By Rabindra Nath Sinha
KOLKATA: Back channel and informal discussions seem to be making the Bharatiya Janata Party MLAs, who have a comfortable majority in the Manipur Assembly, optimistic about the state having a new ministry in place much before the expiry of the first six months of President’s rule on August 12. This assessment about the evolving political scene in the small, strife-scarred north-eastern state gains credibility as already some names of MLAs are regularly in circulation over the past 10 days or so for the post of chief minister. The names are of Speaker Satyabrata Singh, retired IAS officer Raghumani Singh, Y Khemchand Singh and Basanta Singh. These names have come to the fore in recent days on considerations of Manipur’s political and administrative requirements for a smooth transition from President’s rule imposed on February 13.
Behind the scene, the person most active from the BJP top brass and the Union government, of course, is Union home minister Amit Shah who, it is being claimed by knowledgeable quarters, prefers to have a chief minister and his ministry colleagues who are known for political maturity and acknowledged administrative capability. This preference is being ascribed to New Delhi’s assessment that the new ministry’s first priority has to be to establish its credibility among the Hill-inhabiting Kuki-Zo communities and persuade them to tone down their antagonistic postures vis-à-vis the majoritarian Valley-based Meiteis. In practical terms, it indeed has to be vice versa and that will be possible if the prospective chief minister can earn acceptability at the earliest, political quarters told IPA.
The immediate past chief minister N Biren Singh, himself a Meitei of standing, may be consulted on ministry making by the BJP high command. After resigning from the post on February 9, he has been lying low but in the last three-four weeks he “resumed his activity” and submitted a very detailed note to Governor Ajay Bhalla on what the state’s pressing problems are, how the problems stemming from ever increasing illegal immigration from Myanmar and Bangladesh became complex with the passage of time because of “clandestine activity of the illegal immigrants” and what steps he had to take to save Manipur from its downhill journey. When read between the lines, one is likely to get the impression that Biren Singh lamented machinations of vested quarters to malign and discredit him. Also, when the ethnic strife was at its peak and the overall law and order situation was deteriorating by the day, the Union home minister almost assumed control over the security apparatus and the Hill affairs. This meant “visible” disempowering of the then chief minister.
But, the BJP top brass is aware of his “contribution” in bringing the party to power in Manipur. However, given the context of bitter ethnic strife between the Meiteis and the Kuki-Zo communities, the BJP leadership just cannot think of reinstating him to the post. Therefore, there is a fair possibility of his “influential” son-in-law and MLA Rajkumar Imo Singh being made a minister to assuage Biren Singh’s feelings. Like his father-in-law, Rajkumar Imo too was in the Congress and later followed the senior’s footsteps and defected to BJP. This is how Manipur watchers see the situation developing as ministry-making exercise gathers pace.
In the given circumstances, therefore, a valid question is how come back channel, informal parleys are being found more indicative “with much less negatives” than the formal meetings MHA’s north-east advisor A K Mishra has held in the last 10-12 weeks. After the meeting with the representatives of the Kuki-Zo insurgent groups, which included ‘Suspension of Operations’ activists’ on Monday, June 9 in New Delhi, Mishra held discussions with the representatives of three civil society organizations (CSOs) of the Meiteis and some ‘other’ communities on Monday, June 30 in New Delhi [The MHA team included IB joint director Rajesh Kamble].
At the formal discussions to which invariably one side is called, the two warring sides religiously restate their known position. The June 30 exercise was no exception – the Meiteis stressed on preserving Manipur’s territorial integrity, giving up the move to revisit and reactivate SoO with modification, preventing illegal immigration by implementing National Register of Citizens or “a similar mechanism”, ensuring free movement for all throughout the state and executing a time-bound plan to resettle internally displaced persons at their original places of habitation.
The new suggestions / demands placed at the June 30 talks were : first, future rounds of dialogue with CSOs should be held in Imphal ; secondly, the MHA team was urged to “investigate and intervene” by taking cognizance of the report participating CSOs submitted on the construction of a 343 km- long “illegal” road on the Churachandpur-Kangpokpi axis. The joint statement of CSOs, released after the meeting, is signed by the Coordination Committee on Manipur Integrity convener Khuraijam Athouba, president of the Federation of Civil Societies B M Yaima Shah and secretary-general of the All Manipur United Clubs’ Organisation Pratap Leishangthem.
Why the BJP MLAs are becoming optimistic about reactivating the Assembly and formation of ministry before the expiry of the first six months of President’s rule ? Because the BJP MLAs “have learnt” that in back channel and informal parleys the Kuki-Zo representatives “are showing signs of relenting” on the ministry issue. (IPA Service)
