Half a league, half a league towards a banana republic
Manipur's recent trajectory

Amar Yumnam *

The phrase 'half a league, half a league' has been immortalized by the famous poem depicting valour, heroism and commitment to the cause of national pride of Alfred Tennyson. The poem learned in our teens really inspired us towards freedom and commitment to the national cause; the phrase had acquired the character of depicting the nature of national progression. But today when we look at the unfolding events in Manipur, we cannot help feeling that we are fast moving towards a banana republic.

Banana Republic: While we were students in the formal sense of attending classes and reading about the global scenario, we did come across a very common term, banana republics. But the meanings and implications were not easily absorbed for the scenario was beyond our perception. But today we are all living with the fast unfolding characteristics of a banana republic.

Henry's 1904 book, Cabbages and Kings, of short stories, which coined the term opens with the following paragraph: "They will tell you in Anchuria, that President Miraflores, of that volatile republic, died by his own hand in the coast town of Coralio; that he had reached thus far in flight from the inconveniences of an imminent revolution; and that one hundred thousand dollars, government funds, which he carried with him in an American leather valise as a souvenir of his tempestuous administration, was never afterward recovered."

The quotation reflects pretty well the corruption, stealing and collapse of governance in the imagined land of Anchuria, which was in fact Honduras where Henry lived during 1896-97.

A banana republic now in common usage naturally means a poor developing country. This country is politically volatile, and dependent on a single cash crop, e.g. banana. It is governed by highly corrupt government led by exaggeratedly powerful leader. The government is sustained by handing out doles to the sycophants.

Coming to Manipur, the recent attack into media houses by groups representing a few organisations from a valley district of Manipur has all the traces of a banana republic.

Despite the fact that the matter has now been resolved, the social pain still lingers for various reasons. First, it is absolutely unfortunate that certain organisations could go to the length of planning and actually barging into the very buildings housing some leading newspapers of the land.

This speaks of the fast collapse of democratic values in this part of the world. Secondly, and even more unfortunate, the organisations dragged into their savage act the name and position of the head of the people in the province. This is democratically a very damaging act deserving the harshest of treatment for no organisation has the right to indulge in savagery in the name of a democratically elected head of the people.

Thirdly, the laxity of the administration in handling the individuals responsible for this attack on a foundation of democracy smells as if the state itself indulging in a treachery. This is particularly so given the recent approach of the administration for handling any situation. This takes us to an examination of the administrative orientation of the land.

Recent Approach: We understand that the land and society of Manipur is now passing through a very precarious situation where the involvements of the security forces are more or less mandated. But this does not necessarily imply that we shall be looking for a solution to every problem through interventions of these forces.

The prevailing socio-political impasse is not a problem to be tackled by the police; it is purely an administrative problem. Being so, the solutions are to be found through administrative ingenuity, and definitely not through police actions.

Of late, we see an increasing tendency of the administration to cover her lapses and failures with blatant police actions. This has drawn the police force into areas and situations where they simply should not be players. In the process, the police have been unwarrantedly drawn into disrepute while the failures are of the administration.

Unless the state corrects this interventionist confusion, we would not be surprised if more banana republic behaviours get manifested in this land.

Overall Scenario: One Barry Daniels has just published online what he calls "Aesop Updated: A Fable for the Third Millennium". The first fable in this is about the disappearance of a wonderfully beautiful community of Follame Beetle.

Normally the largest and strongest of this group of beetles would lead in foraging for food. But uniquely, the antennae of each beetle would be locked onto the rear legs of the one in front. This made the beetles absolutely unmindful of where they were leading to while concentrating themselves fully into eating.

Over time, the line of beetles became longer through accidental joining of the leader of a line to the tail-end of another line. Ultimately and by sheer instinctive behaviour, the leader hit into the tail-end of its own line and joined it. It naturally led to the sticking and foraging for food into a limited area.

In due course, the food source collapsed and finally the beetles could not carry themselves any further. Thus the beautiful community of Follame Beetles disappeared from the Amazons. The way the overall social dynamics is getting unfolded in our dear land has many resemblances with the world of the Follame Beetles.

In order that the same fate does not befall us, the time has come for us to distinguish 'activity' from 'accomplishment', and 'moving' from 'reaching somewhere'.

We should not be getting wasted in a circle of our own dismantling.