It sometimes takes just one image to move a nation. And it takes an outraged nation to move its government to take decisive action.
A 77-day-old video of two Kuki women being paraded naked and molested to avenge the rumoured rape of a Meitei woman has finally shaken India out of its torpor towards Manipur’s ongoing ethnic conflict. Millions of Indians who cannot locate Manipur on the map are now waking up to the unceasing bloodshed and asking for accountability and action from the government.
This ‘Napalm girl of the Vietnam War’ moment in the conflict could prove to be pivotal. Visuals can be a much stronger trigger for emotions than text.
The potential political cost of having millions of Indians outraged over the video may lead the government to act more decisively and fast. It might even make the courts shed the usual judicial ennui and address the legal aspect of the case.
It is not that the Narendra Modi government has neglected the crisis. The Union home ministry has sent a sea of central armed police forces to Manipur alongside the CRPF, RAF and BSF. So far, 147 columns of the Army and the Assam Rifles have been reportedly deployed. This could be one of the biggest deployments of the Indian Army and Assam Rifles to help civil authorities.
More than 9,000 people have been shifted to safe places. A peace committee comprising Meitei and Kuki representatives has been set up.
But it is time to follow up these measures with more decisive action. The central and state forces must get a free hand to deal with miscreants. Shoot-at-sight orders need to be widened.
Those leading the violence and militancy from both communities need to be eliminated. Many of them, especially in the Kuki-dominated hills, also run a thriving narcotics empire. A war needs to be waged by the State to wipe off the drugs mafia of Manipur. Drug funding for violence will stutter.
Along with drugs, the region is getting a steady supply of mercenary men and sophisticated weapons from outside, suggest reports. That supply chain needs to be attacked and destroyed.
The government may also consider instructing social media platforms to stop the circulation of inflammatory videos and fake news. The current video of the two women being paraded naked was accompanied by claims that they were later gang-raped. But old reports of the same incident quote the women denying that they were raped. If true, then who are trying to amplify the barbarism and what is their agenda?
The government must form more peace committees drawing from all stakeholder communities and bring well-intentioned community leaders to the table.
And finally, it is time to address the core issue which started the conflict. The Meitei, original residents of Manipur who have been living in the state for over 2,000 years, must be given Scheduled Tribe status which they demand. In spite of being 53 per cent of the population at last count, they can buy only 6 per cent of the land in Manipur. This is a problem created by the Congress which kept giving tribal reservations to the Christian-majority hill communities but neglected the Meitei people of the plains.
Manipur is the seat of Gaudiya Vaishnavism and the home of warrior princess Chitrangada of Mahabharat who married Arjun. It is a crucial part of Bharat’s civilisational culture and its sacred geography. Its wounds cannot be allowed to fester.
Abhijit Majumder is a senior journalist. Views expressed in the above piece are personal and solely that of the author. They do not necessarily reflect News18’s views.
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