Manipur CM Biren Singh warns Delhi on Naga deal

“We have come in a full team – with all ministers, MLAS, and senior party leaders including state president. We are about 35 people. We will stay here for fourfive days. We are here to request the Centre that we support the peace initiative. But in the meantime, there is a state, there is a constitutional scheme, there is a federal structure, and so if there is any decision, please convey to us in advance so that we can take a decision in the assembly. If not, then all elected members, including me, will be an in extreme position,” Singh said in an interview.

When asked if that included resignation, he said: “We might...no alternative. If it hurts the sentiment of the people, involves part and parcel of the state in any way, we might be compelled.”

While Prime Minister Narendra Modi has made it clear that Manipur’s territorial integrity would remain intact, there have been reports that an autonomous territorial council and pan-naga cultural body could be a part of the final agreement. Manipur, according to a state government official familiar with the process, has got indications that the Naga talks are in the final lap, and sections in the Union government are seeking to push it through, possibly as early as this monsoon session which kicks off on July 18.

“If the solution involves any part of Manipur – be it cultural, administrative, traditional, economic, territorial, or economic – then my position is very clear. The central government must take the consent of the state assembly... If the assembly agrees unanimously, we can say go ahead,” Singh said. He went beyond Manipur’s bottom-line -that its boundaries not be changed -- and opposed creation of councils that bypassed the state government in any way. “We cannot allow someone else to come and develop on their own. There is a state government. Whatever has to be taken up must be through the state government.”

Singh said that he had spoken to both senior figures in the Sangh parivar and the party leadership to explain Manipur’s position and hinted some in the security establishment were pushing the deal, ‘without understanding the realities of Manipur’. each other. They then visited the police post with their complaints,” said the DCP.

The girl and her friend were nowhere to be found at that time.

The two families were nearing a compromise at the police post when the girl suddenly reached there at around 2.30am and said she did not want to go back to her family, said the DCP.

At around 3am, one of the man’s relatives demanded that an FIR be registered. "This led to a commotion, drawing the police out. The girl used the opportunity to lock the room from inside and hanged herself using her chunni,” said the DCP.

The girl’s family, however, alleged that she had been locked from outside after being separated from her brother and siblings, who were confined in an adjacent room. “Through an opening meaning for a cooler, I could see her hanging, but was unable to save her,” her brother said.

This is not the first instance of a suicide in the presence of police officers. In January this year, a 19-year-old man accused of molestation hanged himself at the Karawal Nagar police station in north-east Delhi.

“The Jatavs of Basai ( his ancestral village) do what they say. And Sanjay Jatav is one of them,” Jatav, dressed in a powder blue suit, as hundreds of people ring-fenced his horse-drawn buggy, said triumphantly.

The administration fortified the area around his bride’s village, deploying 10 police inspectors, 22 sub-inspectors, 35 head constables, 100 constables and a platoon of the state provincial armed constabulary.

“Even if someone wants to create trouble, it wouldn’t be possible for them to do that. We have made sure there are more police than guests in this wedding,” said RP Singh, Kasganj’s district magistrate.

Jatav, a local worker with the Bahujan Samaj Party, drove from his village, about 20km away, in a convoy of 30 cars, a police pilot vehicle and an armed security guard. Right outside Nizampur, he was greeted by a phalanx of press, senior police and administration officers and political leaders cutting across party lines.

Thakur f amilies watched Jatav’s grand procession — featuring police escorts, a DJ cart and breathless villagers dancing around the buggy — perched on their rooftops, exchanging details of the wedding arrangement.

Asked why her family is taking the risk of retribution in a village where Dalits are outnumbered 1:10, the bride, Sheetal Kumari, said: “We want our fair share of rights. India is a free country and the Constitution gives everyone equal rights.”

Despite the successful wedding, the fight for the Dalit families may not have ended as hostilities continue to simmer. “Not one Thakur in the village will attend this wedding,” said Rupender Chauhan, a village resident. “Repercussions will follow, if not in two days then in two years.”

Dalits form around a fifth of Uttar Pradesh’ population and Jatavs are the largest Dalit group, considered a loyal support base of former chief minister Mayawati.

Since independence, Dalits have made great strides in education, employment and social mobility, owing partially to reservations, but the progress has triggered resentment among erstwhile dominant castes in recent years.

This year alone, several incidents of Dalit grooms being beaten up for riding horses and taking out grand processions have been reported from across India, including in Gujarat, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh.

The Kasganj district witnessed communal tension earlier this year after clashes broke out between two groups in over a bike rally called ‘Tiranga Yatra’ on the Republic Day. One person was killed after an altercation during the rally organised by a rightwing organisation. Ante Rebic. But in the next 20 minutes, France replaced N Golo Kante with Steven Nzonzi and scored twice; Pogba and Mbappe making the most of the Croatia midfield’s inability to track back. They could have scored more.

The victory made Deschamps the third after Mario Zagallo and Franz Beckenbauer to win the World Cup as player and coach. This World Cup had Tite, the teacher of tactical sophistication, Southgate the suave, Martinez the formations’ magician, but they went home. With the kind of stodginess that is the badge of defensive midfielders, Deschamps stayed because he got France, a team known for mutiny and meltdowns, to put in one assured performance after another.

If he is lucky, so were Edison and Newton. If he is still unloved, it could be because the French know more about love than the rest of the world.

SINGH HINTED THAT SOME IN THE SECURITY ESTABLISHMENT WERE PUSHING THE DEAL, ‘WITHOUT UNDERSTANDING THE REALITIES OF MANIPUR’ THE GIRL HAD RECENTLY CLEARED HER CLASS 12 EXAMS WITH 76% MARKS Even if someone wants to create trouble, it wouldn’t be possible... We have made sure there are more police than guests in this wedding