The northeastern state of Manipur is on the boil again. Barely a week after the state saw widespread violence after the killing of ten Kukis by the armed forces for allegedly being ‘militants’, the discovery and subsequent identification of bodies of missing Meiteis has sparked violent protests in the Imphal valley. Internet remains suspended in several districts of Manipur including the state capital of Imphal, the homes of ministers and MLAs were attacked and the protesters attempted to breach the house of Manipur's chief minister, though without much success. On Sunday, the NPP, a coalition partner in the ruling BJP government withdrew support to the BJP. At the same time, Union Home Minister Amit Shah who was busy campaigning in Maharashtra was forced to rush back to Delhi and chair a meeting to review the security situation.
It’s been more than a year that the state has been on the boil after the already tenuous relationship between the hill-dwelling Kuki tribes began protests against an order of the Manipur High Court to extend the benefits of the Scheduled Tribes to the politically, economically and numerically superior Meiteis. While many may attempt to point to the historical nature of the conflict as a reason it has endured so long, the real reason is not so complicated. Rather than nipping the problem in the bud, the Union government has allowed it to fester. It has steadfastly refused to act against the partisan state government and replace it with an independent administration.
The state of Manipur is ruled by the BJP and its Chief Minister N Biren Singh has made no attempt to bring communities together or to win the confidence of all the people of the state. On the other hand, he has only fueled divisions in the state, even further with partisan speeches, derogatory statements and dog-whistling.
In many ways, what Singh has been doing is a template followed by the BJP with varying degrees of success across all states of the country. It works to drum up majoritarian grievances for temporary political gains but leaves a long-lasting impact and rips apart the social fabric that can take decades to heal.
The fact remains that the ruling BJP has shown no desire to bring the conflict to a quick close and would rather allow it to fester in the hope that they can politically benefit from it. When a state is so clearly split between a majority and a minority and the ruling party can consolidate the majority behind it, why does it have to bother about fighting elections anymore?
Given the obvious failure of the ruling BJP, the onus should now fall on the opposition parties to come together in the interest of the state and the nation at large to stitch together a non-governmental coalition to help bring healing and negotiation among the communities. It is clear that the ruling party, which seeks to represent only one community in the conflict, has no incentive to restore normalcy and as such will do very little to return to the status quo that existed before the conflict broke out.
As a country and society, not only do we need to hold governments accountable for failures once every five years at the time of elections, but we also need to come together as a society to fill in where the government, deliberately or otherwise, fails to do so. Allowed to fester further the risks, not just for Manipuri society, will only grow.
