John Lennon's "Imagine" impossible

JN Lai *

Rally to protest Killing of Student by Police firing and pro-ILPS on July 11 2015 : Pix - Shankar Khangembam

If possible, humanity in a border-less world is one super beautiful notion. But those powerful governments, nations, groups on the planet are real bellicose.

Their dominant minds and discriminatory hands make John Lennon's "Imagine" impossible as of now. Survival struggle for weaker peoples, tiny groups like us is the most challenging reality amidst such gluttony world created and controlled by the cruel majority.

So now, such a scanty population of 1.5 million of Manipuris – what will we do - sacrifice for the sake of mindless majority? Or, Survive by saving our land, language and culture?

This hilly terrain of 22,327 sq km, in the Eastern Himalaya is abode of indigenous 36 peoples, majority of whom are distinct from the rest of Indians and more akin to South East Asia. The total estimated population is about 2.7 million including about 1.2 million migrants as of 2015.

In 1947 Manipur regained her independence from British and in 1948 established a democratic form of government on her own after the first universal franchise in the whole Southeast Asia. Suddenly in 1948, she was made a controversial part of India.

Thus, over the last 60 years, influx population from across the border, Mainland India, Nepal, Bangladesh and Myanmar has been a threat to this tiny indigenous population of Manipur.

The migrants are coming here undocumented to add salt to the injury; most of them are contributing crimes, violence, tension, socio-economy hurdles, environmental pollution, etc. They got here so easily due to absence of regulation system for migration and attractions like less population density, better economic, easy means of earning and livelihood in Manipur.

What students groups and civil societies of Manipur have been proposing to our Government since 1980 is a meaningful safeguard of indigenous communities of the soil in the light of extinction of indigenous Twipuris on their own ancestral land.

The ongoing protest itself is the continuation of the noise for the protection of endangered indigenous peoples in our own ancestral land both of hills and valley. This is not something against the community coming to and staying in Manipur.

This is for an effective regulation in checking the undocumented migrants and to administer their activities properly along with the preserving our valuable land, language, resource, environment, culture and identity.

The JCILPs demands;

o A permit for migrants as regards their purpose, whereabouts, etc.
o No land ownership rights to the migrants who came to Manipur after 1951.
o A full-fledged labour department for migrant registration.
o Detection and deportation of illegal migrants, etc.

However, Government's stubborn attitude is the ever sustained mammoth challenge. Always, so called people's representatives in the government reject readily no matter how good and meaningful proposals of the citizens are. In the eyes of public, ministers and MLAs are becoming mere a real danger, anti-people, anti-welfare; truly an enemy indeed.

The bottom lines;
First, as Manipuris know that Manipur Regulation of Visitors, Tenants and Migrant Workers Bill 2015 is very weak, rather an indigent response of the present Ibobi government to the demands of Joint Committee on Inner Line Permit system (JCILPs) this is reason why ongoing protest is coming up. Simply so, why we should compromise again in next 2017 Manipur State Assembly Election with the MLAs. Shouldn't we show our people's power soon there?

Second, there are a good few of us who mere good at criticizing civil societies, JCILP. They even don't know student groups are main components of JCILP. Other than taking safe-side, mustn't we come out and participate ourselves if we like the students and young-bloods to be spared?