I'm wide off the mark.

At around 10.30 in the morning, the first two results were announced. I turned on the computer and started typing. Then, the power supply was interrupted. Earlier, I thought that we would some trends by 8.30 in the morning. But they started counting the postal ballots first and opened the EVMs after 9 am only. Thus, the delay in getting the trends.

I’m wide off the mark regarding the performance of the MPP in this election. They are not even the close 2nd position.

The tally at 4 pm is:

INC—21

MPP—5

NCP—5

RJD—3

CPI—3

Independents—8.

Senior politicians like L. Chandrmani, Th. Chaoba, RK Dorendra, W. Nipamacha, Nimaichand Luwang are all defeated.

One thing is certain that the rebels’ strategy to influence the results fails miserably. Even, NSCN(IM)’s effort to pitchfork their men suffered a heavy blow. In Tamenglong, in particular, the voters are challenging the dictates of the outfit. There is every likelihood that the bargaining power of Mr Muivah will be greatly reduced as the results clearly shows that he cannot carry the mandates of the people of the hills of Manipur.

I actually do have a lot of imaginations!

Even elderly women turned their heads to have a look at her. As she walked through the crowd under the flyover everybody there seemed to turn his head to have a furtive glance towards her.

She has the face; she is shapely and fashionable and even has a touch of class. But she looked nearing her thirties and so, it is quite surprising that I’ve not seen her before.

Well, I only strayed a few hundred feet to follow her!

I was on my usual route to the reading room near GM Hall. Halfway through my walk, I saw her coming from opposite direction. I stopped, turned around and followed her!

But the most tantalizing thing is several times she flipped her hair to make cover for her sideway glances to confirm if someone was following her. And she did actually see me following her!

In the end, her body language told me that she was fleeing her stalker! She abruptly stopped a rickshaw coming near her and jumped into it and in no time, she was gone. But in doing so, I clearly heard her telling the rickshaw where to take her. It seemed that she was telling the rickshaw her place a bit louder!

I may be imagining things but a wannabe writer should have a lot of that stuff!

For tomorrow, if I get the power supply, I’ll keep updating this blog as often as possible. The counting of votes begins at 8 in the morning and we should have at least some trends by 8.30 in the morning.

Rudderless and scary

I’ll take a big risk and put it in record that yesterday’s ambush would remained an unclaimed one. Nobody will come out with a press statement claiming it as their achievement.

We have also two very interesting military strikes by the underground but nobody in the underground come out opening to stake claim for them.

>> First is the military action eliminating Mr Chingsubam Akaba.

>> Second is the military strike killing 4 cadres of a particular underground outfit, which is predominantly run by Muslims of the State. This Muslim-run outfit accused another group of eliminating 4 of its cadres but the accused outfit remained silent. And, the Muslim-run outfit did not retaliate, so far.

If somebody is using his precious military resources to strike at a target but unwilling to let the public know about the reason for the deployment of his military resources, then we should conclude that his political objectives cannot keep pace with the changing political developments in the ground.

In another words, some powerful groups in our society are rudderless.

This is really scary development.

First glimpse of the turmoils ahead

16 servicemen of Indian Reserve Battalion were killed and 5 injured in an ambushed in Tamenglong this morning. They were returning to Imphal after their election duty in the district.

Till 9 in the night, I could not get any further details.

It is common knowledge that, despite its name, IRB servicemen are raised exclusively from the States where they are to be based. IRB based in Nagaland have their servicemen exclusively from Nagaland. It is same in the case of Mizoram or Assam.

As the population is mostly concentrated in the valley, most of the IRB servicemen are from the valley. So, the ambush in Tamenglong this morning is a calculated move to strike at the population belonging to valley. In another word, it is move to put a wedge between valley and hills.

Now, we have to remember that Muivah is his early seventies. At his age it is kind of natural that he is contemplating his position in the Naga history. So, it is likely that he would be masterminding a make or break push for the creation of the greater Nagaland so that his position in the Naga history is ensured.

There would be simultaneous agitation in the floor of the Manipur State Assembly by their chosen MLAs and in the Naga streets by the so called civil society organizations. And?

Yes, there would be ambushes by their armed wing, like today’s, which would be aimed to further deteriorate the relations between valley and the hills.

