Write or be written

Plenty of debates had been generated and are still being generated on the explosive issue of preserving the indigenous face of Manipur, especially after the death of a young school boy, Sapam Robinhood, 16. Although initially there were little coming out from mainstream media in the metropolises, now that a denouement is seemingly approaching on the issue of introduction of the ILP, there are indeed stories appearing in the national media, print as well as the TV. It is also encouraging that they have been by and large positive, endorsing the view that while the methods of protest may be questionable the reason for them is not illegitimate. The Inner Line Permit System now being sought in Manipur is an expression of the legitimate existential angst of a small community that it may become drowned in the ocean of the infinitely larger community of continental India. As an article in the Mumbai based Daily News and Analysis, DNA India, today put it, this angst was officially made known by the Nagas as early as 1929, when the then Naga Club presented a memorandum to the Simon Commission, when it came visiting the Naga Hills.

The ILPS is perceived as a means of regulating inflow of migrants, therefore a check on the threat of any radical transformation of demography of the state. While the anxiety is legitimate, it is debatable if the ILP as an instrument which can adequately address this anxiety, for Nagaland which has the ILP is still faced with the same threat of settlers outnumbering the original population, even more than Manipur. But the good thing is, Manipur can fashion its regulatory mechanism modelled on the ILP but it does not have to be the ILP as it exists today, and we do hope those who will now be responsible for the new Bill will be up to the job. They must also take care that the purpose is achieved effectively, but we must reiterate, without unduly victimising any other group. As we see it, ensuring land ownership transfers to non domiciles are next to impossible should serve the purpose to most great extents. This is already the case in the hill districts, and as we are witnessing during the past week of violent agitations, the ILP issue is not taken as so urgent by the hills as it is by the valley, though by and large the concerns for an impending demographic transformations marginalising the local populations, is shared.

There has hardly been anybody in Manipur who rejects totally the need for a migration regulation. Few who did were only recommending variants of the screening mechanism though there was at least one writer who throwing below-the-belt blows to discredit the agitation. In an article in the web magazine, Scroll.in, he so cheaply and communally portrayed the movement as a strategy of the valley Meiteis community in their bid to be included in the Schedule Tribe list so that they may continue have their stranglehold on the state`™s power structure. Although the arguments were puerile and therefore far from coherent or convincing, it is shocking that such venoms also exist. But to make the best of what a grotesque and hideous mind has to say, let the valley begin thinking in terms of seeking consensus first before presuming all its issues by definition are Manipur`™s issues. Even if there is little to doubt that all in the state, and indeed the whole of the Northeast, share the concerns on any issue, let no section of the population, even the smallest, be taken for granted, and assent of each be sought before the issue is billed as `Manipur issue`. This is the democratic way. This is also the only way to bridge the ethnic divides in Manipur.

One more inadequacy came out glaring. From the beginning of the stir, and even after the death of a school boy, one complaint reverberated `“ the national media had no interest in Manipur. But to be fair, maybe they were simply clueless on what or why things were unfolding the way they were. The fault it not just theirs. It is also majorly with the state`™s own intelligentsia, the articulate section of the society, including the media and academics. The state`™s Diaspora is widely spread across the length and breadth of India, and many of them are in the business of idea and knowledge `“ academia. At times like this, it is their moral responsibility to speak up and communicate, not just on the social media, important though it may be, but also the mainstream media for the audience here is much wider. Moreover, what goes on the social media is not peer reviewed therefore still less credible than the media where articles are screened for quality and authenticity by professional editors. Some of us in the local media did do something in the regard, but the voice must be from many, to be heard loudly and convincingly. What is often said of the food chain in the natural world, `eat or be eaten` is also very true of the world of ideas and communication `“ `write or be written about`, or worse still, `write or be written off`.

Leader Writer: Pradip Phanjoubam