It is inconceivable that agitationists can ever succeed in blocking the
main highways leading into, say, a State such as Madhya Pradesh for more
than a few hours. Yet they get away with blockading Manipur for months
on end, again and again, simply because disruptions in that farthest
corner of the Northeast do not cause a ripple in the rest of India. So
it is hardly surprising that people in Manipur think the country does
not care for them. The latest blockade, which started on August 1, has
led to an acute shortage of essential commodities, with the prices of
food, medicines, and fuel shooting up sky high. Ordinary people have
borne the brunt of the agitation, black marketeers and hoarders are
having a field day, and the central government has been a bystander to
the less-than-competent handling of the situation by the Ibobi Singh
government in the hapless State. The siege began when the Kukis
affiliated to the Sadar Hills Districthood Demand Committee blocked
National Highways 53 and 39 to press their demand for a Kuki majority
district to be carved out of portions of a larger district claimed by
the Naga people as part of the ‘greater Nagalim.' The Nagas responded to
the SHDDC blockade with one of their own. Instead of handling both
firmly, the State government appears to have only worsened ethnic
tensions by getting the SHDDC to withdraw its blockade with a written
assurance that the demand for a separate Kuki district would be met. The
United Naga Council and the All Naga Students' Association of Manipur
have since intensified their blockade.
The Centre's apathy aside, the inflexible positions taken by the
protesters, and their political vision stretching no further than the
narrow confines of their ethno-nationalism, are the main reason for the
mess in Manipur, and in some other parts of the Northeast as well. The
Meities, who form the majority ethnic group, are not blameless in this
saga of exclusivist politics; the tussle between the Kukis and the Nagas
cannot be separated from the larger confrontation between the
nationalisms of the Meitei and the Naga. Reconciling these competing
visions is not an easy task; there are no quick answers. It calls for a
leadership that is prepared to think big and re-imagine the State, and
the region, in progressive inclusivist fashion. More immediately, the
blockades on the highways must end. They have caused immense suffering
to the poorest of Manipur's 2.7 million people who cannot afford to pay
black market rates for their daily essentials. The blockaders must
realise that they cannot use blackmail to gain their political ends.
