Many have warned the government about the long-term consequences of politics driven by hatred and have urged them to foster trust and understanding among all communities. However, some die-hard supporters of Modi have failed to grasp the importance of building goodwill among different communities in the country.

The violence in Manipur is a clear example of what can happen when there is a lack of trust among communities. A judgment in favor of Hindu Meitis has led to conflict between Kukis and Meitis. Consequently, Manipur has been engulfed in violence for the past month, despite appeals for peace from the Home Minister. The Kukis and Meitis are fighting and destroying each other's properties.

A retired Lt Gen, who resides in Manipur, recently remarked, "I'm just an ordinary Indian from Manipur living a retired life. The state is now 'stateless'. Life and property can be destroyed anytime by anyone, just like in Libya, Lebanon, Nigeria, Syria, etc. It appears Manipur has been left to stew in its own juice. Is anyone listening?" This highlights the need for attention to the voices of Manipur amidst the larger context of unheard protests by young women in Delhi.

Promoting hatred only deepens bias in a leader's image. Advocating for Hindutva causes further divisions in society and brings more trouble for the common man, the nation, and society as a whole, leading to a vicious cycle of blame and violence.

Why is nobody listening? Why are the Central Police forces ineffective? How did this dispute transform into a conflict between Meiti Hindus and Christian tribals? What is the potential for this feud to spread like wildfire to other North Eastern states?

The government must listen to the voices of reason from Manipur and urgently find a solution. However, the current leadership, including Mr. Modi, Mr. Shah, and many other ministers who have aligned themselves with the Hindutva cause, have lost credibility among minorities—tribals, Christians, Muslims, and Sikhs—who are as Indian as anyone else. This unfortunate loss of credibility hampers the government's ability to resolve such conflicts, as minorities are unlikely to see them as nonpartisan, unbiased, neutral, and fair mediators.

The more the government indulges in the politics of hatred, the more challenging it will be to handle internal violence. The trust deficit will continue to widen. While the deployment of security forces may reduce violence in Manipur over time, it cannot heal the wounds caused by suspicion and lack of trust. As far as Tribals are concerned - There is very little difference between the image of CM of Manipur and the Home Minister of India.

As a concerned citizen, I can only pray that the government learns from these experiences and refrains from engaging in hate politics. . Today, Manipur might seem to be distant but Hatred only needs a spark to ignite into a wildfire, as we have witnessed there.

As a student of Organisational Behaviour and a novice in Politics I tend to look at Political events from the point of view of LEARNING about individual and group behaviour, Leadership issues, group dynamics and how systems, procedures and rules have an impact on individuals and on group behaviour.

So, from the point of view of Behaviour, the following aspects stand out.

One. In these elections BJP and its supporting organisations tried everything to polarise the voter—hijab controversy, azan restrictions, sponsored lynchings, love jihad controversy and used Tipu Sultan to achieve their objective. Even over confident PM also jumped into the fray and dragged Bajrang bali into politics, equating Goons of Bajrang dal with Bajrang Bali, an epitome of Loyalty, strength and courage. Yet the voters did not oblige. So, it appears that there is a limit to which Gods can be politicised and be exploited for electoral purposes. And secondly, the Leader must know its people, one cannot use God every time and Every where.

Two. However, Had the BJP done all this in North Indian states, it would have perhaps managed to polarise the Voters and decimated others, but all this did not work in South India. Therefore, there must be something that differentiates South Indians from North India. We the North Indians need to ponder what has made South Indian states successful. They are amongst the richest states of the country, provide millions of jobs to North Indians, they have carved a name for themselves in IT industry, Automobile sector, textiles and so on and not to forget -Most of our scientists are South Indians. Having served in South India, I can vouch for their simplicity and discipline. Besides this the people of South India are peace loving, they are staunch Hindus but perhaps they feared the direction in which BJP was trying to take them and so they rejected that Hinduism which is the hallmark of North Indians; Hooliganism.

