There is much that Meghalaya has in common with Manipur, almost same area, almost same population, almost similar terrain and vegetation and located in the North East of India, the distinguishing differences of any worth being that Meghalaya is a Christian dominated State, and Manipur 50:50 Hinduism : Christianity and the other no less important difference is that Meghalaya is not led by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) as Manipur is. Otherwise as a people we are no different from each other and that is because we share a common basic requirement – primarily we want peace, harmony and justice and we both have a simple readymade understanding of what the three collectively mean – freedom – but behind freedom lies the problem and nature of the men in power, or the Party in power.
Some political parties are trying to take away our religious freedom: this has never happened before. The people are simple and take for granted that whoever leads will be fundamentally, brave, proud, and magnanimous, who keep religious prejudices at bay having been brought up to sacrifice personal preferences for the larger good of the community, who do not play politics with the religions the people follow. But now we ask, “Does the Party in power in Manipur still believe in these ideals?”
A State is the reflection of the people that live in the State, but these days more and more it is about the prejudices of the people that run the State – like men like State. In Manipur the Meitei and the Kuki are the predominant groups, the latter all follow Christianity while the former follow Hinduism, not all but most, and Christianity among the Meiteis is on the rise, why? Because education has come to the people and they have learnt that Christianity deems equality of all people while Hinduism groups people into different castes. In practical Hinduism, sanctioned under the “Laws of Manu” into a religion, people are born and bred into castes and the proposed task of the leaders being to breed four castes simultaneously: a priestly, a warrior, a trading/farming caste and a menial caste (a fifth is outside of the system altogether). This is an important factor in the acceptance of any religion by anyone anywhere.
For the above reason the choice of religion for the educated is naturally in favour of Christianity, which the politically powerful Meitei who follow Hinduism, and who dominate the valley, believe deserves to be plugged before it is too late. The Chief Minister is from among the Meitei and furthermore he is a member of the BJP.
Social media is rife with allegations and suspicions that what the State is going through is State sponsored, but the Chief Minister will never admit this. If the rise of Christianity has become a problem for the BJP in Manipur and if the leader is excessively focused on this matter alone his application of reason and logic towards the attainment of peace and harmony in the State is naturally compromised. Religion and the State are antagonists; one should not deceive oneself over this.
A religious State is a modern idea; it was never factored into democracy which essentially kept religion aside when it was being conceptualized, and so the proponents of the Caste System find themselves constantly struggling with this antithesis, because the Caste System can only thrive at the expense of one’s freedom and the greatest headache is “where do we place people of other faiths?” After independence Pakistan’s centre of gravity was in its religious institutions, India’s was in its political institutions – the result of religious institutions vis-avis political institutions is now there for us to see. The fact is known everywhere that Pakistan is trying to export its centre of gravity to Kashmir; are we witnessing an attempt to disturb the centre of gravity in Manipur?
What about the responsibility of the leaders in the Centre to immediately respond with force to contain the situation? None was forthcoming though the BJP is in power at the Centre and in Manipur. For them perhaps the problem was one between religion and politics because Christianity as a religion is dominant in many states in the North East irrespective of the Party in power and the BJP is only dominant in Assam, though it does have its presence in other North East states as well. Whatever way the BJP leaders turn there would be repercussions and repercussions are least desirable this year because in 2024 Parliamentary elections are due. This is singularly the most reliable interpretation or misinterpretation of the Central government’s dilemma.
Under these circumstances, how does one go about determining whom to blame for what’s happening in Manipur? Is the Centre’s silence justification enough to accuse it of complicity? Was the entire affair intensified by the moral or the religious embellishments of the Chief Minister of the State? Did development and progress, which is very evident in Manipur, distract the people from the omnipresent religious undercurrents?
Progress and development and promises are usually used as an illusion to blind the people of a Party’s real motives. They are like illusions, and illusions must never to be taken literally, illusions have their value only in semiotics – as signs only – and signs are a perfect means to divert the people’s attention from the real motive. No one believes that anyone can plausibly explain away the suspected involvement of the government in the happenings in Manipur and this fact constitutes an important piece of evidence against the BJP in Manipur.
With the above background a look into the breakup of the religious groups that make up the State’s population does offer reason to doubt why some people view the role of the State in the ongoing problems in Manipur. Hinduism (41.39 per cent), Christianity (41.29 per cent), (Source Google) and six others; now juxtapose the burning of places of worship on the very first day of the agitations hmm…the finger of suspicion points to a religious motive.
The Schedule Tribe status demand of the Meiteis, which the administration came out with at the start, was arguably a farce to distract the people from the real motive. I believe we can find a very strong argument for the government’s inaction in the entire matter because the desecration of religious places is not uncommon in India. It’s routinely reported from nearby Assam where churches and mosques have been demolished and these have not gone unnoticed, because the BJP is in power in Assam as well. The BJP is also in power in Nagaland but no church has been demolished there. Why? Because Nagaland is a Christian majority State and anything anti Christian by the Party’s support base there will be confronted with.
The BJP has proven its zero tolerance for corruption in government service, and has brought about development and progress in leaps and bounds wherever it has come to power and yet it is on the decline. This deserves introspection. From what is happening in Manipur one sees straightaway the typical traits of the idiosyncrasy of an immature Party leadership, a short sighted leader whose vision is blurred by religion, who forgets that good governance means keeping religion at bay.
The BJP workers have bungled development and progress in Manipur and buried them under religious intolerance instead and they know that was what brought about the Party’s humiliating defeat in the Karnataka elections and there are at least five more states going to the polls from now till January 2024. Seasoned politicians place themselves beyond the narrow differences of the religious beliefs of the people – they know that their principle duty is to first maintain harmony among the people and then to bring progress to the State. The people cannot tolerate religious intolerance.
Attempts to inculcate religious intolerance in the North East by some outsider organisations has started and they are serious about it, but it has not taken off because we are largely incapable of their kind of seriousness. In the past the BJP has essentially been a Party that innovates to get things done; now it must innovate to bring religious intolerance to an end in India. There are no grounds for “Religious Intolerance” and it, more than any other Party, should know that best. Raja Ram Mohan Roy, FRAS (Astronomy Society), a reformer who founded the Brahmo Sabha in 1828, saw this threat to Indian society and propounded laws to combat the flaws that were inherent in religious fanaticism in India. Those flaws have been intensified. If the BJP could focus on progress and development of human nature instead of progress and development in roads and bridges, transport and trade only, it would have brought every criticism and every contradiction against it to an end.
If one makes a reckoning, it is plain to see that the BJP appeal is declining and the reason for it is obvious. After all, when its greatest achievements are progress and development, what use does it have of the support of any “Singh or Sangh?” There are 24 MP seats in North East India and in the changing trend in the country they could mean the difference between a place in the Treasury benches or the Opposition for the BJP. As long as the Party has this “Religious Intolerance” stigma attached to it, its win ability will lessen.
