It is calculated that internet shutdowns like those in Manipur and Punjab by law enforcement agencies have cost the nation $1.9 billion during January-June period. Such communication disruptions weaken economic activities. Modiji, who might be less moved by the loss of human lives than the reduction of market gains, could be invited to take some initiative in settling affairs in Manipur to prevent further economic loss.  Jairam Ramesh says the way Modi has “deliberately ignored Manipur” in her moment of agony is shocking, totally incomprehensible. 

“Tribal lives matter” pleads P. Sainath at Xavier Institute of Social Service, Ranchi, echoing the African American call “Black Lives Matter” after George Floyd’s death. Pradyot Kishore Debbarma of Tripura sent out a similar message recently, referring to his own situation, ‘Don’t play with the emotions of tribals! Their fight is for their rights, lands, language’. They are willing to pay any price. 

Adding Insult to Injury

Modiji remains unmoved. He coolly raises the issue of Uniform Civil Code and diverts the nation’s attention from the tragedies of Manipur. Is he deliberately adding insult to injury by keeping the Manipur horrors as a non-issue? It was not so with Vajpayee. People remember how he had expressed profound grief in 2001 when there broke out a conflict in Manipur. He was faithful to his Raj Dharma. What Rahul calls a ‘horrible tragedy’ is a non-issue for Modi. 

Tania Branigan writes about Mao Zedong during the horrors of Cultural Revolution, “He understood that ‘silence’ and ‘absence’ have a force on their own”. Modi’s instinct seems to tell him the same. But hardening heart and diverting energy can have dreadful consequences.

Darkest Period in History

Modiji was looking back recently at Indira-imposed Emergency and called it a “dark period”. Little does he recognize that he is taking India through the “darkest” days of her history. Only the next generation will be able to evaluate the level of insanity to which we have been forced to descend. Germans feel embarrassed every time they hear of Hitler discussed, even though he built super highways for them and boosted their economy. Coming generations will have the same embarrassment about the present era when the destruction of a church was nothing more than loss of a chicken-house and the wiping out of a few hundred citizens no greater tragedy than the elimination of wild fowl.

Every day we hear of disasters, people being killed in the name of cow protection, crowds compelled to shout “Jai Shri Ram”, new cases coming up against social activists.  Fresh charges are brought against Teesta Setalvad. Dalit leader Chandrashekhar Azad ‘Ravan’ was shot at Deoband in U.P. It was evidently masterminded. Sanjay Singh of AAP says, BJP is  steadily expanding its ‘factory of hatred’. Gandhians from all over India  gather in Lucknow to protest the demolition of Sarwa Seva Sangh and to call for civil disobedience.  Pushkar Singh Dhami, CM of Uttarkhand pleads, ‘we don’t want to allow hatred; our culture is not like that’.   

Slavery, Racism Continue

The other day, the Dutch king Willem-Alexander apologised for slavery on the 150th anniversary of its abolition. King’s ancestors had earned equivalent of $545 million Euros from slave trade. His voice broke with emotion as he spoke. Today slavery has reappeared in new forms in the very colonies where people had earlier felt exploited. Workers are abused by their very compatriots, looked down upon, used as raw materials or working tools on a massive scale. This is done by government-favoured companies, tax-reduction enjoying corporates. 

Dilution of labour laws during the Covid period has facilitated their investment. When people hear of the rise of exports and flattery from foreign tradesmen, they forget about the gruelling life of the factory labourer who are in worse conditions that ancient slaves. As for spreading the values of racism, casteism, social barriers, ethnic prejudices, polarisation…that is the mission with which the Sangh Parivar has entrusted the BJP with, their political agents. 

Rishi Sunak, the British Prime Minister, says he has experienced racism as he was growing up; it stings one in a way  that very few other things do. Criticism, he says, he takes in day in and day out, hour by hour, but “racism stings you”. Even cricket teams, he laments, have ceased to be ‘inclusive’. Modiji, taking over the leadership of G20, specifically promised to be ‘inclusive’. Does his concern “include” the well-being of the Meiteis and the Kukis?

Social Fractures

Unfortunately, social fractures are growing in many societies today. Immigration and race-mixture have turned European society into a cauldron on racist or cultural issues from time to time. In France, 40,000 police were called to action to control the rioting that followed the killing of a 17-year old lad of Algerian origin. Over 1300 were arrested. 

In Manipur, 40,000 armed forces stood by while 131 people were killed, hundreds of villages burnt, crores of rupees worth of property destroyed. Twelve riot-leaders were freed by the army under pressures from women’s groups. Chief Minister Biren Singh kept busy making allegations against weaker communities. 

For most neutral observers, the authorities in Manipur and at the Centre stand accused. No one doubts the masterminding of details by the Sangh Parivar. It can be a rehearsal for Hindu Rashtra at a wider level. Will it be in 2024 or 2029, that remains the question. North-easterners killing each other is good news for the national armed forces; they can spare a few bullets. That is the impression increasingly created.

Macron vs Modi

When Rome burnt, Nero fiddled. The Prime Minister of India left for the US to lead Yoga displays, going  into Guinness World Records; to sign trade agreements on arms production; to receive the title ‘The Order of the Nile’ in Egypt. 

The President of France believes in another ethical code, another democratic value system. With his fellow citizens protesting, he cancelled his trip to Germany, attended to the people’s demands, consoled the grieving family, and seriously looked for remedial actions. Did Hindutva ideology allow Modiji to be concerned about the fates of those he consider belonging to a lesser stock? 