Three. Mr Modi, as a Leader has finally exposed himself fully to the world. The manner in which he conducted himself during the elections and used religion none can be fooled now with his slogan SAB KA SAATH- SAB KA VISHWAS. Even the most naïve might now say that his Govt is - For the Hindus and By the Hindu (Fundamentalists). Usually, a Leader once exposed for his duplicity, he sooner or later gets trapped in a Catch 22 situation and has an ignominious end.

Four. The EC remained complacent and so the BJP Leadership used religion to create divide. When there is no one to monitor the powerful are likely to get away easily flouting them.

Five. It is not necessary that if a political party which  deliberately tries to shift the Goal post from Development to Religion, the people can also be herded in that direction. The people can have different priorities and have their own laundry list. And a leader must be aware of that or else it implies that the Leader is now either bereft of any new ideas or has lost touch with the ground realities.

Last but not the least, these elections remind me of a famous quote of Abraham Lincoln.

'You can fool some of the people all of the time, and all of the people some of the time, but you cannot fool all of the people all the time” .

This is a great quote because it also tells us Where each one of us stand.

Politics is DIFFICULT but supporters of Political Parties are more DIFFICULT to understand, as they tend to wrestle with even what is Obvious.

When critics questioned the degrees of Mrs Smriti Irani and Mr Modi - their die hard supporters wrote ; What is in Degrees, Skills are more important.

However, when critics started talking of rail accidents and safety issues in Railways the same supporters are now Justifying the importance of Degrees and circulating the Degrees of the Railway Minister.

Decide what is important ?.

Meanwhile one should go through the CAG Report on Indian Railways published in WIRE ; https://thewire.in/government/cag-report-on-derailments-hard-to-square-with-pmo-claims-on-prioritising-rail-safety.

Another CAG report tabled in Parliament highlighted few very important aspects of Indian Railways which bring to the fore that we are still far far behind ;

One. Indian Railways despite investing ₹ 2.5 lakh crore on track infrastructure during 2008- 19 have failed to improve on the mobility outcomes.

Two. "Mission Raftaar" introduced in 2016-17 targeted an average speed of 50 kmph for mail/express and 75 kmph for freight trains by 2021-22. The average observed speed of Mail/Express and freight trains until 2019-20 was, however, still around 50.6 Kmph and 23.6 Kmph, respectively. This implies that perhaps the money that was spent on upgrading the infrastructure has not been utilised properly and so it has failed to achieve the desired impact.

Three. Out of 478 superfast (SF) trains, the scheduled speed of 123 SF trains (26 per cent) was less than the specified speed of 55 Kmph. Indian Railways has no guaranteed delivery time for goods consignment.

Now Take a Call ; What is Important Degrees or Admnistration of Indian Railways.

Where are the Smart Cities ; No one Knows !

A collosal amount of money has been spent on the Govt’s flagship Smart Cities Mission since June 25, 2015.

The Govt said in Feb that all projects of the 22 smart cities will be completed by March 2023 , these SMART cities are Bhopal, Indore, Agra, Varanasi, Bhubaneswar, Chennai, Coimbatore, Erode, Ranchi, Salem, Surat, Udaipur, Visakhapatnam, Ahmedabad, Kakinada, Pune, Vellore, Pimpri-Chinchwad, Madurai, Amaravati, Tiruchirappalli and Thanjavur.

On February 6, this year Union Minister of State for Housing and Urban Affairs had told Rajya Sabha that as on January 27 this year, out of 7,804 projects worth ₹ 1,81,322 crore for which work orders have been issued in the 100 smart cities, 5,246 projects worth ₹ 98,796 crore have been completed. The central government has released ₹ 36,447 crore under the mission, of which ₹ 32,095 crore (88 per cent) has been utilised.

According to the mission guidelines, the central government will provide financial support to the extent of ₹ 48,000 crore over five years, on an average ₹ 100 crore per city per year. An equal amount on a matching basis will be contributed by the state government or urban local body.

