History repeats. And this time it has repeated itself in Manipur. India’s northeastern state is ablaze, and only four days back the house of Union minister R K Ranjan Singh was burnt to ashes in full view of the security forces and state police. More than 150 Kukis and Meitei have been killed in the month-long ethnic clashes and in firing by the security forces. However, oblivious to the enormity of the situation, Prime Minister Narendra Modi is flying to USA on a “peace mission”, to work out a solution to end the bloody war that has been going on between Ukraine and Russia for well over one year.
People of Manipur had been nursing optimism that Modi would intervene and find out a solution to the crisis. So far, it has not happened. In fact, his impervious attitude to the Kuki-Meitei crisis has forced the local people to question his intentions.
More than 550 citizens’ groups, including academics and lawyers, have attributed the violence in Manipur to “divisive politics” by the BJP, which according to them “exacerbated” age-old ethnic tensions between communities for political gain. They also questioned the silence of Narendra Modi. They called upon Modi to “speak up and take accountability”. In a statement they said: “Manipur is burning today in very large part due to the divisive politics played by the BJP and its governments at the Centre and state. And on them lies the onus to stop this ongoing civil war before more lives are lost”.
The signatory groups include the People’s Union for Civil Liberties, Saheli Women’s Resource Centre, National Alliance of People’s Movements, All India Democratic Women’s Association, Federation of Catholic Associations of Delhi NCR, Women Against Sexual Violence and State Repression, Human Rights Forum, and the Indian Christian Women’s Movement.
These organisations also pointed out that at the behest of the BJP, the armed Kuki groups had solicited votes for the party in the 2022 Assembly elections, and stressed that seven of the 10 Kuki MLAs in the Manipur Assembly were from the BJP.
These social activists give voice to the frustrations and fears of the Manipuri people. Kuki Women’s Forum Delhi & NCR convener Dr Mary Grace Zou said that the attitude of the Modi government made them realise that Kuki lives don’t matter to the governments, both at the Centre and at the State. She also mentioned the ongoing turmoil in Manipur could see the state “lose a generation” of youths, who were “holding guns instead of books”.
BJP and RSS leadership patronising the Meitei community and fulfilling their needs at the cost of the interests of the Kukis has given rise to fears of possible balkanisation. This was alleged by none else but the Minister of State for External Affairs, Rajkumar Ranjan Singh. In his letter to Modi, the Minister expressed his fear about the threat of “balkanisation on ethnic lines” in Manipur. The BJP MP, whose Lok Sabha constituency is Inner Manipur, asked the Prime Minister to “curb and control” with “a strong hand” any attempt at breaking up the northeast state, where 35 ethnic groups live.
The official residence of Nemcha Kipgen, the only female minister in Manipur, was also burnt down by attackers on the evening of June 14, as ethnic violence continued between the Meitei and Kuki-Zo communities.
After the failure of Union home minister Amit Shah’s mission to restore peace in the state and work out a solution to the massacre, the Manipuris were expecting some sort of initiative from PM Modi. But their hopes have been dashed. They are in wilderness and are not sure when the violence would cease.
During his three-day stay in Manipur, Shah visited the Kuki-dominated town of Moreh on the border with Myanmar and Kangpokpi district, one of the worst hit by the clashes. He assured Manipur of returning to the track of peace and harmony. But the ethnic clashes aggravated after his return. Obviously, it points to the futility of his move. Either he lacked political skill or there was complete absence of will and sincerity.
The first step in the direction to bring back peace would have been to keep in abeyance the move to confer the ST status to Meitei. But Shah did not do it. He was portraying the image of running after elusive peace. Modi government must erase the perception of bias and focus on confidence-building measures. It is worth mentioning that Lalboi Hriammi, joint secretary of the Kuki Chiefs’ Association (KSA) who met Shah at Moreh, had told him: “Let the armed forces use lethal firepower against armed groups from both Kuki and Meitei communities. Let there be no distinction for the sake of peace. The violence must end.”
