India : We are ready for the 3rd of January 2016.

As the year is ending we are witnessing the glimpses of the nature of the battle plans,which would surely have impacts on the day-to-day life in Manipur.

1) On the 30th of December,Indian Navy test fired long-range Barak surface-to-air missile.The stand-out feature of the test fire is the active participation of Israel Aerospace.

2) On the same day,the highest decision making body of India approved nearly Rs 400 crores for building 69 bridges along the Imphal-Mandalay route.

3) We are still on the same day.The venue is in Moreh.The officials of the Government of Manipur distributed nearly Rs 3 crores worth of compensation for the victims of the 18th August 2015 incident.

We had witnessed the above three events on the same day because the Govt of India carefully orchestrated them.

The last mentioned event is the most significant,though outwardly,in terms of the amount of money involved and geographical location of the venue,it seems to be a minor happening.

The reason is that the Govt of India is,by orchestrating the three events in general but by letting everybody concerned read between the lines the last-mentioned event in particular,saying that they are ready for the 3rd of January 2016.

In the above statement of the Govt of India we are witnessing the emergence of its battleplans.

Even by a cursory look at the above three events,anybody can grasp that India is more emphasizing on carrot rather than on stick.On Chanakya's scheme of things,it is the 'dhan' stage of the battlefield.They are targeting to corrupt the enemy by pouring money over them.By all imaginable measure,Chanakya seems to be so archaic.But 'dhan' warfare is having an outsized impact on the 'enemies' residing in Manipur.People,it seems,fail even to read up the old theories,like that of Chanakya's.As a simple man living here,it feels suffocating to see people around me so trapped in this time warp.But it's also really interesting to see how the political class in New Delhi is lapping up the oldies like that of Chanakya's.

Still,India is wise in outsourcing the real war,the stick,to Eastern Europe,where Russian are in an unbearable condition facing the encroaching West.It's not about the Russian political class.The average Russian has no option but war if the encroaching West starts devouring Ukraine.

It's like somebody tries to take the hills away from Manipur.

The 9th of December

Today is the 9th of December.

There were protest events in two district headquarters of Manipur.They were protesting the passing of the three bills by the Manipur Legislative Assembly.

The last post of this blog mentioned that the said three bills adequately represent the will of the people of Manipur.If there are protests against the bills by some sections of the people of Manipur,how can we say that the bills adequately represent the will of the people?

This is difficult question for the present generation of the people to answer.In all fairness,it would be accepted by all that the question is best answered by the people of this society who are several generations away down the line.

But the present generation have no choice but to negotiate hard choices confronting the society.In doing so,they have to be constantly guided by this difficult question.

Are we making choices which are dictated by the will of the people of this society?

How are we going to know that we are representing the will of the people?

I'm fairly certain that these are the questions that are foremost in the mind of the leaders of various constituents within  Manipur who are currently trying to make the hard choices facing the society.Each leader in their own way assume that he/she represents the will of the people.

But the folks in our society are witnessing several leading constituents taking visibly divergent paths in trying to make the difficult choices for the society,that too,while their leaders assuming that they are representing the will of the people.

Noting that we are in a pretty difficult position,let's try to address to the question from another perspective.

Can the three bills be counted as representing the will of the people while still facing some protest from some section of the society?

Fortunately for us we have Nepal to serve as our sounding board.

The recent Comstituent Assembly of Nepal was boycotted by the Madhesis,the people of Indian origin of the country(who form nearly 50% of the whole population of Nepal).Despite that,the business of the Assembly was pushed forward and the brand-new Constitution is,presently,in force in Nepal.

Should we say the brand-new Constitution of Nepal do not adequately represent the will of the people of that country?

Are we equating the hillmen of Manipur with the Madhesis of Nepal? Is there any legitimate ground for doing so?

If we try to answer these new questions,we would be surely faced with endless polemics.There is no good in traversing along that path.But the one thing which would be universally acceptable is the statement that the hillmen of Manipur have already got a law(in the form of their tribal customary law,which, any other State laws,on purpose,do not supercede) which forbids the purchase of lands in hills by non-hillmen.The existing law pretty much solve the problem arising out of influx of migrants.

This must be reason why the hillmen did not participate in the agitations for enacting the three bills,which,it must be noted,aim to stem the tide the influx of migrants in the state.

Viewed from this perspective,it would be completely unreasonable for the hillmen to say now that they form no part in the agitation and hence,they have nothing to do with the three bills.

While still trying to deal with the subtle question mentioned above,we should also not forget the fact that there were protests against the three bills on the 9th of Dec because they wanted them to serve as a response to the ultimatum--the ultimatum by the leaders spearheading the agitations for the three bills(my last post).

As a way of reinforcing this response they have just wrapped up the Heart of Asia conference in Islamabad.The Heart of Asia conference is a Turkish initiative,which,incidentally,is holding  the torch of the war by shooting down the Russian fighter jet.

Not to be outdone,Russia also fired the first missile from a submarine towards Syria.

Now,on the 9th of Dec,I'm reading this newsreport from Burma.They are attacking the Shans,which,here,in our society,is also known as the Pongs.Like the Russians do with their missile from submarine,they are attacking the Pongs for no military objective.Instead,they are emphasizing the significance of the 9th of Dec.

The age old general perception of the Pongs is that they are less trustworthy.Reading this together with the protest events of the 9th Dec,it's legitimate to raise this question--would the Pongs go with the hillmen to de-legitimize the three bills?

Would they do that?

Manipur and Montenegro -- tiny poetic narrative.

Montenegro is tiny.It has a population of only 6,00,000.It is situated in the Balkans,which has all along been accepted as the Russian immediate sphere of influence.

NATO foreign ministers,meeting in Brussels,less than 36 hours ago,officially invited Montenegro to join it.

It is a declaration of war by other means.

Russia had always termed the previous trespassing into its sphere of influence as  'provocation' and this time they resolutely declared that there would be retaliation.

In essence,the West,through its military arm,NATO,is testing Russia's resolve to go war over such a tiny stake,for such a tiny State.

Upto now,we are dealing with hard geopolitics.There has always been tension between supposedly more refined Western Europe(roughly represented by the military establishment,NATO) and supposedly rustic Eastern Europe(of which Montenegro and Russia form a part).Now,they are trying to transport the 'rustic' Montenegro to the more refined part of Europe,therby disturbing the age old geopolitical faultline.In this sense,even in the European context,it is East vs West paradigm.

What follows now is the complete opposite of the hard geopolitics.Indeed,it is almost poetic.

Leaders of the West are using the tiny Montenegro as metaphor to poetically express the following:

       Just as Russia is unlikely to go war over the tiny Montenegro,
       Why should anybody would risk going to a bigger war over the
        proceedings
        inside a tiny space,called Manipur?

But there is no poem in Manipur at the present moment.On the same day the NATO foreign ministers issued the invitation to Montenegro,the agitators for the three bills had served the ultimatum to the government to act before the 15th Dec,2015.If the government fail to act by that time,they would resume their agitation.

The three bills are the expression of the will of the people of Manipur to continue to live peaceful under a constitutional setup.The present constitutional setup should respect the will of the people and should make the three bills the law of the land.

We should not view the three bills as the handiwork of some agitators.Instead,they should view them as the expression of the will of people of Manipur.

The whole world should respect the sanctity of the will of people of Manipur as expressed in the three bills.

If the world fail to respect it,there might be bigger war over the proceedings inside the tiny Manipur.Far bigger war than the NATO leaders are rsiking over tiny Montenegro.

The Chinese ambassador,missile and 'development'(updated).

I was clueless about the latest Prithvi missile test by India.

Of course,the above statement is a little awkward.Why should anybody try to find deeper meaning into apparently routine missile tests?

Before answering this question,I would like to state that Prithvi missiles are well past their testing stage.Are they not already inducted into India's military formations?

Besides this.I always find some significant political messages in all of the Prithvi missile tests.Two days back.there was this news report of the latest Prithvi missile test along the sea coast of Odisha.So,I asked myself--'What message in this latest test?'

At that time,I had not got the exact itinerary of the Chinese ambassador's Manipur visit.I have read that the ambassador is here in Manipur for a four day official visit to attend the Sangai Festival.Even today,I cannot get his itinerary.

Did he arrive on the day on which there was the Prithvi missile test along the Odisha coast?

If that's the case,the message is very clear--'We do not like the Chinese ambassador to have anything to do with Manipur'.

Did he arrive the day on which Manipur's newspapers gave prominent spaces to the announcement by the NIA of fresh rewards for those rebels executing the Paraolon ambush on June 4 this year?

If that's the case,the message sent out by the NIA is quite clear--'Mr Ambassador,your government is the main architect of that ambush'.

Besides all these possible messages to the Chinese ambassador,what's most interesting is that the ambassador himself talked about 'development'.The main theme of his visit is that Manipur could have more 'development' if it look East.

It now seems that Mr Narendra Modi's mantra of 'development' is about to encounter a strong competition from the Chinese model of development in the near future,at least,in a space called Manipur.

