‘Narimedh Yagna’ In The Land Of Brave Chitrangada: Deeper Probe Needed

By: Dr. Ratan Bhattacharjee

When Prime Minister of the country was boasting of women empowerment referring to the leading role of Dr Ritu Karidhal Srivastava, one of ISRO’s senior scientists at the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), gained in the Chandrayan 3 Mission. Yes the land of brave Chitrangada whom Arjun was amazed to see on the horseback was burning. It is a sheer shameful event for the country where the ‘Beti Bachao’ slogan is used for catching voters each moment. It surpassed in dimension the terrible killing and vote looting incident in West Bengal Panchayat election 2023 over which Mamata Banerjee and Rahul Gandhi family also maintained a similar silence keeping an eye towards the 2024 election. Water had flown down the Turel Achouba (Imphal turel) for 84 days before the Prime Minister spoke a few words on Manipur violence and that too not in the Parliament but outside when a video was showing tow women being paraded naked by a mob over there. The renowned actress Aparna Sen called the incident ‘Narimedh Yagna’ of Manipur. “Using women as an instrument in an area of communal strife. It’s the grossest of constitutional abuse… If the government does not act, we will,” said India’s Chief Justice DY Chandrachur. Some others started being vocal against the incident. Aparna Sen is probably the first renowned intellectual who is coming out vocal though belatedly against the incident. Others still are keeping dumb and deaf as they had been be it Manipur gang rape or be it the Panchayat election in West Bengal. What is most surprising, for three months the army could not do anything, the double engine government could not do anything when the Prime Minister can boast of protecting the country against foreign invasion. How can a few hooligans do this mess in Manipur no one exactly can tell. But the video tells all now. In the land of Chitrangada whom Arjun saw fighting bravely on horseback but today women in Manipur seem to be a little more silent than expected. Until the Supreme Court threatened to undertake suo moto case against the nasty event no one seemed at all serious about the incident. We boast of Indian army but here they too found it impossible to nab one culprit.

In thirty days we win wars over a country but in the last eighty days they could not imprison one culprit who needs to be hanged along with other accomplices. Then what is happening in Manipur, no one was able to answer and the Prime Minister did not think of imposing Presidential rule in Manipur even after the Home Minister visiting the state four days ago. The police was justifying that they had opened a case of gang rape and arrested a man, adding that others will be held soon. But at the first day of the session in the Parliament the lawmakers created a big uproar demanding a debate on the issue and the Speaker had to adjourn the session for half day. Better late than never. PM Modi said that “no guilty will be spared”. He finally assured the nation, that law will take its course with all its might. But why so late awakening PM who can understand the US or French mind in a trice of the eye blink? Why did he allow the daughters of Manipur to be the victims of this brutal violence? No answer is there to that question. Deadly ethnic clashes occurred when the Kukis began protesting against the demands from the Meiteis to be given official tribal status like the Kurmis in West Bengal. The Kukis then could strengthen themselves and will have strong influence on government and society allowing them to buy land or settle in predominantly Kuki areas. But whatever happened with the demand, it can by no means be accepted that women can be made naked and gang raped by scores of young men who grope their genitals and drag them to a field.

The gang rape happened on 4^th May in Thoubal district in the majority Meitei-dominated valley; less than 20 miles from the state capital Imphal and this is unthinkable. While Modi’s “heart is full of pain and anger” at the incident, the judges clearly warned that the culprits should face the death penalty. The women from the Kuki-Zomi tribe are shown being paraded naked by dozens of men who in the video were seen assaulting the women. The women of the Kuki-Zomi tribe later filed a police complaint saying one of them had been gang raped. It is unthinkable that more than 130 people were killed during the chaos in the North East region in the recent three months and tens of thousands and temples, churches and homes were burned down as I gathered from the newspapers both national and local while I am far away from the country here in Virginia. People are asking here, where is Modi who recently came to the US and was giving loud lectures before the US Congress on democratic rights and protection of human lives. One newspaper reported that the father of a 20-year-old woman was killed and three women were made to strip at gunpoint before being led around naked. The youngest woman was raped in front of them and her brother was killed when he tried to protect her. With much difficulty, the women managed to escape and were taken to a relief camp. Are we living in a civilized society? What happened in the Northeast also happened all over the country earlier and we cannot forget the Nirbhaya incident on the open street of Delhi. Chief justice of India DY Chandrachud, called it “deeply disturbing and simply unacceptable”.

