By – Amar Yumnam
The recent political drama in Manipur relating to the formation of government by the Representatives of the political party ruling in the Union is nothing less than a comedy ridiculing the public. To be a representative of people in a democracy is not becoming a player in a joker’s drama. While claiming the formation of a Ministry, the voice is so loud and put out in the public domain with a taste of surety. But when the funny part of nothing of that type happening, the Representatives of the ruling political party become absolutely silent. It sounds almost like that they do not have any voice in the context of Democratic Federalism which India follows. In fact, the richness and the beauty of the Union of India are founded on the regional characteristics and not on a solitary foundation. The most common phrase we were made to digest and remember while we started going to the schools in the late 1950s and continued the school stage till the end of the 1960s was: Unity in Diversity.
As we continued our studies, it became increasingly clear that the constituents of the Indian Nation had unique historical characteristics of civilization, culture and norms of social sustenance. These characteristics sustained themselves for centuries and without social intentions to cause disturbance to others. This beauty was irrespective of the size of territory and geography. Even small – both in territory and geography – States like Manipur is found to have flourished on a thousand years old civilization and social strengths unique to them. The diversity of the larger India was seen to be prevalent in the small constituents of India as well. This is where the charm and the strength of Indian Federalism lie. But of late signs are emerging for compromising on the Federal features of India. The Centre has started behaving like on the basis of whims and fancy of the Ruling Party.
The first Prime Minister of India understood the significance of English as a dominant language for Learning and Teaching as the level of studies go up. In this, there was no component for suppressing the local languages and make them ultimately subservient to Hindi. But this is now becoming a powerful push to do away with English as well. We must realize here that the consequences of this push could negatively impact upon the Nationalism and the rich interaction of people from across the States besides hurting education itself. This would even make the communication between the States and the Union difficult.
This atmosphere of compromising with the Federal Characteristics and Strengths is now coupled by the attempts to make the Union go ahead on issues without taking the States into consultation. We have Emergency Provisions in the constitution, particularly Articles 355 and 356, to begin with. While the lack of clarity in these provisions is yet to be clarified, we now have the National Intelligence Agency (NIA) and the Enforcement Directorate who can intervene in any State without consulting the State Government at all. Further the Central Armed Security Forces are being increasingly used in States without any consultation with the governments in the States. Above all these there is the Armed Forces Special Powers Act, 1958 which is exclusively applicable only to the Northeast. The global norms tell us that the Emergency laws like the AFSPA are to be used for a year or two at most, but this one would be completing 70 years of application sooner. Still further, when one compares the flavour of the languages and mechanisms of the main Constitution and the AFSPA, the latter is very demeaning of the people and the land of the region.
While thinking over such core issues of social transition towards development and equality as applicable to the region and the potentiality of our youths, the efforts mainly indulging in and the statements coming out from the Representatives restless to form a government are very disappointing to say the least. We are not able to capture signals for commitment to the welfare of the land and her people. Please remember that Manipur has a history of civilization with her unique diversity. It is the responsibility of the Representatives to uphold this and it is Democratic Federalism India follows.