"I want peace for Manipur. It should move ahead like the rest of the country. It should be one India with Manipur in it," said four-time world champion woman boxer MC Mary Kom.
"I have myself experienced it (the volatile law and order situation). My father-in-law, who came to Delhi to support me during the 2006 World Championships, was shot dead in December that year. I still don't know why it happened. I don't know who did it," she recalled.
Mary Kom getting the Khel Ratna is the best thing that has happened to Manipur in long long time. Sports has always worked as a great unifying force and sport persons have proved to be the most successful messengers of peace. Mary Kom hails from that part of India which has been a victim of central apathy for more than five decades. This helped the land to become a hotbed of terrorism.
But inspite of the insurgency issues North-East India has regularly produced sports persons of international repute, the latest in the list being Somdev Devvarman of Tripura.
All of them achieved success not because of the system but because of their own grit and determination. It makes me wonder had there been a proper infra-structure for sports in NE, how many world beating players India would have had?
Football is the strongest force holding Manipur together, football is one weapon for which even the terrorists of Manipur has no defence. May be the government of India should focus on improving the sports infrastructure in NE as one of the resorts to curb terrorism here.
