Manipur: Wrong reading, tokenism won’t help

The all-party meeting on Manipur held in Delhi on Saturday came too late, and did not amount to much more than a token gesture. The government had ignored the demand of the Opposition parties for a meeting and for sending an all-party team to the violence-ravaged state. It did well to finally hold the meeting but was non-committal on the proposals made by the opposition parties and their demand to replace N Biren Singh as Chief Minister of the state. Okram Ibobi, a former Congress Chief Minister of the state, was given hardly any time to speak at the meeting. When such a meeting is held, the government should take care to see that all parties are given the opportunity to express their views. Those views should be given  serious consideration, too. This is particularly important in a situation like that in Manipur, which has attracted national attention and needs a political solution.

There is no doubt that the state government would have been dismissed by now if it had been the government of an opposition party, and not headed by Biren Singh of the BJP. It is unfortunate that the Centre is still sticking to Biren Singh though he has proved that he is very much a part of the problem in the state. He is widely seen as partisan and favouring the Meitei against the Kuki tribes. Some of his decisions and actions were also at the root of the present situation in the state. Ten Kuki MLAs of the state, seven of whom are from the BJP, have called for a change of leadership. Continuing with Biren Singh amounts to shielding him, and that sends a very wrong message to the people. Even a change of Chief Minister may not be enough to deal with the situation now.

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The government has tried to create the impression that the situation has improved because killings are not being reported as they were a few weeks ago. But this amounts to a misreading of the situation or misleading the country about it. The Prime Minister has held a meeting on the situation after he came back from his trips abroad. His continuing silence on Manipur has been seen as a sign of the government’s indifference or callousness toward the situation. Sending more forces to the state will not help. Similarly, the proposal to hand over the situation in the hills to the central forces and that in the plains to the state police is also wrong. That shows that the government is still looking at it as a law-and-order problem. It is a political problem, and needs a political solution.