Manipur burnt yet again. What started out as a demand for action against the brutal assault on a film actor and firing at two other artistes during the course of a musical program held at Chandel district is slowly taking on dark shades of ‘us’ versus ‘them’. As the circle of violence spiraled out on the streets, fuelled partly by passions whipped up by impassioned speeches and followed up on the streets of Imphal and other valley districts, by people not necessarily engaged in the ways and means of protesting against violence against women but out to ‘have a good time’, each of us need to recognize the potential damages that lay in store. If the ways of the ongoing protests and their direction is not toned down in terms of what it is directed against, all it would take to spark an uncontrollable conflict would be a random act of violence aimed at particular community or vice versa. The talk now is whether the brief lull following the bandh suspension on account of Christmas will help bring issues in perspective and calm down frayed nerves or whether it gets the worse for it, given the additional 72 hour bandh call in the hill districts.
There is a need to assess if the anger on the streets is because a woman’s dignity was compromised in public or whether it is on account of the fact that the said accused person is of a particular ethnic community belonging to an armed group that is currently in peace talks with the Government of India. There can be no condoning of what happened to the film actor but what one individual has done cannot be held accountable against an entire community. That the accused happens to belong to an armed group that’s had a track record of violating the terms of its talks with the Government of India is well documented. But to target public ire against an entire community would only fragment ties between communities that have lived together and forego the matter of what needs to be done to ensure that the safety and dignity of women are not compromised by anyone, no matter what caste or creed, identity or religion.
If the people of Manipur do decide to take a stand of ‘zero tolerance’ against all cases of violence against women following this incident, there is nothing like it. But if the anger and the indignation remain limited for this particular incident, it smacks of a lack of maturity and ironically, paints every person in such a light. The imposition of an indefinite bandh in the state has affected every person in their free movement but for those who were looking forward to the spirit of Christmas with its holy fervor and merry-making, it could not have been more badly timed. That logic and reasoning has no place when emotions are stoked needs no further validation. The schism between people leading the protest has reared its head with organizational heads calling for making space for the humaneness that is due to a community’s largest and most symbolic festival of Christmas by suspending protests till the festival gets over while individual voices were adamant to enforce the protests and continue with it. Taking the step of suspending protests till Christmas got over was a significant gesture and a measure of respect for people who follow a different faith and in no way would have compromised the call for due punishment against the accused.
Elsewhere too, in another extension of public rage and its after effects, Delhi has been seeing widespread protests over the brutal rape of a girl in a moving bus. For 3 days now, protestors have stormed heavily fortressed areas in the Capital, right from Parliament Street to the Chief Minister’s residence. There have been outbreaks of violence between the police and the protestors but no real bullets have been fired. In Manipur, a journalist working as a stringer for news channels and who was filming a protest and the subsequent police firing, first of tear gas shells and then real bullets was caught square in his chest. Video footage from the deceased journalist’s camera show how one state police personnel took aim and shot at him. While there can be no acceptable explanation for the police action of shooting anyone without prior warning regardless of whether the victim is a civilian or a journalist doing his duty, people on the streets ought to bear in mind that there is no greater harm than what fear, suspicion and intimidation can do in an environment as fraught as the one we see before us. Sane voices should step in to ensure that things do not get out of hand. Those protesting against the Chandel incident, which has been termed an “inhuman act” must realize the dangers of becoming inhuman themselves.