But the most unlikely impact might have been felt by none other the Chief Minister of Manipur himself.He has all along gives his opinion publicly that New Delhi got to give the Manipur's share of development fund.This opinion publicly expressed belies his nervousness that New Delhi might curtail such funds.This nervousness is magnified by the knowledge that Manipur do not contribute anything to Government of India treasury by way of taxation.

At this juncture,the Chinese ambassador himself told him that further 'development' is possible if he starts looking East.


UPDATE
30-11-15
3.15pm

I missed out on another important perspective regarding the Chinese ambassador's visit to Imphal.

Today's newspapers told us Mr Reuben Mangshava was in Kummin,China on 27th of this month.He was participating in a cultural festival there.He was not alone.Together with him are musical bands from Nagaland,like Tetseo Sisters.

Around the same time there was a bomb blast in Somdal,Ukhrul,Manipur.

If read together,we have to deduct that the ambassador's visit prodded not only the Chief Minsiter of Manipur but also the lay Nagas to start looking East.In another words,they are being prodded to abandon 'Look West' policy of Muivah and co.

I'm certain all the Naga laymen are immensely keen in starting looking East.

The downed Russian warplane points to Asian implosion.

It's quite apparent that the strategic thinkers in the West correctly read the ferocity of the energy likely to be released in the implosion in the Indian sub-continent.They correctly assess that the energy would have the power to sweep away the existing world order.

While we were continuosly deliberating on the exact location of the likely active battlefront,first,on this date and then,another one,the actual battlefront suddenly became active along the Turkish-Syrian border.There a Russian fighter jet was shot down by the F-16 of the Turkist airforce.

It appears that the battle for the new world order was joined along the far away Turkish-Syrian border.But we should not be lured into accepting such appearances as real.As soon as the the Russian warplane was shot down,news came trickling in that there was fresh development in Churachandpur.They are now saying that the nine death bodies are unlikely to be buried on the 30th of Nov 2015.They are keeping their dead unburied for poitical reason for such a long time.Did they embalm the bodies?

This Churachandpur development brings forth the supreme question of the moment: How long would the Manipuri society wait for New Delhi to give assent to the three bills?

Manipuri society's continued existence directly depends on the fate of the three bills.If we cannot make the three bills the laws of the land,then,we are,in principle,accepting the slow dead of our society.

If New Delhi is not willing to give assent to the three bills under any pretext(like,engineering a series of fresh 'developments' in Churachandpur),how would Manipuri society react to it? Would it be legitimate for it to work for the implosion of the Indian sub-continent?

In this light,we must accept that the battlefront is actually so close to us.In fact,it resides witin our midst.

As we were reading the news report of the shooting down of the Russian fighter jet,we also did not fail to notice accompanying report that the '3rd World War' was trending on Twitter.I personally could not witness the trend then.But,during the morning of the 24th Nov 2015, 'Manipur' was actaully trending on Twitter.I have this screenshot.

Manipur-Burma border--- a diversion?

I think something is going to happen as prime minister Modi is meeting his Chinese counterpart in Kuala Lumpur.

But as the date,24th Nov suggests,Burmese Army is no longer the target.Now,the target is the cadre of valley rebel groups.

Two things come to mind.

1)As the Naga Regiment was in China in HandinHand,it's something to do wth Nagas.

2)As the Paubi Lai was eliminated by one iconic priest who reminds us of Tamenglong,is it the player of Tamenglong who is going to execute New Delhi's Plan?

Are they targetting massacring of 30-50 of valley-based rebel cadres in Tamenglong district?

In that case,Manipur-Burma border a diversion?

Another interesting date

India's home minister,Mr Rajnath Singh,landed in Beijing in the night of 18th Nov 15(my last post).

He is on a six day visit to China.His visit ended on the 24th of Nov,which is,in itself,a very intersting date.

But what's most interesting at the present juncture is Mr Rajnath Singh himself.We have to remember that Mr Singh was staying a night in Imphal when around 50 Burmese soldiers were killed in an ambush at Laukaing,near Burma-China border.I have a post about it here.

Right now,Mr Singh is in Beijing,specifically,talking about NE insurgents.

What will happen this time?

The date,24th Nov,assumes greater interest when we come to know that the prime minister of India,Mr Narendra Modi,will be wrapping up his Malaysia-Singapore visit on the same date itself.

New Delhi is responding to a situation which demands the no 1 and 2 of the government be out of the country at the same time.(Who will be in charge of India on these days?)

What might this 'situation' be?

The 18th of November.

Today's headline told us that the leaders of the Kuki-Chin-Mizo community had given the Government of Manipur five days time for fulfilling three pre-condition to start dialogue.The main pre-condition is that the Government should withdraw the three bills passed by the State Legislative Assembly within this timeframe.

They gave the ultimatum on the 9th Nov.So,they will wait upto the 14th.

But we should not overlook one very intersting aspect of the date.It's tantalizingly close to 18th Nov,for which I wrote a post on the 19th Nov 2014.

After waiting for five days they are most likely to announce something interesting on the 15th.How would 18th Nov 2015 figure on the anticipated announcement?

Another interesting aspect of the whole drama is that New Delhi also made an official announcement on the same day the Kuki-Chin-Mizo leaders issued the ultimatum.The official annoncemnt said that they would consult all the stakeholders in deciding if they would assent to the three bills.They also pointedly mentioned that the Kuki-Chin-Mizo community has been opposing the three bills.

It requires no effort to understand that they are going to say that they would not be able to give the crucial assent to the three bills because of the opposition from the Kuki-Chin-Mizo community.

It is childish.

New Delhi should have adopted a little more mature strategy to reject the three bills.

Even a child in Manipur knows that it is New Delhi which is manipulating the Kuki-Chin-Mizo leaders to rise up against the three bills so that it would serve as the required pretext to reject the said bills.

I have a post discussing the possible repercussions of New Delhi's rejection of the three bills.

But,right now,what makes me most excited is in asking this question--

-what will happen on the 18th of Noember 2015?-

The Burmese path.

While we were waiting for the D-day,two significant developments took place.

1)US Secretary of Defence,Mr Ashton Carter,openly proclaims that Russia and China are challenging the existing world order.In short,he is publicly acknowledging the battle line.

2)The Government of India,through its agent,Mr RN Ravi,makes everybody concerned understand its official stand that the Nagas has a geniune problem and everybody,especially,the Meeteis,should contribute to help solve the problem.

We can readily accept that the Nagas has a real problem.But,before asking its neighbours for help,the Naga leaders should have a deeper look at the genesis of their problem.Isn't their problem an outcome of the existing world order?What will be the perceptible change in the complexion of their problem in a new world order?

If they ask the above questions,they should not stay bounded withn the contours set by New Delhi,which,by now,has become the ally of the US.They are the important propnents of the saving of architecture of the existing world order.

Now,let's turn our attention to another actor in the whole drama--the Kuki-Chin-Mizo community.

As the leaders of these community are preparing to meet the ministers of the Government of Manipur this afternoon,the Indian Army test-fired Agni-4 missile.The much anticipated beginning of a dialogue process actually becomes the symbol of an act of offence.New Delhi is saying that those Kuki-Chin-Mizo community is their ally and they are making attacking moves by using them.It also turned out that the leaders did not come to start a dialogue process.Instead,they produced a charter of Demand and left.The charter of demand is actually a ultimatum.

What might be the thought of the leaders of the Kuki-Chin-Mizo community on the existing world order?Do they think that they can happily within the existing world order?Don't they like a new world order?

Now,it's just the right moment to make a checklist of the major actors who would work for a new world order.

1)It's definite the Maoists in India would go the new world order.

2)Did they anticipate that the constituent led by Hardik Patel would go for the new world order when they put behind bars in sedition charge?Charging Hardik Patel with sedition is a still a huge surprise.

3)Our own anti-Pakhangba constituent.Would this constituent stick with the existing world order?Won't they like a 'revolution' demolishing this existing world order?

So far,we have listed three actors.We have no time for listing further actors in anticipation of a breathless question--how would these different actors,across different state boundaries, would react to an active battleline?Would some constituents within Manipuri society makes friends with the Nagas because they both love the existing world order despite the fact the Nagas laso want a Nagalim,besides the existing world order?Is there a possibilty that they would make friends with the Kuki-Chin-Mizo community as well?

In asking myself all these question,I am tempted to discuss an important development that happened only a few days back.That development is a symptom of the simmering tussle amonst various constituents within Manipuri society.Why should we postponed discussing it?The reason is that there is still time for all the leaders of these constituents to look towards Burma for their answers.

The two bitterly opposed constituents within the Burmese society come to a working arrangement in anticipation of the coming war of the new world order.The one constituent,led by Aung Sang Suu kyi and the other,by the Burmese army,came to that understanding which led to the historic election yesterday.

I firmly believe that all the leaders of the various contituents within Manipuri society should follow lead provided by Aung Sang Suu Kyi and the Burmese Army.

There should be a general strike on the 3rd Nov 15.

There is complete unanimity in our society that our hills are not negotiable under any circumstances.So,any meeting which will indirectly lead  us to such negotiations should be boycotted.

