Schoolchildren and others walk past empty trucks parked in a row, waiting to be escorted by police to neighboring Assam to ferry supplies to Manipur, on the outskirts of Imphal, Manipur on Tuesday, November 8, 2011. (AP Photo/File)
The 100 days plus economic blockade of Manipur called by the Sadar Hills District Demand Committee (SHDDC) since 1st August 2011, since called-off and the almost 100 days old near simultaneous counter economic blockade called by United Naga Council (UNC) were blockades that should never have been. The UNC called a mandatory and predictable counter blockade after the SHDDC declared an indefinite economic blockade to pressurize the Government of Manipur (GOM) to announce the formation of Sadar Hills District out of the present Senapati District. The blockade by SHDDC took everyone by surprise both in its severity and suddenness. Surprise because the situation does not seem to merit the action.
The counter blockade by UNC was prompted by the alacrity with which the Ibobi Singh Government responded to the total blockade of SHDDC. Within a few days of the SHDDC action the cabinet declared the district demand was genuine and that it should be created and the cabinet approved the same in principle. Without questioning the wisdom of the Ibobi’s cabinet it will be noteworthy to remember that the cabinet decision to give district status to Sadar Hills areas first taken by the government of Reishang Keishing. His government even implemented it. It was only when the government set about to formally declare it that it was met with stiff resistance from the naga legislators and naga public and after a prolonged economic blockade culminated in the signing of an MOU between the ANSAM, NSF and Government of Manipur that nagas will duely be consulted before sadar hills district is created. The formal inauguration of the sadar hills district, let me say surreptitiously, almost took place when W. Nipamacha Singh was chief minister. There were no naga ministers in that particular cabinet and under pressure from the 5 kuki cabinet ministers, Shri. Nipamacha made a futile attempt and after a resultant economic blockade only ended-up with another MOU with ANSAM and NSF that nagas will be duely consulted before creation of sadar hills district out of Senapati district.
When the government of the day signed MOUs, they did not do so on behalf of their party or the coalition government. They did so as the Government of Manipur, their action was a matter of policy of the government of Manipur. The Ibobi cabinet therefore has little reason to make the type of observation they made in such unnecessary haste as regards SHDDC demands. That the government works in continuity and that every legislator is under oath to that effect seems to have been completely missed.
There is an opinion in some political and intellectual circles that the blockade was the handiwork of none other than the Chief Minister of Manipur himself to rake up public fear and mistrust among the communities of Manipur to gain political advantages for his party with an eye to the general elections of the state which is slated for Feb, 2012. This view is not altogether unfounded. The elections to the district councils which was flaunted as a great battle won by the Congress party turned out to be a major flop. It was an imposed election on an unwilling people as a dictatorial president of a banana republic would do in the last century. The whole election process of the district councils were mostly completed in Imphal without popular public support and therefore, till date the district council units/offices could not shift to their respective hill districts head quarters but continue to ad-hoc-function from Imphal. Ibobi felt something had to be done fast to allay the wrath of the high command on the district council fiasco. Economic blockade appear to have won the favour.
In an economic blockade there is little difference between the perpetrator and perpetrated; all suffer equally. In fact the valley people are much better equipped to face it than the hillmen. While that is no excuse for the blockade, to the Government of the day, if past experiences are to be believed, economic blockades are surefire tearjerkers to take to Delhi, to arouse sympathy and (this time) to divert attention of the central high command from the district council flop. The NDTV documentary ‘Truth vs. Hype’ telecasted a few days back on the ongoing economic blockade in Manipur, should open Ibobi’s eyes to reality. For the information of the people of Manipur, it took Srinivas Jain of NDTV to find out that the import of oil into the state during the blockade was similar to earlier months and in fact in Oct. 2011, it was higher than the other months. Ibobi’s no. 2 man, N. Biren said, ‘we are controlling it’, when asked about rampant black marketing of fuel openly on the road sides. So now, who is the Capo di tutti capi here? Not only fuel there is no shortage of essential commodities as such. It is only created by vested interests with the blessings of the Government. It is so sad to learn that all the serpentine queues for fuel are just an imposition by the state Government to gain some brownie points from the centre.