To my mind, today’s ambush is the prognosis of the scale of the turmoil that is descending on this unfortunate State.

Making the most of a bandh day

Today we came to face to face with another of those bandh. A Maring lady was dead because of neglect of doctors of the RIMS. She died with her unborn baby. The bandh was called to protest the unethical practice of the doctors.

As if to prepare properly the groundwork for the bandh of the following day, there was sudden black out at around 7 pm last night. It lasted the whole night and the following morning. The electric supply was resumed this afternoon only.

So, I was indoors all throughout the day.

To make most of the bandh, I sat down and wrote down the skeleton of a screenplay.

I’m making two groups of youths of different classes of this society meet and interact in a given situation. I’m going to see if I can produce dramatic moments in this interaction. I’m also going to transplant a real life incident in that interact and try to produce climatic effects.

As I see it now, my major effort will be to prevent the story from veering towards what one calls the ‘art’ or ‘good’ cinema. I want it to be enjoyable by the regular folks. But the class difference in this society is not that stark. It is subtle in the truest meaning of the word. Can I get hold of that subtle hue?

In the evening I went out and bought a fish. It’s most appropriate to close a bandh day by cooking a fish. FISHY!

Well, what did she say?

Some five/six buildings down the street towards Keisamthong there sprung up a film training institute. A sizable number of students are coming to the institute and it appears that most of them art girls. Why that’s so? I have no idea but it may just explain the dearth of leading men in today’s Manipuri cinema!

They cannot dress up. They are coming to the institute in uniform. Despite the constraint of having to come in uniforms, they are still fashionable, shapely and well, beautiful.

That so many beautiful girls have to converge in a single building in a fairly predictable timing means that a lot of guys are also converging in groups in the shops and businesses along the route.

This afternoon I went out to the furniture showroom of my friend. Believe me, I went out there for talking business with my friend. As luck would have, my friend happened to go out for some errands and I had to wait for him sitting there.

Just then, the girls were coming out of the institute in small groups as the day’s classes were over. As they were making their small and dainty steps along the street, they were making it gay, colorful and yes, lively.

I could notice that two girls came out last, making the tail end of the streaming groups of beauties along the street. The two crossed the showroom where I was sitting and after some minutes, they returned. Just as they again re-crossed the showroom, one of the girls turned her haughty head towards the side of the street, where, unmistakably, some guys were gathering. She conjured up one of those charming smiles and said..

Well, what did she say?

She said---‘Dhut’!

Normally, a girl should not take the first step but with a ‘dhut’ it can be done! More than that, it was not taken as a first step but just a playful gesture which did not make the guys mad and at the same time not construed as too inviting.

Above all, ‘dhutting’ is also very feminine!

‘Dhut’ is a wonderful word!

Fall in line

In a related matter with my last post, the kidnapped candidate of the Tamenglong Assembly Constituency, announced the withdrawal of his candidature from the elections as soon as he was released from the custody of the NSCN(IM). It shows that the rebel outfit is ready to play hardball in the face of the emerging resistance to its dictates in the district of Tamenglong.

In Chandel district, which borders Burma, there was also a protest rally by the women folks against the interference in the elections.

In the light of these emerging resistances to its dictates, it is indeed interesting that Mr Isaac Swu and Mr Thui-ngaleng Muivah chose to issue a joint press statement. They said that they are working for a greater Nagaland and talks with New Delhi pursuing that goal should start as soon as the elections conclude in Manipur.

>> We have to note here that it is a joint press statement. Here, we should remember that the two leaders arrived in India separately. Mr Muivah flew in from Amsterdam. Mr Swu, in sharp contrast, surfaced somewhere in Assam ( ostensibly from Bangladesh, jumping all legal processes) and traveled to Dimapur by road. And, a few months earlier, Mr Swu publicly called for a third party, preferably UN, mediation in the ongoing talks.

So, the friction between the two leaders is now public.

>> There is the change in vocabulary. They are using ‘Nagaland’ instead of ‘Nagalim’—greater Nagaland to be exact. They are dropping the pretence of not provoking the neighbouring States in asking for a greater Nagaland.

So, it’s a sort of coming to the moment of truth for them—they have to snatch the ‘greater Nagaland’ overcoming all the fierce resistances from the neighbouring Sates.

