An Enforced Silence On The Part Of PM Modi Cannot Solve Manipur Crisis

 

Modi’s Silence on Manipur has Destroyed the State’s Credibility

If Modi hopes that he can wish away the Manipur crisis by staying silent, he is mistaken. By now, ethnic divides have become deeply entrenched and the security-centric approach of creating buffer zones between the Meitei and the Kuki is making the gulf permanent. Crying for a political solution, the people now feel completely abandoned by Modi, who exhorted them to vote for a ‘double-engine’ government in the state two years ago. His indifference towards Manipur, while he goes campaigning for elections in Karnataka, to the train accident site in Odisha or chairs a disaster management conference for cyclone Biprajoy in Gujarat, only reinforces the sentiment.

The state has simply collapsed. More than 4,500 weapons have been ransacked – rather handed over to local militia and mobs – from state armouries. In Manipur, the violence is not between militants and security forces; it is between two communities, involving ordinary civilians.

To call this a civil war may be unpalatable but it would not be inaccurate. Where else would women be organising themselves to block roads so that the central forces and the army may not reach areas where mobs are attacking villages of other ethnic denominations? They are, in fact, stopping vehicles of central forces to check the identity of soldiers to see if there are any of a particular ethnicity involved in the conflict. Vehicles carrying food supplies and other essentials for Assam Rifles are not being allowed to move. Some Assam Rifles units had to receive army supplies by helicopter. These are unprecedented happenings by any yardstick.

The failure is all-round and all-encompassing. The BJP state government and its CM lead the way with their disastrous record, but continue to remain in office for some inexplicable reason.

Manipur consists of 34 recognised Tribes like Naga, Kuki, Meitei, Aimol, Angami, Chiru, Maram, Monsang, Paite, Purum, Thadou, Anal, Mao, Tangkhul, Thadou, Poumai Naga – in a way broadly falling under the Naga and Kukichin or Kuki tribal groups.

Manipur can be compared as a sports stadium – a central Imphal valley surrounded by hills. The hills, inhabited by the Naga, Kuki tribes, amount to around 90 percent of Manipur’s total area whereas the Imphal valley, where the dominant Meitei community primarily resides, makes up the remaining 10 percent of the state’s area.

As per 2011 census Manipur's population was 28.56 lakh whereas projected population today is about 36.49 lakh, of whom about 53% are Meiteis, an estimated 70% are settled in the Imphal valley, and the remaining 30% live in hill areas that belong to the Naga, Kuki tribes. 

The majority Meiteis inhabit a mere 10% of the state’s landmass. Their numbers have also increased over a period. They have OBC status and not ST status as a tribe. As a result they cannot buy land in the remaining 90 percent of tribal protected hill areas, which are declared as belonging to Scheduled Tribes. This has all the more contributed to their demands to be included in the list of Scheduled Tribes so that Meiteis could buy and own land as tribes like Naga, Kuki can due to their ST status to accommodate their rising majority Meitei population and thereby  provide them with constitutional safeguards instead of marginalizing them in their ancestral land. Meiteis feel that their inclusion in the Scheduled Tribes category would ensure them equal right to land.

In opposition to their demands for inclusion, the United Naga Council of hill tribes has argued that the Meitei community is an advanced community in India. According to it, the inclusion of Meiteis would defeat the purpose of the Scheduled Tribes list, which is to provide protective discrimination for groups that require it. The hill tribes do not want Meiteis to share the benefits of ST status with Naga, Kukis due to the inclusion of Meiteis also in ST category.

The demand of the Meitei community to be included in the list of Scheduled Tribes is “only the spark”, since there are other contributing factors that have led to the building up of grievances among tribal communities in Manipur.

Firstly, the eviction of many tribes or ‘forest dwellers’ from reserved forest areas, which was not undertaken for many years and is recently being done with rigour, has agitated tribal groups.

Secondly, the BJP-led Manipur government’s recent withdrawal from the Suspension of Operations (SoO) arrangement with the Kuki National Army and the Zomi Revolutionary Army, two armed insurgent groups, and the tribal groups for tripartite agreement over establishing a ceasefire and availing of political dialogue to address the groups’ demands have caused discontent. 

Thirdly, tension among the tribal groups is also a cause on account of the state government’s drive to eliminate ‘illegal’ poppy cultivation, over which the Kuki tribal community depends upon. According to the tribal groups, the forest land belongs to them, since they are the traditional holders. MLAs from tribal areas have been petitioning the government for an appropriate negotiation on the issues. However, the negotiations never took place, causing agitation among the tribal MLAs despite BJP MLAs belonging to the Kuki community have withdrawn their support from the state government. Ammunition piled up due the tribes inside the security forces helped their own ethnic groups – Meiteis, Nagas and Kukis.

The judiciary should have shown a bit of restraint allowing the government and the native tribes to come on a table to negotiate ways to arrive at a joint agreement over issues under a court appointed committee. Though PM Modi is not bothered yet there is still scope for the court to intervene as the court order led to violent agitation, arson, burning of property and loss of lives.