Prime Minister Narendra Modi always has good suggestions for others. To President Ranil Wickremesinghe of Sri Lanka, who was visiting India, he urged respect for the “dignity” of the minorities…the Tamil people. Wickremesinge in response could have asked how the minorities were faring in India, whether the Meiteis and Kukis felt respected and their “dignity” protected. If Tamil people in Sri Lanka have aspirations to be attended to, so have the weak communities in Manipur. 

The Prime Minister counselled the Sri Lankan President to keep each other’s “sensitivities” in mind. But has Delhi leadership shown this ‘sensitivity’ to European and British parliaments’ statements, to neighbouring countries like Pakistan, to the Muslim community in India, to enlightened Opposition leaders; and of late, to Manipur’s agony?  Or did he choose to hide helplessly and heartlessly behind his subordinates? What urges him to go nine times to Rajasthan on election campaigns, but not once to Manipur?

As Pawan Khera says, “We need a Prime Minister with a heart”.  Zoramthanga adds, “Silence is not an option”.  Neutral observers say that dismissing a mighty ‘civil-war-like’ situation in Manipur as a petty ‘law-and-order’ problem, merely to be handled by the local police, is the “greatest crime of the century”.

‘Unexplainable and Criminal’  

The indifference of the Centre stands for their most humiliating unconcern for the Northeast, except to make tall promises before elections, keep opportunistic politicians in decision-making positions, bribe the bribables, push systematically the RSS-agenda, gather votes from the less informed, and hand over local resources to the Patanjalis and Adanis. The Congress party contended that the Prime Minister’s silence was “unexplainable, unforgivable and criminal”. 

Modi’s and Biren’s effigies were burnt in places as far as Jharkhand; Himanta Biswa Sarma’s in Guwahati. Irom Chanu Sharmila, a Meitei civil rights activist, asks whether Modiji considers Manipur just a toe of India that can be ignored. Even a toe, she says, cannot be neglected if it hurts. She compares this cold, passive, attitude of complicity to the one he adopted during the communal riots in Gujarat in 2002. 

Award in France, Shame in Manipur

Modiji had good advice for Emmanuel Macron during his visit to France. He said he was ready to contribute to the cause of peace in Ukraine. In the meantime, his neglect of any peace effort in Manipur was forgotten. 

Modi gave greetings (Vanakkam) to the Indian diaspora. There was much fanfare. Events reached a climax with the Prime Minister receiving the Grand Cross of the Legion of Honour, the highest national honour in France. 

Someone whispered, “India’s order for 26 fighter jets from France covers up all the failures of Prime Minister Modi in Manipur!”  Meanwhile, India’s internal brokenness is announced from housetops from country to country. 

Suppressed News Goes Viral

Then came the great shock of the video that went viral: two Kuki women paraded naked and raped, the father and brother of the younger one killed. The whole world stood still for a while. There were roaring protests from governments, civil authorities, rights organizations, women’s association, youth groups, and award winners. D.Y. Chandrachud of the Supreme Court considered it totally unacceptable in a “constitutional democracy”. 

Even Modiji had to break his vow of silence. Jairam Ramesh of the Congress calculated that it took1800 hours before the Prime Minister spoke up on this national tragedy. Seventy-nine days! But don’t say he was sitting idle. Wasn’t he busy with popularity programmes like distributing 70,000 appointment letters to the unemployed, and discussing the quality of momos with students, on a dramatized bus trip? 

Drama was given a big role in displaying anger as well. The Prime Minister said, he was “full of pain, full of anger”. Such things can never take place in a “civilized society”. He promised to act with “full might and firmness” against those who insulted the two women. Shiv Sena’s ‘Saamana’ hastened to warn people not to take such an exhibition of righteous wrath too seriously, that a day after condemning corruption, Modi had taken corrupt men into his ministry. He places full trust in the BJP’s ‘washing-machine’ that purifies all corrupt people.

