Morung Express Feature
Churachandpur | January 22
Churachandpur | January 22
Langkhanpau Guite is probably the most honest, and most honestly devout, person you will meet. More than the law, he has used prayer and friendship to mitigate tension—whether in political or social situations. A combination of hard work, positive attitude and faith gives the Churachandpur Autonomous District Council in Manipur its most valued leader, its Chairman, Langkhanpau Guite.
One of 11 siblings, Guite was born in 1977 in Songtal village of Churachandpur district, Manipur. After class 2, he was expected to be a cultivator—not only was his family poor, the government school in his village hosted more cows than students and teachers. “I insisted to my parents to send me to some relatives in Lamka (Churachandpur town) to study further. There I used to cook, clean and cultivate small things like corn for my relatives; and study while doing each of these activities,” explains Guite with a gesture of how to mop a room and study at the same time. But he would do all this “secretly” lest someone saw him work “too hard.”
“Luckily for me, my wife’s mother was our neighbour and used to see me wake up before anyone to work. They have wanted me to be a part of their family ever since,” says short and smiling Guite who now has four daughters and a son with his wife, Shinghoihching.
The humble start to Guite’s life led to more humble steps that he consciously took, combining them with hard work. At the age of 13, when he wanted to join a unit of the Paite student organization, Siamsinpawlpi, to train as a leader, his parents objected. Guite tried a mantra he applied at many points of his life henceforth. “I prayed—God, you have given me 24 hours. If you give me the strength to wake up before others and sleep after others, I can find more time to achieve a lot.” Since then, Guite not only remained a class topper but also attached to the student organization for many years later. Through policies he made and applied, students from unfortunate backgrounds were able to access better education even through outside coaching.
Guite grew up at a time when Churachandpur was ill at ease with ethnic politics. The Nagas and Kukis clashed, following which the Zomis and Kukis clashed, in the 1990s. The JN Model School in which he used to teach to support his siblings’ education was burned down in 1998. Blessing, he says, had it that he was offered a teaching position in another school. Busy as he was, he preferred to be a student by night and a teacher by day.
Whatever he took up, they say, turned to gold. The young principal of Rayburn High School in New Lamka from 2001 to 2006, Guite turned around the institute’s dwindling number of students. He would himself go from village to village, offer scholarships to eligible students who could not afford the private school’s fees and took charge of the administration. He kept things transparent and efficient, himself setting the example first, waking up to make tea for the students at 3 am everyday. Alongside, he did his B. Ed in correspondence as well as an MA in political science.
Guite remained disturbed by how politics was being played out by his people, especially during elections. “Neighbours who share so much during other times would not look at each other during elections. There was so much quarrelling and misunderstanding between supporters and contestants,” reminisces Guite of the time he decided to contest. “Though my wife was worried, I prayed and came to the conclusion that if you can play with a clean heart, then nothing is dirty about politics.”
He stood in contest against the powerful and erstwhile Phungzathang Tonsing of the Indian National Congress for the (Manipur) Assembly Constituency seat of Churachandpur in 2007. “Pu Pu,” said Guite to Tonsing, who is from the same clan as Guite’s mother and wife, “If you are elected, no problem. But if I am, I want to get benefits for the people that they deserve. I want to change the way we work politics through fights.”
Guite did things no one expected. He would land up at Tonsing’s place, all jovial, asking him to put in his best or he might be defeated. He hugged Tonsing and wished him luck; he shook hands with Tonsing’s angry supporters and campaigned with whatever money was donated by his well wishers in Churachandpur.
Langkhanpau Guite lost by a close margin in 2007 but in 2010, he won the Autonomous District Council election from a Congress (I) ticket, uncontested. He asked for Demmang Haokip to be his vice chairman despite warnings of past enmity between the Zomi and Kuki people—“we are brothers and sisters, we should work together for the people.”
Ever since he has worked with the meager funds available to get clean drinking water facilities for villages, make community halls, get solar energy for them. His village, Songtal, no more has a cow shed parading as a school. It has a school and teachers. Guite himself goes every morning to sit with vegetable vendors of Churachandpur town to chat with them about current problems. But there is little, he admits, that he can do for his people without funds. A miniscule percentage of the funds given by the Centre to Manipur trickles down to the hill areas of the State. For 20 long years, the Autonomous District Council elections were boycotted by the people; they wanted the application of the Sixth Schedule of the Indian Constitution to the hill areas inhabited by an amalgamation of tribes—a solid, constitutional, right to their land and identity. Left with no means to develop themselves, the people of the hills of Manipur have had their aspirations to preserve their culture and identity crushed giving rise to a plethora of unarmed and armed uprisings.
“I want to serve my people more. Those who get elected currently raise no issues in the Parliament for the tribes of Manipur,” hints Guite, who thinks that he will be able to provide valuable leadership for his people, with a little help from god.
