We seem to have an occasional knack of blaming the Security Advisor whenever violence goes out of hand in Manipur Now, the state DGP is also in the soup. However, we tend to forget that both Security Advisor Kuldiep Singh and DGP Rajiv Singh are IPS officers deputed by the Union Home Ministry after the May 3, 2023 violence. Poor chaps, they seem to be in utter confusion as to whether they were deputed to clean up the mess and act or to merely observe and report.
The first thing that the Security Advisor did was to clarify that Article 355 of the Indian Constitution is not in force. He was called out from retirement and sent here as the Security Advisor of which the state does not have powers or the intent to do so. No Chief Minister, who is in charge of Home department, would want an intruder, even one sent by a sympathetic New Delhi, in the maintenance of law and order. Sending a new DGP was alright in a sense, as the state DGP then was from the Kuki community. But the Chief Minister would have wanted the new DGP, who came through an inter-cadre transfer, to work under his direct command. So naturally, both the Security Advisor and the DGP work under the orders of the Union Home Ministry.
Of course, they report to the Home Ministry mandarins directly and their action or inaction in any circumstances vests in the orders of the mandarins in New Delhi. It would be too presumptuous to think that they are in direct communication with the Union Home Minister Amit Shah himself. He was the Home Minister then, and now he has again come back in the ministry as its all-powerful boss.
In August 2023 Amit Shah said in Lok Sabha that from changing the DGP (police chief) to sending a security adviser, to ensuring essentials, CAPF (central cops) and army personnel to Manipur, the centre has been working with all its might since the first incident of violence was reported on May 3. The mandarins in New Delhi report directly to the Home Minister who again ‘briefs’ the Prime Minister. Here, it is but natural to assume that both the Security Advisor and DGP act according to instructions from the Home Ministry. So, why blame the Security Advisor and DGP?
Looking back, we have seen that whenever a deep resentment against the ruling dispensation for not doing enough to quell the violence arises, sympathetic comments like that of the Chief Minister not being given a free hand in dealing with the situation or of removing him from the chairmanship of the Unified Command would begin rearing its head in the public domain. Then, calls for resignation of the Security Advisor or for removing him from the chairmanship of the Unified Command would naturally follow. The latest incident being the carnage in Jiribam district, in which several houses were torched and villages attacked following the gruesome death of a farmer.
There were also calls of action from the state government to ascertain the life and security of villagers, which was found wanting. And, it so happened that the Chief Minister and most legislators were in New Delhi to witness the inauguration of the new government. Then, documents of CM office informing the Security Advisor and DGP about the movement of heavily armed Kuki-Zo militants towards Jiribam as early as January this year came out in the open. What a coincidence?
One understands that after Union Home Minister Amit Shah’s visit to Manipur in mid-2023, the chairmanship of the Unified Command, traditionally the domain of state Chief Minister, was given to the Security Advisor. However, the order of reconstitution of the Unified Command did say that the CM may call a meeting of the (Unified Command) as and when required and he will head such a meeting. Question is, why did not the Chief Minister call a meeting of the Unified Command to discuss the Jiribam intelligence input? The Model Code of Conduct for Lok Sabha elections came only in March, 2024.
(The views expressed are personal)
