Hindi English Translation || Editorial || Law and disorder: On Manipur, its ethnic polarisation and its law and order

Law and disorder: On Manipur, its ethnic polarisation and its law and order

The continued radicalisation of Manipuri society is a cause of concern

One of the cardinal principles of a functioning and modern democracy is that only the state, led by a government that is elected by the people, has a legitimate (वैध) right to use or to authorise the use of physical force. When civilian groups resort to violence against state actors without repercussions (प्रतिघात), one has to call into question the maintenance of law and order in the State of Manipur. In late February, cadres of the Meitei chauvinist group, the Arambai Tenggol, allegedly abducted a police officer, assaulted (हमला, आक्रमण करना) him and vandalised his home. Police officers protested the attack, lamenting (विलाप करने वाला) their inability to take action against the group. It is another matter that the group has managed to source its weapons from the looting of police stations in the valley following the ethnic conflagration (A large and violent event, such as a war, involving a lot of people) last May. Many of the weapons are yet to be seized or returned despite the government’s appeals. The police in the valley are heavily ethnicised (The process of reducing the differences between people or groups to characteristics or appearances that are assumed to “ethnic”) with barely any representation from the Kuki-Zo minority. Yet, the impunity (दण्ड मुक्ति) with which the Arambai Tenggol has acted against a police official, and even assaulted a leader of the opposition in the recent past besides administering oath to legislators from the valley to pledge for its majoritarian (बहुसंख्यक) cause, suggest that such actions have either the nod of the leadership of the State government or have been deliberately ignored. The severe ethnicisation in the valley and the hills has also granted a degree of popularity to groups such as the Arambai Tenggol and counterparts (प्रतिरूप, प्रतिस्थानी) in the hills, making law enforcement difficult to achieve.

It is now incumbent upon the Union government and the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to take into account the severity of the ethnic polarisation and the dangers posed to law and order. Humanitarian (मानवीय) concerns related to the displacement (विस्थापन, स्थानांतरण) of people apart, the predominance of extra-legal forces in public life in the valley and the hills points to the delegitimisation (अवैधीकरण) of the idea of the state alone having a monopoly over the use of physical force in establishing law and order. The rampant radicalisation (कट्टरता) provides an opportunity for the muzzled civic voices in Manipur, and in the valley in particular, to raise their concerns about the impunity enjoyed by such forces. Unless the Chief Minister, N. Biren Singh, cracks the whip on the Arambai Tenggol, the radicalisation of Manipuri society will continue, making a return to a much-needed civic state of affairs all the more difficult. But with Mr. Singh acting less as a Chief Minister and more as a leader promoting (बढ़ाव देना) majoritarian politics, it is incumbent upon the BJP leadership to yet again rethink its strategy to let the status quo continue in the State.

Courtesy: The Hindu

Important Word List With Meaning

1.Legitimate (adjective)

Hindi Meaning - वैध
English Meaning - Reasonable and acceptable.

2.Repercussions (noun)

Hindi Meaning - प्रतिघात
English Meaning - The effect that an action, event, or decision has on something, especially a bad effect.

3.Assaulted (verb)

Hindi Meaning - हमला, आक्रमण करना
English Meaning - A violent attack.

4.Lamenting (adjective)

Hindi Meaning - विलाप करने वाला
English Meaning - To express sadness and feeling sorry about something.

5.Impunity (noun)

Hindi Meaning - दण्ड मुक्ति
English Meaning - Freedom from punishment or from the unpleasant results of something that has been done.

6.Majoritarian (noun)

Hindi Meaning - बहुसंख्यक
English Meaning - Governed by or believing in decision by a majority.

7.Counterparts (noun)

Hindi Meaning - प्रतिरूप, प्रतिस्थानी
English Meaning - A person or thing that has the same purpose as another one in a different place or organization.

8.Humanitarian (adjective)

Hindi Meaning - मानवीय
English Meaning - (a person who is) involved in or connected with improving people’s lives and reducing suffering.

9.Displacement (noun)

Hindi Meaning - विस्थापन, स्थानांतरण
English Meaning - The situation in which people are forced to leave the place where they normally live.

10.Delegitimisation (noun)

Hindi Meaning - अवैधीकरण
English Meaning - To make invalid, illegal, or unacceptable.

11.Radicalisation (noun)

Hindi Meaning - कट्टरता
English Meaning - The process of making someone become less radical (= extreme) in their political or religious beliefs.

12.Promoting (verb)

Hindi Meaning - बढ़ाव देना
English Meaning - To encourage people to like, buy, use, do, or support something.

13.Conflagration (noun)

English Meaning - A large and violent event, such as a war, involving a lot of people.

14.Ethnicised (noun)

English Meaning - The process of reducing the differences between people or groups to characteristics or appearances that are assumed to “ethnic”.