Amazing Manipur
by Bimol Akoijam on Monday, 21 March 2011 at 21:21
via Facebook
Part One
If fear is the justification for silence, abandonment of responsibility and a verbal gymnastics that renders ‘inaction’ as a form of ‘action’, that society is bound to be morally bankrupt insofar as the basis of morality is what, as J F Kennedy famously said, ‘a man (or woman) does what he (or she) must — in spite of personal consequences, in spite of obstacle and dangers, and pressures’…
And things can get only worse in such society if it is informed by ignorance and twisted ideas such as some buildings such as Capitol Projects that shall house Assembly and High Courts amidst residential area and a flyover in a historically significant site in the heart of a capital ‘city’ which grows like a slum as signs of ‘development’ !!!!
That such structures are celebrated or touted as signs of 'development' is indeed amazing in a state with a staggering unemployment, collapsing, if not collapsed, education system, deplorable health care, non-existent/dilapidated roads and above all a decade long supply of 4/5 hrs of electricity in a day with almost non-existent supply of safe drinking water!!!!
If many economists such as Nobel Laureate Amartya Sen have insisted that basic education and health are fundamental to economic development, and electricity is at the base of industry (small/medium/large) and road connectivity are crucial ingredients of ‘development’, they can go to hell for, ask Manipuris, most will probably tell them that what they say is ‘theories’ and they don’t know the ‘ground reality’!!!!
Knowledge of ‘ground reality’ of the ‘practical’ souls will produce a history professor who keeps on doing research on ‘history’ while saying ‘forget history’ just as some would demand a World Heritage status for the Kangla Fort while happily celebrate, irrespective of the imperatives of conservation and restriction on new structures under UNESCO, the new structures that have come up on or adjacent to the site!!!!
Kangleipakna Yaiphaare!!!!
Part Two
on Tuesday, 22 March 2011 at 13:12
As one lady refusing to eat or drink for years on, while another young man, a student leader, taking his own life by self-immolation, their mothers and sisters coming out and going naked in public, and children in school uniform, old men in feijom and women in pungoufanek and traditional attires forming “human chain” in protest against the killing of Monorama and AFSPA… it was 2004 and Manipur did look like a place under siege…even the usually nonchalant New Delhi responded by appointing the Reddy Committee…
And a few months after that came the elections and a party which did not even mention AFSPA in its election manifesto was voted back to power with an unprecedented and overwhelming mandate in the state…so much for the offended sensibility and political consciousness of the people of Sanaleipak who boast of their “2000 years old civilization” and world renowned culture and sporting achievements!!!!
It’s 2011…recently in a seminar held at Manipur University, a field commander (a two star general) admitted publicly that army’s involvement in Manipur is not their job and that such involvement is detrimental to the ethos of the military profession…none of the media picked up this amazing admission…in fact, true to their political consciousness perhaps, one major newspaper reported the event with a big headline…army cannot operate without AFSPA!!!!
To think of it another army general said in a press meet in Imphal not so long ago… ‘for whatever else insurgency has become, the very fact that it exist(s) is the indication that there was something wrong…(that gave) the reason for insurgency to sprout in the first place. This original problem needs to also be addressed with (sic.)
But perhaps such knowledge and understanding belongs to the ‘mayangs’…that too, army officers…not Manipuris in general...had such understanding been with the Manipuris in general, Manipur would have been a different place...no time for being 'idealistic'...most Manipuris know their situaion and their moralioty cannot be suspected...for they know about their simmering anger against the Naharols for their intimidation and extortions while simultaneously admiring and envious (they do often talk with an envious tone about) of their leaders/politicians who have become rich, their ‘wealth’ or rather crores of ‘money’ (did economists say these two are different…never mind…that’s ‘theories’) as they swindle public exchequer!!!!
