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Front Page >> Letters to the Editor  > Story

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Reconciliation Of Knowledge Accounts With Seema Guha

Sir,

Apropos to the article ‘Naga Leaders Raise Union Cry – agenda set for the next round’ by Seema Guha in the esteemed Daily, ‘The Telegraph’ dated Guwahati. 11 January 2003, it reminds me many previous instances of fallacies in reporting/comments on Manipur by the mainstream journalists. When such things happen from the nimble hands of well decorated journalists who are supposed to be more knowledgeable person than the commoners, we feel very unfortunate, painful and heart burning, more so when the same episode happens at the hands of Seema Guha, a journalist of repute from Delhi. Permit me to open a page of knowledge accounts of Manipur with reference to Mr. Muivah’s knowledge inputs on ‘unique culture’ of the Nagas, for that matter, the Tangkhuls in Manipur as a background.

If the statement of Mr. Muivah, ‘The Nagas has never been the part of Indian mainstream and had a distinct identity of their own’ were the contents/definition of ‘unique history and culture ‘of the Nagas, what would be that uniqueness of culture, the Tangkhuls (the tribe to which Mr. Muivah belongs) are having a history of intermarriage with the Meiteis while their lineage has been maintained as one of the seven clans of the latter? The appearance of a Tangkhul warrior is an indispensable part of ‘LAI HARAOBA’ the traditional form of ritual prayer by the Meiteis to the Ancestor Deities. The version of Mr. Muivah who is comparatively ‘very young’ in respect of the long history of Manipur consisting of the Tangkhuls, Kukis, Kabuis , Marings, Chothes, Purums, Thangals, Anals, Kharams etc. is not dependable. Such tricks are sometimes used in politics to take a mileage in one’s endeavor to enhance his image of being a ‘leader’. We all know from that Mr. Khaplang, leader of NSCN (K) never agrees that Mr. Muivah is a real Naga and Naga leader.

When Mr. Muivah says “I live in Ukhrul, I was born there, my forefathers were born and live there. This land belongs to us. We are not living in the land of Meiteis”, it implies that he lives in Manipur state, as Ukhrul, where he lived in, is one of the Districts of Manipur, a state where more than 30 tribes including Tangkhul live. Not only that, Manipur is a cosmopolitan state where the Nepalese, the Assamese, Bengalis, Marwaris, Punjabis, Biharis, Tamils, Malayalis etc.live. Meiteis never claim that Manipur is a place of Meiteis only. His version has brought Muivah down to a narrow strip of sentiment, indicative of an anti-Meitei, a communal leader, and not for the sole cause of Naga Independence, as he claims.

Seema Guha, as a journalist could have better maintained the ethical restraint while reporting such controversial issues of what have been said by Muivah and Isak Chisi Swu in this episode of a peace talk. Seema crosses the limit when she starts commenting like, “Two years ago, feeling ran high in Manipur and the Meiteis burnt and looted the properties of Nagas living in the valley.” I, as a senior Manipuri citizen, having traveled throughout the hills and plain, the east & the west; the north & the south, for almost a period of 15 years, know for sure, Meiteis never raise a finger against any tribe, let alone the burning, looting and all that. People to people there is no such bad feeling. Two years ago, there has been a burning inferno of the Government Quarters, Bungalows, Assembly Hall, etc. when the government fails to follow the political mandate. Those were so neatly burnt, it is to be appreciated, that not a single bush belonging to any tribe burned. Yes, there had been an ethnic cleansing process in the form of communal riot between the Manipuri Nagas and Manipuri Kukis, the two main tribes of Manipur by burning houses, killing and all that . It was the Meiteis who worked their level best to redress the feeling of jealousy, fear and, for that matter, the sibling competition between the two big brothers, and a peaceful settlement was brought in.

Moreover, Seema Guha may please remember that Manipur is a princely state-turned-Indian state with the assembly of 60 MLAs with equitable representations from all ethnic groups. Ours being government of the peoples representatives, is so secular and democratic that there has been a peaceful regime of a Muslim Minister as the Chief Minister; there has been long span of a Tangkhul minister as a Chief Minister continuously for seven years. Yes, two years ago, taking the advantage of that political turmoil culminating to the burning of assembly hall and all that, some pseudo-leaders did perform successfully a drama of ethnic crisis by mocking up refugee camp somewhere in a hill area by creating false panic rumors with a wide propaganda machinery that those were the refugee, helpless people, driven out by the Meiteis from the valley by burning their houses and killing many of them by the Meiteis. I’ll tell you, which were the biggest bluff; neither a single drop of blood shed nor a single bush burnt at the communal level.

I would now raise a question as to what on earth was there any government report of burning, and arson of any Naga habitation either in the valley or in the hills done by the Meiteis. Moreover, it should be always remembered that Manipur State is a representative discipline. If anybody interfere this state-craft by a wrong report and comment it is a crime against the state and a sin against God. It is very sad that even the journalists who are supposed to be more knowledgeable persons do little effort to understand Manipur properly. Recently, some journalists from the mainstream Polluted a moment, that would have been a good National Moment if, otherwise, the wrong and malicious reports and comments were not there at the time of lifting the auspicious “Santosh Trophy” 2002 by Manipur. How bad a moment has been created by Seema Guha again by shuttering down in Manipur a very respectable and popular “Daily” like, “The Telegraph” to such a lowly standard of regretting a grievous mistake which is avoidable with a little knowledge of the ground truth?

Of course, Guha cannot be blamed totally. In my experience as an old audience, it appears that the editors may require paying a little more participation in the whole scenario of mainstream journalism while writing about far off places like Manipur. Moreover, people in Manipur are worried lest our breakfast news are not free from consumerism where the stuff is not only value-added but also contaminated with commercialization, which is very often ultra-virus to the receiving end here in Manipur.

Yours faithfully,

(A. Ibotombi Singh)
Retd. Joint Director CADA Manipur

 

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