During those agitation days

 

Unity and Oddity in the loss of 9 tribal lives

 

The nine people who had attained "martyrdom” in the so called anti-tribal triple bill protest had brought a rare sense of unity among the Manipur tribal. However the oddity with it is that different interest groups have no qualms in trying to capitalize out of this “martyrdom”. The martyrs were a part of the uncontrollable frenzied crowd who responded to the call of some political aware individuals to give vent to an accumulated anger and frustration with tribal MLAs considered responsible for keeping tribal land at peril. Some of the martyrs here may not have fully known the content and intent of the controversial triple bill and could have simply joined the mass protest with the conviction that the state government has done injustice to the hill people. They may not have come out of their homes to confront the security forces ready to sacrifice their lives for separate administration or most of the demands put forth by the anti-tribal bill JAC and various tribal civil apex bodies today. These martyrs may have heard of the Naga peace accord or the much talked and awaited political dialogue with the SoO groups but their concern certainly must have been the burning issue of that particular day must have been the burning issue of that particular day(s) which is none other than the issue of betrayal and inaction by the tribal legislators over the controversial bills. This is why many, including the JAC and all others trying to reap mileage out of the loss martyrs’ death always mention and mourn the loss of nine “innocent lives. Hence the inner contradiction is self-explanatory in a way. The first thing the JAC would have demanded in exchange of the martyrs’ lives was to “kill the bill” in its present form or to modify them to suit the tribal interest. Had this been done the dead bodies already would have been given a decent burial. The comparison emerged too soon. The death of one person in the valley in an agitation demanding passing of an ILP-clone bill resulted in the passing of not just an ILP-like bill but two other unrelated bills too, the sum total of which provoked the tribal to this intensity. Hence, the logic seems to be that the loss of nine lives in the anti-tribal bill protest should be compensated not just with repeal/withdrawal of the bills but with separate administration for the hills. In a land of JACs like Manipur this anti-tribal bill JAC from Churachandpur could be the first to demand political status for the tribal. The martyred dead bodies have been made a tool to pressurise the concerned authority to initiate political dialogue with Kuki armed groups under SoO agreement. Even the Naga tribal seem to be trying to exploit the present turmoil conclusion. Reunited tribal student body-ATSUM joined the fray in demanding separate hill administration obviously taking chance of the charged tribal public sentiment over the perceived anti-hill people land reforms legislations. In spite  of numerous article published in local vernaculars including Eimitimes daily and in social media explaining at length that the three bill passed by the state assembly on 31^st august 2015 were not in the interest of tribal, some people including tribal MLAs, taking advice probably from their “brought off” lawyers still tend to believe that the bills are not anti-tribal. The tribal are united because of the anti-tribal bills and not by the death of nine people. The anti-tribal bills were cleverly drafted by the JCILPS and passed by the state assembly without any resentment from tribal MLAs. So, the tribal are united in their hate stance for their MLAs too. This is an oddity itself and ore odds are likely to come unfortunately.