By KVVV Charya: Manipur tragedy may drive the Union government to impose President Rule as the constitutional machinery measurably failed. The local government of the Day is not in a position to control the growing violence, since May 2023 and it is still continuing without stopping. It may push President of India to impose Article 356.
It is not just violence alone, for that matter violence is continuing in Nagaland, Mizoram and Jammu and Kashmir on account of insurgency, but in Manipur the situation is difference. The ordinary people are forced to indulge into violence to protect them. In Manipur, all have failed both the State and the Centre. There may be a need for open debate on the issue of imposing Art. 356.
Dr BR Ambedkar replying to critics said, “…hoped that the drastic power conferred by Article 356 would remain a dead-letter and would be used only as a measure of last resort.
The Apex Court dealing with a PIL on May 8, 2023 recorded the assurance of the Solicitor General of India that; “…the concerns which have been placed on the record in the petition and additional affidavits which have been filed in the proceedings, shall be duly taken note of and such remedial steps as are required would be adopted on a proactive basis.” But the Court took suo motu notice of the incident that happened on May 4, which reported where women paraded naked by a mob, said using women as instrument to carry out violence is unacceptable in a constitutional democracy. And directed to apprise the court the steps taken by the government to hold the persons responsible and ensure such incidents do not repeated.
Sectarian violence in Manipur is a matter of concern to all of us in India and it is surprising that the Union government failed to stop such atrocity and even till now in November 2024 the situation there could not improve. The government of the day responsible to act decisively and bring peace, justice and relief to the people there in Manipur, hence, even Art. 356 considered to be draconian still it may only the weapon could stall the carnage a grinding halt.
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