I live in One of the so called Smart Cities mentioned above in the List and have been to few more in recent months, I did not find anything SMART with those cities. 

Now from the above following question arise;

One. Huge amount of money has been spent but have these projects made life of citizens’ better , If Not then there is something wrong with the Plan itself.

Two. Can the citizens of these cities feel that they are Living in a SMART City.

Let me explain this with an example.

I have spent my childhood in BHEL Township having a population of almost a Lakh and spread over an area of approx. 20 sq kms. These PSU townships were set up way back in late 50s - BHEL township at Bhopal, Haridwar, Tiruchirappalli, SAIL Steel plant townships at Durgapur, Bhilai etc. These townships were truly smart townships.

Each of these town ships were divided into Zones/ Sectors and each zone had its small market, its dispensary affiliated to the Main Hospital, a primary school, a maintenance office, a sports club , a community centre, play grounds for children to play and Police station. All these townships were self contained and self reliant.

Had the Govt taken a cue from these townships perhaps they could have made more Indian cities SMART and on a lesser cost.

Meanwhile, let us understand , the money spent by Govt is our money that it collects through taxes, do not forget we are being TAXED numerous times for the same money that has already been taxed once. 

What Happened to Stopping Open Defecation?.

Lastly, Can anyone tell ; How many Indian Districts have become Open Defection Free?

Astonishingly the Govt had set very ambitious goals. Govts agency PRESS INFORMATION Bureau reported that Swachh Bharat Mission (Grameen) was launched on 2^nd October, 2014 with the main goal to make the country Open Defecation Free (ODF) by October 02, 2019 by providing access to toilets to all the rural households.

Details of funds allocated by the Government of India under this scheem and their utilization during the last three years and the current year are as under:

This information was given by the Minister of State, Shri Prahlad Singh Patel in a written reply in Lok Sabha and he said ; All the villages have already declared themselves ODF(OPEN DEFECATION FREE).

Has this been achieved on Paper or ON Ground? Has Patel sahab ever visited Indian Villages and seen for himself?

Leave aside Villages even after spending thousands of Crores they could not make our Cities - Open Defecation - Free. 

Who will bell the cat ?

I know, some die hard supporter will shout, What can Mr Modi do, its people's responsibility.

The answer is WHO RUNS THE ADMNISTRATION. and Secondly, When you know your people Should you have spent money so carelessly in building toilets, instead you could have spent money in first building the whole SYSTEM that could support the Plan. 

For instance ; How can you maintain a toilet when there is NO WATER CONNECTION?

I Shall Not Speak !

 Lastly, Dr MMS was ridiculed for his silence but we have a situation where young women wrestlers have been protesting for last so many months of sexual harassment by the Wrestling  Federation Chief , a BJP Man and the Govt has remained silent. And we all know that the Hon’ble PM, Home Minister and even Mrs Smriti Irani are skilful Public Speakers and leave no opportunity to express their views on any issue.

But the supporters are Busy projecting young women wrestlers , victims of Sexual harassment and those supporting them as - ANTI NATIONALS. 

Just imagine where have we reached and How Deep we have sunk ourselves ? 

Violence keeps erupting in the North Eastern States primarily due to lack of faith and confidence amongst the various tribes of the state.

This fear of the other, runs deep across the tribal communities in the Northeast and has proven to be the root of several inter-community violent clashes and agitations including the Bodo agitation and the students’ agitation of the 1980s in Assam.

We from the armed forces know from our experience that tribals are extremely sensitive to their traditional lands and therefore the root cause behind the violence in Manipur is the demographic situation and its exploitation by politicans.

Demography.

Although there are 16 districts in Manipur, but it is commonly divided into ‘Valley’ and ‘Hill’ districts.

In these hill areas, which comprise the 90% of Manipur’s geographical area, live 15 Naga tribes which are 40% of states population. This has been their traditional Land.