Ideas like what Yogi had when he suggested to the tribals of Rajasthan that Hanuman must have been one of them must be in the subconscious of Modiji as well. While one death could upset an entire country in Europe, hundreds of deaths in Manipur meant nothing more than an annoyance to the bigwigs that occupy the Mughal throne today. Biren must remain on to save the face of the Delhi potentates. 

Interestingly, Modiji has invited G20 delegates to the ‘festival of democracy’ during the general elections of 2024. Is not India the ‘mother of democracy’ with Vaishali tribal traditions in the Magadh region and the ‘samiti’ structure among the Aryans? What is not said is that he represents the dominant society that wiped out the Vaishali democratic traditions among the tribal people of India and made the oppressive caste system to replace the ‘samiti’ style of running local communities. 

The last remnant of the Vaishali-like democratic tradition persist only among the surviving tribal communities in the Northeast and interior locations in central India. Resurgent Hindutva armies today are busy wiping out the last strongholds of those that the Vedic heritage describe as “Asuras, Dasas, Dasyus, Mlechhas, Kiratas, and Vanaras”. Including those in Manipur, Hanuman images are multiplying in the Northeast. Flatterers are in high demand and are well rewarded.

A government that rules by ordinances and decrees has too little right to boast of their democracy. Boris Johnson was forced to resign when he was accused of telling lies on the floor of the Parliament. In India, those who deceived society about Art. 370, CAA, NRC, and a host of other things continue to rule. That tells volumes about the quality of democracy that is forced upon us by the ruling regime. World Press Freedom Index places India 150th  among 180.  Ramchandra Guha says, he does not worry much which party comes to power in 2024; but he hopes it will not offer an “arrogant” leadership. Arrogance is not an Indian value nor a Hindu value; whether it is a Hindutva value is for Mohan Bhagwat to decide. 

Dividers Win Today

What Manipur needs, Rahul says, is healing. Peace is the only priority it has today.  For others, filled with hate, the concept of love bewilders. “Hell is other people,” said Sartre. That is what is being taught in Yogi’s Dharm Yodhs (religious warriors) training centres, by armed Biren-supporters, and ‘eliminate-the-other’ slogan constructors. Unfortunately, such notions are promoted today. The consequence: Two hundred Kuki villages have been burnt. David Thiek is beheaded. And Meiteis suffer similar fate. Modi remains unmoved!

The Chief Minister, the local architect of the entire tragedy, acts out a drama of resignation offer, and gets his resignation letter torn up by Meira Paibi women! North-eastern Student Organisation asks whether the Government has any “hidden agenda” in allowing Manipur conflict to continue. It seems there is. We have a right to know.

‘Politics of Reality’

Indian population increases by 41,000 a day, 15 million a year.  What world can the rising generation look forward to? What hope have they for their future? Will the farmer in the field or labourer a brick kiln leap for joy when he hears that Indigo has placed an order of 500 A320 planes (a world record!),  or that India produced 2.7 crore vehicles in 2023, valued $108 billion…with rising prices and falling wages? Will they be eagerly looking forward to receiving ‘Modi Mitra’ certificates  like those distributed at the Deoband Muslim seminary to those who appreciated Modi’s speeches and admired his person? You may be sure, no!

The other day, some Gorkha leaders in Darjeeling said, “We believe in the ‘politics of reality’”, not of shallow show or empty promises. People want to hear about concrete designs that touch their lives, that serve their needs, not merely push up the bank accounts of top exporters.

Amity & Mutual Benefit

It came as an extremely intriguing news that Humza Yousaf of Pakistani origin was elected to be the leader of Scotland soon after Rishi Sunak of Indian origin was elected the Prime Minister in Britain. Yousaf is the first Muslim leader of any government in the western world. But the more curious fact is that he has chosen separation of Scotland from Britain as his priority even amid many other economic and administrative anxieties. Painfully, we must admit that we are living through an era of separations, divisions, polarizations…to no one’s benefit. 

We referred to the riots that followed the killing of a 17-year boy of Algerian origin in France. This is one of the many incidents that disturbed the peace of France and the rest of Europe in recent times related to racial differences. Europe’s rightward shift is becoming increasingly evident. Vox Party wins in Spain, hard-right parties have captured power in Greece. Many other countries have gone further ahead. 

In the context of these trends, China passes a new foreign relations law that speaks of “amity, sincerity and mutual benefit” with neighbours.  Amazing! No one takes these words in Xi’s mouth seriously. But words have power on their own. 

The other day Biden called Xi a ‘tyrant’, Putin a ‘pariah’ in reference to the mutiny of Yevgeny Prigozhin. But Modi remained a worthy partner. Their business instincts seem to coincide.  When wealth is exchanged, differences disappear…at least for a while. When flattery is exchanged, failures are forgotten. People change when interests coincide. 

Kamala Harris spoke of the great spiritual and philosophical messages that India passed on to the rest of the world. Respect for life has always remained central to them all. Then, “Tribal lives matter. Kuki lives matter. Meitei lives matter. Indian lives matter. Human lives matter”. 

Today our interests ought to coincide, not with the exchange of dollars and rupees, but with hearts and minds united in shared human interests. Manipur matters. The PM ought to speak up.