PrivateInvestigation
Through the
looking glass
of a pacifist
Violence rules the roost in Manipur – the state government as well as the militant
organisation are responsible for this deplorable condition. The bloodshed continues
unabated and the only thing that remains is the hope for a better tomorrow.
BY KAPIL ARAMBAM
L
ike an individual, every community has its
distinctive traits and ways of life. At a glance,
observers in the state would say violence,
corruption, drugs and cheap lifestyle amongst
other things, provide the platforms where
the farce is set. These are the parasitic elements of any
backward region and are, not surprisingly, rampant in our
neighbourhood. The resulting frustration is manifested
in our daily life, where the elected government is bent on
intimidation while non-state actors are defying them at will.
The general public are sandwiched between the two, and
are disoriented lot between the devil and the deep sea.
A confused identity and a sense of belonging nowhere
are the building blocks of this absurd plot in the valley. But
there are dreams, and plenty of them, which are sustaining
our life and making survival possible. The struggle for
achieving them has become all the more difficult as many
have lost faith in it while others are embroiled in the chaos
and lack of clarity to accomplish the task.
The hope of a peaceful and self-reliant society is all we
have got for posterity. We need to change ourselves, get rid
of the violent and lazy mentality, and make ourselves visible
in the global space.
It has called for becoming conscious of our roots. Asking
ourselves where we belong would puzzle us again. Still
we know we do belong to a root. Belonging is a feeling – not just a
membership. It involves being included or accepted by others in a
group. Hopefully, it is not politics this time around – rather a universal
feeling of love that we have for our birthplace. We belong to humanity,
and we know it. In deed, this consciousness oil the social reality,
however harsh it may be in contemporary times.
But how do we justify the security establishment causing mayhem
in a crowded place? Is there any authority out there? Or are they so
busy fighting the rebels, who are clamouring for freedom from the
jungles? Why do we remain a mute spectator to bloody gunfights in
our backyards? Is it done just by staging those boring sit-in protests?
How do we say we have an elected government? There are several
more questions that we don’t have the answers for – the stupidity, of
course, makes us a hardcore Manipuri.
One of the insurgent groups even criticised that ‘the killer pack of
police commandos the chief minister is raising is beyond counting.’ We
can hardly expect anything from this dimwitted commandos, who were
formerly raised as the Quick Striking Force (QSF) in the late Seventies.
They are blood-thirsty and barks when their masters order. But, at least,
we expect some panacea from the top brass if – yes, if they are aware
they are responsible for the security of the man on the street.
In history, we have seen revolution giving birth to nations whose
power and autonomy have markedly surpassed their own pre-
revolutionary pasts. France became a conquering power, the Russian
rose to an industrial and military superpower. Mexico gained political

strength and the country is least prone to military coup in Latin
America. The culmination of a revolutionary process reunited
and transformed a shattered China. Likewise, decolonising and
neocolonial countries, such as, Cuba and Vietnam have broken
the chains of extreme dependency. We have also seen the lofty
ideals of Liberty, Fraternity and Equality firing imaginations in the
quest of social and national liberation.
It might be superficial to compare these enhanced national
powers to a region like ours. The resistance is completing five
decades and it is worrying, the label of being a failed state is going
to be attached for ever. It is an open secret how these insurgents
are operating with mass extortion, and armed movement has been
devalued shamelessly as a business enterprise. What is to become
of Manipur?
Ted Gurr elaborated in ‘Why Men Rebel’ that political violence
occurs when many people in society become angry. And people
become angry when there occurs a gap between the valued
things and opportunities they feel entitled to and the things and
opportunities they actually get – a condition known as relative
deprivation.
But there are basic counter-arguments, which are convincing
and easily specified. No matter how discontented an aggregate
of people may become, they cannot engage in political action,
including violence, unless they are part of organised groups with
access to resources.
Is it only politics that is affecting the Manipuri landscape and
the North-East as a whole? Not necessarily, as this aspect is also
closely related to a regretful history, a complex geography and an
inefficient economics, so as to say, that is spoiling every generation.
In our homeland, we have so many beautiful places to die for, and
vast natural resources to kill for. However we are caught in a time
kupelderanged@gmail.com
warp, unable to break free from the chains that tie us to our tribal
instincts. We have been exploited... we have been humiliated... we
have been cheated... but this is not just done. A gun is not at all
August 3 2009
enough to bring us salvation – we need thought and discipline and
reason and commitment and planning and what not.
We rise to every dissension and sink to any depth of social-
economical and political tragedy. We are resilient to this experience
would mean but to be preoccupied with a defeatist’s
psychology.
Getting to the basics, the Manipur State Development
Report in 2006 surveyed we have a meagre 6.73% of the
gross geographical area of the state, which is classified
as agricultural land. An inefficient centralised planning,
with an acute infrastructural scarcity and lack of resource
mobilisation, has been cited as the foundation of the
present economic doldrums. No wonder, the successive
governments are resorting to overdrafts to pay the
employees in various departments.
Throw garbage politics into the dust-bin. Because
there are also smart and intelligent people in our lot.
But do we need to glorify this group of wise men? We
are overawed by them and we wish we could be like
them. There is no prize for guessing their identity; we
are talking about our greedy fellow-beings, who deals in
fraud, bribery and sleaze. A couple of years ago, in an
opinion poll conducted by the All India Radio, nearly 90%
of the 750 respondents answered corruption is a bigger
issue than HIV/AIDS though the state has the highest
number of the HIV-infected people in India in terms of
population ratio.
Corruption is unbridled where there are low public-
sector salaries, delayed salary payments, weak
performance evaluation and disciplinary procedures,
extra-budgetary funding mechanisms, and lack of
complaint mechanisms leading to disciplinary action.
It does not take a rocket scientist to identify the
complication. While culpability might be a debatable
issue, what causes corruption to spread its tentacles
in society is not. It can be minimized only if political
leaders are willing to impartially implement effective
anti-corruption strategies and augment the probability of
detecting and punishing corrupt individuals.
But then this crookedness has eaten up the entrails of
our society. It would be wrong to blame the system as it
concerns each one of us.
We are caught in a web of decadence and,
unfortunately, everything is inter-related in the
establishment – we cannot expect any positive upshot
out of this mess. Do you see any probability of solving
the problem of drug menace in the state at this juncture?
Is there slight chance of resolving the crises bogging
down the region in the near future? Not at all – and the
answer is simple as that.
The diagnoses do not mean to doctrinaire the multi-
faceted disorder, like once the mainland politicians and
policy makers had done for the sake of expanding the
region. These are rather the quest for a development
paradigm that is conditional on improving the people’s
subjective well-being in an environment of peace. An
air of pessimism is lingering, and is making us more
frustrated. No redemption song can free our mind. This
pen is all that I have and I doubt, it can write further.
The dream of a peaceful and just society has remained
as elusive as ever. We are a violent society, trying to
seek recourse to violence to address the issues. Still, we
believe a day will come when man will be equal to man
and blood is shed no more. We want to leave behind a
vision that would survive the turmoil. And nothing else.