June 14 and 18 have come and gone and apart from remembering the supreme sacrifices made by the martyrs who laid down their lives to protect the territorial integrity of Manipur one invaluable lesson these two landmark dates should teach us is the need for unity whenever any issue that concerns the welfare of the Manipur people crops up. It was the unstinted and unyielding unity of the people that made the Centre see sense and roll back the geographical extension of the ceasefire between New Delhi and the NSCN (IM) by deleting the offending phrase “without territorial limits”. The 18 people who have been laid to rest at Kekrupat sacrificed their lives during the mammoth show and demonstrations of unity to preserve the age-old territorial boundary of Manipur. However all these noble concepts of unity and oneness are blown to smithereens when any signs or symptoms of disunity appear in public consumption. We all know that lack of unity has been the bane of Manipuri people and the British incursion which resulted in the now immortalized Khongjom War was a direct fall out of the acute disunity amongst the royalty of the day. We need not o go into the finer details of history to show the negative fall outs of disunity but it should be drummed into the senses of all concerned that when Manipur is passing through such a critical phase in her history disunity amongst any organizations which matter, can only be at the peril of the Manipuri people and her territorial sanctity. Over the years the State has seen the mushrooming of various voluntary organizations and yes student bodies all with the same intent of bettering the lot of the Manipuri but the trouble starts when these same organizations purporting to pursue the same goal develop diametrically opposite views and their disunity is laid bare before the public. Nothing could be more harmful to the morale and sentiments of the common people and by extension the interest of the state.

Again we would like to remind all that no one or no organization has the right to claim sole prerogative over the two landmark dates in the history of Manipur – June 14 and June 18. The uprising of June 18 was not planned or premeditated by any organization or by any individual but was a popular upsurge that knew no political affiliations, party loyalties, organizational ideologies or anything connected with any selfish ends. It was the united cry of the people to safeguard the territorial integrity of Manipur. Paying homage to the martyrs but shorn of any united outlook would amount to insulting the supreme sacrifices of the men and women who gave up their lives to defeat the divisive policies of the Government of India. The crux of the matter is this – June 18 or for that matter June 14 should not become a bone of contention between any organizations or any voluntary bodies. These days belong to the people of Manipur and any attempt to give it a different meaning would be distorting facts that can only lead to further turmoil. Even today the apprehension in the minds of people is yet to be cleared. The prevailing condition calls not for any game of one upmanship but a united effort to thwart and meet any challenges that poses a threat to the territorial integrity of Manipur. Even on other vital issues unity is the need of the hour. All voluntary organizations, civil societies, students’ organization need to look inwards and realize that unity is the call of the hour and not some stubborn stand that gives no room to accommodate differing ideas and ideologies. True, differences of opinion and ideologies are bound to crop up when any issue comes up for it is the only human nature to view things from different perspective. But the moot point is these differences should not be allowed to overshadow the issue which is at stake and for a case like protecting the territorial integrity of Manipur, yes differing ideas and opinions should not sideline the issue at hand. That differing views should be accommodated and a consensus worked out should be guiding force.