By Arif Sajad
The incident of Tharoijam, has shocked and created a climate of fear in the people of state, particularly on the minority community. There is a feeling of insecurity, deprivation, betrayal prevailing amongst the minorities there. The recent incident is a challenge to social fabric, communal harmony, peaceful coexistence, diversity in unity, spirituality, morals, values, toleration and liberal values of Manipur. This article will not give views on allegation to victims as vehicle theft. The case has been initiated and let it be decided by honourable judiciary. This articles will give insight on the root causes of the incident and what can be done to mitigate such incidents.
Mob lynching of people from minority on allegations of vehicle theft has been happening frequently at least once a year. So we need to look beyond incidents and search for root causes. Many innocents are becoming victims on false allegation. This allegation has become a tool in the Meitei community in justifying atrocities and hatred towards minority.
In my perspective, the problems of mob lynching is associated with banality of evils in our society and glorifying hatred. It is a sign of downfall of humanity in our society. In Hindu mythology, the worth of life is described as ‘even Lord Brahama can’t be born as a human despite his several attempts’.
In case of mob lynching, they seems to punish an anti-social person, however the reality is that they are destroying their character, human values, religious tenets. Mahatma Gandhi said, ‘hate the sin, not the sinner’. A man of civilized society is symbolized by kind, merciful, love, dutiful and reasonable rather than brutality, rudeness and violence.
The role of government is minimal in a civilized society. Strong state is only essential in barbaric society. The need of a strong Government ( rules and punishments ) are needed if we cannot by ourselves lead a life of high values, morals and principles. We are not animals who need external force in the form of punishments and laws to make us live in a humane way. The incident of mob lynching poses two questions. First, “Can state provide security of our life? Is Manipur a ‘failed state’? A ‘failed state’ is defined as a state whose political or economic system has become so weak that the government is no longer in control. It has been shown clearly in Tharoijam incident. The police whose main function is attributed as maintaining law and order and protecting people, have enjoyed the violent drama of killing a man.
Secondly, ‘Will the faith of the minorities survive and function in the present system? This doubt plagues the minority community. This system is ruled by the majority community from bottom to top.
The present government has carried out timely actions against those who were involved. Instead of complaining about the government’s failures, we should also to introspect our perceptions towards the other group and communities. The real factors that instigated this incident is breeding of hatred and stereotyping. Such incidents can be minimized if we all self-examine our tolerance levels towards one another.
In the case of Tharoijam, the real factors is how the Meiteis view the pangal. It is not consequence of one day, one week or one year. It is the products of decades. The real culprits behind the incident are Meitei’s intellectuals (They should not be identical with intellectuals of Manipur because the latter would emphasize on characters of Manipur), Meitei centric organizations and media house. The intellectual of Meiteis are always connecting pangal with the problem of illegal migrants in every debate, discussions and writings. They establish linking of trespassers with pangals. They can’t classify the difference between the Muslims outside and the Pangals in the state. The Meitei believe that the Pangal are responsible for illegal migrants of Bangladeshis and Tripuris.
The issues of vehicles theft, drug smuggling and anti-social activities have been primarily associated with Pangal as can be understood from the arguments floating around. Instead of relating it to a specific community they should search for the causes of such problems in our society. It would provide genuine solutions. Instead they apply their minds perpetually in arousing hatred and stereotyping a particular community.
When I observe most of the organizations existing in Manipur, I can conclude that: there is no single organization that represents the diversity of our state. And those organizations that call themselves as Manipuri organizations focus on the development of only one particular community. They are mainly Meitei centric organization and represent the interests of Meitei community only. They lack involvement on issues of other communities. It may be one of the reason for increasing mistrust among different communities of Manipur.
In a diversified society, an organization has vital role in constructing a peaceful coexistence and harmonious society through becoming a space for exchanging and flowing different interests, ideas and views. These organizations should act as an interface of different community. It will be very helpful in forming a collective and sharing interests. At present, however, we can’t see such organizations in Manipur. We need either to form such organizations or rectify the challenges and problems in the existing organizations.
The freedom of press is fundamental to a democratic state. However in the case of Manipur, the minorities feel that the media is polarising the two communities. Minority feel that media houses are biased, partial and unethical. So the neutrality and impartiality of media house is questionable. Instead of digging out the roots and authenticity of increasing cases of drugs abuse, theft and smuggling in Manipuri society, the media houses give their verdict and declare the pangal to be the culprits.
Even the way of portrayal of the Pangal community in films, dramas, sumang lila to entertain the audience and get claps and cheers, gives a negative image of the Pangals. These negative images are generalized and are prejudiced. It encourages stereotyping. The aforesaid anti-social activities are directly proportional to the conditions of society or community, their educational backwardness, economic deprivation and consumerism effects.
No parent likes his son to be a thief. There is no one on Earth who does not want to pursue a good life.
