After The Election Distraction, What Then?

Elections have always been one of the most divisive factors in any democratic society in any part of the world. We too have felt this dividing element within our own society as citizens of a democratic state who have the freedom and right to pick a candidate of our choice. It would not be an overstatement to say that all toxic, cancerous and so far un-reconcilable divisions among our society have stemmed from elections. They take root as differences in choice of candidates and eventually mature into full blown hatred of and enmity with the other side. Neighbours have built walls between themselves, siblings have broken relations, members have left certain churches and formed new ones, and communities have collectively aligned themselves against another and more, all in the name of election. It is a well known fact that certain CSOs, underground groups etc too have their own affiliation when it comes to elections. No other disagreement has had such a profoundly distasteful and long-lasting fractious impact on relations between people. It poisons an entire relationship resulting in irreconcilable differences.

As such, at a time when unity is of utmost and supreme importance, when our collective leadership decided that there should be no candidate from our community during this General Elections to the Lok Sabha, the masses did not object, maybe partly due to the assumption that it was a part of boycotting the election as a whole. And there was also the more obvious challenge – arriving at a consensus candidate amongst ourselves would have been near impossible. We are well aware of the nature of elections. If two best friends can differ on a choice of candidate, a nation of kindred ethnic tribes with too complex of a history would have found it difficult to agree on a single person to represent us all. And from what we have seen in the valley for the past few weeks leading to the elections and on today, the polling day itself, it is obvious that we have dodged a bullet in that regard.

One would assume that at a time of war, a community would come together despite all differences and agree on a candidate. But the reverse has happened in the Manipur valley. Despite the war, the Meitei community has not been able to come together on a consensus candidate and with multiple candidates from multiple parties, the valley has devolved into a warzone once more, this time among themselves. Threats, violent intimidation, actual acts of violence on candidates and supporters and virulent sentiments among opposing supporters have preceded the polling day which witnessed booth captures by armed men at different polling stations and the law and order enforcement agencies standing either mute spectators or enablers to all the above.

One person at the receiving end of such threats is the Congress candidate for the Inner Manipur PC, Dr. Bimol Akoijam, a former professor at the Jawaharlal Nehru University. He was once a staunch, vocal and public supporter of the Meitei extremists and a mighty defender of their barbaric atrocities on national television. He justified the naked parading of Kuki women and jested about the beheading of David. Yet today, on account of the elections, he is at the receiving end of the unjust might he once defended. He is now shouting his voice hoarse against the same forces he once glibly defended. And he is unlikely to get the votes of the majority of his community anyway despite his short fame as their voice on national television. And the BJP, with the support of armed Arambai Tenggols will most likely make sure the election is won before the day is over. One viral video shows armed men in civilian dress carrying weapons rushing past some Manipur police personnel, also armed, on their way to disrupt a polling booth and capture it for the BJP. It is safe to assume that these are cadres of the Arambai Tenggol, as said out loud in another viral video by an elderly man who says, “If not Arambai Tenggols who else could carry arms like that?” (paraphrase). The police just watch them run by, doing nothing to stop the armed men. This is the situation in Manipur valley. In their blind bloodlust, the Meiteis have created a monster that they can no longer control, a monster that doesn’t care who it bites as long as it has teeth. The armed men in the video are seen disappearing into the distance as sounds of lampposts being struck are heard. This striking of lampposts is a peculiar feature of this conflict, signalling a disturbance in an area and calling for people to mobilise. It signals the breakdown of law and order. Law and order, already broken in the valley, witnessed another low in the valley today with shots being fired at voters, booths being captured by brute force, and chaos and utter lawlessness reigned, courtesy of the Arambai Tenggols. This is a militia with no discipline, humanity or principles leading many

Meiteis on social media to decry the depths of despair to which they have plunged themselves. But it is their own doing, in nurturing terrorists such as the Arambai Tenggols who have no regard for friend or foe. They only serve their political masters, and the general Meitei populace were given a peek into their true nature and the bleak future that awaits them.

