DC Edit | Is Manipur Centre’s last priority?

The haphazard manner in which the Union government has been handling the affairs of Manipur was out on display when the Union government moved resolutions seeking approval for President’s Rule there in the dead of night in Parliament — the Lok Sabha passing it at 2.40 am on Thursday morning and the Rajya Sabha around 3.58 am on Friday morning.

After watching the carnage and mayhem in the state for two whole years, the government finally imposed President’s rule in the state on February 13, but found time to get it ratified by Parliament only towards the end of the Budget Session in the small hours, after the conclusion of a marathon debate on the Waqf (Amendment) Bill.

It could not have been so that the government had feared there’d be an objection raised to Central rule in the border state. Every single party had clamoured for it for a long time. Ex-chief minister N. Biren Singh and the partisan administration he was heading had proved to be an abject failure in taking the state back to peace and reconciliation, but the Centre acted only when there were no more doubts that the state government led by its ruling party had lost the support of even the people who voted it in.

The only reason it did keep the subject of Manipur pending in Parliament until the last moment was that it had wanted to avoid a discussion. An open dialogue in the House on the topic would have exposed the unconscionable way it ignored a civil war-like situation in a highly sensitive border state.

It is time the Union government responded to the sufferings of the people of Manipur in a slightly more responsible fashion by presenting them with viable options that give them the confidence that the Indian State cares about their well-being and in fact their lives. A more honest approach to the entire gamut of issues that set off the riots is needed, that is if the government is serious about finding lasting peace there. Or is Manipur really its last priority?