By Md Raees Ahamed,
My mother state Manipur is in crisis and the sad part is very few people outside the state understand the problems enough to come to a logical conclusion unanimously.
I think only ‘unanimity’ from all sections of society can bring solution rather hyperboles about this otherwise genuine demand called of Inner Line Permit (ILP). However, the regressive tactics of strike, curfew, bandh, blockade etc. have only diverted the attention from the main agenda and adversely impacted our state economy as well as the gross domestic production (GDP).
Our voices are rarely heard in the national capital and are treated like second class citizen. We hence we need to think beyond these old mechanisms and have proper strategy to make our voices heard in a peaceful manner.
We have been victims of divide and rule policy in our region and it has been the same with both the UPA and NDA government at the centre. For narrow political gains hatred is injected that has resulted in ethnic violence on several occasions.
India’s first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru famously called Manipur, Switzerland of India – a land of jewel,” but we have reduced it to a killing field. Irrespective of whether they are Meitei/Meetei, Pangal (Muslim), Naga, Kuki or even the outsiders in our state by daily wages labourers, businessmen, government employees, they all are negatively affected by this politics. Class are often suspended for weeks and months affecting education.
I used the word ‘unanimity’ in the first lines of this article, which is the only mechanism to conclude this impasse. So, the time has come to revive our values and ethics of Manipur in particular and northeast in general.
Most importantly, youth should come forward as we cannot afford to sit idle anymore. The civil society groups and individuals, the intellectuals, educationists, lawyers, etc. should brainstorm and discuss to come to this unanimity for the larger interest of the state and the region.
(Originally from Imphal Md Raees Ahamed is a Pune based IT professional and social worker and is the co-convener of Facebook Group Manipur Muslim Online Forum)