Sadar Hills Blackade Supporters

Sadar Hills blockade supporters ‘detain’ Ranjit and team for hours at Kangpokpi SHDDC redefines ‘intensifying agitation’








IMPHAL, Oct 27 : Works Minister K Ranjit who went to inspect the Senapati mini-Secretariat was stopped from returning to Imphal by women activists of  SHDDC and kept under virtual siege along with his team at Kangpokpi today.

The Works Minister and his team were however ‘rescued’ by a huge team of Imphal West police commandos later in the evening at about 8.

A strong posse  of police commandos, made up of 35 teams comprising six cops in each team and led by the SSP of Imphal West police rushed to Kangpokpi and managed to clear the way for the Minister and his men. The police team had to fire tear gas shells to disperse the womenfolk and open fire in the air while escorting Ranjit out of Kangpokpi.

A woman received a bullet injury on her right thigh.

Following the intense stand off at Kangpokpi a Mini-truck belonging to the BRTF was set on fire at Sa-permeina at about 8.15 pm.

The bullet proof vehicle win which Ranjit was travelling was also hit by a bullet. This was confirmed by police while inspecting the damages on the glass of the vehicle at Imphal. The Minister said that this was an attempt on his life and the shot was fired deliberately.

Chairperson of Sadar Hills Women Union, Ngan-boi Momin said that the Minister refused to entertain their plea to have a brief talk and instead asked a senior officer of the district administration to talk with the womenfolk.

The request to talk was conveyed when the team arrived at Kangpokpi after the inspection at Senapati.

The conduct of the Minister was strongly decried by the womenfolk, said Momin.

Our reporter who went to cover the Minister’s inspection tour informed that the Minister and his team were returning from Sena-pati when they were blocked by a large number of women at Kangpokpi Bazar at about 3 pm. The women piled up boulders and stood in rows on the highway holding festoons.

In addition to his security escorts, Ranjit’s team was also accompanied by the Senapati SP and SDPO.

The team halted about 100 metres away from the spot where the highway was being blockaded.

Then the SP and the SDPO went ahead to talk with the blockaders but the latter insisted that they would talk with the Minister himself. At this, the SP asked the protesters to select two or three leaders to talk with the Minister.

Subsequently, K Ranjit talked with three women activists. They demanded that Sadar Hills district should be officially declared before the election.

The Minister responded by saying that the Government has genuine intention to declare Sadar Hills as a full fledged district  but it cannot be done in haste.

The women urged Ranjit to give a written assurance that Sadar Hills district would be created but he declined . As the negotiation was on, women blockaders who   were not present at the negotiation started shouting the slogan “We want Sadar Hills district”.

As the Minister’s team retracted beyond Kang-pokpi bridge, the women blockaders opened the highway and let other vehicles move. Nevertheless, they checked all the vehicles.

In the meantime, another  group of women blockaded the highway on Taphou Kuki side.

At about 6 pm, four women came from Taphou Kuki side and asked the Works Minister to declare Sadar Hills as a full fledged district by November 10.

They also asked why Kangpokpi ADC building has not been inaugurated yet though the construction work has been completed whereas the Government is planning to inaugurate Senapati mini-Secretariat on November 2.

To this, Ranjit explained that the Government was planning to inaugurate the Kangpokpi ADC building first but it could not materialise because of bandhs and blockades.

The ADC office can be inaugurated before the mini Secretariat if the people wish so, Ranjit said.

Again, when Ranjit said ‘ADC office building, Kangpokpi’, the women activists insisted that it should be spelt as ‘Sadar Hills DC office building’.

To the repeated insistence of the women activists to give a written assurance for declaring Sadar Hills as a full fledged district by November 10, Ranjit explained that his assurance would serve no purpose as Cabinet decision is mandatory for creation of a district.

The Minister and his team are currently stranded on the highway under a situation of virtual siege.

Earlier, after observing the little progress made in the portion of the Senapati mini Secretariat which would be occupied by district level officers, the Works Minister stated that due procedures would be initiated to blacklist the concerned contractor.

Yet, Ranjit maintained that all efforts would be put in to  ensure that everything is ready before November 2 when Union Home Minister P Chidambaram would inaugurate the building.


                                                                           
                                                                                                                
                                                                                        Source: The Sangai Express

Manipur blockaded on road to nowhere

 Since August this year, Manipur has been under an economic blockade called by the Sadar Hills Districthood Demand Committee (SHDDC). This and a counter-blockade by the United Naga Council (UNC) on the national highways have caused severe shortages of food, medical supplies, fuel and other essential items. There have been reports that hospitals are running short of medicines. Petrol, diesel and LPG are in short supply, and are being sold at exorbitant prices. Onion, potato, rice and dal are similarly scarce and expensive. There have been instances when rumours have set off incidents of small-scale violence. The scarcities have created an atmosphere befitting the description of a humanitarian crisis in a war-zone.


