Looking beyond territorial integrity : All party meet sans NPF
- The Sangai Express Editorial :: October 30 2017 -

The interesting question is, now what will the BJP do ?

All political parties in Manipur are set to depute a team to Delhi to lay down the case of Manipur clearly before the BJP led Government that the oneness and identity of Manipur should not be compromised under any circumstances in the event of working out a solution with the NSCN (IM) sans the Naga People’s Front (NPF) (The internal differences in the NPF is a different matter).

The poser is important for NPF is not only a major political partner in the BJP led coalition Government here and while no one doubted what the NPF stands for, this is perhaps the first time that apart from staying away from the all political parties meeting convened by the Chief Minister on October 28, it issued a statement openly calling for the integration of all Naga inhabited areas.

The alliance will continue, this is for sure, but how will the open stand of the NPF impact on the politics of coalition and how will the State BJP respond to the open statement issued by the NPF ?

The BJP Government will obviously remain silent but how about the BJP as a political party ?

Or will it also look the other way round ?

The development will certainly not be comfortable for Chief Minister N Biren and the State unit of the BJP, for remember one here is talking about the territorial integrity of the State.

Given the assurance given by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh, the territory of Manipur may stay intact, but how about any design to dilute the existence of Manipur as a State ?

The territory intact, but what happens if some administrative mechanism is worked out which guarantees a certain degree of autonomy to the Naga inhabited areas ?

Will the State BJP accept such an arrangement ?

Time to move beyond the understanding of territorial integrity and see what may unfold.

Will the BJP led Government here accept any model wherein its writ does not run in the Naga inhabited areas ?

How about a model where the Naga inhabited areas are governed by a mechanism at New Delhi ?

Will the State BJP accept such a model ?

Will the BJP led coalition Government here accept a model such as a Supra State for the Naga inhabited areas, thereby effectively blunting the presence of the State Government in these areas ?

These are all questions at the moment, but there is every possibility of such a model coming into force.

Apart from the Government, will the civil society organisations based in the valley area of Manipur accept such a model ?

It is more than apparent that something will be given and the important point is whether what is to be given will compromise with the geo-political reality of Manipur or not.

As repeated many times in this column, it is only right for all, particularly the majority Meiteis, to question why such a divide has crept in.

A look inward is what is needed at this moment and while this is already too late, one need to look inward and study how not to further muddy the already muddied water.