By : Vikram Nongmaithem
“Long years ago, we made a tryst with destiny” said Jawaharlal Nehru on the eve of India’s independence, and “now the time comes when we shall redeem our pledge”. That was sixty years ago and Manipur was not a part of free India then. Although the Maharajah of Manipur was cornered to sign the Instrument of Accession on August 11, 1947 under which Defence, Communication and External Affairs passed within the exclusive jurisdiction of New Delhi, it was only after the signing of the Manipur Merger Agreement that Manipur became a de-jure territory of the Indian Union. Prior to the signing of this treaty on September 21, 1949 and its consequent coming into force on October 15, 1947 the Manipur State Constitution Act, 1947 (here State implies Nation-state) empowers the Maharajah in Council to administer the state thereby installing a “constitutional monarchy” on the British model. The democratic constitution was scrapped with Manipur’s merger into India. The post-merger history of India is full of twists and turns, resulting from the imposition of the Indian way of democracy in north-east India and Manipur is, now, bleeding. Perhaps, Nehru’s ‘we’ might not have included the Manipuris and ‘our’ pledge has not been redeemed so far for the last sixty years.
The hoopla surrounding Manipur’s integration into India soon resulted into a mushrooming of anti-India groups. It also brought forth politics of bad faith and internecine warfare into this land which has a history of its own spanning twenty centuries. Soon after the negation of its constitutional status from a sovereign nation-state into a Part ‘C’ state of India, Manipur had to permanently cede the Kabaw Valley to Burma due to Nehru’s strategic logic of strengthening India’s position in the Andaman and Nicobar islands. When India became a republic on January 26, 1950, with the enactment of the Constitution of India, Manipur was downgraded to a Part ‘C’ state. Subsequently, the Part ‘C’ states (Laws) were replaced by the Union Territories Act in 1956 and Manipur became a Union Territory much against the popular wish. Peasant mobilizations which were a feature of pre-merger Manipur turn into sporadic acts of violence and took the form of armed insurgency in post-merger Manipur. The birth of armed insurgent groups in Manipur was thus a direct product of New Delhi’s policy of alienating Manipur from the political centrestage of independent India. A policy of ‘divide and rule’ seemed more beneficial to the interests of the Indian political elites at the centre. As early as 1955, Z.A. Phizo of the Naga National Council had begun to wage a guerrilla war against India and guns were fired to make the deaf hear. Nehru, in order to appease the Nagas had carved out a state of Nagaland in 1962 by taking out the Naga Hills-Tuensang area out of the state of Assam but he still failed to quell the Nagas. But, in the case of Manipur, statehood remained a pipedream and it was rejected on the grounds that it was not economically viable. It thus added another psychological divide between the hill people and the valley people of north-east India. It was only nine years later that Manipur was lifted up from the status of a Union Territory into a full fledged state of the Indian union by the North-Eastern Areas (Reorganisation) Act, 1971.
The writings of British administrators and scholars show that Manipur was one of the most advanced and cultured civilizations among the peoples of the north-east India. But the denial of statehood to Manipur by the political elites of post-independent India for nine years after the statehood of Nagaland was considered an insult to the Manipuris and this naturally angered the newly educated elites of Manipur. The full blown insurgency that erupted in the valley of Manipur was partly a result of the misplaced faith that the Manipuris had on the neo-Gandhians of independent India. This is also one of the factors why Manipur has failed to produce stable governments in its post-merger political history. The political unrest and the conflict situation that resulted out of India’s incoherent policies of accommodation in north-east India created a fear psychosis among the Manipuri masses. The imposition of draconian laws like the Armed Forces Special Powers Act, 1958 led to the killing of many innocent people rather than ending insurgency. The irony of the imposition of this Act lies in the very fact that, today, there are more armed miscreants roaming freely in the streets and shooting people than it was before the imposition of this Act and this clearly shows that AFSPA has failed to counter insurgency.
