Arambam Somorendra is the symbol of an alternative idea in Manipur. Two streams of idea emerged when the British left Manipur in 1947. One streams of thought was that Manipur would be bright under the Indian Republic: a democratic country opposite to monarchical, oppressive and repressive rules of the then nexus of colonialism and feudalism. At that time in the entire South Asia, the liberal democracy was the political fashion; this was considered by the antidote to the evils under the feudal society. Feudalism was the chain that kept all the men chained though all were born free. Indian freedom movement was also around the idea of liberal democracy in ‘free India’. The dominant Indian political thought of that time was brought back by the Manipuri students who came back from Indian cities and towns; these students also witnessed the massive freedom movements in India.
Another stream of idea was expressed in the social and political actions defying the feudal and colonial authorities. The seed of such agitating idea was sown when the heroes of 1891 War feel. Their bloods and bodies became part of the soil of the country with which a brighter, greater and stronger Manipur would grow up. History does not create itself, history is created by the peoples who like to change the existing social and political system. Creation itself is a struggle: fight and fight back; no surrender. The idea was cultivated and re-located by Arambam Somorendra in the post-merger Manipur. A brighter Manipur is not guaranteed in Indian frame; it is within the political idea and appropriate actions of the people of Manipur.
There was struggle between the two streams of idea; the war of ideas over the last 7 decades in the minds of Manipuri people. India always tries to define and re-define the struggle between ‘us’ and ‘they’. The fast changing of the definition of us in last two decades in Manipur tells how the identity of us and characteristics of they are reshaped. The identity boundary of ‘us’ is shrinking day by day in all geographical areas of Manipur. This is not a natural process but a deliberate attempt arisen out of the unresolved conflict between the two streams of idea and thought.
When Arambam Somorendra was killed on 10 June 2000, the people of Manipur never thought he was dead. They redefined his relevancy in the history of Manipur and the idea he symbolized was renewed in the collective mind. Today, amidst the fraternal fights, the idea of Manipur becomes confused because of the characteristic features of people’s enemy. When Khunthak or Khunkha are becoming the defining identity base of Manipuri’s political action, Arambam Somorendra lost his own war for brighter, greater and stronger Manipur.
Arambam Somorendra was not a cultural activist, nor a reformist. He was a revolutionary. His idea of Manipur is not derived from feudal system rather was shaped by the idea of future Manipur. He was fighting to unchain all the people of Manipur. He was fighting to liberate the collective mind imprisoned in the bondage of ethnicity, feudal identity, and colonial morality. He was fighting all his life for the future Manipur, based on equality and ‘democracy at all levels”; of course, not the liberal democratic system. The struggle was taken by him as Yenningthagi Eeshei and fallen heroes are taken as the soil of the history out of which a brighter, greater and stronger Manipur would be born.
