Kashmir is Burning !! Violent protests in the Kashmir Valley. Separatists demand ‘Azaadi’. Manmohan Singh talks about autonomy to Kashmir. Sikhs threatened in Kashmir. All of these are headlines in various media avenues. ‘Kashmir’ is ‘in’. Everybody wants to talk about Kashmir, find a solution for Kashmir problem, care about Kashmiri Muslims. TV shows highlight terrible conditions in Kashmir. Likes of Barkha Dutt and Sagarika Ghose hold debates about Kashmir, to engage Kashmir youth. Our entire media is obsessed about Kashmir and nothing else ( lets for get Commonwealth Games for a while).
All of us Indians can confidently point out where Kashmir is in India’s map, right at the top. But I am sure not all Indians can correctly pinpoint where Manipur is !!!
As far as most of India goes, Manipur is a tiny state right on the eastern edge of our country, somewhere beyond Assam. Manipur is as Indian and perhaps more than say Kashmir but most people dont care about it, including the mainstream media channels and newspapers. It is hardly even mentioned anywhere, after all is just sends 1 Member of Parliament in Loksabha ,why would even the government care !!
Naga groups led by United Naga Council are demanding a ‘Greater Nagaland’ state which include chunks from three neighbouring states, on Tuesday said they were extending for another 25 days their blockade of the two highways linking landlocked Manipur to the rest of the country. This follows almost consecutive 20 days and 69 days of similar blockades, leaving the northeast state surviving on army-escorted supplies for the past three months. The state faces acute shortage of every essential commodities like life-saving drugs. Petrol is priced at 200 rupees a liter in black market, LPG cylinders at 1,500 rupees and a kilogram of rice at 60-70 rupees. There is general anarchy in the city of Imphal with both the state and central government helpless against the Naga groups. The only difference between them and the Kashmiri separatists is that the Manipuri people are not throwing ‘stones’ at the Indian government.
Though the Centre deployed the CRPF to escort vehicles carrying essentials, the government is unable to restore normal supplies. The blockade of the 2 highways connecting Manipur to rest of India continue and the government is waiting and watching. Our own Indian brothers and sisters living in India are facing such humongous issues and nobody seems bothered, of course its not Srinagar but Imphal. I dare Barkha Dutt to do a ‘We the People’ sitting in Imphal valley instead of ‘Kashmir Valley’ for a change. Does the mainstream media even care about Manipur and in general North East. When will they find North East part of India ‘glamorous’ enough to be covered?
An entire state held to ransom for the past three months. And a central government that seems helpless to stop it and hardly interested in solving the issue. Media channels not bothered even to send one of their senior journalist there. Manipur is India, North East is integral to India
Wake up India !!!
Yeh Mera India 