So much for the political consciousness and the ‘knowledge’ of the ‘ground reality’ of those who can live with flyover, capitol projects and market-sheds as their ‘development’ with 4/5 hrs of electricity in a day and non-existent safe drinking water for decade…
Kangleipakna Yaiphaare!
via Facebook
Part One
If fear is the justification for silence, abandonment of responsibility and a verbal gymnastics that renders ‘inaction’ as a form of ‘action’, that society is bound to be morally bankrupt insofar as the basis of morality is what, as J F Kennedy famously said, ‘a man (or woman) does what he (or she) must — in spite of personal consequences, in spite of obstacle and dangers, and pressures’…
And things can get only worse in such society if it is informed by ignorance and twisted ideas such as some buildings such as Capitol Projects that shall house Assembly and High Courts amidst residential area and a flyover in a historically significant site in the heart of a capital ‘city’ which grows like a slum as signs of ‘development’ !!!!
That such structures are celebrated or touted as signs of 'development' is indeed amazing in a state with a staggering unemployment, collapsing, if not collapsed, education system, deplorable health care, non-existent/dilapidated roads and above all a decade long supply of 4/5 hrs of electricity in a day with almost non-existent supply of safe drinking water!!!!
If many economists such as Nobel Laureate Amartya Sen have insisted that basic education and health are fundamental to economic development, and electricity is at the base of industry (small/medium/large) and road connectivity are crucial ingredients of ‘development’, they can go to hell for, ask Manipuris, most will probably tell them that what they say is ‘theories’ and they don’t know the ‘ground reality’!!!!
Knowledge of ‘ground reality’ of the ‘practical’ souls will produce a history professor who keeps on doing research on ‘history’ while saying ‘forget history’ just as some would demand a World Heritage status for the Kangla Fort while happily celebrate, irrespective of the imperatives of conservation and restriction on new structures under UNESCO, the new structures that have come up on or adjacent to the site!!!!
Kangleipakna Yaiphaare!!!!
Part Two
on Tuesday, 22 March 2011 at 13:12
As one lady refusing to eat or drink for years on, while another young man, a student leader, taking his own life by self-immolation, their mothers and sisters coming out and going naked in public, and children in school uniform, old men in feijom and women in pungoufanek and traditional attires forming “human chain” in protest against the killing of Monorama and AFSPA… it was 2004 and Manipur did look like a place under siege…even the usually nonchalant New Delhi responded by appointing the Reddy Committee…
And a few months after that came the elections and a party which did not even mention AFSPA in its election manifesto was voted back to power with an unprecedented and overwhelming mandate in the state…so much for the offended sensibility and political consciousness of the people of Sanaleipak who boast of their “2000 years old civilization” and world renowned culture and sporting achievements!!!!
It’s 2011…recently in a seminar held at Manipur University, a field commander (a two star general) admitted publicly that army’s involvement in Manipur is not their job and that such involvement is detrimental to the ethos of the military profession…none of the media picked up this amazing admission…in fact, true to their political consciousness perhaps, one major newspaper reported the event with a big headline…army cannot operate without AFSPA!!!!
To think of it another army general said in a press meet in Imphal not so long ago… ‘for whatever else insurgency has become, the very fact that it exist(s) is the indication that there was something wrong…(that gave) the reason for insurgency to sprout in the first place. This original problem needs to also be addressed with (sic.)
But perhaps such knowledge and understanding belongs to the ‘mayangs’…that too, army officers…not Manipuris in general...had such understanding been with the Manipuris in general, Manipur would have been a different place...no time for being 'idealistic'...most Manipuris know their situaion and their moralioty cannot be suspected...for they know about their simmering anger against the Naharols for their intimidation and extortions while simultaneously admiring and envious (they do often talk with an envious tone about) of their leaders/politicians who have become rich, their ‘wealth’ or rather crores of ‘money’ (did economists say these two are different…never mind…that’s ‘theories’) as they swindle public exchequer!!!!
So much for the political consciousness and the ‘knowledge’ of the ‘ground reality’ of those who can live with flyover, capitol projects and market-sheds as their ‘development’ with 4/5 hrs of electricity in a day and non-existent safe drinking water for decade…
Kangleipakna Yaiphaare!