After noting these two points, we shall also not fail to note the timing of the joint press statement. It is being targeted to the voters in Tamenglong and Chandel districts who go to the polls on the 23rd. Sensing emergence of resistance to their leadership, they are in effect trying to put across the message that if the voters vote for the NSCN(IM)-sponsored candidates, they would be voting for a greater Nagaland. They are saying—‘Fall in line’.

Last but not the least, it also shows that Mr Muivah is now under tremendous pressure to come up with something tangible from the 9 years old talks.

Murdering rule of law.

Today’s papers carried a headline maker press statement by the 57th Mountain Division of the Indian Army. Briefly, it said that it utilized its good relation with the NSCN(IM) to secure the release of the candidate contesting the Tamenglong Assembly Constituency who was kidnapped by the rebel outfit.

The press statement sounded as if it was doing a service to the society, to the State or to the Indian nation by its deed of securing the release of the candidate by utilizing its ‘good relation’ with the rebel outfit.

But in actual terms, it was involving itself in setting free a kidnapper from the clutches of the law. So, the big question remains—what will happen to the rule of law in this part of the world?

I’m aware that there is no rule of law in most of the hilly parts of Manipur. That is a common knowledge. But why 57th Mountain Division should put to use its time and energy in perpetuating that appalling state of affairs in that part of the State?

And, what will the fate of the 11 Manipur Rifles personnel who were as the security guards for the candidate by the government of Manipur? They were also detained by the cadres of the NSCN(IM) and their weapons were also confiscated by the same cadres. The Government of Manipur had no choice but to put them under suspension for dereliction of their duty of providing security to the candidate.

It is sad that 57th Mountain Division of the Indian Army should choose to become a party in the act of detaining 11 security personnel of a State government and confiscating their weapons.

57th Mountain Division of the Indian Army is actively assisting in the killing of rule of law in Manipur.

The case of the fleeing politicians

Today, I spent all day long in my house. It was only when dusk set in that I walked out of my house for the first time today!

I wanted to buy an eveninger. I roamed all throughout the Paona Bazar area, which was all shut down because of the bandh called by the rebels to boycott the visit of the Prime Minister. Normally, severally hawkers would be found selling several eveningers in the area. But, today, not a one could be found.

In the B.T. Road area I spotted a lone hawker. As I approached him, he coolly walked into some building holding a bundle of papers. I waited for him, standing near his bicycle. I waited for him for nearly 10 minutes. What made him stay that long inside that building if his purpose was to deliver the papers? I have no idea but, when he came out he told he had not a single copy for sale. He barely had the enough copies for his subscribers.

The moral of the story is that he lost half of his business of the bandh. On the way back, I noticed several elderly women trying to sell fish but unable to find buyers.

So, back at home, I turned on the good old radio for 7.30 pm Manipuri news. The Prime Minister at a Tamenglong election meeting told the crowd that peace is the first and primary condition for the development of Manipur. That is the bad old cliché! The radio further told us that the National Games concluded in Guwahati with Manipur at the second spot. A die hard Manipur supporter would say if all the Manipuri players playing for other states and services, Manipur is the sure winner. Hmmmm..why don’t they all come back here and make the State the rightful winner?

Lastly, the radio informed us that an independent candidate for the Tamenglong Assembly Constituency was kidnapped by some armed persons. As I said in my last post, this is definitely a flashpoint in the making.

But what is the response of the senior politicians of Delhi to the bandh called by the rebels for the purpose of boycotting them? Their response is to stay in Manipur for a few hours and flee the place. Is it response worthy of senior politicians of an emerging power centre like New Delhi?
C’mon, they are fleeing!!

Flashpoint in the making

It would be really interesting to see if the voters of Tamenglong could elect an MLA who was not sponsored by the NSCN(IM). Tamenglong district goes to polls on the 24th to elect 3 MLAs.

It is now established beyond any doubt that the people of Tamenglong have ventured into the step in revolting against the NSCN(IM). They are questioning legitimacy of the NSCN(IM) to force them to vote for a particular candidate who was sponsored by it.

The first visible evidence of the revolt could be the protest rally organized by the Zeliangrong Women’s Front. They were protesting against the intimidations by the rebel group and asking for free and fair elections.