The one forceful way of such boycott is to call a general strike on the days such meetings are scheduled.

Now is the time of crisis.We should be very focussed and keep things simple.As simple as this : no negotiation on our hills--no to any meeting that would indirectly lead us to such negotiation.

There is still time.All the leading CSOs should decide on the general strike and put strict restrictions on those who receive the invites not to go to the meeting.

D-day--Indian style(updated)

Of course,we have to agree that Indians are magical in weaving stories.They are so good in inserting stories between you and your surroundings.As more and more magical stories are being inserted,you are becoming more and more insulated from your surroundings--the realities around you.In due course,the Indian stories themselves become your 'reality'.

That's exactly what's happening in Churachandpur right now.The people living there are becoming zombies totally controlled by India.

So,it turns out that Indian-style D-day is parading of the zombies as the tactical manoeuvres(my last post).

As we are talking about D-day we cannot forget Burma.I'm constantly trying to keep myself updated on the coming election there on the 8th of Nov 15.The only ethnic minority areas which Aung sang Suu Kyi visited on election campaign are Arakan and Kachin states.In both the states she was violently opposed.Arakan and Kachin? Don't the names ring some bells in our mind?

Leave alone Suu Kyi,any maintream Burmese leader would be violently opposed in the ethnic minorities areas.I think it's common knowledge there in Burmese society.Still Suu Kyi made it a point going to the two specific states.Why?

I have two posts,here and here,which try connect the coming D-day with Arakan and Kachin.

During the last 24 hours,events took place which threw out more insight about the coming D-day.

1)Churachandpur.Here is a report on the matter.

The main theme is that they are ready for talk if the invite from the Government of Manipur comes in a manner invoking Kuki-Chin-Mizo customary laws.The proposition is sure to make every body's head spinning.I'm certain that people in the Government want to send the invite immediately.But they would be at a loss how to send it.

Ensconced in the technicalities,the message is quite clear--Kuki-Chin-Mizo is a totally different from other ethnic groups constituting Manipur.There would not be any business if people do not first acknowledge this fact.Acknowledging this differnce,according to them,is the first step in getting a separate administrative machinery for the Kuki-Chin-Mizo people.

2)It's quite logical for anyone outside of Manipuri society to assume that those constituents, which consider Puya Meithaba as the darkest hour,as the most ethno-centric.

So,on the day they were commemorating Puya Meithaba New Delhi initiated the ethnic play in Churachandpur.

In other words,those constituents,which consider Puya Meithaba as the darkest hour,are in the direct cross hair of New Delhi.

3)On the 'ethnic play' day,the world's most populous ethnic group had also an important announcement.The Chinese,mostly constituted by the Han ethnic group,would from now onwards abandon having a single baby per couple.Now,they would have two babies per couple.

The new announcement points to the projected figure of 1.45 billions Chinese in 2030.What's the projected figure for India?

In other words,can India come out victorious on an 'ethnic play' scheme of things?

To my mind,it would be wise to keep repeating this question during the period starting 3rd of Nov and ending on 7th of Nov 2015.


UPDATE
01-11-15(12.16 AM).

A Russian Airbus airliner with 224 on board crashed over Sinai in Egypt.There was no survivor.

Mr Manohar Parrikar is right now in Russia.We have to remember that in the last Malaysian airliner mystery there was a Russian connection(in the make of the missile that was supposed to hit the airliner).

So,this Sinai edition of the series of Airliner mystery is a prorogue to the D-day--Indian style.

Is tonight the D-day(updated)?

I still cannot access Twitter.

My last Twitter login was at around noon.As I tried to read the latest tweets,I had noticed that the lock emblem and 'https' were crossed out by big red-colouerd 'X'.That was a novelty for me and the colour red in the address bar was certainly striking.And,I didnot fail to ask myself--'what's happening in my Twitter account?'

I also vividly remember the last few tweets.Someone from Indian Express was there at IIT,Delhi covering the Townhall of Mr Mark Zuckerberg.His last tweet(when I was log in) told me that queue was just started forming for a seat at Dogra hall.

So,the funny red cross materialized in the address bar when the Townhall of Mark Zuckerberg was starting in New Delhi.

That immediately brings us to the last Townhall in California which was attended by none other than Mr Narendra Modi,the prime minister of India.

I have this blogpost about that California Townhall.The blogpost said that as the Townhall was progressing in California they were planning to atttack the Tetseo Sisters at Andro,Manipur.

As my blogpsot came several days ahead of the Townhall(and the touorist fest at Andro)nothing nasty happened at Andro.

So,would this second Townhall in New Delhi bring us the postponed 'nastiness' to us?

As the original 'nastiness' was planned during the night of California Townhall at Andro fest,it may happened during the night of the Townhall in New Delhi.

Is tonight the D-day?


UPDATE
10.39 pm.

As I was having my supper.many thoughts came to my mind.

1)Tomorrow,Indian leaders are holding summit meetings with their African counterparts.Are Indian leaders still think of Africa as a dark continent?

2)This thought comes to my mind because some constituents within Manipuri society would be remembering what they call the darkest day in our history--the burning of the Puyas.Holding summit meetings with leaders of the dark continent on the same day when we commemorate our own dark day,are they saying,in the most subtle possible manner--'We know burning of Puyas was the darkest deed but we would do it again'.

3)If the D-day comes tonight and continue after midnight,we would have the starkest possible way of commemorating our dark day.

4)If (3) happens,then,it would give a religious tinge to the battleline.

5)If they succeed in giving a religious tinge to the battleline,they would certainly empower the 'leaders who are losing their ways'(my last post).In a craftiest possible way,they would manage to give a fresh lease life to those leaders.This would result in further intensification of competition amongst leaders and groups within Manipuri society.In other words,this would deepen the disunity in Manipuri society.

Last but not the least.This thought came to me some minutes after publishing this post(I mean,before even cooking my supper!) 15-20 minutes after publishing my post I noticed that there were sudden spike in bursting of crackers not far away from my house.I now think that this spike is already forming a pattern.On two other occassions,one,on the start of 'Hand In Hand' and the other,on the concluding day of 'Hand In Hand',I also noticed this spike.On both the occassions,I also published posts. 15-20 minutes after publishing both the posts,I noticed sudden spikes in the bursting of firecrackers.So,some people were letting everyone know that they were giving encouragements to 'Hand In Hand'.

Tonight,they are giving encouragement to an anticipated D-day.

Leaders losing their ways?

Today is the 90th birth day of RSS.

Early this morning we had a two hour long gunbattle with the rebles and the Indian troops near India-Burma international border.Was that a birthday gift to the RSS?

Rss's toxic influence in Indian polity is best symbolized by Dadri.There a Muslim family was attacked on suspicion that they had kept beef in their fridge.The head of the family was killed in the attack.

It all started with the Maharastra Government banning beef on some select days.The reason--to give respect to the sentiments of a partiular religious group.The governemts of Haryana and some other North Indian states quickly followed the lead by Maharashtra government.

In Indian society cow is sacred.Banning its slaughter is the first step in the RSS idea of what Indian nation is--the Hindu Rastra.

RSS's poster boy,Mr Narendra Modi,India'a prime minister,in his monthly address to the nation over the radio,this morning told the whole nation that he is going all the way to Uk to unveil the statue of Bhagwan Visheshwar.I did some quick searches but could not much information about the Bhagwan.Is the Bhagwan one among the crores of Indian deities?

If it's the case,the mixing of religion and state affairs in supposedly secular India have reached a new scale--the Prime Minsterial level.

Here,in Imphal also,we have a very intersting headline.I'm quoting the some parts of the report from Imphal Free Press.

--He also stressed the need to maintain a secular worldview as “we dovetail with other faiths in the State.”

“The Indian Constitution upholds the secular principle in order to allow all the different religious faiths to coexist in peace and respect” the Chief Minister said.

However he also implored the audience of the land’s past, before the arrival and convergence of many to Hinduism and Christianity.

“I wonder what the authentic faith of our forefather some three centuries ago was. Perhaps there was a more inclusive worship and celebration among the people of the valley and the hills” he said.

The Cultural University bill has received the accent of the Governor, he said.

We intent to preserve and promote and build the synergy of all the cultures of the State, irrespective of the hills and the valley through this institution, he added.--

It was a report of the Chief Minister's speech in a function discussing the issues of Umanglai.

It is clear beyond any doubt that our Chief Minsiter is thoroughly confused with the ideas of culture,religion and statecraft.Or,is it the case of the inability of our Chief Minister to escape the toxic influence of RSS?

But the most important question now comes before us.Is the Chief Minister the only leader who is stuck in the above position?

What about other leaders?

Our rebel leaders?

Did this morning's gunfight have anything to do with the first step in trying to answer these questions?

Is it 'Bengal'?

Let's start out with the obvious preface.The Chinese president is being welcomed in London and as the ceremony,befitting a State visit, is reaching its crescendo,NATO has begun the largest military exercise in 13 years in Italy.

Nearer home.they have just annoounced blockade,begining on the day 'Hand In Hand' concludes.(My last post).

