The Bane Of Bandhs & Blockades In Manipur
By Donn Morgan Kipgen
A decade or so ago, general strike, state-wide bandhs, economic blockades, JACs inquiry commissions, etc were few and far between; thereby many cases of injustice went unnoticed. But nowadays, there have been far too many and too much of them, for justifiable causes, which become more of a liability to the general public in many cases. Yes, indeed, all the calls for recognition of grievous injustice and public anger are acceptable and their point or demands genuine. With the rapid progress of literacy rate and communication system, atrocities committed by law enforcement agencies, misgovernance, under-hand corrupted activities, misdeeds of UG militants, etc have reached far and wide and joint condemnations becoming swifter. Though media persons are sometimes mishandled unnecessarily, it is only through general media that most of the institutions or organizations spread their gospel of agitations, bandhs, etc very swiftly on all corners of the State. Hence, bandhs, economic blockades and JACs become more and more popular in Manipur. So much so popular that many right thinking citizens have started questioning the over-use of them and failed to appreciate the credibility of such repeated forms of public agitations and dharnas. Violent means of protests over violent official activities often undermine the very purpose of the agitations. Nowadays the sign of grievances are more anti-public in nature, some physical vocal and some resorted to vandalism taking undue advantages for their own interest. Like the infamous Churi Chaura incident, many violent unrelated criminal activities by hoodlums and irresponsible person completely compromised the very lawfully genuine agitations or mass-protests which openly undermined the credibility of the said issues. There are no acceptable excuses for such highly or extremely undesirable 'by-products' of any genuine mass-agitations, which of course have been ignored, disowned and vaguely justified by some bandh or blockades leaders. At least, the Mahatma Gandhi boldly and responsibly called off the Civil Disobedience Movement (CDM) since the bloody attack on Chur Chaura police station was carried out independently by CDM supporters. That's the highest example of accountability and responsibility openly displayed by true public leader. However, this is not meant to accuse socio-political leaders of Manipur of being irresponsible or incompetent. It's rather a matter of important fact that many bandhs or blockades went beyond the acceptable norm of public protests. Ironically, it is usually general public who bore the brunt of incessant and volatile rampaging agitations. High ranking Government officials, wealthy citizens and political leaders hardly notice the prolonged effects of such impasses or agitations. Whatever was destroyed, damaged or ransacked belonged to the common ordinary citizens. Judging by the weary views of the common people, bandhs or strikes have more often than not become a general punishment for the people by the people and of the people's interest. The State of Kerala might have banned bandhs but public protest or agitation for right cause is the symbol of freedom of expression and liberty of thought. Here is present day Manipur, without any economic power house and self-sustaining natural resources, the repeated doses of general strike and bandhs promptly called by the so-called JACs have become more of a menace than public interest. Indeed, such actions have been boldly taken as a part of protest on the ground of universal human rights. It is also an acceptable reciprocal move against armed forces atrocities and pathetic inactivity of the State Government in all plundering departments. Tragedy is an abstract pain and indescribable sorrow. Both the near and dear ones of UG militants, SF personnel and innocent victims of CI OPs are bound to have their own painful words. As for non-tragic politicized issues, there ought to be a limit when it comes to nerve wrecking agitations. More-over, freedom of speech, expression and liberty should not be over-exploited just for the sake of it. Too many cooks spoil a brood, or so they say. At present, the real value, weightage and significance of any bandh or strike have lost their way; and the impact of bandh has gone down by the weeks. Many right thinking citizens considered indefinite bandh as an action for a lost cause, viewed economic blockade as an 'economic-crime', and formation of daily JAC against the State as a grieving local dharna. Since too many bloody incidents overlapped one after another, even the media-hounds failed to catch-up, capture and cover them systematically. Pompous claims and counter-claims are the only luxury offered to media fraternity. Under the present circumstances, it would be highly advisable to submit a memorandum and filed a case fittingly in the court of law, as done in the recent surrendering fiasco. All armed forces units and State police officials know that a majority of Manipur citizens have a rather short memory and susceptible to grandiose promises. The Chief Minister's waste-paper basket must be quite heavy and his letter heads dwindling by the minutes. The Chief Minister is instrumental in calling in the 44th Mtn Brigade since he had specially asked for four army battalions for CI OPs in the valley and he had also called in two brigades of central paramilitary forces so as to avert President's Rule. So, all the so-called 'crimes' by central armed forces should be the direct responsibility of the State Government and direct action must have to be initiated by the Home Minister i.e., the CM, thro-ugh the Chief Secretary and Principal Secretary (Home), with the assistance of Special Secretary (Home) and the State police Headquarters. At present, we have seen or read about controversial killings and contradictory claims during the course of CI OPs day in and day out which resulted in the formation of JACs and therefore repeated call for bandhs. Perhaps many bandhs and blockades could have been avoided if the State Government knows its own responsibility and sincerely initiate prompt inquiries rather than having many parts of the State paralyzed and burning on weekly basis. God knows how much the growth of our frail economy has been harmed or sabotaged by the endless general strikes, one could guess - hazard the daily loss of a statewide bandh at around Rs 2 to 5 crores. The cost of losses and private properties would be no less than Rs 5 to 10 lakhs a day which, of course, would depend upon the nature or intensity of the agitations. With the state law enforcement agencies dragging their lazy foot and the indifferent attitude of the State Government, a charged-up street protest always resulted in mob violence and subsequently bloody confrontation when it becomes, as the police authority would have it, 'out of control'. This often ended with the loss of precious lives and limbs; and this is turn led to a more organized violent agitations. With due respect to the victims, such kind of agitation has been crippling the state police administration and has arrested the socio-economic development, more so when economic blockades are called. The JACs and local organizations have to look into the merits and demerits of their proposed actions. Otherwise, the very purpose of their action will become redundant or would lack sympathy. The kindergarten question: 'How many days are there in a week?' Could now be rephrased, 'How many bandhs are there in a week in Manipur?' The answer should be based on the average of bandhs or general strike called in a year divided by 48/50 weeks. Could the answer be 2.5 to 3 bandh in a week? It should be sent to the office of the Guinness Book of World Record, it surely must be uncontested and unsurpassable by nation-state on earth. Bandhs and blockades have lost their moral values and their impacts hardly noticeable. On the other hand, both the State and Central armed forces authorities know very well that if they commit a bloody or accidental crime against humanity in Manipur, there would be a loud protest with a couple of days bandhs, a week of mourning and bold headlines, then promises with ex-gratia payments and inquiry commission in a more high profile case, but thereafter everything will be forgotten, and a new case will come up and so on and on. That's how they would surely view the ever increasing bandhs and blockades. However, this is not to say that bandhs, blockades etc. should be avoided or discouraged, it means that they should be called, led and organized properly so as to have an enormous impact. Only then, the aggrieved party can call the shots, loud and clear.
(Courtesy: The Sangai Express)