Tehelka's exclusive coverage of a fake encounter in Imphal yesterday brings long-overdue evidence of what's happening in India's North-east.
Tehelka's exclusive coverage of a fake encounter in Imphal yesterday brings long-overdue evidence of what's happening in India's North-east.
Our country is no longer a nation but a set of individualistic territories not willing to give up their identities. Can a nation be more nihilistic?
For years as a young Manipuri-Tamizh, I tried explaining my Indian identity to intellectuals who always tried to convince me that our country had gone terribly wrong. I wanted to have faith. I wanted to believe in the ideal India a country that was a home to many, a nation built on difference, bound by a constitutionally guaranteed equality. I did believe, wholeheartedly, till I moved to Manipur in early 1999.
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Troops had taken the law into their own hands and, funnily enough, locals in the army also indulged in oppression.
Fine, the local people had asked for a separate state. Yes, they were an armed militia, and of course, a few groups indulged in extortions and abductions but was the army any different? My two-year stint in the state came to an end and I ran back to the south to complete my education.
Vague and often muted cries did catch my attention, and an occasional 'Manorama' did make it to the national headlines, but that was it. I was blissfully ignorant of what was happening in Manipur.
I spent my time researching culture and falling in love with the India of my dreams. My degree in journalism helped me get involved with the local media and I realised that inequalities in this country were far too many.
States oppressed communities by holding back infrastructure read Telengana, and others suppressed the rich cultural heritage of minorities for a more unified identity read Karnataka. Some states even went to the point of declaring state religions and imposing compulsory prayers in government schools like in Madhya Pradesh. India seemed to be a democracy only in our constitution. The real story was something else altogether.
It was hard to decide who was suffering the most. But it was obvious that the only states suffering from a central controlled military rule were the three north-eastern states of Assam, Manipur and Nagaland, and Jammu & Kashmir in the north.
With the brilliant coverage given by Tehelka on the supposed encounter, it's now for the world to see how our Centre responds. Will it care enough to clean up these crimes and give satisfactory explanations to the people of Manipur? The world is watching and this time the country is watching too the core of our democratic India is being questioned.
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