What is significant about June 30, 2023 in the ongoing Manipur conflict? It was on this day that the purported resignation letter of Chief Minister N Biren Singh was torn to shreds by his supporters in front of Nupilal complex on the road leading from CM’s official residence to Raj Bhavan, approximately a 400-metre stretch of high security zone. Normally, protestors are not allowed in the high security zone which includes the said stretch which extends till Keishampat bridge and also the road from Kangla Western gate till the traffic rotary in front of Raj Bhavan main gate. Special security instructions were put in place after the incident of protestors storming CM’s official residence during June uprising in 2001.
However, on that fateful day on June 30, state police looked the other way as protestors gathered in hundreds on Nupilal road. It was rather strange from the security point of view. Such an incident happened once again September 9 this year when students demanding the restoration of Unified Command to the Chief Minister were allowed to march right up to Raj Bhavan and undertake a sit-in-protest adjacent to the Raj Bhavan.
By recalling these two specific incidents we mean to say that protests or gathering in the high security zone is ‘allowed’ if it happens to be in the general interests of the powers that be in Imphal and that powerful people are ready to go to any lengths for survival. This is a lesson the MLAs seem to have learnt in deflecting the public rage.
We do not support any form of violence like vandalizing and arson targeted at the MLAs to pressure them to act in public interests or resign. However, we must also say that such public rage grew out of utter frustration from the way MLAs and ministers including the Chief Minister are responding to the crisis.
As we opined earlier, the general public is clearly disenchanted with the failure of the present government led by Chief Minister N Biren Singh to keep peace or maintain law and order in the state or the way things are being handled. The general population is really fed up with the lack of resolve and commitment on the part of the Chief Minister and his government besides his patrons in New Delhi with regard to the crisis in the state.
Eighteen months is a long time for any ethnic crisis to persist where communities are forcibly divided by imaginary buffers, movement on national and state highways for the warring communities prohibited besides the usual bandhs and blockades, sporadic incidence of violence intermixed with social media hype to keep the pot boiling, and armed militants or militias being given a free run to impose diktats or indulge in unhindered extortion. It is not just about the senseless killings and violence including that of six women and children abducted in Jiribam and butchered by Kuki militants.
The general public is clearly frustrated with the near total absence of law and order and breakdown of normal life besides disruption of day-to-day activities. Economic activity has been thrown out of gear while people living hand-to-mouth and students suffer due to frequent shutdowns and abnormal situations arising out of the 18-month-old crisis. The elected representatives remain unconcerned about these issues while they would go to any lengths for their survival.
The MLAs, both supporters of the CM and dissidents are trying to evade the issue by saying that there is a need for consensus among them in the matter of resignation. In such a scenario, local supporters of the MLAs have come out with statements saying that they will not allow their representatives to resign as against the general mood and public opinion. The MLAs and their ardent supporters are following in the footsteps of the leader in creating diversions in survival.
