A reflection on the ongoing ethnic conflict in Manipur.
KAPIL ARAMBAM
Manipur has been in the news again, and as always, for all the wrong reasons. The ongoing crisis is more of an existential crisis for the Meiteis and Kuki people. It is also equally true to say that it is a textbook example of an ethnic conflict between the Meiteis, who predominantly live in the oval-shaped Imphal valley, and the Kukis who are ‘from’ and concentrated in Churachandpur and Pherzawl districts and elsewhere. This epicentre district is around 60 km from the capital Imphal valley.
First thing first. The Kukis, or the ethnic Chin-Kuki-Mizo-Zomi group, to be precise, have been up in arms against the Manipur government which they claim is controlled and dominated by the Meiteis. The government has been ‘destroying’ their homes and churches by justifying these acts with legal provisions related to forest protection. This is paradoxical but it is just the beginning. Incidentally, the government also claims the Kukis are occupying the hilly areas illegally. For outsiders, the whole issue will be anything but confusing if you are unaware about the dynamics of identity politics in a state where there are 33 officially recognised ethnic groups, and their antagonism for varying reasons as well as the additional tangible crises of ethnonationalism, drugs and demography.
Disconnection
Nobody can deny the fact that collective growth depends on negotiating and accommodating the ‘other’. India is undergoing this pessimism albeit intentionally by vilifying the Muslims. This is even truer in a multi-ethnic state like Manipur where there are always overlapping aspirations of different ethnic groups, often in the worst ways possible. Presently, the
onus lies on those people in the governance and administration, and ‘legal’ constitutional instruments can offer a platform to help play a critical proactive role in resolving the crisis. The authority, unfortunately, is only bent towards making the space just perfect for exclusionary identity politics, for how unintentional it is
and whatever rationale it has. The imperative
is not on their competency now, while the cacophonic sound from all the directions is that some of these representatives are ‘engineering’ these crises for their vested interests.
If we follow the latest happenings, it exploded with a tribal solidarity rally organised by an apex students’ organisation on 3 May in protest against the High Court of Manipur’s move to concede a demand for scheduled tribe status for the dominant Meiteis. All the Meiteis do not even endorse this demand for affirmative action under the Indian Constitution. Still,
a few things need to be reiterated here:
• People see the whole issue as a confrontation between the Meiteis and the tribals or sometimes as a fight between the Meitei Hindus and Kuki Christians. However, nothing can be further from the truth.
• Rather it is a fight for access to scarce land and other resources just between the Meiteis and the Kukis, at least for now, these are the two groups; and
• The rally was just a trigger while ethnic tensions have been brewing for a long time.
For the sake of argument, let’s consider
the Kukis are reasonable and their demands valid. Definitely their share of beneficial access will be reduced but they are indulging in wishful thinking if they consider the Meitei’s demand will affect their land-ownership privileges. Just to clarify and repeat, not all
the Meiteis are demanding for ST status.
Drugs
The most recent tension started when the N Biren government launched its war on drug campaign. The Kuki-dominated areas in Manipur border Myanmar, with a sizable Zo population and which also used to be the heroin hub until the Golden Crescent took over around two decades ago. In other words, at least the plantation and if not production, has shifted to these areas crossing international borders. This has had several implications with even more severe consequences. Both the plantation and production processes are entirely done in Manipur now, with raw materials from the hills and mobile manufacturing units set up along the Lilong-Thoubal route. This lies on
the Asian Highway 1 or National Highway 102 (formerly NH 39) in the valley region. From just a convenient international route for smuggling, we have now become one of the ‘business’ hubs in dealing with heroin. In the entire history of drug smuggling, nobody has ever said that an official act is going to be one of the best provisions against drug-smuggling MO.
While this campaign has been a step
that the government considers to be one of their best practices, the situation is far from normal. This is referring to the relentless problems of drug plantation/production and addiction. Poppy cultivators and dealers in Churachandpur and the Burmese drug mafias who have found a home and haven in Manipur are not helping the case either. Newspaper reports mention that poppy cultivation
in Burma has escalated after the military takeover but that is a different story for now.
Demography
A crisis has started with protests for counter- demands and destruction of poppy cultivation yet this is just the tip. And this is where
the problem lies—it is complex as much as multiple issues are involved in the crisis.
In simple words, just as the poppy problem is destructive, Manipur has also a severe demographic imbalance and unsurprisingly it is the most acute in this district.