The above preface is made up of news headlines of today's newspapers and it is pretty obvious that everybody would be reading them.

But one interesting aspect of the preface which most of the people are most likely to miss out is the significance of the day itself when they started a military exercise and when they announced a blockade--in short,when they announced war.

Today is Durga Puja--the official day from which India's goddess of war is being worshipped.

To be more presice,today is the official day for India's female deity of war.

This last sentence brings me a flashback.Months back,a lady was rescued just inside border into Burma from a mysterious chooper crash.As the newspaper reports go,the lady happened to be from Madhya Pradesh and there was a name mentioned in the reprts but I can't remember it.The last report said the lady was brought to Ukhrul district headquarters and the investigations were going on.Then,mysteriously,all newspaers suddenly stopped reporting on the subject.

But,what on earth,the lady in her early thirties,was doing in the thick jungles inside Burma,bordering Ukhrul? The answer remained shrouded in mystery and conspiracy theories for the last several months.

Today the shroud was opened up and the dots seems to be connecting.The lady,like India's goddess of war,single-handedly battled the supposedly insurmountable jungles of Burma.Even a frail lady can dot it!

Now,let's go a little deeper into the whole drama and try to find out if there is a meessage embedded there.

Durga Puja? Are the two words embody a riddle?

One thing is crystal clear--Durga Puja is the biggest festival for the Bengalis.Are they trying to hint at something connected with Bengal?

Now,let's return to the present day Manipur.Everybody is breathlessly waiting for the coming Indian retaliatory strike in response to Paraolon ambush,in which 18 Indian troopers were killed.Everybody is assuming that the strike will happen a few kilometers within Burma,where there are several camps of Manipuri rebels.As if to whet the appetites of the general public,the district adminsitrations of Chandel and Ukhrul have already placed night restriction along the international borders with Burma.A few days back,news reports said that the Indian Army have also established operational bases in Tusom and other secret places.

But,today only,the Bengal angle comes into play.

Are they recruiting the Bengalis of Arakan,who are being harshly treated by Burma.Besdies that,the Burmese authorities refuse to recognise them as Burmese citizen,even though they have been in Burma for several generations.

Is India forming a strike force comprising of hand-picked and specially-trained Bengalis of Arakanese descent?

Is this strike force already inside Manipur territory,along Ukhrul-Chandel sector of the international border with Burma?

With all these inputs in hand,let's try to build up a plausible scenario.

If the strike force is made up of Arakanese Bengalis,then,they won't attack the  camps of the rebel groups,who took part in the Paraolon ambush.To my mind,India's strategy would be setting up an ambush of the Burmese army by their Arakanese Bengali strike force in an area very close to the Manipuri rebels' camps.

If that happens,how would the Burmese army react?Would they attack the Manipuri rebels' camps?

To my mind,we need not answer this question.

The reason is that India is waging long-term war with the Manipuri rebels.They are not interested in some quick casualty figures.

If the Arakanese Bengali strike force ambush the Burmese army,it gives just the right pretext for some of the Manipuri rebels to disband their camps and move out of the area.When they leave the area,they would unwittingly begin a new chapter in Manipuri rebels history.The present geo-political array of deployment of forces demand that they would be forced to look for someone other than Khaplang as their ally inside Burma.Who will they ally with?That's the besides the point.What's most important is that the moment will mark a turning point--Manipuri rebels splitting into two major groupings,one alligning with Khaplang and other,with some force not seen yet.

I strongly suspect that the force which we are not able to see at the present moment would be propped up by the whole might of India.

If this scenario comes true,where India succeeds in splitting the Manipuri rebels into two warring groups,then it would be an auspiciuous beginning(like a puja day) for India to start its journey of waging a long-term war with the rebellions in Manipur.

Wannabe feudal lords and internal transformation.

Today marks beginning of another 'Hand In Hand',the 5th in the series of India-China joint military exercise.The venue of the latest episode is in Kummning and the soldiers from the Naga Regiment are taking part in the exercise representing India.

There was a transformation in the basic spirit of the 'Hand in Hand' when it came down in Pune in its 4th edition last year.The transforamtion was wrought upon it by something that took place in Imphal.I wrote last year detailing what had happened in Imphal and here is the link to that post.

But it was not only the 'Hand In Hand' which faced intrinsic changes in its character but also the whole face of Manipur's polity is experiencing vast changes as an impact from 'Hand In Hand'.I think some enterprising research scholar should document the detailed changes that is taking place in the polity of Manipur from one 'Hand In Hand' to another 'Hand In Hand'.

As a layman,I feel in my bone that vast changes that is still taking place.I'll try to note down one particular change which,to my reckoning,is going to have a far reaching impact in the polity of Manipur.

In my college days,there was this excited discussion among my friends about how the Manipuri society was ruled by 100 families.I have still no idea how we came about in puttin gdown the number to 100!Nevetheless,the discussions along that subject were always exciting and illuminating!

Despite the arbitrary fixing the number of families,there is the truth in saying that a closely-knitted network of handful of families were steering the fate of Manipuri society.It was a club of high class society.As such,the entry to the club was acutely restricted.Entry was sollely determined by birth,breeding and connections.The club was the fountaihead of feudalism.The feudalism part was what we hated most at that time.

As we were mellowing into middle ages,we were aghast in witnessing that the gate to the club was slowly but noticeably thrown open to a group of people who had the word 'revolution' as their mantra.It was a queer marriage of 'revolution' and 'feudalism'.We still could not believe that all these were happening in front of our own eyes!

Those who are chanitng 'revolution' has somehow become wannabe feudal lords.They are the children of an unresolved contradiction.

The impact of 'Hand In Hand' is most noticable in those wannabe feudal lords.It is as if they are in the throes of a shock therapy,which,regrettably,can only  instil the sense on them that they are on the fork of a road.Only that much.They still cannot remember that they are the children of an unresolved contradiction.

At this juncture,let's remember that India's president is prresntly on a tour to Palestine,the first time ever by an Indian presidnet.His catchword? "We will support Palestine but also keep on engaging with Israel".In short,they will try to keep the Israeli-Palestinian contradiction unresolved.They are the master in this subject.In a sense,India is a patchwork of centuries of unresolved contradictions.

So,here we are.Two important players--one who unwittingly become the children of an unresolved contradiction and the other,the master in playing the game of 'unresolved contradictions'.How these two players react to 'Hand In Hand'?

But 'Hand In Hand' is only a symbol.Our wannabe feudal lords seems not sensitive enough to a symbolic gesture.After the symbol would come hard battles.These battles would heralds a rude awakening to the wannabe feudal lords.They woul dsuddenly remeber that they are the children of an unresolved contradiction.Would they still agree that they happened to be the vanguard of the change that brought out the contradiction,though not resolved?Would they forsake our life or death contradcition that needs to be resolved decisively?

Our wannabe feudal lords have a lot to answer in the unfolding internal transformations, egged on the external factors like the 'Hand In Hand'.

War as a rite of passage

This story leads us to the soul-crushing state of affairs of the problem-land of small ethnic peoples.

However we wish that all the ethnic-based armies of Burma come to the negotiating table and sign the peace accord,that's in the realm of daydream right at the moment.With no peace accord in sight,the coming general election on the 6th Nov 15 would be a farce at the border areas.We have already seen signs of the coming farce when we read this story.

All said,all these are situated some distance from us.What about the soul-crsuhing problems of the affairs of small ethnic people near home?

The rumbling in Churachandpur district is a perfect example.Everybody is properly stunned by what's happening there right at the moment.All the samll ethnic communities in the district have genuine apprehension about the three bills?They are being swept by the clever machinations from New Delhi?They would oppose anything--regardless of merits or demerits--championed by the valley people?

So,which one of the above three points make a humble beginning to describe the present situation in Churachandpur?

Without even trying to answer the question,we can easily gauge the scale of intractable problem created by the interplay of the state of affiars of small ethnic peoples.But we cannot run away from the problem.We are right in the middle of the whole mess.

So,what's needed to be done?

First.let's go to an apprently unrelated event.Aung Sang Suu Kyi had given her first formal interview to Mr Karan Thapar.Being a first since she immersed herself into the mess called Burma,all the political observers were taken by surprise when she chose an Indian journalist for the honour.

But we are not surprised when we read this together with this post of mine.Suu Kyi made a public announcement to the whole population of India that its military is about to venture into military adventure inside Burma just on the eve of the general election on the 6th Nov 15.

And,NATO is embarking on the largest military exercise(since the Cold War) from the 3rd Nov 15.

And,Russian jets proclaimed to the whole world--'Come,we are ready'--when they tested the NATO airspace not once but twice,within the space of two days.

For the first time in the history of small ethnic peoples of this part of the globe,all the great militaries of the world are aligning their deployments for the coming operation along India-Burma border during the first week of Nov 15.We are not actually looking for the scale of the operation.Instead,we are more interested in the direction of impetus which is likely to be borne on the small ethnic peoples.The operation would serve as the proverbial spark which will force all these people to come out of their ethnic shells.

