We look to the government, the government looks away

Scholars of international politics tell us that a country cannot aspire to the status of a great power unless it is at peace with itself, and with its neighbours. Ironically, the public relations department of the Narendra Modi government has allotted to the prime minister the status of a Vishwaguru despite ongoing violence in Manipur, and substantiated this claim by the carnivalesque ordering of the G20 meeting in October 2023.

Right-thinking Indians were shocked at the extravagance of the global meet when one of India’s crucial border states Manipur had been, since May 3, 2023, rocked by violence, arson, rapes, and killings. An elected government is responsible for the well-being of its people, it should have stepped in, and restored some order to the beleaguered state.

Violence is not new to Manipur. This is a sensitive state. Militant groups till today are at war with the Union government because of the arbitrary manner in which the princely state had been coerced into joining the Indian federation. In the hills, 29 militant groups have been organised by various tribes. This is a state that should be given priority by the Union government. It was not, and hundreds of people have died, and thousands rendered homeless. Research has proved time and again that when the State does not want, riots do not happen. The State has defaulted. Riots happened.

Modi has not bothered to visit the state, and no sustained effort has been made to speak to the people and bring about reconciliation between them. More than a year has passed. Simmering resentment exploded in a bout of renewed violence earlier this month. But the prime minister was busy visiting Ukraine. He looked ready to weep when, with an arm around Volodymyr Zelenskyy, President of Ukraine, he bore witness to the destruction wrought by the war. There is no reason why we should not weep for unnecessary deaths in other parts of the world. Shared sympathy with distant others is the hallmark of humanity. But no tears for our own who die in pointless violence?

Modi, it seems, visited Ukraine to obliterate the terrible optics of a photograph in which he was hugging Russian President Vladimir Putin on the very day Russia had bombed a children’s hospital in Kyiv, on July 9.

The Congress, the main opposition party, sharply alleged that Modi gave priority to international conflicts over the crisis in Manipur, and once again asked for the dismissal of Chief Minister Biren Singh, and for urgent action to bring peace to the strife-torn valley of Manipur. But Modi seems more determined to position India as a leading global power and help resolve international conflicts. The commitment to bring about peace in Europe is in dramatic contrast to the failure of the Modi government to resolve recurring bouts of conflict that have been destroying Manipur for over a year. Must India’s geopolitical ambitions and the ultimate aim to secure a seat at the high table of the United Nations Security Council be at the cost of preventing internal strife and multiple tragedies?

The desire to show sympathy with Ukraine, deepen India’s strategic partnership with Russia because India is dependent upon Russia for oil and strategic weapons, and the intent to develop a special relationship with the United States that will act as a bulwark against the ambitions of an expansionist China, is understandable. But the failure to put a stop to the violence in the Valley is not so understandable.

When in July the Lok Sabha was shaken by slogans of ‘justice to Manipur’ and accusations that the prime minister had ‘turned his back’ upon Manipur, on the next day, on July 3, Modi stated in the Rajya Sabha that the Opposition was politicising the issue, and that the government is committed to bringing normalcy to the state. ‘Manipur will reject you’ he told the Opposition. This is a statement that is neither here nor there.

Responding to the prime minister’s statement during his visit to Russia in July, the Delhi Meitei Coordinating Committee in a statement on July 11 asked why his heart only bleeds for lives lost in international conflicts, and not for those killed in the conflict in the Valley. The government is guilty of neglect; it has failed to uphold its responsibility to protect the life of every Indian. Manipur has been marginalised and ignored, and only seen as a security concern.

It is a sad comment on what our society and State have become, insensitive to the pain of our own. Perhaps this follows naturally from the way in which civil society, which is the conscience of the people, has been hamstrung. Today, we have no one with the moral authority to say: ‘stop this violence…throw your weapons into the sea’ like Nelson Mandela did when he was released from prison and confronted a violence-prone South Africa.

We no longer hope that another Gandhi will appear before the people and tell them to stop the killings as he did in Noakhali. We have become a society whose moral backbone has been broken, ruled as we are by cynical politicians who seek to reap electoral dividends out of conflict. We are a people who look to the government to resolve problems. The government looks away towards the high table of international politics. And we are left with torn bodies.

(Neera Chandhoke is former professor of political science, Delhi University. X: @ChandhokeNeera.)

Disclaimer: The views expressed above are the author's own. They do not necessarily reflect the views of DH.