Education, Leadership, and the Crossroads of Our Future

A society does not collapse overnight; it crumbles when truth and responsibility are abandoned piece by piece. Our greatest danger today is not only poor governance, but the slow poisoning of our values through corruption, greed, and hypocrisy. Article 371C was meant to safeguard our voice, to ensure that the unique identity and needs of the hill people were not swallowed by the majority. Yet what has it become today? A paper shield, waved around by politicians who manipulate it for their survival, while the very people it was meant to protect remain trapped in poverty, broken education systems, and decaying infrastructure. If leadership hides behind constitutional promises while failing in real service, then even the strongest law becomes an empty shell.

True progress begins not with shouting “special provisions,” but with living them out through responsibility. Education should have armed our youth with courage to hold leaders accountable, but instead it often produces silent spectators. Leadership should have embodied Article 371C in spirit-standing as a guard for justice and dignity-but instead it has been twisted into a tool for control. What good is a constitutional safeguard if those entrusted to uphold it are the very ones who exploit it? What use is Article 371C if schools collapse, jobs vanish, and corruption thrives in its shadow? Laws may give us frameworks, but only truth and integrity can give us life.

The crossroads is clear: either Article 371C remains a dead letter, mocked by the hypocrisy of failed leadership, or it becomes the living backbone of justice, dignity, and equality for our people. The responsibility lies not only with the leaders but with the youth-the rising generation who must demand that education equips them for truth, not just degrees; that leadership serves with sacrifice, not greed. You, the youth, must ask: will you allow Article 371C to be a shield for corruption, or will you reclaim it as a covenant of protection and dignity? The answer lies not in Delhi, not in Imphal, but in your courage to stand for what is right. The future is yours-what will you make of it?