Pulling up sleeves for ILP Bill Take all sections along
- The Sangai Express Editorial :: November 27 2017 -

It is encouraging to note that the Joint Committee on Inner Line Permit System (JCILPS) has reached out to the hill based organisations, particularly the United Naga Council and some CSOs of Churachandpur to up the pressure on the State Government to pass a Bill that will regulate the inflow of non-locals into Manipur.

This is a needed step for what JCILPS is demanding is not for any particular community but for all indigenous people of the State and this is a point which should be appreciated by all, particularly the hill based organisations.

Or if any hill based organisation is not in favour of any Bill that will regulate or restrict the inflow of non-local people into the State, they should not try to derail the process to pass a Bill or come up with such tags as ‘anti-tribal’ Bill.

Afterall the hills are already protected by the Constitution and it is the valley that needs some sort of protection.

It is this which all should learn to respect.

Take the hill based organisations along, is the line that has been maintained by The Sangai Express and all should understand this point.

Will make no sense if a Bill that is passed for the protection of the local people becomes the dividing force.

All will remember the ugly days after the State Assembly passed the three Bills on August 31, 2015 and how Churachandpur burned.

Some lessons should be learned from the past and this time, let the State Government not by pass anybody, such as the Hills Area Committee or any institution before passing any Bill.

Consult Constitutional experts too before introducing the same for its passage in the Assembly.

That JCILPS has rolled up its sleeves for yet another round of intense movement to demand the same can be drawn from the public convention called on December 1.

How the coming days will unfold is anybody’s guess, but what is clear is the point that the JCILPS is not particularly happy with the response of the State Government to its demand.

The BJP led State Government has certainly succeeded in reaching out to the hill people and it is only right that the people expect the Government to take every section of the people along when it introduces and passes such a Bill anytime in the future.

Nobody would want a repeat of 2015, for that was a clear indication of the State failing to take along everyone.

The BJP led Government does not have such a burden on its shoulders and it is this feel good factor that the Government should try to capitalise upon.

The JCILPS on its part has done the right thing in reaching out to the UNC and the CSOs of Churachandpur.

And it remains that in reaching out to the UNC and the CSOs of Churachandpur all are instructed in clear cut terms that some of the ugly incidents of the past are not repeated, especially such as targeting students from the hills for refusing to take part in the street protests.

Moreover the JCILPS really do need to rethink its strategy of utilising school children while taking to the streets.

Instead of that, involve more mature students.

Why not let students from MU and the colleges take part instead of the school kids from the schools of Imphal ?