In words of hates politicians in riot-hit Manipur hoping for peace

Is Manipur returning to normalcy? It depends on who you ask: The military insists, as is their mandate, that the state must increase vehicular movement, safe passage for people and where needed, and more on border areas. Attention is coming back to normal. Members of civil society, as is their right, are highlighting the growing problems faced by people in and outside shelters.
Water tankers have hiked their rates, prepaid electricity users are now confused about how to recharge their accounts and children living outside Manipur are now waiting to receive money from home, and hoping. Church associations are still counting the damage to their religious sites, aid is arriving, but more is needed, and the state managed to avoid the worst of Cyclone Mocha. Mizoram was less fortunate.
But politicians have shown us once again that no matter what happens on earth, they are almost guaranteed to save their seats first, even if it means the end of society as we know it.
Now, I’m not going to spend my time correcting everything the leaders say because, let’s be honest, that would make this article 3000 words long.
I would rather dwell on how they have once again betrayed their constituencies, their communities and all the political promises they made in peacetime.

Allow me to explain.
One of the strongest planks for N Biren Singh’s landslide victory in the 2022 elections was the demand for a Ching-Tam (Hill Valley) alliance. In 2021, months before the 2022 elections, Singh launched with much fanfare an outreach program – “Go to Hills 2.0” to ensure that people in remote areas get access to various welfare schemes at their doorsteps. Get the benefits. Program location? Peace Ground, Tuibong, Churachandpur District.

Politics makes fiction boring.
Politicians, in their ever-increasing need to plug all the loopholes so they can come across as powerful, have been caught off guard and are now jumping over each other to appear caring, trustworthy and influential. are What has happened in Manipur is not only N Biren Singh’s fault. Certainly, as chief minister, he should take responsibility, but MLAs are not without their mistakes.
Seven of the 10 Kuki MLAs who are now demanding a separate administration are from the BJP. These are the same MLAs who not only supported N Biren Singh’s Go to Hills campaign but actually benefited from it. They were very happy to maintain the status quo. Now, they want to act as if they have no idea what is going on in the state.
When everyone fights, everyone loses
Cutting across political parties and ideologies, MLAs are now running around like headless chickens trying to emerge as leaders of their communities, while apparently forgetting that they are members of the Manipur Legislative Assembly. Not cookie assembly or meaty assembly.

Ever since the violence started, political parties on both sides have been taking over each other in making sensational claims on television channels.
Kuki leaders are demanding a separate administration, I ask them: What do you expect to happen? How are you making this demand when you are more than aware that thousands of kukis have to return to the valley not because they want to, but because they have to. Similarly, when the Meitei leaders claim that ‘no one can harm the integrity of the state’, they once again ignore the realities on the ground.

Trust between communities has been completely destroyed and the scars and wounds will be deep and painful.
Violence is the failure of every organizer at every level: If the intelligence department failed to grasp the magnitude of the ATMS rally on May 3, politicians beyond political ideology were caught napping when their fake narratives were all over the place.
Now, instead of helping communities come together and heal, they are sowing more hate. At this point, I can’t really distinguish between statements from student organizations and politicians, and that’s never a good thing. A politician should think beyond love and hate about the people he represents.
This is not the time to push your hidden agendas: this is the time to suppress them. The future of these communities may be different but their paths cannot be different. Communities have to live not only with each other but also among them. Any attempt to separate them for good will lead to more bloodshed. Not that politicians don’t care.
I hope the general public will see past this hate: Kuki students should have the right to go back to the schools they attended in Imphal, just like the Meiteis who have lived in Churachandpur for generations. They have the right to return and call their homes. What Churachandpur has always been: home.