For thousand of years,all these peoples are comfortably cocooned within their ethnic shells.Great powers,like the massive deployments of time and energy by westernn missionaries have miserably failed to pry open this ethnic shells.Scholars and thinkers,within and outside,have toiled for generations to find ways to entice them away from these comfortable ethnic shells.But we see more and more ethnic-based armies sprouting all over the areas.These are the symptoms of the peoples not growing out of their adolescence.They need a rite for passage to manhood.

Now,some wise men and women are providing them with the much-needed rite of passage in the form of a terrifying war.They cannot escape this war.Either they willingly come out of their comfortable ethnic shells and fight it out like a grown up men or burnt to cinders by the flames of this war.

We would make history if the coming war pry open the thousand of years old and very confortable ethnic shells and make them all responsible adults out of the perrenially adoslescent state of affairs.                        

India under attack(updated)

Just got the news that IS gunmen infiltrated the high-security diplomatic zone in Dhaka and killed an Italian aid worker.What's making the news is not the IS itself--the location of the action is doing the news making.My point--Bangladesh is the immediate area of influence of India and India has always been saying that IS is no threat to them.

But it's not the only newsmaker inside the territory of India's immediate area of influnce.

1)Nepal.The Madhesi--the Nepalis of Indian origin are up in arms against the just adopted constitution of Nepal.Nearly 70 member strong representatives of the Madhesis did not sign on the new constitution.Rigth now,they are blockading the entire nation of Nepal.The Nepali government has resorted to petrol rationing and threatening to open the land roads to China if the blockades is not lifted.As Nepal is landlocked most of the essential items come via India and Madhesis are sitting on the route.

The verdict--India fail to safeguard its interest in another of its immediate area of influnce.

2)Maldives.It's brutal amd raw there.It's pro-India president had had a narrow escape in a bomb blast inside the boat he was travelling.We have to remember here that Indian prime minsiter had invested a lot of time and energy in visiting and befriending all these small island nations proclaiming that they are guarantors of India's interest in Indian Ocean.

It's a nasty slap on the face of India.

3)Afghanistan.Previously Afghanistan,though almost a neighbour,was not considered an immediate area of influence because of Soviet and American show of force there.But recently,India started taking intiating steps to show that it's one of its immediate area of influnce.

Now,the Taliban fighters have just overran the city of Kunduz--an attack of great symbolism because the city was the stronghold of the Northen Alliance.

Should we not take note that all these were happening while the Indian prime minister,Mr Narendra Modi was meeting world leaders to ask them to acknowledge India's rising stature.He was specifically asking them to help India in gaining a permament seat in the security council of UN.

While India's prime minister was at his diplomatic best in New York,there were those attacks inside its immediate area of influnce.

It can be taken to mean as a clear declaration of war on India.

India,through Madhesis,is blockading Nepali.So far,it's the only counter-attack from India.

Nearer home,should we expect another blockade as a counter attack from India?

Counter attack from India?Here is my earlier post to make sense of this.


UPDATE-1
01-10-15(11 pm)

Just one day after this post was published,there were series of bomb blast in China.

I'm firm in my opinion that this should not be construed as proving the importance of this blog.If it has got any importance,it is everything to do with it trying to faithfully  portray the wishes of Manipuri society.That it has got such a quick response points to the fact that New Delhi is trying to reach out to some people within the Manipuri society.They are using this blog to connect with those people.To understand who these people are,we must delve deeper into the underlying historical processes that dictate the present moves and counter-moves.

The bomb blast targetted a historically very significant constituent within the Manipuri society.Agreed--influencing this constituent is not the sole aim of the bomb blast.There are other significant objectives as well.

But we are intrigued at how the bomb blast aimed to influnce this significant constituent within the Manipuri society.

The message sent by the bomb blast to the 'Anti-Pakhangba Constituent'--Playing antagonistic peripherals to the centre of the Manipuri polity is not yet a lost game--we have the resources to go for an-eye-for-an-eye---for example,a bomb blast inside China for that bomb blast in Maldives.

New Delhi is diligently courting the 'Anti-Pakhangba Constituent'.

At the moment,the 'Anti-Pakhangba Constituent' has a stark choice before them--going along with New Delhi in defiance of revolutionary tradition of Manipur or discharging their historical responsibilty by following the footspeps of  those tradition.


UPDATE-2
02-10-15(3.40pm)

I made some corrections in my first update.My intent was to use some mythical figures as the symbol of Manipur's revolutionary tradition.But I now think that those mythical figures might also be taken as religious leaders.I have absolutely no intention of writing along religious line.That's the reason why I need the correction in my first update.

I sincerely apologize for this seemingly wandering off to religious lines.

Building a technical roadblock

It's quite normal to think that the burning down of the house of one of the rebel leaders in Churachandpur as a continuation of the series of torching of houses of political leaders there.

But there is one catch.The said rebel leader is a Burmese national.I think that his house was burnt down exactly because he is a Burmese national.It's not the continuation of the series of burning down house of powwerful people there.It's a pattern breaking event.It's sole purpose is to publicly announce that the said leader is a Burmese national.

1)The Manipur government is exercising its all out efforts to bring the agitators to the negotiating table.Would Manipur government still agree to talk to them if the said leader whose house was just burnt down is chosen as one of the members of team deputed to hold the talk?There is this possibility because the final decision for accepting (or not accepting) the invite for the talk from Manipur government would be taken only after a wide ranging consultations with all the existing stakeholders cutting across political and ethnic spectrum.This being so the final team deputed for holding the talk would comprise of members cutting across political and ethnic spectrum.

2)There is widespread misgivings in the valley population that there is 'a Burma factor' with the scale of the agitation.The agitation want to safeguard those Kuki-Mizo-Chin of Burmese origin who come to Manipur after 1951.The just accomplished house-buyning of the rebel leader is adding fuel to this simmering fire.

3)If the current agitation in the hills of Manipur,particularly in Churachandpur,can pave the first step in chrystalizing into the psyche of the valley population that Burma is everything to do with nasty things,it's kind of a strategic win for New Delhi.The reason is that the Manipuri rebels cannot function without Burma.

Seen in this light,it turns out thatit's not just another burning down of a house by an irate agitators.It's a part of a well-thought out plan.

But the most important target it's trying to achieve is to build a technical roadblock to the negotiating table.If they ever come to the negotiating table,they would not be able to pinpoint one single clause in all of the three bills which is anti-tribal.So,their paln is avoid coming to the negotiating at all cost.But simply refusing to hold talk without giving any reason would be hurtful to them in the long run.

So,where is a better way for avoiding talk than setting up a technical roadblock by bringing in a 'Burma factor' into the equation?

Virulent Nazism and myths

It's almost a free for all scene--every conceivable groupings wanting to make a new or the other,to unmake an already existing, state.These imaginery making and unmaking are mostly based on ethnic lines.

I'll do my tiny bit to bring sanity to the already chaotic scene.

1)Human being,wherever they live,are 99.99% equal.Pre-ponderance of some genes depending on the climate and location bring about the physical differences among them.

2)Ethnicity and race are simply the bye-products of the myth making process of human being.To put it brutally,ethnicity and race are myths--nothng more,nothng less.

From these two precepts let's try to have a re-look at ourselves.

The most glaring feature of this part of this part of the globe is the existence of many number of small communities of people.The question that immediately comes to my mind is that why they are so small in numbers.There may so many myths,stories to explain this.But we are not going in that direction.

One of the most probable reasons is that they fail to properly interact with their environment,the geographical features distinctive to their surroundings.For example,the super-abundance of thick forest might be foreboding for them.They might have even think that there are forest spirits prowling there.

The ideal condition is that they(having the 99.99% of same attribute found in the peoples of the developed parts of the globe)should have mined the forest for resources,for example,protein for their health.Protein,particularly, comes to my mind because we know that all the communities here are characterized by the practice of stuffing themselves with vast amounts of carbohydrate.Is it the case of these people unable to properly interact with their environment so as to find out where protein sources lie?People when they are growing up needs proteins,vitamins and minerals for the proper development of brain cells.When people,by some culturally accepted precept, continue to stuff themselves with vast amounts of carbuhydrates from generation to generation,there is every likelihood that their brain cells might not have developed properly.That might even trigger a vicious circle.Fewer brain cells would mean lower intellect,which again,would  result in further inabiltiy to interact with their environment in a proper fashion.

This culturally accepted practice surely results in ill health of the members of these small communities.We may even discern a correlation with their health and their inability to maintain a optimum sized society.

So,we are now witnessing 50,000 strong community dreaming of a separate administrative arrangement for themselves.

Here we come to the conclusion that if we shorn ourselves of myths,culture and tradition,we come to face to face with surprising fact--our inability to prepoerly interact with our environment.I think this is an appropriate status report of all the small communities living in this part of the globe.

We are still trying not be influnced by myths,culture and tradition and,with this frame of mind,let's visit the vast plains of Sindhu and Ganga.We need to visit these places because there arose a virulent Nazism,nicely hidden behind a religious garb.How that came about is too vast a subject to be considered here and,morever,it's the job of the scholars to attempt that.But it's generally agreed that it came about as a direct result of the arrival Germanic people in that part of the globe.I strongly suspect some adventurers of Germanic descents,by some quark of history,nicely escaped the civilizing influnce of Christianity there and arrived in the plains of plains of Sindhu,carrying with them the raw Teutonic agressive precepts.