When the entire state saw a population growth rate of 18.7% in the 2011 Census, Churachandpur recorded a rise by nearly 39%. It is speculated that it will rise further with the number of Burmese people of the Chin- Kuki-Mizo ethnicity entering India after the 2021 Myanmar coup d’état. Law enforcement agencies have been picking up groups of these Burmese people from here and there. It is a sheer humanitarian act to provide refuge to people who have come running for their lives but it is unacceptable to many sections of the society that the same ethnic people are overtaxing themselves with the crisis of 2Ps
( poppy and population). In this regard, it is even more ironic that the recent violence has driven so many people out—particularly those who live in foothills and areas that lie adjacent to Meitei and Kuki villages—to take refuge in ad-hoc relief camps, irrespective of ethnicity as they run for our lives from onslaughts committed by two sides at once. That’s ‘double’ displacement particularly for the Kukis.
For decades, the Meiteis have always
been citing the case of the Tripuris (erstwhile Takhels). In their own land, the indigenous Tripuris have become a minority. Back home, with the 111-km long Jiribam–Vangaichungpao– Tupul-Imphal railway line nearing completion, in two years as per government’s record,
there are apprehensions that even the largest majority group will be losing their numbers
and identity together. We comprised 59% of the total population in 1951 but it has been reduced to 44% as per 2011 Census data. We will see more accurate numbers when the decadal Census report of 2021 is published. (PS: It is expected to be released in October 2023.)
Diversions
Recently, the Meiteis claim that the Kukis are
as always playing the victim card. Yet in the last few days, ever since violence and destruction started after the 3 May ‘tribal solidarity’ rally, one of the most recognisable voices is that of the people seeking attention and validation. The ‘people’ means the Manipur public including those from all the ethnicities. Moreover, the so-called national media in India, The Guardian, Al Jazeera, Japan Times, the Independent, BBC, The Washington Post, the South China Morning Post and others have been covering the conflict. It is as though Manipuris are waiting for miracles and saviours mostly from mainland India and elsewhere. Their inferior complexes and fervent appeal for others to ‘understand’ them and
their issues has been crystal clear. In reality, people are occupied with their own problems, from a third-world country such as India to a superpower like Russia. Nobody is a saviour. Never really so. And the reason is simple: not many people like poor folks, not out of spite
but more because of the lack of relevance of these literally poor people in their lives.
Manipur has been one of the states which is most vocal about the extrajudicial excessiveness of the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act in
the Northeast. However, in the wake of the recent clashes, the Union government sent in 50 companies of Central Armed Police Forces and 105 columns of army and Assam Rifles. According to prominent Indian journalist Shekhar Gupta (Cut the Clutter, The Print: Rarest of rare: Modi govt intervenes directly
in burning Manipur, controls law & order
over own govt), this deployment is one of the rarest of rare cases that the Modi government
is intervening into a state directly by invoking Article 355 and controlling the law-and-order crisis from New Delhi. Still, as always, the personnels are on an ostensibly step to control the situation because the tension is today as simmering as in the last two weeks or so.
When India is playing a crucial role in
one of its hinterlands, the role of the so-called mainstream media is nothing but appalling. The level of errors in their reporting in a place like Manipur is far worse than the fact that
the Indian press freedom index has further slipped to 161st position in 2023. In conflict situations, the first thing people need to get
rid of are misinformation and disinformation. Even if thousands of people are begging for attention in the ‘mainstream’ media, there
is still no light at all at the end of the tunnel. Despite being smothered literally to the ground in the penultimate days of World War II, the Japanese people sprang back to its former glory in no time. It is only incomprehensible that all that many Meiteis want is a Scheduled Tribe status while irritating the people who they argue are not indigenous in the first place.
Next: When, Where, What?
In the last seven decades, the only thing
that has remained constant is the fact that
this erstwhile kingdom of Manipur has now become a constituent unit in the Union of India. Yet, there is no room for the people to become a productive society if everything from insurgency to ethnicity are tackled for short- term goals. The problems are going to persist because the region is underdeveloped and we lack the political will to make progress. The people must also express gratitude to India that has viewed the region as nothing more than a frontier and just a geopolitically relevant place and nothing more. Experts suggest that for a long-term solution there must be fool- proof peace and reconciliation mechanisms.
Breaking News: The conditions on the ground are neither improving or worsening as of 30 May and the worst affected people from both sides are only those taking refuge in relief camps now.
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