Manipur: The Burning Question

Joydeep Narayan Deb

A question that dwells in uncertainty for the past few decades. From being the scene of battles in WWII to the treaty of merging Manipur with India then a Union Territory to finally a full-fledged state in 1972; Manipur has its fair share of fickleness in its socio-political scenario.

But even before declaring Manipur as a Union Territory in 1956, Manipur witnessed an insurgent movement of greater Independent Nagalim in 1950’s.  The supposed ‘revolution’ by NSCN-IM touched parts of Manipur too. Over the past decades Nagaland and Manipur remained in distress due to this insurgency over an independent greater Nagalim. The other parts of India are familiar with the myths of Muiva as well.

A news came by the dawn of 3rd May, 2023 that several parts of the north eastern state Manipur is burning down to ashes for a clash between the Meitei and the Kuki people. A state which has recently conducted assembly elections on 28th February and 5th March. Under no circumstances a newly formed government should face such lashes around anywhere in the world. But in no time, Manipur has become the burning question of if not India then North East India.

On 20th March, N Biren Singh was sworn in as the Chief Minister of Manipur for the second time after serving from 2017 to 2022. In April, the Manipur High court probed a verdict by directing the state government to take a decision on the long awaited Scheduled Tribe status of Meitei people within four weeks. The verdict faces vigorous lashes in the state by several tribal unions and the kuki community. Even prior to the verdict, in late March clashes broke out between Meitei and kuki people in bordering imphal valley. The clashes and the protest grew stronger and more violent every day.

On 2nd May, 2023 National Media focused on the ongoing protest in Manipur for the first time. More than 10 tribal unions conducted a rally against the tribal status for Meitei people as “Adivasi Sanhati March” on May 2nd. After which the Manipur government had to disconnect the internet facility for 5 days and directed section 144 in several districts to keep a hold on the scenario. However, things didn't go as planned. Soon the whole scenario escalated and the State became Stateless within weeks of unrelenting protests.

Every on ground and off ground reporting tried their best to cover the scenario through a “political prism” as called by the local journals of Imphal. The late focus on Manipur by mainland India was welcomed by the locals but not through a predetermined ideology driven by people who are not familiar with the demographic ethnicity of the state.

Hence, the idea behind this reporting is not to view the conflict through some narrow tunnel of political hope given by the people who refused to believe any of this ever happened during their reign but to have a look through a humanitarian ground.

Where is Manipur, what is this clash about or the number of death tolls in the state is everything that we know till now. We all have different sources for these data, the sources follow different ideologies for these data and the circle continues throughout the tenure of the conflict. But do the coffins and the bullet pallets follow this data before choosing a victim ?

80 confirmed deaths, more than half a century unconfirmed death, over a hundred villages burnt down to ashes in only a month in a politically unsettled state but none of these were prioritized by the ruling government.

The district morgue in Churanchandpur witnessed gatherings of the locals continuously for a month to collect the bodies of the deceased in the conflict from 3rd May to till date.  More than 35,000 people were relocated to comparatively safer zones in Manipur.

According to a local report on 4th June, 96 people were dead due to the clashes out of which mainland media certified only 40-50 deaths as a result of the ongoing conflict.

The clueless government had to install drop boxes everywhere by appealing the citizens to surrender their firearms in order to restore peace. Indian Army has allegedly protected kuki villages in several districts by creating an additional havoc for restraining peace.

On 4th June, a 7 year old along with his mother was burnt alive in an ambulance by a group of 2000 Meitei people. Even the visit of the Union Home Minister did not help the scenario to seek peace among the state. The local journals of Imphal canceled the active participation of North Eastern BJP ministers as representatives to bring peace to the valley. A late yet wise realization as they called it.

This piece doesn’t attack one particular community and seek justice for the other but at the same time, the utter scenario is nothing but a war cry for the miscreants and a silent and hollow scream for help from the government. But only one of these two appeals were fulfilled till now. But, which one?

Soon, this conflict will end. People will return to their places searching for a souvenir once called home. The gatherings in front of the morgues will decrease one by one. But who will answer the coffins and the bullet pallets why Manipur is still a “burning” question?