Summer months since 2001 : Cyclical phenomena
- The Sangai Express Editorial :: June 24 2011 -

It may or may not have something to do with planetary movements and its supposed impact on human behaviour, but Manipur presents an interesting case if one takes into account that the most volatile, most tense and most difficult times invariably come calling during the Summer months, from May till July or August.

It may be the rising mercury, courtesy global warming, or it may confound scientific explanations, but it is amazing to see that Manipur plunges into one crisis or the other mostly during the Summer months and this has been the case in the last decade or so.

And the main crisis that comes to the fore invariably centres around the Lim issue and if 2001 is remembered as the year of the Bangkok Declaration of June 14 followed by the mass uprising of June 18, the Summer of 2005 will be remembered for the 52 days economic blockade which was enforced sometime from the latter part of June.

In 2004, Manipur erupted against the continued imposition of AFSPA on a scale never seen before after the bullet riddled and battered body of Th Manorama was discovered after she was picked up by Assam Rifles personnel in the early part of July.

The year 2010 was about the abortive attempt of Th Muivah to enter Manipur, the Mao uproar in which two students were killed in police action on May 3, followed by the 68 days economic blockade and topped off by the July 1 Senapati declaration wherein the UNC adopted the line of severing all ties with the Government of Manipur.

The much talked about Tripartite Talks involving the Union Home Ministry as observer, the State Government and the UNC has its roots in the July 1, 2010 Declaration. There have been other instances, all coming in the Summer months and the examples we have quoted are but a few of the more prominent ones.

The seeds of the Alternative Arrangement which were sown in the July 1, Senapati conclave is in the limelight again with the SPF Government deciding to depute a team headed by Chief Secretary DS Poonia on June 30 to Senapati district headquarters.

The on and off stand adopted by the Congress led SPF Government has only added to the confusion and from sending its men to the first round of talk to Senapati district headquarters on December 3, last year, it came out with the story, "the UNC has not replied to our queries on what the substance of the talk is about," and declared its intention of staying away from the talk on the eve of the second round of talk in May this year.

Now that the Cabinet has decided to depute a team led by none other than the Chief Secretary himself, it is only right that the Government answer certain questions. The question that naturally follows the decision of the SPF Cabinet is whether the UNC has explained in clear cut terms what it means by Alternative Arrangement or not.

The Government has a duty to inform the people on this point. Moreover Delhi also need to explain what its role exactly is and what it means by saying that its representatives will be present at the meeting as observers.

In all likelihood, Mr Ibobi and his men will not deem it necessary or even morally bound to answer the questions we have raised, but this is not going to deter anyone from questioning the Government on the proposed talk.

It is interesting to note that the "Tripartite Talk" has undergone some changes to emerge as "UNC Talk" today and the change in terminology rings out loud with the desperate measures taken up to make it sound more politically acceptable to the people who do not subscribe to the idea of the Tripartite Talk.

The Government's desperate measure may stem from the technical understanding that a "Bilateral Talk" or a "Tripartite Talk" refer to any dialogue between two "equal entities" and hence continuing with this term may emit the wrong signal.

This may be dismissed as nothing much more than indulging in an exercise of technical jargon and rightly so, for the spirit of the talk has a lot to do with the Senapati Declaration of July 1, 2010.

Alternative Arrangement is the term derived from the decision to sever all ties with the Government of Manipur and now that a decision has been taken to depute a team headed by the Chief Secretary, the SPF Government can no longer afford to play dumb and come up with excuses such as they do not know the substance of the talk.

Delhi also needs to explain to what made it transform from a participant to a mere observer now. If it is just an observer, why did it deem necessary to tell the State Government to fall in line with the June 30 deadline set down by the UNC earlier.

If Mr Ibobi and his men can demonstrate an iron fisted stand as shown while evicting women vegetable vendors from Khwai-ramband bazar or moving the vendors from Nagamapal to Lamphel or in issuing the eviction notices on the residents of Naga river colony to make way for a 5 Star Hotel, why does it appear like a wimp in the face of the Alternative Arrangement model mooted by the UNC ?

If it is convinced that there is nothing wrong in going ahead with the talk, as shown by its participation in the December 3, 2010 talk, then why did it come up with such a juvenile excuse like it does not know the substance of the talk in May this year ?

On the other hand if it is of the impression that the State Government cannot entertain any idea which seeks to subvert the authority of the state, then it should have the gumption to strike a firm stand and say creating a separate administrative unit for the Naga dominated areas is non-negotiable for it would amount to breaking up the State.