And in the valley districts of Imphal which comprise barely 10% of states land reside the Hindu Meiteis, which are approx. 53% of states population. The Valley includes East Imphal, Imphal West, Thoubal, Bishnupur, and Kakching.

The Meitis being the majority community are certainly better placed in terms of social, political, educational and economic parameters in the state than other tribes. The State Govt is also predominantly Hindu Meitis.

However, the fear amongst all of them , the Tribals as well as the Meiteis, is of losing their traditional lands.

History in Brief.

There is very little known about Manipur due to the absence of written records and also None of the texts are yet subjected to serious critical scrutiny by historians. Manipur’s history is intricately linked to the History of Eastern Kingdoms ; Ahoms, Nagas, other tribes of North East India and even Burma.

However, as per the chronicle of records of kings, maintained by Meiteis, Pakhangpa, a primordial dragon god in Meitei mythology, is credited for having established the Meitei rule by subjugating the local tribes. Meitei being one of the migrant clans, originally named Ningthouja, who gained rulership of certain area and then gradually expanded. During this expansion process they had to fight numerous wars with other tribes. During the reign of King Senbi Kiyamba(1467–1507) the ancient Meitei faith ; SANAMAHISM began to collapse. It was during his reign that the Brahmins started migrating to the kingdom and the worship of the Pheiya (sacred stone from Pong kingdom) commenced as the Hindu God Vishnu. That’s how the Meitei Vaishnavism started. The Kingdom of Pong was an ethnically Tai state that controlled several smaller states along the frontier of what is now Myanmar and Assam.

During the reign of Emperor Pamheiba, the Meiteis were converted(forcibly) from SANAMAHISM into Hinduism. In 1729, the sacred scriptures of Sanamahism were burnt and this event is annually commemorated.

The invaders from further East kept coming particularly from Burma and the Meitei kingdom had to fight numerous wars which resulted into severe losses at times. The Burmese occupied Manipur from 1819 to 1826.

The expansion of Burma under the Konbaung Dynasty brought its frontiers closer to the British East India Company and as a result the British fought three wars with the Burmese empire. In the First Anglo- Burmese war , the British helped prince of Meiti Kingdom to regain his kingdom from the clutches of the Burmese. In this war Burma lost territory that it had captured in Assam, Manipur and Arakans.

Subsequently, the Meitei kingdom became a British protectorate with a British Political agent stationed there.

In the year 1891, due to internal disturbances caused by the family feud for successorship, the historic Anglo-Manipuri war (Manipur's National Liberation Struggle) took place , it resulted in the British victory and so finally Manipur was annexed by British.

During the course of history, Manipur was known by different names, such as, Tilli-Koktong, Poirei-Lam, Sanna-Leipak, Mitei-Leipak, Meitrabak. Even the neighbouring kingdoms called them by different names; The Pong called the area Cassay, the Burmese called them Kathe, and the Assamese Meklee. In the first treaty, signed in 1762, between the British  and  the king of Meiti kingdom, the kingdom was recorded as Meckley. Bhagyachandra, the then King and his successors issued coins engraved with the title of Manipureshwar, or lord of Manipur and the name Meckley was discarded. The name Manipur means “land of gems”.

After the accession of Manipur to India in 1947, Manipur became a Union territory in 1949 and in 1972 became one of the states.

So, when we dig deeper into the history and geography of this region we find that these hundreds of tribes spill over the borders of these states as the borders of tribal regions could never be clearly demarcated. For instance ; there are numerous Naga tribes residing in Manipur and they had a bloody violent exchange with Kukis in Manipur. Similarly last year the violence erupted between the villagers of Assam and Arunachal Pradesh due to an old border dispute, Bodos of Assam had similarly fought for years to safe guard their traditional lands within Assam. The hilly tracts of Nagaland were captured after a series of expeditions(ten) , undertaken by British army from 1832 onwards till 1922 and even then could not control the warring tribes.

