Ethnic strife threat looms large on North-East

Neither the NDA constituents nor the tentative I.N.D.I.A. groupings are making any attempt to understand the complexity called the North East India. Each is stuck in his space with his view and refuses to step out of his comfort zones. While the BJP is happy with placating the Meiteis, the other raises only the interests of the Kukis. The reason is

obvious. The two alliances do not talk of Manipur - mind you, they are not - as they don’t understand the significance of the tiny North East State.

Perhaps, the BJP feels that the Meiteis who are in majority in the Manipur valley have been wronged under the erstwhile Congress rule and, hence, seeks to balance the history by maintaining silence on the situation. The I.N.D.I.A. is all about Kuki’s interests and its leaders meet Kuki and Naga populations of Manipur and devise their strategies. This is the hard fact that we don’t seek to mention. But, even as the two play their specially designed ‘PUBG’ games’ on the national screen sitting in the Parliament battling it out to become the lone survivor, the real time Manipur is being reduced to ashes.

In fact, the so-called ethnic clash is spreading its tentacles to the neighbouring States and is drawing other players too into the game. The warnings issued to Meiteis of Mizoram by the Hmars’ is one such. While the Chief Minister of Manipur has warned his counterpart of Mizoram not to poke his nose in his State’s affairs, All Assam Manipuri Students’ Union’s Central Committee has asked the Mizos living in the Barak Valley of Manipur to migrate back to Mizoram vacating their places.

The Students’ Union has always stood by its own clan. But why did they do so? In fact, the Meiteis have been forced to move out of Mizoram by the surrendered militant group PAMRA (Peace Accord MNP Returnees Association). Unfortunately, in this volatile and grievous situation, even our media is playing a dirty role as usual. The anti-BJP anti-Meitei media that is the most vocal in its discourses against the present dispensation at the Centre has conveniently ignored the Mizo warning issued to Meities in Mizoram much before the Kuki-Meitei unrest in Manipur on April 30 this year. Why did this happen? Is there something more to the unrest in Manipur? Or is it only because of the religious affinity with Kukis, that the majority section of the Mizos took the anti-Meitei stand?

Will the collective be called I.N.D.I.A. explain why it faces the charge that it is not only the religious affinity but also the narco angle that provokes it to support the hill tribes? It is a fact that there is a deadly combo of tribes-arms-narcotics that operates in the region. It is a part of the golden triangle as far as the narcotics trade is concerned. Many heroin laboratories are situated near the Indo-Burmese border, making Northeast India an important part of the heroin trafficking route.

Due to its closeness to the Golden Triangle area, the northeastern states of India have suffered greatly from the effects of the drug trade. A porous and poorly defended border creates a fertile environment for drug traffickers, exacerbating the issue. Hill tribes in these States have always vehemently been opposing curbs on Opium trade or poppy cultivation. Let the BJP answer the Opposition charges. But, the latter needs to tell the nation why it continues to be sympathetic towards the dangerous narco-terrorism.