Why it falls on CM Biren Singh to clean up the ethnic mess in Manipur

Manipur, literally meaning a land of jewels, is burning for over a month now with no sign of the smoke dissipating any time soon.

Violent clashes broke out between the Meitei and Kuki communities at various places during a ‘Tribal Solidarity March’ called on May 3 by the All-Tribal Students Union of Manipur (ATSUM).

The march was called to oppose the demand for Scheduled Tribe status by the Meitei community. The tribal Kuki community fear that extension of the status to the state’s majority community would marginalise the existing tribals.

Also read: Ground report: Peace and normalcy a far cry in violence-battered Manipur

Since the conflict began, killings are taking place almost daily, taking the death toll to over 100 as community leaders from warring groups are not yet willing to see eye to eye.

A peace committee set up by the Centre for reconciliation has failed to make any headway due to an all-pervasive atmosphere of suspicion.

Dragging issues

The cause of such deep-seated mistrust is layered with many shades of grey that have been allowed to simmer for long.

Within one year of its second term in office, the N Biren Singh-led government took three major decisions that the Kukis viewed as attempts towards “othering” their community.

It set up a State Population Commission in March after giving a nod to implement the National Register of Citizens (NRC) to identify illegal migrants.

Also read: Protests continue in Manipur; Meitei, Kuki communities set up individual zones

Following the unrest in Myanmar after the 2021 military coup, many Kuki-Chin-Zomi-Mizo refugees took shelter in Manipur to escape persecution. Though there is no specific figure about the number of the “illegal migrants” residing in Manipur, the chief minister called them a serious threat to the state’s demography.

His government simultaneously carried out since February this year a series of eviction drives in reserved and protected forests in Kuki areas, razing churches and houses. It had evoked sharp reactions and protests from the Kuki group.

Government drives

The drives were carried out amidst the claim that many new unauthorised villages have been set up in the forest areas.

The drive again coincided with the state government’s crackdown against poppy cultivation in the Kuki areas as part of its “war-against-drug” campaign.

Similar exercises were carried out even during his last tenure, but there was no controversy then. This time, the singling out of three Kuki-dominated districts for the drive earlier this year led to a “racial profiling”.

Also read: Peace and normalcy are still far away in Manipur: Ground report

Some poor villagers in most hill districts do poppy cultivation for a good profit margin. But the government drive concentrated on three districts.

“Out of the 16 districts, we are having poppy plantation in some parts of the three districts – Churchandpur, Chandel, and Kangpokpi,” the chief minister was quoted as saying by the media in January.

Incidentally, barely a month earlier, he had launched an “alternative farming system” in a bid to encourage poppy cultivators of nine hill districts to give up the practice.

Kuki complaints

Two former poppy planters The Federal met in Churachandpur claimed they had given up poppy cultivation two years ago paying heed to appeals from churches and Kuki civil society organisations.

Instead of poppy, they claimed to be now cultivating bananas and turmeric. It was unfair to project the entire community as poppy cultivators, they added.

The final trigger for the violence was the Manipur high court order asking the state government to submit its recommendation to the Centre on granting of Scheduled Tribe (ST) status to the Meitei community.

The chain of events led the Kukis to believe they were being systematically targeted.

Also read: Manipur violence: State government extends ban on internet till June 15

The Meitei community, on the other hand, felt that if the influx of Myanmar refugees were not checked, it would change the demography of the state.

Moreover, many in the valley even subscribed to the narrative that the Kukis were primarily responsible for the drug trade and poppy cultivation and harbouring “illegal migrants” in the state. This led to the assertion of Meitei identity.

Such narratives and counter narratives only deepened the mistrust between the communities who have co-existed peacefully for centuries.

CM’s follies

Chief Minister Singh and his government, ignoring the build-up, continued to push the polarising policies without taking the stakeholders into confidence.

“The state government perhaps did a mistake by trying to push too many contentious decisions at a time,” said a senior government functionary, who otherwise supports the drives against “illegal encroachment” and “illegal migrants”.