So, it is quite natural that the hilly tribal areas outside the Imphal valley, were never a part of the Meitei kingdom that was based in Valley and those areas were brought into under one administrative unit by the Britishers once they captured the whole region(although the Meiteis would deny that).

Recent Developments.

Because of this fear the govt actions, which is predominantly made up of Meitis are always viewed suspiciously by tribals who make up to almost 40 % of population and live on hills surrounding the valley.

As a result of this fear and lack of faith amongst the tribes the majority Hindu Meiteis have been demanding for ;

One. Grant of Schedule Tribe status so that they are able to maintain their predominance.

Two. In order to safe guard their land they had also demanded Inner Line Permit to put a control on migrant population in the valley. This was granted by the Modi government. This implied that Meiteis Hindus did not want their ancestral lands to be occupied by their own state citizens. Ostensibly this further fuelled the suspicion amongst the tribal population.

Three. The government’s clampdown on reserved and protected forests in the State’s hill areas in the guise of war against drugs has also antagonised the tribes as they feel that they are being persecuted. Despite tribal people’s protests against Govt action the Govt remains unfazed and defiant.

Four. As population is increasing both in tribal as well as in Valley, the land has become important. The tribals tend to spread out into surrounding forest areas, which they consider their historical and ancestral right. This is contested by the government. Similarly, due to the growing population Meiteis, who live in the valleys, are also feeling the pressure because they are not allowed to settle or buy land in the hill(tribal) areas, while tribal people can buy land in the valleys. Interestingly, neither the state govt nor the central govt has any real policy as to how to go about it, as there is lack of transparency and cohesion.

Five. Reportedly, there is also anger within the tribes over the decision of the CM to withdraw the suspension of operations agreement with their armed outfits, like Kuki National Organisation (KNO).

It implies that the state government is no more the part of the ongoing tripartite peace talks between these armed groups. These talks were initiated by the Central Govt prior to the elections of 2017, perhaps to mobilise the support of tribals in its favour and defeat the Congress government in the state. The Kuki-Zo communities as a result felt that  they would get some form of self-governance like what the Bodo community was granted within Assam. So, now the message that has been conveyed to the tribal groups by withdrawing from the talks - the majority Meitei community (the chief minister is a Meitei) is opposed to granting any self-governance to the Kuki tribes.

But the final outburst came after the Manipur high court gave a nod to the demand by the majority community(Hindu Meiteis) to be granted the ST Status . The simmering anger within the tribal communities busted out in open due to the fear of losing their constitutional safeguards to the Meiteis.

Not only that, the High Court pulled up the All Tribal Students Union of Manipur (ATSUM) and the Chairman of the Hill Areas Committee (HAC) of the state assembly for criticising its order. The tribal leaders and student body heads perhaps felt that the HC notices are an indication of; the court’s support to the Meiteis.

The Protest turned Violent.

As a result of this fear and frustration brewing up for some years now because of the reasons enunciated above, the ATSUM had organised the tribal solidarity march in all hill districts of the state on May 3. As the tempers were running high the protest turned violent, vehicles, houses, churches, schools were burnt and almost 54 people lost their lives and 14000 people reportedly, have been rescued and moved to safe zones.

In short the tribals are attacking the Meiteis in Hills and the Meiteis are attacking tribals in Valley.

As the violence escalated, the Centre invoked Article 355 of the Constitution. Army has done a flag march in affected areas, and other para military forces have been moved into the affected areas.

Conclusion.

The peace in this region has come the hard way. The gallant soldiers of the Indian army fought against the militants of these tribes in these rugged mountains and dense jungles for decades, the Central Govt must not let it go waste just for the sake of power politics.

The endeavour of the Govts should be to minimise the discord in the society and avoid creating a huge force of disgruntled elements in the society. At the times of crisis all these disgruntled elements may unite and the whole edifice created by our forefathers can fall like a pack of cards.

Watch out! Our adversaries are observing us