Coverage about Jessami people is misleading

K Lohe *

I am a regular reader of your excellent website news. I wish to thank each member of e-pao team for creative and responsible journalism. However, I regret to say that your recent news coverage about Jessami people is completely misleading.

I am aware of the fact that there are still many people who do not have adequate knowledge about the people of Jessami in Manipur. But it is quite a threatening shock to know that some of the most learned people of Manipur are still uninformed about who the people of Jessami really are in spite of the history that is still conspicuously loud and clear.

The people of Jessami, rather correctly known as Yessami, historically, socially and culturally belong to the Chakhesang tribe. Needless to say, self identity is fundamental to human existence for without identity, one is completely lost to a mere existence without actually living.

This very concept is the root of all social and political movements in history that pursued for self- determination and freedom, the Naga freedom movement, for instance. The people of Yessami have their own identity and they want other people to know that they don't simply exist but they do live, move and have their beings.

As said earlier, your news item, particularly during the last visit of CM to the village, has hurt the sentiments of the people of Jessami.

The news depicted the people of Jessami as Tangkhul with a picture of women performing folk dance under which a caption reads, 'Tangkhul women performing folk dance to welcome CM.' It should rather read as 'Chakhesang women.'

Chakhesang women performing a folk dance to welcome Chief Minister O Ibobi at Jessami in Ukhrul district

In fact, any ordinary person who is well aware of diverse ethnicity especially in the northeast region will easily notice that women were dressed in their own traditional attire which is distinctly of Chakhesang tribe. I wonder how one particular tribe would have reacted if they were given such a wrong identity. Only a decent and educated person will feel and understand this issue at hand.

Sir, I wish to let you know that the people of Jessami are Chakhesang by blood, living in Manipur State under Ukhrul district. Just because they live in close proximity with the Tangkhul community, it does not mean that they are already Tangkhul.

The village does not claim to get separated from the State nor does it seek to refrain from relating to the Tangkhul community. There is already an unshakable affinity between the Tangkhul and the people of Jessami.

This relationship, I believe, will grow from strength to strength. The point is not the choice between whether one is willing to be or not willing to be.

The truth of the matter is that the people of Jessami want to be just who they really are. And as for us, as educated as we are including the media such as e-pao, we must respect this irrevocable reality and show our solidarity by our conscious effort to disseminate what is due to the people and in this case, the people of Yessami.

May I, therefore, request the concerned authority of this website to seriously address this issue and kindly do the necessary correction to avoid further misunderstanding.

Thank you so much for this platform to freely express one's point of view.

(**** E-pao - The said mistake has been corrected...)

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* K Lohe writes to e-pao.net for the first time. The writer can be contacted at kezorimarketplace(at)gmail(dot)com
This article was webcasted on January 27th, 2010.

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