And, it’s now clear that all is not well within inner workings of the NSCN(IM) itself. Prof Gangmumei Kamei was the original candidate in one the three constituencies sponsored by it. But some days back there was a media report that he was dropped as the sponsored candidate. They named another candidate as the sponsored candidates when the elections were barely a week away.

Tamenglong district is the least developed district of the State. There are hardly any motorable roads in the interior parts of the district. Taking advantage of such geographical inaccessibility, any conceivable rebel groups in the State have stationed their army bases in the interiors of the district. The combined forces of such armies together with the organizational base of the NSCN(K) are nearly gaining the critical mass for exerting a complete control over the district thereby pushing aside the NSCN(IM) from the geographical areas of the district.

The recent protest rally by the women folks is in fact the reflection of the changing power equations in the district.

All these developments have made the NSCN(IM) so nervous that they had announced that they would be recruiting 2000 youths from Tamneglong district as a special package. These youths would be given the necessary military training and would be given monthly salary! They know that everybody loves a regular monthly salary!!

This also shows that they are not giving up the district without a fight. So, it would not surprise anybody if the Tamenglong district develops into a flashpoint sooner than later.

Again

Again, I got to get up early in the morning tomorrow. Normally, I try not to go out in the morning. But sometimes it’s unavoidable and tomorrow is another such day.

Today, Imphal has its share unseasonable cold. There was bright sunshine but it was chilly. Bizarre.

Best place for such a night is surely the bed, where I’m going to after shutting down this computer.

Tomorrow should be just another normal, not this chilly!

In a hurry

It was at around 8pm on the night of the 13th when there was a power outrage in my area. The outrage lasted all throughout the night, then the whole day time of the following day and the whole night as well. We have to remember here that 14th is the Election Day. The outrage continued uninterrupted all throughout the Election Day and all throughout the night as well. We got electricity at around 4 in the afternoon only today!

So, everybody was trying to abandon the sinking ship? All the minor officials of the essential services like electricity got winds that this government is returning to power again and did not take orders form the higher officials?

Or is it the case of some officials willfully manufacture an outrage on the Election eve to influence the undecided voters? Any undecided voter confronting with nearly 50 hours of power outrage on the Election Day would surely curse and would wish that the government be thrown out of power. Is something tried to create that scenario?

Or, is it the case a blogger letting loose all his imaginations and creating mountain out of anthill?

In any case, my plan for updating this blog 3 or 4 times on the Election Day could not be fulfilled. I’m sorry for that. And right at the moment I’m helpless if I’m confronted with a prolonged power outrages.

And most fittingly, when I went inside the polling station to cast my vote I found out that somebody had already voted impersonating me!

It is now fairly certain that the Congress Party is not returning to power in the State.

But tonight I’m in a little hurry because I got to rise early in the morning for meeting a friend. I’ll come back tomorrow with more details.

That first Sunday

I’ll start with this disclaimer. I’m not a supporter of Manipur People’s Party. But it is altogether another matter if I should decide to vote for it in this election. If I decide so, I guess it is demanded by the present situation of my society, not the least conditioned by my support of the party.

I think it was on the first Sunday of this month when the flag hoisting ceremony of Mr Laishom Ibomcha, candidate of the MPP for our constituency, was held. I’m not particularly impressed by the ceremony of this MPP candidate. It is only that I could not attend any of those of flag hoisting ceremonies and this MPP candidate’s place is only 4 or 5 house from mine and so, the proceedings of his ceremony could be clearly listened to, and appreciated, from my house. I was preparing my lunch that Sunday when those proceedings started.

