In the ongoing Manipur crisis, some communities had been playing the victim card rather well by bombarding the national media and social media with concocted historical narratives and false propaganda. With Manipur being a BJP ruled state and a large section of the national media so eager to lap up the false narratives that it continues to play the victim card over and over again.
The so-called mainstream media has been dabbling in ‘majority oppressing minorities’ or ‘targeting religious minorities’ narratives in recent times while focusing on the present conflict in Manipur without even bothering to understand the ground realities. They have even labelled the Imphal-based media houses as being communal. Sitting on cosy couches, the champions of mainstream media had been all along judgmental of the local media while flagging the yarn of ‘victimhood’ and oppression of minority Kukis by the majority community again and again.
No doubt, they are being influenced by their hatred of the right-wing forces while addressing the conflict in Manipur and they have fallen victim to the false narratives and yarns woven by Kuki intellectuals and groups. They refuse to question why the Meiteis with only a slim majority of 53 per cent of the population feel threatened in terms of their identity and land.
One needs to recall that the Meiteis were once a proud and powerful nation at the crossroads of South Asia and South-East Asia and their writ ran large in this region. Now, their writ seems reduced to the valley region and the bureaucracy overwhelmed by ST quota IAS and IPS officers.
While one can still count the number of direct IAS and IPS officers from the majority community, there are plenty from among the hill communities who enjoy the benefits of being from the Scheduled Tribe communities and they have been ruling the roost all this time and even enjoying the double benefit of both entry point and promotion avenue as well.
So much heartburn has been caused by these benefits that some sections of the majority community have even come up with the demand for transformation into the ST category.
Even among the ST bureaucrats also, it is more among the Kuki-Chin-Mizo group. For example, the state Police department has become top heavy with IPS officers from the Kuki-Chin-Mizo group with a sprinkling of Nagas in between. This needs to be understood by the so-called mainstream media. So, who is the victim here?
The main problem in the hill areas is widespread poppy cultivation by doing away with traditional crops and agricultural practices. Poppy cultivation fetches hard cash quickly with little effort while traditional agricultural activity requires hard work and a long process and yet the produce they get is little and not commensurate with the labour they had put in.
Earlier, only organic farming was practised in the hills and there was no place for chemical fertilisers. Today, with the introduction of poppy cultivation there has been rampant use of chemical fertilisers which has led to degradation of soil fertility and pollution of water besides deforestation.
The traditional ‘slash and burn’ farming method had been criticized in the past by some experts without understanding the lack of viable options and population pressure even led to shortening of the jhum cycle. Yet, there was not so much pressure on the land and with the introduction of horticulture crops besides other sustainable agricultural practices had proved fruitful.
On the other hand, the widespread clearing of forests and use of chemical fertilisers had devastated the land and its fertility besides the ecological damage.
Some communities had further added to the damage by encroaching on large swathes of reserve and protected forest land for practicing poppy cultivation besides unauthorised habitation and establishment of new and newer villagers.
So, who is the victim here?
The land and ecology besides the population inhabiting the state are the ultimate victims.
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