Friday the thirteen this September saw a chain of incidents that will probably make the date memorable for more reasons than one. On the political scene, the long awaited announcement of Narendra Modi as the Prime Ministerial candidate for the 2014 elections was made on the day which also saw a fast track court announcing the death sentence for four convicted in the Delhi gang rape and murder case. Manipur’s association with the date came in the form of an explosion that took away the lives of nine construction workers and leaving many others injured, some critically. There is still a lot of noise over the death sentence and the Modi as PM candidate tracks but only a pall of silence from the all too vocal human rights groups and civil society organizations that dot the state over the blast at Nagampal-Khuyathong area last week. The human rights groups in the state have failed to raise their voice against nine young men losing their lives in an act of sheer terror while civil society groups have joined in the silence since those affected in the blast were not of the state. These same groups would have gone on a different tangent had the situation and the impact involved people from the state, thereby exposing their total hypocrisy and limited interpretations of human rights and liberties in civil spaces. In the muddled up environment that Manipur exists today where conspiracy theories abound and official versions are never disclosed or believed when disclosed, most talk on the blast is why it happened and who could be involved. Many believe that investigations will stay in an ‘inconclusive’ state as happened with many earlier cases of major blasts taking place in the state or till the point that those involved make a statement staking claim to the incident. And though it is important for the people to know the reasons and those responsible for the blast, what is more worrying is the lack of response to a blast tearing away the lives of young people trying to make their living in an environment that was not only alien to them but one that is increasingly becoming hostile.
Over the past few years, there have been calls for the non-Manipuri and migrant population living and working in the state to head back to their own native places. Those who give these calls say that their increasing numbers are a threat to the social culture and identity of the ‘original’ people of the state and express their fear that the ‘outsiders’ will fast outnumber the ‘insiders’. Some point out to the socio-political history of Tripura where the indigenous Tripuris have in the course of time been relegated to the status of a minority people, swamped by the more numerous Bengali and other communities. The ‘threat’ of the outsiders have taken various forms and in its resulting response, seen its violent rendition. Much before groups and organizations started talking about the politics of the outsider versus the insider, various armed groups have taken ‘drives’ to oust them from the state by serving diktats to leave and even resorting to killing some of the more unfortunate ones. The irony of such fears of being closeted and being snuffed out economically, socially and by extension politically reaching out to identity issues is that the majority of the migrant population in Manipur are the poorest section who do not have the resources or the leverage to subvert the majority indigenous or local population of the state into a minority one. They are the ones who rather venture into certain work openings that the majority indigenous population, hold beneath them to take up. There is a dearth of local faces among those who stitch torn shoes and bags, among those who carry heavy loads or pull thelas, among those who load and unload goods laden trucks. While small scale industries like bakeries and sweet shops are mostly staffed by the ‘outsiders’, the ones who run mobile ‘juice’ trolleys and selling gas balloons or who sell popcorn or assorted knick knacks are all non migrants. Theirs is a story of enterprise and finding ways to eke a living. The story of their trails and tribulations are not often told and shared but certainly needs to be acknowledged. Unfortunately, it is this section of the economically backward driven migrant population that are the soft targets as seen from the various drives against them by people and agencies shouting aloud for the Inner Line Permit system. Which is why there won’t be any sit in protest or protest rally in the state and why there will only be knee jerk reactions from the state agencies for some time, only to be forgotten again.