Let's face it: we have a Chief Minister who is indecisive, cowardly, self-serving and worse anti-people. To this you might add the adjective servile. A slave to his chronically NE blind masters at the Centre.

Mr Okram Ibobi thinks he has done a superman act by lifting the Armed Forces Special Powers Act from a few square kilometers of real estate in urban Imphal. Isn't this an eyewash, an insult to all of us who have shouted slogans, braved the bullets, bared our clothes, immolated ourselves, risked suspension from jobs?

Call me an inveterate cynical nitpick. I can't stomach the idea of living in a state ruled by a puppet who believes in throwing crumps at his subject. We have been demanding the complete withdrawal of the draconian act from the whole state, and this is what we get: a divisive knee-jerk reaction that pits the urban against the rural, the valley against the hill.

I am seriously wondering if this is a deliberate throwback to the colonial British policy of divide and rule. Except that this policy won't work anymore this time for the simple reason that we are not morons. Politicians can fool us some times but not for eternity.

Ibobi's decison for partial repeal of the terrorising Act is at best a political tactic to save his own skin. It is a masterstroke in politicking. It is borne out of his desperation to cling to his Chief Ministership chair. Kiss goodbye to any lingering illusions about his love and respect for the sentiments of the people of Manipur.

The truth is he sees us, the people who have put him on that chair as his enemies out to get him. In his jaundiced view, we are all sympathisers of the undergounds, controlled and incited by them to the streets. He bellowed this much from the rooftops on the Independence Day of India to please New Delhi. His personal agenda was served.

If he is to be believed, I am too an underground and for that matter many of us who have taken part in the democratic protests. Little does our CM realise that his statement is too sweeping an accusation that can boomerang on him. If the whole civil society of Manipur is under the thrall of the insurgents, then it reflects poorly on the credibility and utility of the elected government. Do we need a government who has lost our trust and confidence?

And where have all the "young turks" of the cabinet gone who have threatened to resign should the CM fail to lift the Act? Was their demand fulfilled, or are they party to the whole conspiracy of dividing the state? We have no means of knowing what transpired behind closed doors, but I am sure they must be heaving a sigh of relief at the honourable exit route provided by our resourceful CM.

Insurgent groups cannot be exonerated either. Let's make it clear that our struggle to get the AFSPA repealed is not launched out of love for them, or to protect them. We are doing it for ourselves, for our brothers and sisters who the authorities, including the CM, consider as militant sympathiser or embryonic militant in the making.

My suggestion to the UGs is that please lie low for our struggle has nothing to do with you. Don't even comment on it, not to talk of lending your voice and support to the popular anti-AFSPA movement: you will only end up giving a militant hue to our efforts. Don't give Ibobi - now that we know him - another chance to shriek and shout that we are all ganged up with you. Thank you for your support, but no thanks. My message is simple: don't discredit this people movement, even unwittingly.

And my advice to the CM is, stop playing with the sentiments of the people. Lift the Act from the whole state; are the people living in hills and rural areas less vulnerable to the ACT than the residents of Imphal? If you can't, reimpose the Act in Imphal. Don't just threaten. We would like to call your bluff.

Dear Chief Minister, we will continue to agitate till the state is freed from the shackles of the black laws, no matter what cheap tricks you spring.

Meanwhile, you might as well lift the ACT from your leikai only. Drop that veneer of false concern for the people for once.