By – Amar Yumnam
Manipur has just experienced a non-precedent, non-historical and anti-social killing of one person. The killing of Rishikanta and the non-priced marketing of the process of killing him is the worst form of human behaviour one can imagine. The group which indulged in this inhumanity with laughter display the inner social behaviour they possess. Though this group has been making certain demands from the state, the very manner in which a person they consider to be belonging to an enemy ethnic group display in full play the very anti-human and anti-social behaviour principles on which they function.
This incident has happened at about completing three years after the initial killing and causal display of many people out of their homes. Let us recall certain facts in this regard; I am making these recalls with the claim that I am not a person absolutely unaware and uneducated about the polity, society and economy of Manipur. First, Manipur is a state with a long historical past. Second, though spatially small, it is a state characterised by diversity in both geography and ethnicity. Third, the diversity does happen to be a causal factor for differential levels of development. Fourth, the diversity has never been a factor for the growth of racial behaviour and racial-based outcomes. Fifth, the differential outcomes in development have not been the factor for them. The causal factor has been the failure to appreciate the geographic diversity, and the necessity of taking this factor while allocating developmental-funds in a contextualised manner. Sixth, though Manipur and Manipuris do understand the imperative to take this reality into policy-formulation and fund provision, the Federal Authority of India has been of a different kind. Seventh, the Federalism of India is of an incomplete kind where only spatial size and demographic numbers count. Manipur merged into India in 1949, but there is no structure under the Federal System of India wherein she can assert her needs and imperatives in equal manners with the larger ones; it is a Federalism with partial Rational Foundations. Thus, begging from Delhi has been the only principle of articulating and meet any developmental necessity of the land and people of Manipur possible.
In such contexts, let us remember the global experience: “While history records that people have always worried about the future, and that being emotionally burdened with the stress of life is an elemental feature of the human condition, for us to openly identify some of our more unpleasant feelings as ‘anxiety’ is almost an exclusively modern phenomenon. Certainly, it is only during the course of the twentieth century that we have begun to specifically diagnose the problems of human psychology as being rooted in our ability to solve the riddles which anxiety poses in our lives.” In the context of anxieties, the killing of Rishikanta reveal many things which are inimical to the general interests of the groups indulging in the cruelty. A. The global impact in this age of global digitalisation, the incident has exposed the potential social behaviour of the killers. B. It has also antagonised the attitude of the very people who could have been their underwritten supporters. The characteristic functioning of the Federal Authority of the existing structure has been now put in a situation of inevitably controlling them. C. The very property rights regime of the group is yet to be evolved into a clear form. D. The people, who have either been forced of compelling or listening to the claims of the leading agents as belonging to the same group, would now themselves be feeling very threatened by the scene of the killing. They cannot express anything in the open nor can they ensure their livelihood with ease by themselves. It is a sure case of a few disabling the whole to express anything verbally or otherwise. E. It can never be that all the people belonging to their social group are all inhuman in social attitude and functioning. This implies that there would be divisions inevitably arising from within. F. This division would result in the search for rethinking on the objectives and ways to re-establish the linkages with the other components of the larger society in Manipur.
With the resultant self-withdrawal of the various demands or slow demise of these, there are inter alia certain policies to be evolved and implemented sooner than later by the Government. First, the Federalism of India should be made more real than the present one by creating a mechanism for the smaller provinces having the opportunity to assert on equal terms with the larger ones. Second, policies for development attuned to the geographic and demographic differentials should be evolved sooner and implemented. Third, the Federal funding of these policies and their sooner implementation are made more fundamental than ever by the unfolding scenarios within and the neighbours.