Although the misuse of this Act by the security forces has been widely highlighted by many Human Rights groups, NGOs and the media, lack of a strong political will still keeps the Act in force and hence many atrocities continue under its mask. It has even created a situation where people develop a schizophrenic thinking about its repeal or its continuation. This was clearly evident in the last Assembly elections when not many people voted on the merits and demerits of the AFSPA even though they had protested against the Act in large numbers on many occasions. On the eve of the elections, not many people listened to the appeals of Sharmila, the prisoner of conscience fighting against the AFSPA, although she is now a national icon of the Manipuri people revered and respected by all. This is symptomatic of the festering wound in the political culture in Manipur. Today, many armed groups are alleged to be siding with the politicians and the nexus between them is creating a terrible situation whereby security forces have a chance to wreak havoc the innocent people. There is no peace; there is no security and there is no freedom from fear.
On Independence Day, 2007 the streets of Imphal were lined with armoured cars and security forces in uniform were frisking young people of motorbikes and cars. On Independence Day, young people were made to raise both their hands and stand in queues waiting for their turns to be frisked upon and most of them had an angry frown on their faces. I cannot guess what they might be thinking in their hearts as they were detained by the men in olive uniforms while they were standing for hours facing the blistering sun of a hot summer day to prove their innocence.
On 15 August, 2007, independent India is sixty years old and so is dependent Manipur. India boasts of a vibrant democracy, strong secularlism, strong economy and inclusive development while going “Sixty and Fullsteam”. I cannot but remember what B.R. Ambedkar said of India’s independence: “By independence we have lost the excuse of blaming the British for everything going wrong, we will have nobody to blame but ourselves”. But many Manipuris still ask who this ‘we’ is. Granville Austin wrote of the Indian Constitution, “With the adoption of the Constitution by the members of the Constituent Assembly on 26 November, 1949, India became the largest democracy in the world. By this act of strength and will, Assembly members began what was perhaps the greatest political venture since that originated in Philadelphia in 1787”. But, is the 21st century India’s Manipur the Red Indian inhabited wild, Wild West of the 18th and 19th century America?
Source: The Imphal Free Press
“Long years ago, we made a tryst with destiny” said Jawaharlal Nehru on the eve of India’s independence, and “now the time comes when we shall redeem our pledge”. That was sixty years ago and Manipur was not a part of free India then. Although the Maharajah of Manipur was cornered to sign the Instrument of Accession on August 11, 1947 under which Defence, Communication and External Affairs passed within the exclusive jurisdiction of New Delhi, it was only after the signing of the Manipur Merger Agreement that Manipur became a de-jure territory of the Indian Union. Prior to the signing of this treaty on September 21, 1949 and its consequent coming into force on October 15, 1947 the Manipur State Constitution Act, 1947 (here State implies Nation-state) empowers the Maharajah in Council to administer the state thereby installing a “constitutional monarchy” on the British model. The democratic constitution was scrapped with Manipur’s merger into India. The post-merger history of India is full of twists and turns, resulting from the imposition of the Indian way of democracy in north-east India and Manipur is, now, bleeding. Perhaps, Nehru’s ‘we’ might not have included the Manipuris and ‘our’ pledge has not been redeemed so far for the last sixty years.
The hoopla surrounding Manipur’s integration into India soon resulted into a mushrooming of anti-India groups. It also brought forth politics of bad faith and internecine warfare into this land which has a history of its own spanning twenty centuries. Soon after the negation of its constitutional status from a sovereign nation-state into a Part ‘C’ state of India, Manipur had to permanently cede the Kabaw Valley to Burma due to Nehru’s strategic logic of strengthening India’s position in the Andaman and Nicobar islands. When India became a republic on January 26, 1950, with the enactment of the Constitution of India, Manipur was downgraded to a Part ‘C’ state. Subsequently, the Part ‘C’ states (Laws) were replaced by the Union Territories Act in 1956 and Manipur became a Union Territory much against the popular wish. Peasant mobilizations which were a feature of pre-merger Manipur turn into sporadic acts of violence and took the form of armed insurgency in post-merger Manipur. The birth of armed insurgent groups in Manipur was thus a direct product of New Delhi’s policy of alienating Manipur from the political centrestage of independent India. A policy of ‘divide and rule’ seemed more beneficial to the interests of the Indian political elites at the centre. As early as 1955, Z.A. Phizo of the Naga National Council had begun to wage a guerrilla war against India and guns were fired to make the deaf hear. Nehru, in order to appease the Nagas had carved out a state of Nagaland in 1962 by taking out the Naga Hills-Tuensang area out of the state of Assam but he still failed to quell the Nagas. But, in the case of Manipur, statehood remained a pipedream and it was rejected on the grounds that it was not economically viable. It thus added another psychological divide between the hill people and the valley people of north-east India. It was only nine years later that Manipur was lifted up from the status of a Union Territory into a full fledged state of the Indian union by the North-Eastern Areas (Reorganisation) Act, 1971.
