Judicial overreach and Manipur disturbances

With violence in Manipur unabated for weeks and now even legislators from the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party and allies expressing dissatisfaction with Chief Minister N Biren Singh, his position has become untenable.

This is not the first time that demand has been made for his removal; not many are expected to complain if the Centre decides to oust him, for his incompetence is quite evident—more than 100 people dead, thousands of people uprooted, an orgy of violence and arson, ethnic cleansing carried out with the Meiteis and Kukis now living in separate enclaves. There are no Manipuris now, just Meiteis and Kukis.

Singh, however, is a very small part of the problem. As for incompetence, the country is full of notoriously inept politicians. At any rate, we should also look at factors other than our leaders’ ineptitude and venality.

Manipur poses a big question: what suddenly happened in the state which seemed so normal—Miss India contest was held here two months ago—that became the playground of all manner of violent activists? The Meitei-Kuki conflict is neither new nor peculiar to this North-Eastern state; the entire country is littered with such quarrels between castes and communities. Occasional mayhem and arson are also not uncommon.

At the heart of the issue is a “completely and factually wrong” directive (as the Supreme Court called it) by the Manipur High Court. The HC had directed the Centre to consider the grant of Scheduled Tribe status to the majority Meitei community. The apex court made it clear that said such power was vested with the President.

The Manipur High Court said that the Manipur government had been dragging its feet on the inclusion of the Meitei community in the Scheduled Tribes (ST) list for 10 years now. So, a single-judge Bench of the Manipur High Court comprising Acting Chief Justice M.V. Muralidaran directed the state government on March 27 to consider the request of the community’s inclusion within four weeks, and send a recommendation to the Union government for its consideration.

The Supreme Court was inclined to stay the Manipur High Court’s directive but reportedly refrained from it owing to a writ petition which was pending before a Division Bench of Manipur High Court against the verdict.

Home Minister Amit Shah hit the nail on the head when he slammed the Manipur High Court’s “hasty decision.” Early this month, he said, “On April 29, the Manipur High Court took a hasty decision because of which ethnic violence, and violence between two groups started. For the last six years, ever since Manipur has had a BJP government, Manipur has been free from bandhs, blockades, curfew and violence… These six years are known in Manipur’s history as six years of peace and progress.”

While editorialists have criticized the Biren Singh government and the Centre for the disturbances in the North-Eastern state, few made critical remarks about the Manipur High Court’s order, even though the apex court expressed its displeasure over that order. Justice Muralidaran’s verdict was a clear case of judicial overreach.

It is a well-known fact that Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi didn’t implement the Mandal Commission report because they, despite all their shortcomings, didn’t want to polarize the nation on caste lines. V.P. Singh, however, placed petty political considerations above national interests, and announced its implementation. The result was a big shot of casteism in politics—an abomination the country is suffering from.

Hopefully, the consequences of judicial activism in Manipur will not be so far-reaching.