‘Hundreds of Similar Cases’

Then came the shocking admission by Chief Minister Biren Singh that hundreds of such cases had taken place, that the internet had to be suppressed for that reason. There is no further need of evidence of complicity and connivance. One does not need to be an expert in law to assign proportionate responsibility to the perpetrator of a crime and those who assisted in concealing it. 

There is no way of arguing that the authorities in Delhi and Imphal were unaware of what was happening. Biren admitted it even before anyone could make a hasty allegation. Let the world judge who is guilty if the court fails to do so. 

In fact, a complaint about the humiliation of those women had been lodged on June 21 at Saikul police station, Kangpokpi. Inaction followed. It would have remained at that level, if Twitter had not given it publicity. Penalizing Twitter is one thing, silencing the truth another. But as Aldous Huxley says, “Facts do not cease to exist because they are ignored”.  

Mamata was not wrong in calling those responsible for the crime “merchants of death”. The entire NE region is raging with anger.  Akhil Gogoi puts full responsibility for the present tragedy to a design of the RSS and BJP. According to official reports 160 have lost their lives in Manipur, but in reality, hundreds. No wonder that the Opposition is united in demanding the removal Biren Singh. But no! How, then, will the Hindutva agenda be carried out?

Gujarat Model 

Irom Chanu Sharmila may not have been in wrong in seeing a clear similarity between what happened in Gujarat and recent tragedies in Manipur. Ashoka Mody in his book “India is Broken” (Juggernaut books, New Delhi 2023) describes the communal clashes, following the death of 53 in Godhra in Gujarat, in this manner: “Over next several days, Hindus slaughtered Muslims throughout the state of Gujarat”. Over 2000 died “with police standing to the side, young Hindu men…wantonly destroyed the lives and livelihoods of Muslims. They brutally raped Muslim women” (Mody 301). Manipur is a repetition.

Modiji’s comment in Gujarat was philosophic and cool: “Every action inevitably produces a reaction”. Government complicity needed no further confirmation. Vajpayee connected it with the Godhra tragedy. Praveen Togadia of the VHP called it a “successful experiment”. Gujarat provided a “laboratory” for Hindutva, he said; now, greater success could be expected elsewhere (Mody 302). The whole world took note of the Gujarat genocide. Modiji did not offer a single word of explanation. International criticism only strengthened the loyalty of his blind followers.

It was not Modiji’s economic achievement that won him the RSS approval for the Delhi throne, but his “communal expertise”. Hindutvawadis could now develop a time-bound strategy for the establishment of Hindu Rashtra. Eliminate critics first. In 2015 M. M. Kalburgi, a Hindutva critic, was shot dead (Mody 367). In 2017 Gauri Lankesh was killed in Bangalore near her residence (Mody 368). In 2021 Stan Swamy died in custody, accused of sedition, though he had spent his entire life working for the Jharkhand tribals (Mody 393). 

Hindutva armies had already been built up at various levels. Adityanath Yogi now strengthened further his Gau Rakshak Manch and Hindu Yuva Vahini (Modi 267, 269). RSS, Bajrang Dal, VHP and all related bodies came into their own under Modi’s patronage. Their Think Tank took over responsibility of appointing men of their choice as officials for the government and candidates for elections, re-writing history and re-interpreting events in keeping with Hindutva vision and goals. An era of intense polarisation was launched. This is how India stands broken today!

Strong Man Becomes Stronger

Wide criticism of Modi’s policy on the one side and his own stoic silence on the other, have only strengthened his image as a “strong man” among his self-interested supporters. And day after day, he is growing more determined as a Hindutva loyalist, with 1.2 million social media operators to flatter him and hold him up as a hero (Mody 372). For them, he stands tall as though he will create a new national identity and a new world order!