We agree that these Nazi precepts continue to flourish in small pockets in the plains of Sindhu and Ganga for thousand of years.mostly unnoticed by the world.

But that scenario abruptly changed with the arrival yet another set of Europeans.The British mercenaries,who in due course of time would unite themselves under the aegis of East India company,energetically went about the consolidation of the source of raw matrails for their recently invented steam engines.The consolidation was all the over urgent because the source of their raw materials would also served as the vast market of the various products of their steam engines.That consolidation is what we now call India.

The British merceneries,unwittingly,gave a sub-continental-sized playing field for those Nazi precepts which were recently confined to the small pockets in the plains of Sindhu and Ganga.This incident is world changing.

The ripple effect of this rise of the Nazi precepts into a sub-continetal-sized playing field was felt all over the land mass of Asia.

All the stakeholders in Asia,who have in their disposal vast resources and vast armies have already started responding to the ripple effect.(Seen in this context,our 'Maichou Tarets' are so tiny players--so tiny that they,for all practical purposes,can be ignored).

This is a proper a geo-political shift in the making.

The best we can do in this scenario is to determine which side this geo-political wind is likely to blow and set our sails accordingly.This,at the least,might save us from the onslaught of this virulent Nazi precepts.

The colluders of the Pongs--What to make out of them?

Today's newspapers reported hot developments in Churachandpur.

Some groups from Mizoram,coming there to consolidate their movement,even claimed that they had had the 'backing' of the UN.

Reading those developments suddenly transported me to the time of the 2nd World War.Fighting the tide of ruthless Japanese onslaught,the Britishers mustered all their resources.That included the forming of alliances with small ethnic minorities of Burma.What interests us is the case of the Kachins.

The British military officers made a deal with the Kachins.If the Kachins help the British in fighting the Japanese,they would be given an independent country during the coming realignment after the war.

A christian country,serving as buffer with between India and Burma is certainly an alluring strategic target.

The British military officers kept their words.After the war,they put maximum pressures on the political class in London for the Christian buffer country.But the political class in London decisively shot down the proposal.

Why?

I think those spearheading the present agitations in the hills of Manipur should try to learn from history.It is imperative for them to try to answer the above question.

Speaking of history reminds me of the Pongs.

Whenever we think of the Pongs,we should not also fail to remember that there were groups of people within Manipuri society with whom they colluded(My next to last post).It needs two to twang.If we don't touch upon this point,we would be guilty of reading a bias view of history.

History tells us that the collusion happened.Let's try to understand why the collusion happened--from the perspectives of the two colluders.

1)The Pongs can be taken be the least assimilated group of people coming to the cauldron called Manipur in the sense they never fully reconciled to the already present ruling class.Their fight with the ruling class even continues to this days.In a sense,they want to dislodge already established ruling class and then want to become the ruling class themselves.

In other words,the Pongs are the competitors to the already established ruling class.To my mind,competition is always good.That would make the ruling class ever better,efficient and world class.But the competition should within a well-defined playing field and rules.The Pongs err in deviating from this basic principle.

Over and above this,whatever the tenuous relations they might have established with their fellow kinsmen in other South East Asian societies have been decisively broken.There might have been developments in their history resulting in the decisive severance of this relationship but they are not important for our purpose here.This means that whatever we are doing with the Pongs becomes the pure internal affairs of Manipuri society.

2)Now comes the Western immigrants with whom the Pongs colluded.One thing is certain.They are not openly competing with the ruling class of Manipur.

They were a patient lot.Painstakingly waiting for a such a long time,they wanted to worm themselves into the ruling class itself.

What was the response of Manipuri ruling class?

In trying to answer this question,lets move back to the first question we have asked.Why did the ruling class in London shoot down the propsoal by the senior British military officers?

My opinion is that the ruling class in London could not find a credible ruling class within the Kachin society.It needs a excruciating interaction between history and geography to bring forth any credible ruling class for any society.Without a credible ruling class,it would be disaster of historic import to
give the reins of managing a country to the Kachins.In that sense,the decision of the ruling class in London was a wise one.

This transport us to an intersting perspective in the present agitations in the hills of Manipur,particularly in Churachandpur.Besides the close ethnic affinity with the Kachins,the Kuki-Mizo-Chin also dream about such a Christian country serving as a buffer between India and Burma.History shows us that the Kachins failed because of a lack of credible ruling class within itself.Do the Kuki-Mizo-Chin learn any lesson from the Kachins?Now,at the present time,if the Kuki-Mizo-Chin are blessed with a credible ruling class,would it permit its people to be drowned in the torrents of machinations flowed down from New Delhi?

Is the present agitation in the hills of Manipur a graphic sign that the hill peoples are still devoid of credible ruling classes?

Here,it's our time to return to our second question.Some immigrants from the West tried to worm their way into the structures of the ruling class itself.If the ruling class of Manipur is anything credible there should be appropriate response.

From history we learn that the ruling class itself was splintered in trying to respond to the threat.One faction led by the mythical 'Maichou Taret',in a masterstroke of a tactical retreat,ventured into the gigantic task to re-grow the structure of the ruling class ground up from within the 'khuls' and 'leikais' of the Manipuri society.In initiating the venture,they spelt out that within the timeframe of  three generations they would complete the task and only then,they would be ready for the final battle.I would like to emphasize my opinion that the 'Maichou Tarets',only a part religious leaders,were an integral part of the then ruling class.

So,this answers our second question.The world will witness the response of the Manipuri ruling class in real time as the series of battles unfold in the days to come.

New Delhi's pattern-smashing move

My recent posts has a lot to do with history,particularly of Manipur's history.The surprising element is,of course,the Pongs.

This reminds me of another surprise.How do we figure out the 42 days long single object exhibition of Paubi Lai in New Delhi recently?Even if we don't try to answer this question,a simple reading together of the exhibition and the recent developments that prompt the focussing of our attention to the Pongs makes it quite clear that New Delhi is currently doing a lot of dissection of Manipuri society.I think that many scholars of Manipuri society are imvolved in the said dissection of the Manipuri society.

What attracted my attention at that time was the explanatory note accompanying the announcement of the exhibition.More precisely,the last part of the note,which says that the Paubi Lai was killed by none other than Kabui Salang Maiba,who,of course,belong to a small ethnic minority in the hills of Manipur.

The narrative--small ethnic minorities of the hills versus the major ethnic grouping in the valley.

That brings us to the pattern-smashing visit of special secretary(internal security),New Delhi to Churachandpur district in Manipur.The special secretary,like a seasoned politician, went straight to a meeting public.It was quite a spectacle seeing the senior beaurocrat from Nelhi addressing a public meeting in Churachandpur district of Manipur.

Of course,the special secretary made it a point visiting the place on the same day the Chinese president started his maidenn state to the US.During the address to the public meeting he emphasized that the Churachandpur turmoil is much more than an internal matter of the state of Manipur.The word 'internal' on the day of Chinese president's US visit,that too,from a person located firmly inside the power corridors of New Delhi attains a disproportionate singnificance.

But,is that the purpose of the special secretary's visit?

The short answer--NO.

The special secretary,which represents New Delhi,is aiming for a fundamental shift in how the Manipuri society finds its equilibrium.

Let's start out from the present mood of the Manipuri society.The overwhelming perception is that what is happening right now in the hills,particularly,in Churachandpur,is the direct results of the machinations of New Delhi.In such a scenario,New Delhi should hide the behind the screen and continues to pull strings from there.

But New Delhi suddenly jumps out from behind the screen and shows to all concerned that the show is actually run by it.

Why?

We are facing with a profound question.

To  say that they are trying to provoke the valley community is too apparent.It also brings back the game to New Delhi vs Manipuri society scheme of things.New Delhi has been trying to avoid this scheme of thing,showing to all concerned the that the assent to the three is not forthcoming because the hills peoples are against the bills.This is the pattern which should be thrown up by this scheme of things.

What happens if we break the pattern?By being 'too apparent',are they trying to elicit a more sinister provocation from the valley society?

Let's go back to the Pong paradigm.Several centuries back,the Pongs might behave just like hillmen of today.It's because the Pongs appear to tbe the least assimilated of the numerous streams of people coming here in the cauldron called the Manipuri society.Let's call them the new Pong.As we are witnessing at the moment,the new Pongs have no qualm of publicly courting New Delhi for achieving its political goal.

But the older Pongs within the Manipuri society does not have this luxury.They might have courted New Delhi but they have this compulsion to do it covertly.Publicly,their posture should be anti-New Delhi and they are working for the indigenoous people of Manipuri.

At this point of time,New Delhi is in possesion of some data set which in a simulated scenario points to the increasing vulnerability of the older Pongs within the Manipuri society as New Delhi steps up its 'too apparent' postures.As New delhi continues stepping up this posture,the vulnerability of the older Pongs intensified until it reaches a breaking point.

