Justice Should Precede Biren's Apology

The victims of his incompetence and communal and hate politics are humans, not robots or animals without emotion and feelings. The forceful imposition to oblige people to forgive and forget the injustice they have endured without justice being delivered is nothing but an oppressive, discriminative and inhumane act, which can be expected to be spewed by a bully on his victim.

How can he expect a mother who witnessed the murder of his son, a wife his husband, a sister her brother, to forget those disturbing and tragic moments? How can he expect those women who are sexually molested or gang-raped to forget and forgive the culprits? How can he expect family members of those victims who have seen the atrocities done against their family members, some of whom were burned alive, some mutilated, some mob-lynched to death and some gang-raped? It’s rich coming from a man who persecuted people for social media comments and posts.

His apology comes not a little too late but very late as well. And one can question the veracity of his honesty in such. Thus the question is why now? Why the change of heart? Did a cat cut his tongue on the 4th of May? He had the time and the resources even on 3rd of May to contain the violence from spreading. We live in the era of internet and smartphones; co-ordinating with district officials and paramilitary forces definitely was not a problem. So what stopped him from imposing curfew and strengthening police action to control the situation then? The paramilitary forces were deployed sufficiently in the state unlike other states. Thus the violence that happened in the state was deliberately allowed.

He defended the perpetrators as youth village volunteers. Meanwhile, under his watch state amouries were looted, state police force vehicles and their uniforms are hijacked and donned publicly by his so called youth volunteers to attack and commit atrocities and heinous crimes, constitutional machinery was held at ransom, rallies to annihilate Kukis are openly held and the list goes on but he chose to save his Chief Minister’s post when he himself knows that President Rule alone can contain the law and order issues in the state. Thus his apology must only be a means to save his own seat yet again.

The UNLF(P), a militant organisation he brought under the ambit of SoO, alongside the Arambai Tenggol and his so called Youth Volunteers openly attacked the Kukis. The appointment Nectar Sanjenbam as Special Senior Superintendent of Police (Combat) in Manipur Police by N Biren Singh aggravated the plight and suffering of Kukis wherever he is assigned at. His government’s decisions for recruitment of various employments when his government is adamant on saving the integrity of Manipur amidst the Kuki’s demand for separate administration from Manipur and the open discrimination to exclude Kukis even if they apply for it, sidelining of Kuki districts in government funds and projects, the racist and oppressive attitude of various government departments including education department in the capital towards Kukis speaks volumes of his attitude. The list of discrimination after 3rd of May towards the Kukis is endless. Healing touch is not in their dictionary but they rather exacerbate the tragedy of Kukis. Thus his apology definitely is not a result of repentance or an initiative he took to make the path for peace in the state.

The timing of his apology is questionable as well. Since 24th of December, Kukis is Saibol area came under attack from armed militants of the valley, They have been deprived of celebrating Christmas and New Year due to the continual attacks. The high headedness of military forces injured more than 40 women. Thus was his apology a smokescreen to hide the atrocities done against these innocent villagers, is the question.

With an alleged audio tape leak record that proves not only of his complicity but points to him being the Mastermind of the ongoing ethnic violence, his audacity to come out preach forgive and forget indeed deserves a standing ovation, as it is not everyone’s cup of tea to have the sheer courage of this much amount of shamelessness. Thus, with a case pending in the court, Biren’s apology can also be a new strategy he adopted to whitewash his image and rescue himself of his crimes. He is no stranger to whitewashing his image and drama. During the conflict it won’t be wrong to say that he focuses more on managing the narrative than solving the crisis. It started with his resignation drama and has now reached the apology stage. In the process he took the help of Godi Media as well . Only if his actions are in tune with his unrepentant but necessary words for the world to hear, his efforts would not go wasted every single time. His own actions become the biggest obstacle he had to face in his whitewashing mission and controlling of the narrative.

Kukis in India or Manipur need not prove their citizenship status to anyone like any other Indian. However if you read between the lines of the tone in his word choice of his so called apology speech (“I really feel regret and would like to apologise to all natives”), it can be concluded that he thinks he is entitled to certify citizenship certificate and he still stands by what his propaganda which he propagated from the beginning of the violence. He still puts the blame or hides behind the conspiracy theory he sold from the beginning, i.e. “illegal Immigrants”.

His apology can be thus interpreted as saying that the presence of few hundred illegal immigrants belonging to Kukis in the state should thus justify the tragedy and heinous atrocities Kukis are subjected to in the state and that thus Kukis should forgive, forget and move on. Unless he thinks of Kukis as robots, there is no justification to justify his unrepentant apology.

Thus like the saying goes, “An apology without changed behavior is just manipulation,” If Mr. Biren is truly regretful, he must show his regret and repentance by action not just words. Resignation from CM post is the initial step he should take.