During elections like those of Delhi, calls were heard from his closest associate,  “shoot the traitors”, meaning the Muslims (Mody 377). “Hindutva politics thrives on perpetual mob violence…recently calling for Muslim genocide” (Mody 402). Now the Manipur genocide.
After the 2019 impressive election victory, Kashmir’s constitutional status was abolished, the state was divided and downgraded into Union Territories. Regional leaders were arrested and the internet shut down (Mody 375). 

In the same way, in Manipur, the internet has been shut down. Critics have been interned. In 2022, India dropped in World Freedom Index from the 142nd position to the 150th (Mody 395). There are 13,000 under detention in preventive custody in Manipur, while the RSS-guided Arambai Tenggol and Meitei Leepun are free to engage in violence and rob the police armoury of weapons.

“The Idea of India”

In this context the emergence of an alliance of 26 parties that have pledged to safeguard the “idea of India” as in the Constitution is an encouraging development. They wish to save the nation from the “poisonous campaign of hate”. BJP ridiculed the Opposition leadership, calling it a many-headed Ravan. What about 38 parties that met together with NDA under J.P. Nadda? 

As the general elections are getting closer, people are longing for some measure of sincerity about ideas, ideologies, motivations, decisions, statements. They seek from leaders accountability for their public behaviour and finances. Pawan Khera calls for transparency in donations to the BJP. 

The judicial system loses credibility when serious cases are allowed to be filed against political opponents on trivial issues. A teasing remark that Rahul Gandhi made during a political campaign on the ‘Modi’ name is more a matter for laughter than for a 1000-page verdict charging the accused of “moral turpitude”. What then would one say about the leaders in Manipur and at the Centre who condoned “hundreds” of cases of rapes over two months (as Biren admits). Satya Pal Mallick, the former Governor of Meghalaya, says Biren should not remain CM another minute! 

Jignesh Mevani, a Congress MLA from Gujarat, was arrested in Assam over a simple tweet. Compare it with 6,000 FIRs filed by women in Manipur, with no action following.

Petty Politicking 

Former Union Minister and senior Congress leader P. Chidambaram seems to have a better understanding of the situation of Manipur when he calls for a neutral Administration for a while. Certainly it is not easy to think of a non-Meitei, non-Kuki government. 

President’s rule could have been helpful if the BJP strategy of appointment of Governors was for the benefit of the local communities. But as Hindutva ideology and Party interests have remained the criterion for such appointments, President’s rule would mean merely the continuation of Hindutva strategies that throttle regional interests and the local communities’ concerns. Hence the immobility.  

In the meantime, the American decision to assist “pro-democracy fighters” in Myanmar can have wide South-East Asian repercussions. China had already been supportive of the governing Military Junta for their own advantage. India has been cultivating some sort of neighbourhood relationship with the same government for the realistic reasons of co-existence and collaboration. 

Here is a case of three major powers seeking to play uncertain roles in Myanmar in the context of the Junta’s suppression of the Chins and other tribal minorities, who in turn are fighting for their own survival and for democracy, at the borders of Manipur and Mizoram. 

The Myanmar Army has been merciless in displacing the Rohingyas who fled in large numbers to Bangladesh and India. Some Chins under similar pressure have taken shelter in Mizoram among their ethnic cousins, Zoramtahanga welcoming them. Some of them may have made their way to Manipur against whom Biren is thundering. 

The greater problem is that the America-sponsored weapons may soon be moving close to the Indian borders. The Junta-supplied arms on the other side have been discovered in the Manipur plains. There are vocal groups among the Meiteis who call for a re-thinking of Manipur’s merger with India in 1949, since it was made without a referendum. The recent mighty Peace March in Manipur was basically a call against the Kukis. Naga peace talks are making slow progress.

Will the Nagpur-Delhi Sovereigns whose priorities are protecting cows and building temples understand the complexity and seriousness of the situation in Manipur? Is the fragmentation of India their goal? And yet WE HOPE. Aristotle says, “It is during our darkest moments that we must focus to see the light”.