The first major speaker was Mr Paonam Achou. He is the working president of MPP and himself a candidate from Uripok Assembly constituency. I must add here that he is being perceived as a sure shot winner in his constituency. His first sentence was to the effect that he was being overwhelmed by the sense of history of that meeting. I thought that he was into the election gimmickry. But his next sentence caught me unaware. He told the crowd that it was in 1968 (he gave the exact date and month—I can’t remember them) that the MPP was founded right there at the ‘mamang shang-goi’ of Laishom Ibomcha. This is the first time I heard about the matter and it occurred to me as a lesson in history. Then he coolly came to the portion of his speech which lucidly proved him what he is –an old warhorse! He told the crowd that Congress Party is very strong in the hills. To prove his point, he foisted last election results before the crowd mentioning that the Congress did actually capture 10 seats out of the 20 seats earmarked for the hills. But he hastened to add his knocked out punch line—he told the crowd that the Congress would returned with a nil seat in this election! He told them that it was because of the Naga and Kuki rebels’ resolve to send their own people to the next Assembly. Then, he again came to the last election’s result mentioning that the congress managed to get only 10 seats in the valley constituencies. So, he reasoned with the crowd that even if the Congress could manage (which he, of course, doubted!) to repeat last election’s performance, they would have with them 10 seats only. Then, he emphasized that with 10 seats only in their kitty it would be impossible for the Congress Party to form the next government. His manner of putting across the statistics before the crowd was really folksy and on that Sunday afternoon, I felt that the crowd readily accepted his reasonings.

The next major speaker was Mr R.K. Dorendra, who occupied the seat of Chief Minister Ship twice (I think it is twice—but I’m not sure). His was a very short speech. He told the crowd that Mr Mani Charanamei, the sitting Member of Parliament from the outer (that is, hill’s) constituency was never in politics. He emphasized that he was a minor employee in one of the departments of Government of Manipur. The NSCN (IM) talked him out to take voluntary retirement from his job and to contest the elections. He told the crowd that the rebel outfit, by using some magic wands, managed to get him elected, in the process, beating several veterans in the field. With such kind of track record, he told the crowd, that all 10 NSCN(IM) sponsored candidates in the Naga majority hills areas would be sure to get elected. In such a scenario, giving emphasis to the word, he told the crowd that it was very CRUCIAL elections in the political history of Manipur. He left the podium, deliberately letting the word, CRUCIAL, hanged there in the air, amongst the crowd. It was an impressive speech.

The last major speaker was Dr L. Chandramani. Well, he was speaking as though he was already occupying the Chief Minister’s chair! He told the crowd to get Mr Laisom Ibomcha elected so that he would be managing a major portfolio in the government! Besides all the blusters, there were those moments of poignancies in his speech. He clearly told the crowd he was readying for retirement from active politics. He used the word ‘we’ to include RK Dorendra and Thounaojam Chaoba by name to say that they were getting old and they were in the lookout for the second line of leadership. Again, he hinted at the emergence of Laisom Ibomcha as one of those new leaderships to strongly plead the crowd to elect him this time as well so that his emerging status was not jeopardized.

What he left unsaid was that it might be his last chance to become the Chief Minister. The crowd should understand that, isn’t it?!

On the lighter note, amongst the nearly 10 speakers, RK Dorendra has that indefinable touch of what one tends to call ‘class’. What is that? Is it that particular way he spewed out his words? Or, is it the intonations? I’m not sure but he sure have that—‘class’.

The swing in the public moods

The swing in the public moods might have started the moment when Muivah had landed in New Delhi for an unscheduled visit. I had already mentioned in brief about the emergence of a surprising swing in the public moods in my last post.

I had several opportunities during the past several weeks to talk about the matter with several people, all of whom may be categorized as ordinary folks. Surprisingly, all of them have a very lucid picture of the emerging political storm which have been slowly but steadily engineered along the Southern borders of our State.

They are all knowledgeable about the ongoing plan during this election to re-position the demand for the inclusion of the four district of Mnaipur in the envisioned Greater Nagaland NOT simply as a demand of another of the several rebel groups of the Region, BUT as the legitimate demand for the people inhibiting these four districts.

The first step towards that goal is to make the people elect MLAs who would be willing to be a member of the Manipur State Assembly but still ready put up resolutions for the dismemberment of the same State. Along with the tabling of such resolutions in the State Assembly there would be parallel agitations in the four districts for the inclusion of themselves in the proposed Greater Nagaland.

The particular rebel group has already pitch forked 10 such candidates for the coming elections who had already signed on the dotted lines in agreement of several documents, one of them is the proforma of the proposed resolution in the State Assembly. Going by the past records of installing the Neiphiu Rio government in Nagaland and the election of Mr Mani Charanamei as one of the MPs from the hills parliamentary constituency, those 10 candidates are sure to return to the State Assembly as the elected MLAs.

These are the harbingers of the swing in the public moods in Manipur today.

To my mind, the people of Manipur change.

