Years ago in May 2010, the then Chief Minister Okram Ibobi Singh defied the express orders of the then Union Home Minister P Chidambaram and denied NSCN-IM chief Thuingaleng Muivah’s planned visit to his ancestral village Somdal in Ukhrul district. Both Ibobi and Chidambaram belong to the Congress party, in power in New Delhi and Imphal. The NSCN-IM supremo was one of the first leaders who joined the Naga Underground in the fifties and he was planning to visit his village after more than 40 years.
The champions of Manipur’s territorial integrity were still active then. The Manipur government has stepped up security measures and clamped prohibitory orders on the other side of the Mao inter-state gate to thwart the entry of Muivah into the state fearing breach of communal harmony. Chief Minister Okram Ibobi Singh blocked all the entrance roads to Manipur at Mao and Jessami and stationed Manipur Police Commandos with express orders to arrest Muivah should he dare to enter Manipur.
P Chidambaram pressured O Ibobi to allow Muivah’s visit, but he stood his ground and refused. Later, Thuingaleng Muivah had to postpone his visit to his ancestral Somdal village after a request from the Home Ministry. One may not agree with O Ibobi’s decision then, but the issue here is that he stood his ground and defied the Central high command. How was he able to defy his party leaders then?
The difference between O Ibobi and present Chief Minister N Biren Singh meekly submitted to Union Home Minister Amit Shah who took away his powers and transferred the reins of Unified Command to a Security Advisor and a new Director General of Police sent by New Delhi. Not only that, after returning from New Delhi in the early days of the conflict CM Biren said that he has been entrusted to handle security issues in the valley while Home Minister Amit Shah would take care of the hills, only to retract his statement later on. He could not even say that Article 355 of the Indian Constitution had been enforced in the state or openly admit that his powers in Unified Command had been taken away then. He used to express his helplessness to visiting members of CSOs of his watered-down avatar and it was only recently that he admitted to it in the state assembly.
Now the question is, what happened to his party MLAs and others supporting his leadership? Are they supporting the present state of affairs in Manipur whether the state government is rendered powerless? Except for some rumblings and discordant voices, none of them have actually come forward to voice their grievances vis-à-vis the present situation in public. The opposition from Kuki MLAs is of course different.
Even as the ruling party MLAs visited New Delhi either on their accord or through pressure from CSOs in those days, they had lamented the reluctance of the Chief Minister who refused to go along with them to present the case of Manipur. Prime Minister Narendra Modi never gives an audience to his party MLAs and allies. Recently, 19 MLAs who are part of the ruling coalition reportedly submitted a memorandum to the Prime Minister seeking intervention and a change of leadership.
But these MLAs are yet to publicly subscribe to the alleged memorandum. In the past months, they had even talked about staging dharnas in Jantar Mantar. But the grievances remained only in private conversations. Their silence would only make matters worse for both Manipur and the party. So, one must say, it is not only the Chief Minister but the ruling party MLAs also who still refuse to accept the responsibility of guilt and lack of commitment in leading Manipur to the path of peace and normalcy.
(The views expressed are personal)