The writings of British administrators and scholars show that Manipur was one of the most advanced and cultured civilizations among the peoples of the north-east India. But the denial of statehood to Manipur by the political elites of post-independent India for nine years after the statehood of Nagaland was considered an insult to the Manipuris and this naturally angered the newly educated elites of Manipur. The full blown insurgency that erupted in the valley of Manipur was partly a result of the misplaced faith that the Manipuris had on the neo-Gandhians of independent India. This is also one of the factors why Manipur has failed to produce stable governments in its post-merger political history. The political unrest and the conflict situation that resulted out of India’s incoherent policies of accommodation in north-east India created a fear psychosis among the Manipuri masses. The imposition of draconian laws like the Armed Forces Special Powers Act, 1958 led to the killing of many innocent people rather than ending insurgency. The irony of the imposition of this Act lies in the very fact that, today, there are more armed miscreants roaming freely in the streets and shooting people than it was before the imposition of this Act and this clearly shows that AFSPA has failed to counter insurgency.
Although the misuse of this Act by the security forces has been widely highlighted by many Human Rights groups, NGOs and the media, lack of a strong political will still keeps the Act in force and hence many atrocities continue under its mask. It has even created a situation where people develop a schizophrenic thinking about its repeal or its continuation. This was clearly evident in the last Assembly elections when not many people voted on the merits and demerits of the AFSPA even though they had protested against the Act in large numbers on many occasions. On the eve of the elections, not many people listened to the appeals of Sharmila, the prisoner of conscience fighting against the AFSPA, although she is now a national icon of the Manipuri people revered and respected by all. This is symptomatic of the festering wound in the political culture in Manipur. Today, many armed groups are alleged to be siding with the politicians and the nexus between them is creating a terrible situation whereby security forces have a chance to wreak havoc the innocent people. There is no peace; there is no security and there is no freedom from fear.
On Independence Day, 2007 the streets of Imphal were lined with armoured cars and security forces in uniform were frisking young people of motorbikes and cars. On Independence Day, young people were made to raise both their hands and stand in queues waiting for their turns to be frisked upon and most of them had an angry frown on their faces. I cannot guess what they might be thinking in their hearts as they were detained by the men in olive uniforms while they were standing for hours facing the blistering sun of a hot summer day to prove their innocence.
On 15 August, 2007, independent India is sixty years old and so is dependent Manipur. India boasts of a vibrant democracy, strong secularlism, strong economy and inclusive development while going “Sixty and Fullsteam”. I cannot but remember what B.R. Ambedkar said of India’s independence: “By independence we have lost the excuse of blaming the British for everything going wrong, we will have nobody to blame but ourselves”. But many Manipuris still ask who this ‘we’ is. Granville Austin wrote of the Indian Constitution, “With the adoption of the Constitution by the members of the Constituent Assembly on 26 November, 1949, India became the largest democracy in the world. By this act of strength and will, Assembly members began what was perhaps the greatest political venture since that originated in Philadelphia in 1787”. But, is the 21st century India’s Manipur the Red Indian inhabited wild, Wild West of the 18th and 19th century America?
Source: The Imphal Free Press
