Freeing movement

As the blockade on Manipur crosses its sixtieth day,purposeful movement appears to be found only in court. A public interest litigation against the blockade yielded this month a directive from the Imphal bench of the Gauhati high court to the police to procure the presence of one of the leaders of the blockade. The state government has,consequently,announced as wanted persons David Choro president of the All Naga Students Association of Manipur and Samson Remei acting president of the United Naga Council. Movement on the two national highways that feed Manipur NH 39 and NH 53 remains problematic,with the trucks moving under security cover still proving to be insufficient. The blockade began on April 11,as protest against elections in the six autonomous district councils in hill districts and Manipurs refusal to permit NSCN I-M leader Thuingaleng Muivahs visit to his native village for fear of disturbances. Yet,even as recent developments complicate further the politics of the region,it is of deep concern that,seen from Manipur,the instruments of state are looking ever more hollowed out in their capacity to care for citizens basic requirements and protect the free movement of goods and people.

The inability of the authorities to assert their control over the situation is showing up in a variety of ways. Weekly updates measure the length of the blockade with the rising prices of essential commodities and the resulting economic perversions are illustrated through a dark,possibly apocryphal,example of television dealers drawing custom by offering petrol instead of the usual cable connection. As the blockade draws on beyond the short spans that people have become accustomed to,rice farmers worry about getting the tilling done in time. Hospitals are running on empty. And students wonder about again missing classes,bringing on memories of the four months lost last year when protests over an encounter death forced closure of schools. And relations with Nagaland and amongst communities within the state all of which can be fragile even in more tranquil times are becoming more binary,with counter-blockades sought in the name of the blockaded.

Even as the Centre works on the political dimensions of the situation,it must investigate how little that entity called government must mean to people routinely scooped out of their ordinary lives and into scarcity and isolation. Talk abounds of activating other roads,of emergency measures to assist the state for economic losses. But this moment requires more. It is time the government made itself felt by showing the leverage and will to begin the restoration of normalcy.