All four MLAs from the Naga People`™s Front, NPF, namely L. Dikho of 48-Mao, Samuel Risom of 44-Ukhrul, ST Victor Nunghlung of 41 Chandel and Dr V Alexander Pao of 47-Karong, resigned from the Manipur Legislative Assembly on Saturday, though there is still a year and a half left for the term of the Assembly to expire. While they are free to do so, the reason they cited for their resignation should leave no doubt that it was premeditated and definitely part of an agenda that had nothing to do with the reason they cited: that of the three bills recently passed by the Manipur Legislative Assembly being discriminatory against the tribal population of the hill districts. They obviously were striking at a moment of opportunity presented before them by the spontaneous public outrage in Churachandpur, to advance their cause of creating the condition for severance of Naga dominated hill districts of Manipur in anticipation of the formation of a Greater Nagaland or Nagalim, if and when the NSCN(IM) manages to work out an accord with the Government of India.
When Churachandpur went up in flames over the three bills, the reaction of the government as well as the people, in particular those in the valley, was one of bewilderment. They were not sure why, for they genuinely believed the idea of checking immigrant influx was in the interest of every original settler of the state. Now the picture is becoming clearer what the issues involved were. First was the question of the bills not having been first referred to the Hill Area Committee, HAC. This oversight, though the government probably felt the bills had no infringement on the hills, is still a fault of the government. It should have sought the opinion of the HAC and acquired its assent regardless. That would have made the bills consensual. Then there is the second doubt raised that no tribal ministers were part of the drafting committee of the bills. As senior journalists, some of us in the profession were invited in the initial days for opinions on the ILPS issue on some occasions which did have tribal ministers present. It did appear that the drafting committee was formed from amongst a few volunteers and others were dragged into it and persuaded to be part of it, for nobody at the time seemed eager to face what was appearing to be a mess and very stubborn opponents. The issue was also seen as essentially a valley issue as the hills already had protections against land ownership transfers.
But without going further into what has already happened, suffices it to say that the government has now relented and showed willingness to rework the bills. Outside of the government, the general feeling even today is, since the Churachandpur episode was a genuine grievance against the bills, regardless of whether it resulted out of misunderstanding or miscommunication, there is still room for rectification and ultimately, reconciliation, tragic though the past week has been, with so many young lives lost. This contrasts quite radically with the manner the NPF ministers tendered their resignation. The move was more about posturing than presenting a case. Here one is reminded of the often repeated adage that `it is difficult to wake up somebody who is only pretending to be asleep`. If Churachandpur did not happen, they would have found another occasion to do what they did, and there would have been no way to prevent it.
In the meantime we offer our condolences to the near and dear ones of all those who lost their lives in this sordid drama. We hope no more will suffer the fate. But a resolution must not mean sweeping all the issues thrown up in the course of these few months under the carpet. They must be addressed adequately and satisfactory. The question of equitable autonomy not just for the hills but also for the valley must be given attention and a model worked out to ensure bottled up resentments do not remain. It must also be said there have been hordes of lumpens on the wide open cyber space, of which breed the state is today becoming overpopulated with, who have been hurling mindless, unwarranted and hurtful invectives all around. Many of these invectives are mimicries from past conflicts between various other communities that had proven to hurt their targets, therefore nothing new or inventive about them. These fringe elements are universal and it is best to ignore them while working to restore peace.
Leader writer: Pradip Phanjoubam