If, in the middle of a war, an election brought about such fragmentation in a society which is much more homogenous than ours, one can only imagine what could have happened in ours had we not stopped the floodgates of candidates from our community which is bound together by ethnic, cultural and linguistic affinity but much more complex internally, perhaps, in part, due to the same factors that make us kindred. So everyone agreed that no candidate would participate in the elections. But the conundrum came when the question fell to the public’s role. Should the public vote or not, is a question various CSOs have tried tackling and some have issued directives in this regard. But this time, the directives, where issued, find no such unanimous acceptance among the general populace.

For an undecided, it is extremely hard to pick a stand as there are rational, highly intelligent people on both sides passionately advocating for their stand either to vote or to boycott the elections. Those who advocate for a boycott quote the atrocities that have been inflicted upon us, the justice that still eludes us and the silence of the central government, its indifference to our sufferings and its tacit support of our adversaries that must justify a boycott against the elections as a sign of protest and a powerful symbol of our voice against the tyranny of the powers both at the centre and the state. A recent horrific event in which the corpses of two Kuki village volunteers who were said to have been killed by bombings from the central armed forces were butchered by Meitei militants ignited the latest spark of boycott. The two Kuki village volunteers’ corpses were hacked, butchered and a severed hand was nailed to a tree. That severed hand, much like the beheaded head of David, served as a strong symbolism. How do we vote when our hands have been cut off and justice denied? And also there is the issue of the candidates. Since there are no candidates from our community, if we vote, we vote for a candidate from a community that once inflicted these very same atrocities on our people in the not too distant past. Hence why vote at all?

On the other hand, advocates for voting use the very same arguments above – the atrocities that have been inflicted upon us, the justice that still eludes us and the silence of the central government, its indifference to our sufferings and its tacit support of our adversaries – as strong arguments in favour of voting against such a government which allows all these to happen. They may have cut off our brethren’s hand, but those that still have hands must use it to vote against and vote out the government that allowed our brethren’s hand to be cut, is the argument. One way of defeating the enemy is by making sure they lose through the act of the very hands they have tried to cut off. But it is also argued that our numbers do not put us in a position to affect such radical changes but still advocates of voting will say that the act of voting against tyranny is an act of protest in itself. As such, such arguments in favour of either stand are strong and evoke deep passion among the masses and have caused quite a stir and debate. But to be clear, these are just two over- simplified scenarios and they are not the only choices facing the Kuki nation today. Each area, owing to its geo-political landscape may face its own dilemas. A fuller, in-depth analysis is required to exposit the full intricacies of such a complex labyrinth.

But in the end, as there is no general consensus on the issue, individuals will stand by what they believe. And as our top bodies have been unable to arrive at a consensus among themselves, the general public will do what it believes to be in the best interest of our community, whether by voting or abstaining. And the election results and ensuing drama will maybe shed light on which was the right path to have taken. But at this stage, we cannot afford to be simply reactive. Our leaders ought to be wise enough to test all possibilities and weigh every probable outcome and take decisions based on it and not wait to watch and see what happens. By then, it will have been too late for us.

And now as the polling day winds down and the largest exercise of democracy in the world gets over, we will still be left with the conflict that started almost a year ago with no seeming end in the near future. With the election distraction over, one can only hope that our focus remains sharp on the war at hand, the situation of displaced people and the way forward for us all. It can be safely deduced that due to the current situation in the Meitei society arising out of the elections, the Arambai Tenggols and Meitei militants, in an attempt to garner public sympathy once more, will want to divert the public’s attention and divert their anger by upping up their war on the Kukis. And Biren will make sure they are amply supplied to that end. Hence, even as we watch the drama unfolding in the valley today, we must not let our guard down and be complacent. The enemy still lurks and judging by what has transpired, they will try their best to be even more venomous towards the Kukis. Everyone, from people in leadership positions to the general masses, must have a clear head and sharp focus on the war. We must put aside our differences of opinion during this brief distraction and come together again to face the enemy that still bays for our blood and seek our annihilation. The election was just a distraction, it was never our real battlefield anyway. The battle still lies ahead. And the outcome of the war is still to be decided and our actions or inactions. Our decisions or indecisiveness can still cost us the war should we ever let the distraction carry us away. We must not let the distraction be the battle.