The ending of the employee’s strike, the slow drift of Mao into more of a debate than battle, the resumption of essential drugs supply and other commodities of daily subsistence are definitely signs of a welcome thaw in the once hyper tensed state of affairs. However, except for the issue of striking employees, the core issues of the other problems remain unaddressed even as the standoff ebbed for the time being. This temporary truce of sorts is no source of comfort for the government. It only gives the government some time to breathe easy and ponder over the options before them.

The NSCN (IM) demand for integration of the so-called Naga inhabited areas into Nagalim does not end with rebuffing Muivah’s entry into the state. Forcing the unpalatable ADC husk down the throat of unwilling tribal people under a make-believe Act which is non-empowering for the tribal community does not address the core of tribal discontent in the state. The disoriented Kuki response to the ADC election does not mandate Kuki approval of the crippled ADC, especially since the bulk of the pro-ADC Kuki folks are ignorant followers of the pro-congress politicians within the community, who in turn have been remote controlled by the CM. At best, the enforced elections are likely to strengthen the demand for Naga integration and Kuki statehood in the medium term. The short term gain, i.e., of the CM being able to claim to have given local government to tribals in the form of tribal district councils, may well be served as the congress-led UPA at the centre would perhaps prefer to act blind to the tribal disdain for the smart Act, MHAADC Act, 1971 and its Third Amendment.

The question that needs to be asked by any right thinking individual or collective entity is whether the government should keep on delaying resolution of such issues, and whether the people can afford such adhocism in the redressal of peoples’ grievances, or the non-resolution of contesting aspirations of peoples within the state. The state as an entity bears no losses comparable to that suffered by the people whose rights and aspirations are trampled by the indifferent elephantine majority. In a democracy, there is such a thing as collective rights which mere numerical superiority cannot and should not over rule. Minority rights or Tribal rights in India is one such right. The Tribal districts in Manipur are tribal land, held under inheritable land rights assigned to chiefs of villages. Protection of tribals from land alienation is a state function mandated by the constitution under schedules Fifth and Sixth of the Indian constitution. Therefore, a state which fails to enforce the constitutional mandate of ensuring protection of tribal people and tribal land violates the constitution of the country and such government deserves to be dissolved by the President. The tragedy however with Indian democracy is the unstinted power allowed to the majority, which in the context of minority rights is a distortion of democracy.

Considering the captivity of the state government in the hands of the dominant community’s domineering aspirations to a degree where ignoring minority rights and denying equality of opportunities has assumed normative significance, the central government needs to take well informed and firm steps aimed at restoring and promoting tribal collective rights. Such an intervention is indispensable to usher in lasting peace and to kick-start a process of development and progress in the state’s tribal areas which are still left struggling with 19th century problems of potable water, jeep-able roads, access to primary education, et al.