Lost 10 days

There was a sudden hailstorm in Imphal on the 1st day of this month and my phone was knocked out of service by it. I dutifully reported it to the phone company on the following day. But there were so many bandhs and holidays in between that I managed to remind the phone company of my complaint only on the 7th and their ‘linesmen’ visited me on the 9th. On the afternoon on the 9th, they checked my phone lines only upto the DP on the telephone pole on the opposite side of the street of my place. They found the lines ok on their DP and they simply went away without even meeting me! Most probably they reasoned the fault occurred on the lines within my own premises, which in turn, was supposed to be my responsibility.

I don’t know what DP stands for but it is the point on the public telephone poles from where the lines enter individual household. In another words, it is the point form where the ‘last mile’ part starts.

So, this afternoon, I climbed on the rooftops and made repairs to my phone lines! What a change it was!! But I got it done. Now my phone is working.

It is sad but I have already lost 10 days because of the inefficiencies of a phone company and the underdevelopment of a society.

In the meantime, so many things have happened.

For one thing, Manipur People’s Party is in the striking distance of forming the next government in Manipur. It is a very surprising political development here.

And here I should also take this opportunity to correct myself. In several of my earlier posts I said that it was the works of the rebels to resurrect the Manipur People’s Party and positioned it in the present state from where they are in the striking distance of grabbing power in the State. I was wrong in my assessment.

Now I think that there have been these ongoing swings in the public moods. And the rebels are either smarter than most of us or they have their ears closer to the ground that they quickly got winds of the ongoing swings of the public moods and try to capitalize on that. Resurrecting MPP by merging two other regional parties, Federal Party and DRPP was the first step in that direction. I think it was a smart move.

Now in every sense of the term, this election is already proving to be a watershed in the political history of Manipur. The rebels are deploying considerable resources to influence the voters so that MPP returned with a majority of the seats in the next Assembly. They are doing it indirectly but are using all the tricks in their bags. Their main strategy seems to be to slow down as many active Congress Party workers as possible. And right now there are mostly straight fight between the candidates of the MPP and the Congress candidates in most of the constituencies. So slowing down active Congress Party workers would mean empowering the MPP candidates. But the rebels are proving to be far too smart than they are usually credited for. They are deploying all these tricks so unobtrusively!

I’ll come more on these in the following days. But here I should not fail to mention that the hailstorm of the 1st have a remarkable effect on the electioneering, at least! The hailstorm brought drizzles to Imphal and it only subsided two days back. It was cold and wet and terribly depressing. So depressing that we could not find even a remote hint that there would be an election after 10 days—so completely quite!!

Even tonight, as I’m typing this, it is so quite in Imphal. It appears that most of the voters have already decided who would be the winners! We should try to be humble in front of the collective wisdom of the folks—the power of the crowd!!

A would be post!

I typed out the following on the night of the 1st only to be found out that my phone was thrown oout of service by the hailstorm. Nothing remarkable about the write up but I still want to post it.

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How the thunderstorm struck Imphal! It came out of nowhere. I for one was completely taken by surprise.

It was dusk. I was just settling down with my cup of green tea when it struck us so suddenly. No warning so whatsoever.

While we were so mercilessly lashed by the storm, electricity also suddenly left us. I muttered-‘just in time’. But when I looked out, I found out that we were only 3 or 4 houses that were blacked out. All other houses were there all brightly lit up. Even in the middle of a hailstorm!

Well done, Government of Manipur for keeping their electric supply uninterrupted even during a hailstorm!

There was electricity in the majority of the houses even in the middle of a hailstorm. That was a some kind of record! I was loving that record even though I was there trying to cook my dinner in the middle of a hailstorm, multitasking in trying to save the flame of the kerosene lamp from being blown out by the strong winds!!

I was preparing to eat my dinner at around 10. Then, suddenly that elusive electricity returned to my place. 10 at night and there was still someone checking the grid! This again was another record. My thumb rule is that if we get blacked out at an hour later than 9 in the night there is no possibility of getting back the electricity because all the emergency staff personnel are busy having their dinner and are readying to go to bed.

I got electricity at 10 at night. But I was so thoroughly mentally prepared not let go of the rare chance of going to bed early that I anyhow went to bed immediately after my dinner.

Sometimes, I also want to go to sleep early. So, I just did that. What the heck!

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