Nagalim/Greater Nagaland, Kukiland, Mizoland, Meetei/Meiteiland. While the rest of the world is coming to the realization that much more can be achieved with greater ease and efficiency with the integration and cooperation of different countries and their particular expertise and resources especially, but not limited to the fields of science and technology and even security and administration, the situation back home presents a diametrically opposite approach to the future. In stark contrast to the intensifying global efforts for disintegration of physical boundaries, the different communities in the state are staking their claim for separate states to be carved or chipped away from the present state of Manipur. While the demand itself is a serious threat to the future of the state as it exists at present in terms of its physical features, a far more treacherous and sinister outcome will be the mutual bitterness and suspicious attitudes of the communities that will eventually develop which will be almost impossible to get rid of. While the grievances and the concerns of the people in these parts of the state against the administration may very well be genuine, there is no denying the fact that the demand for a separate statehood entails a complex and insidious work of a few politically motivated and self-seeking individuals in the garb of righteous leaders and philanthropists. The question everyone in the state, especially those thousands rallying behind the leaders needs to ask, rather ponder over is: will the granting of a separate state be the ultimate solution to all their grievances and woes? Is there any certainty or assurance that there will not be further outcry or agitation for further demarcation or separation by the numerous sub-groups? Has it been established that the elected representatives of the various communities and regions of the state have tried their level best to address these complaints and fell short by way of the state government failing to cooperate or provide the required resources despite their due shares being in the possession of the government? Are the demands for these numerous separate states or administrative units even plausible?
In our quest to attain every right granted us by the constitution and then some, we have turned our back on our responsibilities. What the state is experiencing is the consequence of our own follies- of letting our greed and emotions getting the better of our rationality thereby selecting those representatives who can put the highest price for our universal suffrage. The people sitting over the affairs of the state- who are being scorned and damned for betraying the trust, aspirations and resources of the general public are the very people who have been adjudged the most popular or trusted of the lot, how the trust was won being another question altogether. Putting our emotions before reason will only result in further alienating the different communities- a situation none of us could afford to experience. What is needed at this juncture is an enduring political solution which would ensure that the system is tweaked and primed to cater to the needs and necessities of the public without undue interference or disturbance. The need of the hour is collective resolution and not a separate state.
