How Ibobi Singh baited a magazine reporter to derail crucial Manipur talks

The first round of tripartite talks to end the Manipur blockade by the UNC (United Naga Council) was held on February 4, 2017. The ministry of home affairs said they had made "substantial progress" and the blockade might be lifted soon. But shortly after that, there was a different turn of events.

But before we delve into why that happened, let's get some backgrounder on the blockade.

The blockade is in force since November 1, 2016, initiated by the UNC in retaliation for the creation of seven new state districts by the O Ibobi Singh government, allegedly as poll sops.

The problem Nagas have is that the state government did not consult the stakeholders before taking the decision. Technically, in the hills of Manipur, there is a thing called "Autonomous Hill Council", a local governing body which takes care of the administration and they have to be consulted with regards to any decision in those areas. (It is provided by the Constitution of India.)

So with respect to that principle, the Congress government under Singh violated it and took a unanimous decision of carving out the new districts in the hills.

In opposition to that, the UNC blocked NH-2 (Imphal-Dimapur) and NH-37 (Imphal-Jiribam), which are the only supply lines to Manipur. And because of that, Manipur is bearing the brunt; grappling with shortage and paying through the roof for goods, fuel, vegetables and other items of daily consumption.

The cost of petrol was around Rs 300 a litre in the initial period, now after fuel tankers have been airlifted, it is still selling for Rs 130-160 per litre in black.

The state government had declared that it won't roll back the formation of new districts and the UNC had declared they will continue the blockade, unless that and/or other demands are met.

After three months, finally the BJP stepped in. (The BJP at the Centre has a "historic framework agreement" with the Nagas. The PM and NSA were flaunting the same. But the agreement has been ever since kept under wraps, so no one really knows what is in the pact.)

The Singh government seems to be apparently benefiting from the blockade, being the government in power. And the BJP, which was supposedly picking up in the state, lost their grip as they did not take any stand on the blockade despite being in an agreement with the perpetrators - the UNC. And ultimately, like always, the common man is suffering.

When the first meeting looked like it was making some progress, it seems Singh rattled, because if the BJP was to end the blockade through the tripartite talks within a week of its intervention, it would dent Singh’s chances in the upcoming elections with accusations of being powerless to tackle the situation, or that he wanted to keep it going for personal gains.

So it seems Singh took his chances and violated the terms of the agreement at the first opportunity he got during an interview with the reporter of a national magazine, mentioning that the blockade will be lifted on Tuesday and they will "unconditionally release two UNC leaders". And the reporter without realising that he/she was biting the bait that Ibobi had to offer, broke the story of the blockade ending.

A miffed UNC issued a press release the following day, saying that “the GoM and GoI moved for creating a conducive atmosphere for the next tripartite meeting and it was agreed that none of the parties would go to the press on sensitive matters discussed in the talk. But the chief minister of Manipur has triumphantly stated in the media that the core issue has not been put on the agenda and that the UNC protest would be called off.”

Also that the UNC “resolved to continue to fight against the insidious design of grabbing our land on the pretext of administrative convenience till the same is withdrawn.”

While the magazine got it’s big breaking story and exclusive inside information from the talks, that it decided to go all out with, knowing little the repercussions it could have, it is Ibobi Singh really who seems to be having the last laugh.

Also read: Why Manipur crisis won't die down anytime soon