Let us look into the history of Manipur violence a little deeper. We know that  clashes broke out in Manipur after a ‘Tribal Solidarity March’ had been  organised in the 10 hill districts on May 3^rd to protest against the Meitei community’s demand for Scheduled Tribe (ST) status, leading to the deaths of at least 54 people. The cause behind the brewing ethnic violence was mainly mutual suspicion between ethnic groups in the Imphal valley and its surrounding hills. The conflict took a simmering turn after the BJP-led Manipur government started a drive to evict tribal villagers from reserved forests. So eviction of the tribes is also one of the reasons behind the anger. Over ten years the Meitei community had been demanding for a Scheduled Tribe tag which the Kurmis are doing in other parts of India.

Manipur High Court order directing the state government to recommend to the Union Tribal Affairs Ministry by May 29^th, an ST tag for the community. The petitioners have argued that this community had once enjoyed the ST tag prior to the merger of Manipur with the Indian Union and have sought the restoration. So the problem has deeper roots than the apparent facts that surfaced till now. It is more than gang rape or molestation which are only offshoots of the upsurge. The government in Manipur, regardless of which party comes to power, has always been dominated by plainsmen Meiteis, who account for about 53 per cent of the state’s population and live mostly in irregular oval-shaped Imphal Valley. What Mamata Banerjee’s MPs or Mamata herself or Rahul Gandhi and other opposition parties are telling they only reveal the half truths and nothing more than election gimmicks for catching the voters especially after the formation of I.N.D.I.A. No one in India is serious about the tribal agony. The picture of the unscheduled tribes and castes was focused long ago in the novels of Mahasweta Devi. Hajar Churashir Maa (means Mother of 1084) is story of a mother (Sujata) whose son (Brati), corpse number 1084 in the morgue was brutally killed by the state because of his ideology of advocating the brutal killing of class enemies, collaborators with the State and counter-revolutionaries within the Party. The story starts on the eve of Brati’s death anniversary when Sujata recollects her son starting from his birth. She meets Brati’s close accomplice and tries to justify Brati’s actions and his revolutionary mentalities. Throughout the story she is portrayed as a strong woman who fought against the odds. She is advised to forget her son, as people like her son are what are often called “cancerous growth on the body of democracy.”

It’s a story of a mother as she relives, years later, the death of her son in the political upheaval that left almost no home untouched also portrays the other faces of the human stories that emanated from the restless political adventure of the vibrant youth, which was ruthlessly cowed by the then Congress government. Today this kind of class war is going on in Manipur. It is far more serious than woman molestation. It touches the whole tribal class and the doubly marginalized people. All over India this war is going on. Mere politicalisation cannot solve this problem. There should be deeper reflection on the issue. Who will bell the cat? No one is still ready to wipe the tears of the tribal people till today. The problems that Om Prakash Valmiki or Mahasweta Devi highlighted still need exploration and a permanent solution. Or today it is in Manipur and tomorrow other parts of the country will be burning. The politicians should come to think collectively rather than getting in blame game. Neither BJP nor Congress or Trinamool nor NDA nor I.N.D.I.A can solve this problem of ethnic clashes in the tribal zone by giving loud election lectures. George Orwell in 1984 wrote, “Of pain you could wish only one thing: that it should stop. Nothing in the world was so bad as physical pain. In the face of pain there are no heroes.” But when we will come out to stop it really? When? When? When? (The author is currently working as an affiliate faculty in Virginia Commonwealth University Richmond and a trilingual writer. He can be reached at profratanbhattacharjee@gmail.com)