There must be something about this land, its soil or the weather that ferments so much of turmoil and then, made all the worse by conflicting stands taken by ‘well meaning’ and those ‘working for the people’. Starting, right from the various armed groups that all say they are fighting for the people but who do not unite as one; the next level of politics is played out amongst those who call themselves ‘civil society organizations’. Those who associate with such groups go by the ‘social worker’ tag regardless of whether the work they do end up being beneficial or detrimental to society. The same applies for student organizations that are so numerous that the layman is left confused over just who these groups are and what they are working towards. In all three categories, we have the phenomenon of groups, factions and based on ethnic and community that work to make it more complex. But what boggles the mind is the way various student groups are fast becoming involved in social vigilantism, pegged of course at ‘the welfare of students’. While many will point out and rightfully so, that students being a part of the larger society will naturally react to the situations and circumstances that affect the social fabric, the mushrooming of various groups with their own takes or dictates and all with claims to ‘legitimacy’ more often than not, makes it tough for actual students who are studying in schools, colleges and other educational institutions.
One only has to rewind the situation to 2009, to the public agitations over the fake encounter case of a former armed cadre of a certain group, Ch Sanjit that left another civilian Th Rabina an expecting mother dead in what the state police said was a firing incident provoked by Sanjit when he ran after police asked him to stop for checking. The incident left five others injured. A series of photos published by a National news magazine that showed the sequence fake encounter led to protests on the streets of Imphal leading to curfew being clamped. While this meant disruptions on the streets, it also meant that students in schools and colleges had to miss out classes, something which is unfortunately not a rarity in the state. This time, there were 45 days of curfew and following it up was a call by two major student groups of the state that all educational institutions would boycott classes since there was no meaning for the right to education in a state where the right to life is was not being granted. The boycott call led to the total shut down of all educational institutions in the valley. No one wanted to dare risking the wrath of the student groups and various civil society organizations and educational institutions remained shut for four months in total. When the Government, which was otherwise staying silent regarding the calls on action against the policemen involved in the incident stepped in with a warning to educational institutions to open, a few started limping back with classes and paid for it by having their premises vandalized and school buildings burnt. The lesson was clear to students, parents and the management.
But in this land of the many groups and the many voices syndrome; another student group tried to challenge the boycott the call given by the two other organizations but given the strength and force of the battery of civil society groups that threw its weight around nothing could change for the students who were staying out of classes. Co-incidentally, the voices of various parents and guardians of school going children were not being counted as a civil society opinion because they were non-political. When the agitation got resolved, the ones most affected were teachers and students who grappled with incomplete syllabuses.
Cut to the present and one of the many student groups in the state have taken it upon themselves to ensure that students appearing for their Board examinations must not be disturbed which they believe, will happen if any social entertainment or cultural programs take place. By that standard, they may well end up hauling away all DTH set top boxes perhaps but for now seem to be caught in the middle of a major public relations disaster with three localities alleging that the group demanded money for ‘breaking’ their ban as they were organizing a housie. The dust over the allegations and the counter allegations will settle down with time but the one disturbing question that remains is the legitimacy that groups and organizations profess in the state today and the manner in which news groups coming in to create more clutter.