It would be suicidal for the older Pongs if this breaking point ever comes about.In such a situation,the older Pongs have the lone option of attacking the New Pongs to prevent New Delhi from stepping up the 'too apparent' postures,as they have no the wherewithal to attack New Delhi.

This is the only scenario which I can think of why New Delhi suddenly jumps out from behind the screen.

Is it a plausible scenario?I wonder.

From history to the present and further to technology.

Last night I was frantic.

I have two 3G accounts.The more dependable one was dead all throughout the day yesterday.The working one have this penchant of going slowly dead beginning around 10 in night.

I originally planned to publish the last night's post after 10 pm.But as I was cutting vegetable for my dinner,the idea came to me that I had no backup connectivity and if the less dependable one began its slow at around 10,I would not able to publish the post.So,I immediately stop preparing my dinner,boot the computer up and wrote the post.

I was determined to publish the post on the same day the news of the wrap up of the Indian Vice President's Lao and Cambodia visit came out.

I was so in a hurry that I left behind three important points.

1)The strategic thinkers in New Delhi have already determined that the Manipuris have very close cultural,historical and ethnic affinity with peoples of Lao and Cambodia.

2)Going there and making official statements have the full doplomatic value of directly connecting with the Manipuris.

3)So,they made a very important statement there.It's about territorial dispute.The strategic thinkers have already announced that what's happening right at the moment is a territorial dispute amongst three major ethnic groupings--Meeteis,Nagas and Kukis.These three groupings themselves should bring about a solution to the present impasse,meaning New Delhi have no role to play in the whole affair.

I would make a point by point elaboration of the above three points.

1)In our history,it was the community which we call the Pongs which made the connections for us to other South East Asian communities.There are still minorities in South Asian societies which are called the Pongs.Presently,scholars here generally agree that what we call the Pongs in the past area ctually the present Shans or the Tais.I feel that there is need for further research in equating the Pongs with the Shans or the Tais.

The Pongs are interesting because they colluded,in one crucial phase in our history,with the predecessors of the much-smeared Shantidas in the court of king Khagemba.The case in point is the idol of Vishnu in Bishnupur district.The western preachers in the king's court used the Eastern route to bring in their first idol and their Eastern collaborators are the Pongs.I think it would be really intersting to research how the Pongs became collaborators of the Westrn preachers.

In this context,it's no surprise that the present day Indian leaders went to the land of their past collaboratos to announce the war drums of their present day collaborators in the hills of Manipur.

2)Even if they don't go there and make official statements meant for us,evry single soul in the valley understand that they have energetic collaborators in the hills.

3)If there is territorial dispute,it is to be assumed that the land in question falls under the category which is generally called the 'tribal land'.The idea behind 'tribal land' is that there is a sacrosanct relation between tribals and the lands.This relationship is supposed to be so primal that any non-tribal would have no chance to understand it.

But this supposedly primal relationship between the tribal and the land is conspicous by its absence in the hills of Manipur.What the tribals there are doing there consistently is to indulge in massive deforestatioon and jhum cultivation.It is quite evident that the tribals have no love for the hills.The hills of Manipur are so considtently scarred that the tribals there are facing acute water scarcity.

The hills of Manipur,instead, have the problems of too bountiful of land and too small population.The population there is so small and scattered that it's still (in the 21st Century) not possible to run a monetised society.And,by the law of the land,the larger valley communities are forbidden to own land in the hills.

The hillmen have too much of land and the poeple from the valley are forbideden to own land in the hills.So,where is the territorial dispute?

If they have any dispute,it is the dispute with themselves.This is also true for those living in the valley.They have no connect with the land they are inhibating,in the large assisted by the generous subsidies from New Delhi.As there is abscence of real connect,no technology for more meaningful lifestyle grow up from grassroot level.No technology producing societies mean they are dying societies.The real fight amongst the three major groupings would be how to become the first society which is technology produucing.Would looking up to their histories(as the strategic thinkers in New Delhi advise) help them in achieving it? What are ways out?

The Indian State has just accepted the battleline.

Leave alone Manipur and ,for that matter,the whole of NE India,the Indian State has just officially proclaimed that Cambodia,Laos,Myanmar and Vietnam are within their sphere of influnce.It's doing it just when the Japanese parliament was rescinding the no-war features of its Constitution and the battleline-shaping agitations in the hills of Manipur were announcing their ultimatum.

The Indian State is doing it in its characteristic way--low-key and unobtrusive.The task has been delegated to its Vice President which usually attracts the least attention.

The Vice President of India,Mr Hamid Ansari,after his four-days visit to Laos and Cambodia announced that India's focus is on Cambodia,Laos,Myanmar and Vietnam(CLMV).In plain words,he was telling us that within the ASEAN itself,the CLMV countries are within their area of influnce.

But there is one problem here.It's generally accepted that Cambodia,Laos and Myanmar fall under what it is termed us 'Indian cultural influnce'.But the Vietnam is universally accepeted as within the 'Chinese cultural influnce'.

So far.there is equilibrium in the whole land mass of Asian as everybody concerned respect each other area of influnce.Now,the Indian State has officially made a fresh claim.It's planning to forcefully take Vietnam out of 'Chinese sphere of influence'.That means that the Indian State has chosen to disturb the age-old equilibrium in the Asian landmass.

In other words,India has declared a war in Asia.

From our perspective,the Indian State has just accepted the battleline.

The Occupy Wall Street--the symbol of 99% of US citizen.

17th September marked the 4th  anniversary of Occupy Wall Street in the US.We can only post it about when we are on the 18th of September because it's still 17th September in the US.

But the US has a queer way of remembering the movement.The FBI arrested the friend of Charleston Church shooter.

We have a post here which says that the Charleston Church shooting gave out the first hint that there is a surprising constituent within the US which is looking for a way to make life better for the 99% of the US citizen.That's exactly what the Occupy Wall Street symbolized.

Target Tetseo Sisters?

India's prime minister,Mr Narendra Modi is scheduled to be personally hosted by Facebook CEO,Mr Mark Zuckerburg on the 27th Sept 2015.(why the Indian prime minister is embarking on yet another official US visit so soon?).

On the same day,Nagaland's Tetseo Sisters are also scheduled to perform at a tourism festival in Andro.

I find the coincidence too eerie.The coincidence makes me uncomfortable.I admit that I might even a bit paranoid.

But Mr Xi Jinping,the Chinese president would also be in the US on an official visit from 22nd to 28th September.I had read about the Chinese president's visit at least one year back.But the Indian prime minister's visit is a surprise.I strongly suspect that they have hurriedly arranged the visit to coincide with that of China's president.Why?

Around 27th of September,New Delhi would have not much more than 30 days to wrap up the framework agreement of the Indo-Naga Peace Talk.The Talk has been dragging on for the last 18 years.The one most remarkable feature of this long 18 years is that the friendly bond between the ordinary Nagas and the ordinary Manipuri(particularly the Meeteis) has been remaining strong as ever.This bond could not be disturbed depite so attempts during the last 18 years.

Are they trying to make a beginning at disturbing this age old bond at Andro on the 27th September2015?

Tetseo Sisters are the face of the young Nagas and hence,are stars in social media,particularly Facebook.As the Facebook CEO himself is welcoming the Indian prime minister on the 27th September,something nasty might have been planned to happen to the Tetseo Sisters,performing at Andro on the same day.If that happens,the social media space would go up in flame.Young Nagas and Meetei would be bickering there.

That's most likely to be the beigining of the first fissure in their age old friendship ties.The very next day the Chinese president would be adressing the UN in NYC.And,the most important,New delhi,this time, wuold have a fertile ground to wrap up the framework agreement in the next remaining 30 days.We have to read this together with this post of mine which says that the Indo-Naga Peae Talk has already become a geo-political weapon.Isn't it extremely remarkable that this geo-political weapon would have had a new lease of life from Andro,the place the Meetei consider to be most sacred?

Writing this short post makes me extremely tired.I sincerely wish that I was proved wrong and no nasty things ever happened to the Teseo Sisters when they perform there at Andro.

Strategy shift--how New Delhi flee from competition.

This headline makes me think that New Delhi has just executed a strategic shift.

The CSOs of the hills,as hinted in the above headlines,appear to be slighting the demand for the separate administration but,instead,start to be focussing at the nitty gritty of the three bills passed by the Manipur Legislative Assembly.

The new strategy seeks to set the CSOs of the hills at loggerheads with thier counterparts in the valley by making them arguing about the mere technicalities of the three bills.They would attempt arguments for arguments' sake,which,as everybody knows,would produce no tangible results.

If New Dekhi can achieve this,the three bills would never reach its power corridor for the mandatory assents.It's quite clear--New Delhi is fleeing from the one competition of the 21st Century(my last post).