The maladministration of government, deprivation of pangal in governance, consequently alienations from consumerist societies are responsible for the underdevelopment of pangal. The defunct, delayed, deferred, diverted government’s welfare schemes have also impacted enormously on the vulnerabilities of this section of people.
Minority sections belong under the category of vulnerable sections. Their economic condition is miserable. They struggle for basics necessities and they can’t spend on improvement of standard of living. They cannot afford the cost of educations in private institutions. And most of governmental institutions are paralysed. They remain in the perpetual trap of poverty. These conditions of minority have been aggravated by corruptions, nepotism and collusion inside the system. Before it is too late, the government should deal these issues.
The other main reason is progressing consumerism creating an imbalance between spirituality, ethics, societal values and individual morals. Basic human values are compromised for the sake of worldly things.
Apart from the pangal community, all others enjoy political power, economic strength, employment opportunities, educational advancement in Manipur. The uneducated, poor, undeveloped, dusty Pangal youth fall either in drugs or anti-social, illegal activities thus compromising the tenets of ethics, religious and conscience, to live at par with materialistic society of Manipur.
Consumerism needs to be stopped at some point. If this is not done then the disparity among people will only increase and consequently produce more frustrated sections of people.
We the Pangals have also to assess ourselves before pointing towards others as the reason for us becoming downtrodden. We have to change our traditions and conservative way of life. We are living in a democratic country. We are equal with others in eyes of constitution, laws and regulations. We have to articulate our demands, needs, aspiration through different channels. For this the role of representatives of Pangal in the legislative assembly is very important. However the Pangal representatives are at present passive. They are just procedural representatives. They are unable to articulate, compose and demand the aspirations & interests of minority people. Until and unless, we do not elect right person, we will become an orphan in our own State.
The Pangal community does not have any dedicated, inspired, committed, and consistent organization of their own which can effectively, diplomatically forms public opinion and pressurize to government for fulfilling of people’s interest. They are also trapped by several challenges. They are not ideologically strong. Their functions is also inconsistent and uncertain.
Another main challenge is scarcity of resource. Due to these challenges, they join politicized organizations of few Pangal Brahmins for their existence.
However it is a good sign that some organizations of Pangal community like DAMMS, PFI, AMMUCO, AMMSO, PSO, are starting to work in a more committed and consistent manner by pressurizing the government and in developing the community. They need to work together with consistency of ideologies and functions.
A coherent society needs sharing of history, culture and customs. The culture and customs of the Pangal and Meitei are extensively similar. However, we do not get to see so much overlapping between the two communities in history. But that does not mean we do not share the same history, contributions and pains.
In my opinion, history is a literature which is highly politicized. In our school textbook, we were taught only about how the Pangals came to Manipur but not about their contribution to Manipur. A few negligible amount of stories about the participations of Pangals at Manipur Darbar can be seen here and there. Even in the major events of history like Anglo- Manipur war, Nupi-Lal, statehood movement, the participation and contribution of Pangal is not written in our history textbooks.
This is also one major source of mistrust between the two communities. It has created a divide between us. In a state like Manipur where there is extreme diversity, inhabited by different communities and ethics, our school textbooks should cover the contributions, the sharing, the cooperation extended to one another among the different communities to bind them all together. Instead we see no such thing. These lessons if included in the school textbooks will give birth to trust, love and sharing right from the childhood.
The rifts are growing at a great pace amongst the communities of Manipur. The tribals do not believe the people from the valley and the people from the valley consider the tribals to be a problem. The rift between Meitei and Pangal has widened. These can easily create fragmentation of Manipur and plague the progress of development and prosperity.
If we do not act today, to block this bleeding in the veins of our Manipur, we may never be able to heal the wounds. In my opinion, there are three important actors which can heal such wounds. Firstly, the role of the government is very important. They should remember that peace and prosperity are interlinked. Secondly, Meitei, as a majority community of state, should act the role of guardian of other minority communities, rather than thinking of themselves as superior than others. Meitei should not then they are the synonym of Manipuri. They should be accommodative. Lastly, other communities should also think of themselves as Manipuri, rather than being obsessed with their own community. The most important requirement in Manipur society is to develop the feeling of being a Manipuri. The future of Manipur lies on them, not on any community.
Note:
- Meitei is the majority community of Manipur. 2. Pangal is the minority community of Manipur. 3. This article brings the source of stereotyping against Pangal community. In recent years, on the suspicion of vehicle theft and other false allegations, persons of Pangal community was lynched by the people of majority community. Some incidents are given below:
https://www.ndtv.com/india-news/mob-lynching-communal-tension-in-manipur-after-five-arrested-for-beating-man-to-death-on-suspicion-o-1916868
http://kanglaonline.com/2015/11/msad-and-damms-condemn-the-killing-of-muhammad-hasmad-ali/
https://www.ifp.co.in/page/items/25808/public-protest-held-against-md-lukman-killing/
The views expressed are personal of the author who can be contacted at: