Setting the record straight : Capitalising on an act of violence
- Sangai Express Editorial :: September 17, 2013 -

Time to set the record straight and tell those who are trying to politicise the issue to vamoose.

It is not and has never been a case of the locals versus the non-locals. There can be no argument over this.

The recent trend of non-locals or migrant workers being targeted and killed only in the valley area or Imphal is true.

There is no argument here, again.

However to interpret this as a stand off between the valley dwellers, that is the Meiteis, and the non-locals would not only be mischievous but also dangerous.

This observation has not been plucked from thin air or a figment of imagination cooked up by The Sangai Express but made from some of the responses to the Nagamapal blast on September 13, in which nine labourers were killed.

It was the local people who first responded to the situation and helped in evacuating the injured to the hospital.

It was the local people living nearby who extended the first helping hand.

This has always been the case and will continue to be so.

Just because violence or plain acts of terrorism, such as the September 13 incident happened in the heart of Imphal city, it should not be portrayed as the local people endorsing such acts.

The violence perpetrated by any group or a rag tag of armed persons cannot be equated with any particular community.

Unfortunate but in trying to pursue a political agenda or a political demand, certain groups of people have tried to paint the valley dwellers as being against the non-local or migrant workers.

The politics of violence can take dangerous twists and turns and it is this politics which should be nipped in the bud.

Capitalising on an act of terror to further boost one’s political agenda cannot get dirtier and mischievous than this.

Accusing someone of being communal is itself communal just as denying racism is racism.

The Sangai Express has made its stand clear on the September 13 Nagamapal bomb blast.

But given the responses from some supposedly responsible organisations to the bestial act, the stand of this paper, will extend to not only the atrocious act but also to those trying to capitalise on the incident and portray a community or a group of people as being anti-non-local or anti-migrant workers.

Propaganda at work ? To those who read between the lines, the agenda should not be that difficult to understand.

Paint a community in the eyes of the country and the world as being communal and in the process try to legitimise their political aspirations.

This is as much unacceptable as the act of violence which claimed the lives of nine non-local labourers.

By all means, the incident should stand condemned for it was against humanity.

But in trying to take a stand against such acts of violence, no rooms should be given to any elements to capitalise on the situation and further their political dreams and aspirations.

This is what the people should be wary of.

Given the politics of push and pulls and with different competing forces pursuing their own agenda, it should not surprise anyone when such a brand of politics is played out on the turf of blood and gore.

Manipur has witnessed enough nonsense and the last thing the people, cutting across community and ethnic affiliation, need is elements trying to capitalise on a tragedy, a carefully crafted and executed man made tragedy.