to blunt the ‘pull’ factor that is Manipur.

Galvanise and mobilise the youth to the fact that many of the vocations being taken up by the migrant workers are jobs that they can fill up.

Educate the people on the need to patronise the works or services provided by the indigenous population.

This is but one way of positively approa- ching a subject which is important to the future of the land and her people. A showdown with the Government at this point, at this present juncture, would amount to a medication prescribed by the nemesis of the land.

The Government too may need to do more than just saying that the Assembly has passed a resolution and sent it to the Centre. Let better judgement prevail for the good of everyone.