Another part of the strategy is a notification issued by it on the 7th September 2015 which allows Hindus migrants from Bangladesh and Pakistan to stay back in India,even if the migrants have no valid documents.Why New Delhi decided to issue this far-reaching notification,that too,just a week back, needs no elaboration--it's self-explanatory.The purpose of the notification is to create a situation congenial to the forking out of the current anti-migrant movement of Manipiur into two or more streams--one stream targetting Hindu migrants,another,targetting migrants of another religious denomination etc.Here is the first hint at the forking out process.

This is a classic example of divide and rule policy at its finest height.

Last but not the least.Several groundbreaking developments happened during the last 24 hours.

Here is one.Another one is here.

Compete with New Delhi

It turned out that Mr RN Ravi visit was meant to serve as an announcement of the coming of the most important geo-political shift of the 21st Century.Besides calling in Pakistani frontier paramilitary representatives,bravely ignoring the constant firing across the border(my last post),they had also engaged in a face off with the Chinese troops in Ladakh and also raided two Burmese village along the Nagaland-Burma border.

But the more important announcement came from a press conference nearer home.It happened just a day after Mr Ravi descended on Imphal.

The representatives of two rebel organizations,which are the constituents of their apex body,UPF,were meeting the press in Churachandpur.They were officially speaking for the UPF.

They pointed out that the residnets of the hills of Manipur were finally united in demanding two separate administrative machinesries for themselves.The Nagas have Alternative Arrangement demand,the Kukis, the Autonomous Hill State. The two ethnic groupings of the Manipur hills have
demands bearing two differnet names and,until recently,waging two different battles for their respective demands.

The spokesmen pointed out that the demands,though having different names,are essentially the same--separate adminstrative machines for the hillmen.They were not also mincing no words in praising the three bills recently passed by the Manipur Legislative Assembly for serving as a trigger for coalescing the two movements into the united movement for hillmen.

Alternative Arrangement.They are the key words which connect the press briefing with the Mr Ravi visit.Mr Ravi descended on Imphal for matters relating to the Indo-Naga Peace Talk,which calls for the dismemberment of the state of Manipur.Alternative Arrrangement is the CSO version of the demands contained in the Indo Naga Peace Talk.

Today is also a fitting day for talking about the above press briefing.The reason is that the press briefing happened in Churachandpur,where there are still uncremated nine corpses.Nine young men died recently in Churachandpur in violent protest demanding rescinding of the three bills passed in Manipur Legislative Assembly,which gradually metamorphosed in the movement for separate hill administrative machinery.They are now telling us that the three bills  only serve as impetus for the separate administration demand.

Today is the last day of the mourning of the lone student killed in the demand for the three bills.Although the movement for the demand of the three bills were concentrated in the four valley districts of Manipur,all the bonafide citizens of Manipur,including the hills,are going to be beneficiaries because the three bills are meant to safeguard the interest of the 'native people' of Manipur against the ever-increaing number of migrants.

We have enough of preface.Now comes the time for the hard talk.

New Delhi surreptiously sent out hints to the different groups of hillmen that it would favourably consider their demands if they violently protested against the three bills.

If we ask ourselves why New Delhi hate the three bills so much,we have to remember the battleline.

Now, we have to re-read the first para of this blogpost.That would make it quite clear why it talks of the 'the most important geo-political shift of the 21st Century'.That said,it's also quite clear that it has everything to do with New Delhi and the rebel groups of Manipur.

What about the laymen?The threat of the migrants are real for us.As the thing stands now,as we begin pressing for the three bills to become laws,the hills of Manipur would be again up in flames,saying the three bills are anti-hillmen and so,they want separate administration for themselves.

Do we have the pleasure to go slow on our demands for three bills to become laws?

To answer this,it would be illuminating to see how other societies are faring in this area.Let's go to the EU.

The EU has roughly the population of 500 million.The leaders of the EU are shouting around they are facing a crisis because of the steady arrival of migrants from the war-torn Middle East,particularly,Syria.

How real their migrant crisis is?

Experts project that nearly half a million migrant would arrive in the EU in the next 4/5 years.Half a million in the total population of 500 millions--far less than 1 percent of their population.They are expecting migrants accounting for far less than 1 percent of their total population. Even so,they are
shouting around that they are currently facing a crisis.The primne minister of Hungary said their Christian cultue is in real danger because of these migrants.

How about us?We have already been swamped by the migrants--they constitute nearly nearly half of our total population.

We ahve no choice but to continue pressing for the three bills to become laws while,at the same time,neutralizing the machinations of New Delhi in the hills.

How?

I can think of one way only.If New Delhi is willing to grant separate adminstrative machineries for the hillmen of Manipur,it would also consider giving the desired adminstrative systems for people represented by the Maoists.It would be ideal for us if we can make those people represented by the Maoist to rise up in protest movements as soon as New Delhi start making the hills of Manipur up in flames again.

I know it's easy theorizing in a blogpost.The hard part would be in making the ideal scenario coming out real in day to day life.

Are there any people or group of people who can make it happen?

If not,we are stuck in a long dark tunnel with no opening.

The one and the only correct path.

The one and only correct path available to Manipuri society in this crucial juncture is to boycott the visit of the Indo-Naga Peace Talk interlocutor,Mr RN Ravi--totally and equivocally.

Somebody can retort back like this--If some forms of interactions with Mr Ravi brings about the likelihood of the non-disturbance in the political boundary of Manipur,they are highly desirable things to undertake.

This line of deduction belies the inability to understand the metamorphosis wrought upon the soul of the Indo-Naga Peace Talk on the 3rd of August 2015.The Indo-Naga Peace Talk pre-August 3 and post-August 3 are already two and completely different things.It's really a matter of life or death for us to take note of the crucial changes taken place on the 3rd of August 2015.

Let's bulid up our arguments slowly.

Besides Nagaland,there are sizeable Naga populations in Manipur,Arunachal Pradesh and Burma.All of them have been clamouring for a peace accord with New Delhi since last several decades.Their movement for the demand of this peace accord is still a work-in-progress stuff,even though they have not been able to achieve it for such a long time.In such a work-in-progress movement,did anybody notice any remarkable development around the 3rd of August 2015?Any remarkable development in Nagaland?In Manipur?In Arunachal or Burma?

The answer is a big NO.Around 3rd of August 205 or to the run up to it,around the last part of July 2015,the Naga's work-in-progress movement is emphatically quite placid.

But bizarre it might sound,the hurried 'framework agreement' between the Government of India and NSCN(IM) did actually happened in New Delhi,in a ceremony attended by none other the vibrant,Mr Narendra Modi,the prime minister of India.

So,what can we deduct from the above premises?

The hurried 'framework agreement' of the 3rd August 2015 was solely dictated by factors not related with Nagas,Naga Society or Naga's movement.

As if to emphasize the mysterious factors behind the 'framework agreement',New Delhi is still keeping the contents of the agreement totally secret.Even when the Chief Minsiter of Manipur himself went to New Delhi to get some hints about the contents,he had to return empty-handed.Such a level of secrecy.

So,the Indo-Naga Peace Talk has metamorphosed itself into a mysterious entity,securely stationed inside a twilight zone.

Now,let's return to MrRN Ravi's Imphal visit.If we are in mood for some one-liners,it can be something like this--Mr Ravi's sole purpose of Imphal vist is to lead everybody concerned into this twilight zone.

Even a common man would not willingly associate himself with any entity which is mysterious,undefined,less so,he himself be allowed to be led inside a twilight zone,even though,the person who is leading there is being deputed from the place of high and mighty--New Delhi.

Now,let's move away from the common man and see how the political class Of Manipur should react to Mr Ravi's visit.

1)In my humble opinion,the political class of Manipur should not proclaimed itself to the whole world to be unbelievably naive by failing to note that the honourable Mr Ravi had managed to get himself descended on Imphal on the same day the Pakistani Maj Gen,heading the regional border force, arrived in New Delhi for talks with his Indian counterpart.We also should not also fail to note that the meeting materialized after the abandoning of the scheduled NSA level talks of the two countries.This tortured talk is also preceded by the public proclamation of the India's army chief that it should be readying for a short war as the India-Pakistan border has been so frequently becoming live.Sure enough,his Pakistani counterpart retaliated,in a public pronouncement,that they are more than ready for a war with India.To top it all,as the border para-military forces of the two countries were sitting down in New Delhi for official discussion,machine gun firing across their border is continuing abated.

So,what's the point of this meeting in New Delhi?Something stage managed solely for Mr Ravi's Imphal visit?

2)Even if it's stagemanaged,some players have no liking for it.As the Pakistan Maj Gen was crossing the India-Pakistan border  by road,Russian troops,all of a sudden,started combat operation in Syria.A combat operation by the Russian troops in the Middle East is a huge development.The war in Syria have already displaced half of 22 millions of its population,which,in part,results in huge influx of migrants to the middle of Europe.The Russian army combat operation there is sure to aggravate the already critical situation there and Europe.

After conidering all the above developments,this blogger humbly put forward his idea that the Indo-Naga Peace Talk has already become a Geo-Political weapon.New Delhi is readying itself to harness this weapon and Mr Ravi's Imphal visit is a part of this process.Anything less than boycotting the visit by Mr Ravi would tantamount to assisting New Delhi in sharpening this weapon.