The prevailing situation in Manipur has conjured even a retired lieutenant general from Manipur, L. Nishikanta Singh, to compare Manipur with Syria. Expressing dismay at the violence in his home state, he called it “stateless” and compared the scale of anarchy to that witnessed in Syria, Libya and Nigeria. This tweet from the retired military man, who once held the second highest rank in the army, evoked support from many veterans, including a former army chief, General V.P. Malik.
Amit Shah on June 1 had announced that a committee headed by a retired high court judge, of Chief Justice rank, would investigate the brutal ethnic violence that broke out since May 3 in Manipur. This is simply an eyewash and attempt to create more confusion. Why Shah is not implementing the observation of Supreme Court on High Court’s verdict of granting ST status to Meiteis is anyone’s guess.
In fact, through his actions, Shah is aligning the Centre with the Meitei interest. Shah removed Manipur DGP P. Doungel, who belongs to a prominent Kuki family and replaced him by IPS Rajiv Singh who was IG, CRPF. This would simply send the message that Shah has succumbed to the pressure Meiteis and also demoralise the Kukis who are in the police or security forces.
The Kuki organisations and intellectuals have been demanding the removal of Manipur Chief Minister Biren Singh. Even this demand was raised within the state BJP. But the Modi government did not give credence to it. The BJP ecosystem has been quite vocal against the opposition governments and have been demanding unseating their governments or imposition of president’s rule in those states at the drop of a hat. But they are maintaining passive silence on Manipur, where even the heavily-protected residential building of a union minister was burnt to ashes, and the state has already witnessed nearly 200 killings and 40,000 displacement in the wake of ethnic violence.
A strong band of 140 columns of the Indian Army and Assam Rifles, comprising over 10,000 personnel, besides those from other paramilitary forces and State police which have been deployed to bring back normalcy in the State, have virtually failed in their task. This underlines the utter lack of farsightedness of Modi government.
Ever since the ethnic clashes broke out in the state, the people have been pointing an accusing finger towards the chief minister and alleging his complicity in the ongoing violence. The Manipur Tribal Forum, which has filed an interlocutory application in the apex court, said, “The assurances of the authorities are not useful anymore and made in a non-serious fashion and are not even intended to be implemented.”
In a major revelation, S.S. Haokip, a Kuki militant leader and the chairman of the United Kuki Liberation Front (UKLF), has claimed of helping the BJP in a two-page representation to Union home minister Amit Shah on June 7, 2019. The letter has been submitted as an annexure with an affidavit in a National Investigation Agency (NIA) court in Imphal a week ago on June 8 in connection with a case of missing government arms. Haokip, an accused in the 2018 case and chargesheeted in 2019, has sought exemption. He even claimed in his representation that in 2017 “as agreed upon by Ram Madhav [RSS ideologue] and Himanta Biswas Sarma [Assam Chief Minister from BJP] ”, the UKLF helped BJP candidates win.
Myanmar-India border is a closely monitored zone. The Indian security forces have been on a close watch on the movement of the local people along the border. But strangely enough, the BJP ecosystem has started putting the blame on the Myanmar migrants for the clashes. This is purely an attempt to divert the attention of the countrymen from the real issues. World Meiti Council has supplied fodder to the BJP think tank and anti Kuki agencies. The council said that Manipur violence is an attack by Myanmar migrant Kuki-Chin against Meitei community after Manipur Government’s cracked down on drugs and illegal poppy cultivation by the Kuki Chin tribe. Modi government has been supply a huge cache of arms to Myanmar. In all fairness it must pressurise the Myanmar to check if there is any cross-border activity. Simply blaming the Kuki Chin tribes is not enough.
A closer analysis of the incidents that unfolded in Manipur reveals that the ethnic tensions has deeper divides – between valley and the hills, between shifting and settled agriculture, between state and non-state, between so-called ‘civilised’ and ‘anarchist’. The RSS has been using these divides for its expansion in the entire NE region. Incidentally Biren Singh, known for his “anti-Kuki” rhetoric from his early days in Congress, has been paving the way. Haokip said: “He uses words like a foreigner, illegal immigrant, and makes threats to the community”. (IPA Service)