Manipur: Transparency is the need of the hour

In a couple of weeks, Manipur will enter the 75th year of its complete and unconditional merger into India. Local historians have chronicled the circumstances under which Bodh Chandra Singh ceded all powers and authority as the Maharaja of Manipur to the Dominion Government under the overbearing influence of V P Menon and Assam’s Governor, Sri Prakasa. Yet, the macabre violence that is ripping the state asunder since May is a clear indicator of the incomplete integration of the hearts and minds of Manipur’s resident ethnic communities.

This side of the Yamuna, security bandobast for the upcoming G-20 summit in Delhi is being planned to the minutest detail. Posters of langurs are strategically placed by the roadside to tackle the stray monkey menace. Meanwhile, in Manipur, inter-community gunfights using arms and ammunition, which mobs looted from the local police armouries, are resulting in gory deaths, week after week, and nobody seems much bothered.

In a recent media interview, the head of Assam Rifles described Manipur as a weaponised society. Earlier, while hearing urgent petitions over the mayhem in Manipur, the Supreme Court lamented that there was no law and order left in that state.

While the Union Home Minister’s visit in May failed to bring peace, the Prime Minister’s very hectic schedule is yet to find a slot for a visit to Manipur. So, what kind of local inputs are coming to the Union government at the highest levels and what instructions are flowing down to restore law and order, which the state government, despite having the constitutional mandate, has miserably failed to protect?

Under the 1961 Transaction of Business Rules, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) is required to send to the President of India fortnightly reports about the political situation and a weekly summary of the intelligence reports from across the country. Every Governor is also required to regularly report on the situation in the state where she/he is appointed by the President. All these reports are sarkari secrets, insulated from public scrutiny in order to protect -- you guessed it -- public order and safety.

I filed two RTI interventions in July with Rashtrapati Bhawan (RB) and the MHA seeking access to those parts of these weekly and fortnightly reports relating to the situation in Manipur. As the information directly concerns the lives and liberty of thousands of people affected by the ongoing violence, I requested that all the information be uploaded on their respective official websites within 48 hours, as per the RTI Act.

Two weeks later, RB rejected the RTI application on grounds of national security. MHA replied after a month, rejecting the request similarly. They also invoked the partial exclusion granted to intelligence agencies under the RTI Act. In MHA’s view, even the horrific sexual violence reported from Manipur does not amount to allegations of human rights violations about which information must be mandatorily disclosed.

I had also asked RB about the dates on which the Prime Minister and the Union Home Minister briefed the President about the Manipur situation and what advice she had given them. RB initially replied that they had no information on any such briefing at all. Three days ago, RB sent a revised reply explaining that between May and July, the PM and Home Minister met the President on two separate occasions each. But RB has no information about what transpired at those meetings.

A government which exhorts its citizens to perform their duties before demanding their constitutionally guaranteed fundamental rights to life and liberty, must lead by example. Transparency is the first step towards responsible governance. Opacity-by-design makes it difficult to fix accountability for the omissions and inaction of public functionaries.