MANIPUR’S ’S IMPLOSION WILL HURT THE INDIA STORY https://www.hindustantimes.com/opinion/manipurs-implosion-will-hurt-the-india-story-101690034526283.html By Avinash Paliwal Jul 22, 2023 - Hindusthan Times
Manipur, and the rest of the Northeast, are central to India, and state collapse there is already hurting the India story. Any approach to resolve this cannot be driven by narrow electoral calculations.
The BJP’s error has been to confuse electoral dominance emanating from such pragmatic arrangements with ideological and political hegemony. The moment the BJP’s Manipur branch under chief minister N Biren Singh pushed the Meitei agenda of demanding Scheduled Tribe (ST) status to win more resources for this community at the cost of Zo-Kuki interests, the arrangement collapsed. Even in the illicit drug sector, which is connected to regional electoral finance, cross-community cartels began colliding violently to retain monopolies over cross-border routes, products, and suppliers...
In the past, the Congress let Manipur down by its divisive tactics and fostering a political economy dominated by dependencies on central grants and cross-border smuggling. The BJP today has failed Manipur by overplaying its assimilationist hand without altering such toxic dependencies.
r. The fact that the conflict is being framed around an attack on Christian minorities could mobilise new constituencies in western capitals. But there are more serious, practical security-strategic concerns too. With an ongoing military standoff with China, New Delhi can ill-afford state collapse and extreme social polarisation in a northeastern border state. societal fracture offers a ripe ground for covert interventionism by India’s regional adversaries...
The possibility of China and Pakistan’s interference to exacerbate India’s domestic faultlines has always lingered in this region.
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