Shri Ibobi and his cabinet have joined hands with the leadership of the Sadar Hills district Demand Committee (SHDDC) and decided to collectively forget that;
A) Senapati district is the only district in the country which has two district council bodies in one district namely, i) Senapati district council at Senapati and, ii) Sadar Hills district council at Kangpokpi since 1972, when the first election to the district councils in Manipur took place. Now, where is the argument that Sadar Hills has been kept out of the purview of Manipur District Council Act, 1971?
B) The ADC, Kangpokpi does not report to DC, Senapati but directly to Imphal as does the ASP, Police and other department heads at the centre. For all purposes, Kangpokpi is a separate district entity.
C) Sub-treasury Officer, Kangpokpi has unlimited and full financial powers as a full fledged district treasury officer. There is no need to go to Senapati for anything.
D) All district wise allocations, Central fund allocations PDS, Central Schemes, development works for Senapati and Kangpokpi are made separately.
So then, what’s all this brua-ha-ha about? Except for the fact that Sadar hills have not been formally declared a district, can anyone say that Sadar Hills area is not a district? That takes us to the next question, why has it not then, been formally declared a district? Because Nagas object to it. Why do the Nagas object to it? Because there are 117(one hundred seventeen) odd Naga villages in the proposed Sadar hills district. What about the 117 odd Naga villages? Because they are to be arbitrarily shifted from a Naga dominated district to become a minority in the proposed sadar hills district. The nagas feel that certain understanding between kuki and naga leadership must exist before creation of sadar hills district. Hence the oft repeated phrase, ‘with prior consultation of nagas’.
The UNC and the naga tribe hohos collectively and separately have on several occasions reiterated that nagas are not against a separate district for the kuki people. With so many naga villages in the proposed district it would be too naive on the part of the SHDDC leadership to assume that the new district can be created by simply conniving with the state government behind the naga’s back. Such an approach will only balkanize the main stakeholders. That would not be the preferred way forward for Sadar Hills District. Creating an even playing field with an inclusive forward approach would be the correct attitude to regain lost trust between the communities and to create a way forward to exist in peaceful co-existence, social harmony and good neighbourliness.
The Government of Manipur can do now what it should have done on 1st August 2011 – bring the Kuki and Naga leadership to the discussion table to resolve the Sadar Hills District impasse. However, this can also be brought about by the Kukis and nagas themselves without waiting for the GOM. The talks will have to be more of a dialogue between the kukis and the nagas. The talks will have to invariably involve Kuki Inpi, Manipur and the UNC. Once that have been accepted in principle, the economic blockade should be called off. In view of what the Hon’ble Home Minister of India said at Senapati and recently to the UNC delegation at Delhi, the calling off of the economic blockade has become overdue.
The counter blockade by UNC was prompted by the alacrity with which the Ibobi Singh Government responded to the total blockade of SHDDC. Within a few days of the SHDDC action the cabinet declared the district demand was genuine and that it should be created and the cabinet approved the same in principle. Without questioning the wisdom of the Ibobi’s cabinet it will be noteworthy to remember that the cabinet decision to give district status to Sadar Hills areas first taken by the government of Reishang Keishing. His government even implemented it. It was only when the government set about to formally declare it that it was met with stiff resistance from the naga legislators and naga public and after a prolonged economic blockade culminated in the signing of an MOU between the ANSAM, NSF and Government of Manipur that nagas will duely be consulted before sadar hills district is created. The formal inauguration of the sadar hills district, let me say surreptitiously, almost took place when W. Nipamacha Singh was chief minister. There were no naga ministers in that particular cabinet and under pressure from the 5 kuki cabinet ministers, Shri. Nipamacha made a futile attempt and after a resultant economic blockade only ended-up with another MOU with ANSAM and NSF that nagas will be duely consulted before creation of sadar hills district out of Senapati district.
When the government of the day signed MOUs, they did not do so on behalf of their party or the coalition government. They did so as the Government of Manipur, their action was a matter of policy of the government of Manipur. The Ibobi cabinet therefore has little reason to make the type of observation they made in such unnecessary haste as regards SHDDC demands. That the government works in continuity and that every legislator is under oath to that effect seems to have been completely missed.
