By Arun Srivastava
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been facing critical condemnation for not visiting Manipur, the state ruled by his party, the BJP, during the last two months while the state was burning and more than 160 persons lost their lives in the ethnic violence. Not only the leaders opposed to him, even the civil society and academics have been questioning his insensitiveness and lack of concern for the state and its suffering people.
His visit to US while Manipur was witnessing the worst incidents of burning of the houses of the thousands of poor Manipuri people, was projected as his contempt for the poor. What was most shocking was his audacious refusal to meet the delegation of a dozen prominent politicians and legislatures from the state, who had descended to his residence for apprising him of the prevailing ground realities in the state.
Those who matter in the Indian political system are surprised by his brazen refusal to meet the Manipuri people and mitigate their problems. It came as a brute shock. How could the head of the government not care of the sentiment of his people? The more the experts and intellectuals are trying to find out the reasons for his averseness and remaining in the state of complete denial, the more the situation is turning from bad to worse.
Some academics and intellectuals nevertheless feel that it is lack of understanding of the intricacies of the problem and his insensitiveness to the peoples’ miseries and also his inability to work out a solution to the vexed issue that prevents him from initiating any action. Manipur is not the only exception. A look at his administrative track of the last nine years would make it amply clear that he has preferred to ignore the challenges and dump them. Almost all the issues are lying unresolved.
This is not for the first time that Modi has been maintaining a passive silence on what has been happening in Manipur. He adopts an ostrich-like approach in almost all the matters of national import. Resorting to maun (silence) according to him is the best mechanism to escape responsibility.
Shockingly, some RSS sources maintain that he refrains from making any decision, as he is not sure of what stand the RSS leadership would adopt on the issues confronting his government. These sources point out that though Modi likes to assert his authority in the public eyes, he is not at all willing to antagonise the RSS leadership. Delay in RSS formulating a policy decision has often been the major factor.
Undeniably this is the sign of a weak ruler. But he has his own compulsions. In the case of Manipur, he is not in the position to assert his authority, as it is the RSS that has been primarily responsible for the present violent impasse in the state. The Meiteis have been aggressive from the beginning of the present violent crisis, but since they owe their loyalty to the RSS, the BJP government has been reluctant to take action against them.
Sources maintain that Meitei are against Modi visiting Manipur. Once in the state, he would have to direct the state police and security personnel to take action against the guilty persons. This would harm the interest of the RSS. They would be hard-pressed to justify Modi’s order. Even the Christians are apprehensive of their involvement in burning of nearly 300 churches in the state. Kukis are believers of Christianity. On the other hand, Meitei are Hindus.
RSS does not want that state power, which is at present in their control through the dominance of Meitei, should slip out of its grip. Basically, this was the reason that RSS did not press for the resignation of Chief Minister N Biren Singh. Imphal witnessed an intense drama on Friday on the issue of Singh submitting his resignation to state Governor Anusuiya Uikye.
With Congress leader Rahul Gandhi present amongst the people of Manipur on that day and assuring them of all kind of help, the RSS turned skeptical of the possible fallout of Gandhi’s visit. Though Rahul refrained from discussing politics, the RSS and BJP, on their part for diffusing the crisis, staged a drama. It was then at their initiative that Singh offered to resign. But as the RSS was against this, it organised a protest rally of women and created the false image of forcing Singh to retreat.
Just after CM Biren Singh was getting ready to go to the Raj Bhavan to hand over his resignation letter at 10 am, a crowd of a women some 200 meters from CM’s residence blocked the road to prevent him going to meet with the governor. Again at 2:20 pm, CMSingh, along with a delegation of around 20 MLAs, moved out of his residence to head towards the Governor’s residence, but he was once again met with the crowds outside, and had to head back.
That the show was stage-managed was apparent from the action of the PWD Minister Susindro Meitei, who read out the resignation letter that was supposed to be submitted to the Governor and handed over to some of the gathered women, who tore it. If Singh were really sincere about resigning, he would have not made public his letter before submitting to Governor. The most interesting part of the game was the remark of a woman protestor: “All the mothers of Manipur are gathering here because they are not happy with the CM’s decision. As a son of the soil, he should take responsibility and protect the people. If he resigns, President’s Rule will be inevitable, which is not acceptable.”
The women protestors were unperturbed of the massive violence that has engulfed the state for exactly two months, and seemed unshaken by the killing of nearly 160 people during these two months. Still 65,000 are displaced and more than 6,000 people are in makeshift camps.
Singh is attributed as the person who is concerned of the plight of the Manipuri people. But Rahul Gandhi during his visit revealed that people at the relief camps are not getting proper food and clothes. They are simply surviving. He even apprised the Governor of the plight of the people.
Gandhi on Friday said that he appealed to all sections of the society for peace and said “violence is no solution”. After visiting the camps, he said: “A horrible tragedy has taken place. It is extremely sad and painful for the people of Manipur and India. Violence will not get anything for anybody. Peace is the way forward…,” Gandhi told reporters after a meeting with Manipur Governor Anusuiya Uikey at Raj Bhavan here before concluding his two-day visit to Manipur.
He said: “There is a cry for help in the face of every brother, sister and child I met. I came here because I wanted to share the pain of the people of Manipur. It is a horrible tragedy that has taken place. Extremely sad and painful for all the people of Manipur and all the people of India as well. One of the things I would say to the government is that the basic amenities at the camps need to be improved. Food needs to be improved, medicines need to be supplied. And I would appeal to everybody in Manipur that we need peace. Peace is the most important thing.”
Congress Party president Mallikarjun Kharge has accused the BJP government of “using autocratic methods to stall a compassionate outreach” by Gandhi. “This is totally unacceptable and shatters all Constitutional and Democratic norms. Manipur needs peace, not confrontation,” he tweeted.
Resignation of a chief minister is not a small issue. A CM cannot action his own unless he gets the clearance from the top leaders. The BJP top leaders, Modi and Amit Shah, did not say a single word. There was not a word from Shah who has been monitoring the Manipur situation. It is said that they were not against Singh resigning but it was the stiff resistance from the RSS that silenced them.
Rahul Gandhi’s appeal for uninterrupted meaningful dialogue between the two communities, Meitei and Kuki, has in fact shaken the confidence of the RSS and BJP leaders. They are apprehensive that this may have some effect on the people of the two communities. Already a major section of the academics and intellectuals from Meitei have appealed to their community people to maintain restrain and open a dialogue with the Kukis. This sentiment has also been reciprocated by the Kukis. Significantly, people have been citing Rahul’s Facebook book message to open dialogue. The Facebook post reads: “Hate and violence are a tragedy. We can deal with it together only with love and conversation.” He holds uninterrupted meaningful conversation, and divisive politics has to be defeated with love. That was the central theme of the Bharat Jodo Yatra.
Rahul Gandhi’s shadow has been haunting the BJP and RSS leaders. He was not allowed to go to Churachandpur by road on the plea that some people would obstruct his path. But he went there by chopper and received a tumultuous reception. Obviously, the security factor as put forth by the state government was a ploy to desist him. The people have come to know of the political designs of Modi and Amit Shah. They have one question: why the two leaders allowed the violence to continue for two months?
What has impressed the people, irrespective of Meitei and Kuki, much is the refusal of Rahul Gandhi to politicise the failure of Modi government in dousing the fire. He is the first national politician to visit Manipur. Of course, Amit Shah has been there but as the home minister, not as the leader who is concerned of the safety and security of the people. (IPA Service)
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