The tolerance of the people in Manipur is being tested beyond endurance. It is fortunate that traditions of mutual exchange and interdependency among all communities have helped ward off major incidents in such trying times. But that is no guarantee that the situation will not worsen.


Surprisingly, neither the State nor the central governments have shown any signs of dealing with this crisis. This catastrophe, as usual, has not caught the attention of the national media or democratic voices in other parts of the country. A blockade has been historically a form or a component of war. In its early incarnations, it would often be deployed between two parties, one belligerent force blockading another power, or between belligerents. Its maximum impact is felt in the everyday lives of the common people who are helplessly caught in the situation.


Driven by ethnic politics


An economic blockade has often been deployed as a form of protest by different groups to draw attention to their cause. Though the intention of those who use it as a form of protest may be to highlight their grievances and wanting it to be addressed by the authorities, it immediately puts pressure on the population. Blockades in Manipur, driven largely by ethnic politics and the geographical circumstances, at times, begin to look more like a form of collective punishment.


The logic of a blockade seems to be that considering the experience of majoritarianism being meted out by the Meiteis against the other communities, a protest against the Government of Manipur should necessarily target the Meitei population. The polity of Manipur is seen to be largely driven and controlled by the Meiteis. Thus, suffocating the supply lines through the national highways seem an unfortunate but unavoidable choice to make the government listen to the demands of the aggrieved party.


Sadar Hills issue


Such smooth political logic is blind to the fact that an economic blockade of this magnitude affects all people, irrespective of ethnicity. Their suffering can often be measured against the rhetoric of sacrifice: the rich and the powerful cut across community boundaries and, more importantly, are not affected as they get around the high prices and scarcities with ease. Rather, they often use moments like this to project themselves as champions of the suffering by carrying out symbolic acts of sacrifice. Such acts are in turn mobilised as propaganda for their ethnic politics. Moreover, moments of economic scarcity are also boom time for traders. Prices are disproportionately increased. Even though essentials are in short supply in the open market, almost everything is available if one is willing to pay in the black market. And there seems to be a thriving market run by crisis profiteers.


This time round, the blockade on the national highways 53 and 39 was first imposed by the SHDDC from August 1. Its demand was the creation of a separate district of Sadar Hills out of the current Senapati district of which it is a part of. This otherwise simple administrative procedure is extraordinarily complicated in the context of Manipur. Senapati district happens to be inhabited largely by different communities of the Kukis, the Nepalis, and the Nagas. Within the district, Sadar Hills is dominated demographically by the Kukis.


A demand for a separate district of the Sadar Hills is resented by the Nagas. They fear it would jeopardise their claim for a ‘greater Nagalim.' Interestingly, the whole of Senapati district is included in the map of “Naga inhabited areas,” a phrase that has gained currency after it was modified from the earlier “Naga dominated areas.” Therefore, the UNC called for a counter economic blockade on these highways from August 21 onwards fearing the possibility of Senapati district being bifurcated.


Given the history of ethnic clashes between the Nagas and the Kukis in the hills of Manipur beginning in the early 1990s when Senapati district was one of the worst affected, the atmosphere has been tense.


In the context of the larger politics of Manipur, the demand for the creation of a separate Sadar Hills district has to be weighed alongside two other vociferous demands — for the creation of Jiribam and Phungyar as separate districts.


In all three demands, there have been fierce contestations from rival ethnic groups, a pointer to how in Manipur's politics, and also more widely in the North-East region, there has been a tendency to fit ethnic identity perfectly on to a particular territory. This is how “homeland” politics is conducted, but fusing ethnic exclusivity with territoriality can create a combustible mix.


That Senapati district has witnessed abnormal population growth rates both in the census counts of 2001 and 2011, has led to its own share of controversies. In some areas within the district it has been more than 100 per cent. This has been interpreted as a move to legitimise one community's claim to being the majority in a particular territory, creating simmering animosity and hatred.


To critique the increasing tendency of ethnic exclusivist politics is not to negate the genuine concerns of the different marginalised groups that get subsumed within a majoritarian ideology, but to open a more progressive form of politics. Manipur today is sitting on a latent socio-political volcano. If all parties concerned do not take action immediately, there is a danger that it might well explode.




                                                                                                                                                 Source: The Hindu