There is an opinion in some political and intellectual circles that the blockade was the handiwork of none other than the Chief Minister of Manipur himself to rake up public fear and mistrust among the communities of Manipur to gain political advantages for his party with an eye to the general elections of the state which is slated for Feb, 2012. This view is not altogether unfounded. The elections to the district councils which was flaunted as a great battle won by the Congress party turned out to be a major flop. It was an imposed election on an unwilling people as a dictatorial president of a banana republic would do in the last century. The whole election process of the district councils were mostly completed in Imphal without popular public support and therefore, till date the district council units/offices could not shift to their respective hill districts head quarters but continue to ad-hoc-function from Imphal. Ibobi felt something had to be done fast to allay the wrath of the high command on the district council fiasco. Economic blockade appear to have won the favour.
In an economic blockade there is little difference between the perpetrator and perpetrated; all suffer equally. In fact the valley people are much better equipped to face it than the hillmen. While that is no excuse for the blockade, to the Government of the day, if past experiences are to be believed, economic blockades are surefire tearjerkers to take to Delhi, to arouse sympathy and (this time) to divert attention of the central high command from the district council flop. The NDTV documentary ‘Truth vs. Hype’ telecasted a few days back on the ongoing economic blockade in Manipur, should open Ibobi’s eyes to reality. For the information of the people of Manipur, it took Srinivas Jain of NDTV to find out that the import of oil into the state during the blockade was similar to earlier months and in fact in Oct. 2011, it was higher than the other months. Ibobi’s no. 2 man, N. Biren said, ‘we are controlling it’, when asked about rampant black marketing of fuel openly on the road sides. So now, who is the Capo di tutti capi here? Not only fuel there is no shortage of essential commodities as such. It is only created by vested interests with the blessings of the Government. It is so sad to learn that all the serpentine queues for fuel are just an imposition by the state Government to gain some brownie points from the centre.
Shri Ibobi and his cabinet have joined hands with the leadership of the Sadar Hills district Demand Committee (SHDDC) and decided to collectively forget that;
A) Senapati district is the only district in the country which has two district council bodies in one district namely, i) Senapati district council at Senapati and, ii) Sadar Hills district council at Kangpokpi since 1972, when the first election to the district councils in Manipur took place. Now, where is the argument that Sadar Hills has been kept out of the purview of Manipur District Council Act, 1971?
B) The ADC, Kangpokpi does not report to DC, Senapati but directly to Imphal as does the ASP, Police and other department heads at the centre. For all purposes, Kangpokpi is a separate district entity.
C) Sub-treasury Officer, Kangpokpi has unlimited and full financial powers as a full fledged district treasury officer. There is no need to go to Senapati for anything.
D) All district wise allocations, Central fund allocations PDS, Central Schemes, development works for Senapati and Kangpokpi are made separately.
So then, what’s all this brua-ha-ha about? Except for the fact that Sadar hills have not been formally declared a district, can anyone say that Sadar Hills area is not a district? That takes us to the next question, why has it not then, been formally declared a district? Because Nagas object to it. Why do the Nagas object to it? Because there are 117(one hundred seventeen) odd Naga villages in the proposed Sadar hills district. What about the 117 odd Naga villages? Because they are to be arbitrarily shifted from a Naga dominated district to become a minority in the proposed sadar hills district. The nagas feel that certain understanding between kuki and naga leadership must exist before creation of sadar hills district. Hence the oft repeated phrase, ‘with prior consultation of nagas’.
The UNC and the naga tribe hohos collectively and separately have on several occasions reiterated that nagas are not against a separate district for the kuki people. With so many naga villages in the proposed district it would be too naive on the part of the SHDDC leadership to assume that the new district can be created by simply conniving with the state government behind the naga’s back. Such an approach will only balkanize the main stakeholders. That would not be the preferred way forward for Sadar Hills District. Creating an even playing field with an inclusive forward approach would be the correct attitude to regain lost trust between the communities and to create a way forward to exist in peaceful co-existence, social harmony and good neighbourliness.
The Government of Manipur can do now what it should have done on 1st August 2011 – bring the Kuki and Naga leadership to the discussion table to resolve the Sadar Hills District impasse. However, this can also be brought about by the Kukis and nagas themselves without waiting for the GOM. The talks will have to be more of a dialogue between the kukis and the nagas. The talks will have to invariably involve Kuki Inpi, Manipur and the UNC. Once that have been accepted in principle, the economic blockade should be called off. In view of what the Hon’ble Home Minister of India said at Senapati and recently to the UNC delegation at Delhi, the calling off of the economic blockade has become overdue.
Puni Modoli
H.no.323, Mao colony
Kuda Village ‘B’, Dimapur
Email id:- punimodoli@gmail.com