The opposition Congress expectedly was more direct in blaming the BJP-led state government for the current fiasco.

Also read: Kharge slams PM for his stoic silence on Manipur, terms it a betrayal

“Tension started building up almost a year back when the government accused the Kuki community of being illegal migrants without segregating those who crossed over to the state recently from those who are indigenous to the hill areas of Manipur. Without any statistics, the government branded a community and accused them of being narco-terrorists. From there the friction started,” Manipur Congress working president Kh Debabrata told The Federal.

The government’s failure to rein in the cross-border terrorism was another factor many felt was responsible for the unprecedented scale of violence the state witnessed.

BJP-Kuki nexus?

The Congress had been for long accusing the BJP government of partnering with the Kuki militant groups who have entered into a suspension of operations (SoO) to win elections.

“The BJP started using cadres of the SoO groups since 2015. It fully exploited the group to win elections in 2017. In the 2022 elections they had a partnership. We have sufficient evidence to support our claim,” the Congress leader added.

To buttress their allegations, the party cited a 2019 letter written by a leader of the Kuki militant outfit to Home Minister Amit Shah claiming Assam chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma and BJP leader Ram Madhav had taken the help of Kuki organisations under SoO to win the 2017 assembly elections.

The letter was purportedly part of annexures with an affidavit that the United Kuki Liberation Front (UKLF) chairman SS Haokip filed in an NIA court on June 8, 2023 in connection with an old case of illegal arms purchase.

Also read: Centre sets up committee to kickstart peace process in Manipur

The allegations of BJP-SoO groups nexus assume significance in the current conflict as attacks on Meitei villages are allegedly carried out mainly by these armed groups who are in ceasefire agreement with the security forces since 2005.

“There is a sense of insecurity particularly among people in the vulnerable peripheral Meitei villages (those in the foothills) because for the past about 20 days, there have been continuous attacks and firing on them from hill areas by suspected narco-terrorist groups,” said Khuraijam Athouba, spokesperson of the Coordination Committee on Manipur Integrity (COCOMI), a conglomerate of several Meitei civil society groups.

The COCOMI leader alleged that many of the SoO groups are in league with “narco-terrorists coming from across Myanmar” to attack the civilian population.

CM under cloud

These allegations cannot be independently verified, but the central government not taking action against any of these groups for violation of ceasefire ground rules tantamount to giving them a clean chit.

Biren Singh too had initially claimed that all arms of the Kuki groups under SOO were found to be intact at their designated camps. He, however, changed his position later to claim that “fresh violence” was not between two communities but between armed terrorists trying to disintegrate Manipur.

“This (role of militants in the conflict) has blown out of proportion after the chief minister claimed to the media that 40 Kuki militants who were part of suspension of operation (SoO) agreement were killed.

“The state government, as well as the Centre, have all the records of these groups. They can easily go to the designated camps of the militants and verify if there is any violation of ground rules. For instance, they can go and find out if 40 militants are really missing. So far, I have not seen any dead body,” said Jammang Khongsai, home secretary of the Kuki Students Organisation (KSO).

Also read: BJP MLA sets up drop box in Imphal to deposit snatched weapons

Clearly, both the Centre and the state governments, particularly the chief minister, need a lot of explaining to do. More so as the role of central forces deployed to normalise the situation come under scrutiny.

Media in Manipur came out with a CCTV clip wherein it’s seen that the Rapid Action Force, without any provocation, vandalised vehicles parked on an empty street at Yaiskul Yumnam Leikai, Imphal West in the wee hours of Tuesday.

Earlier, in May, three personnel of the RAF were taken to custody for setting a meat shop on fire in the state capital.

Renowned theatre personalities from the state, Ratan Thiyam and Sabitri Heisnam, questioned the government’s handling of the post-violence situation and Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s inexplicable silence on the unrest.

From the sequel of events, it appears that by frequently shooting from the hip in the past few months, the chief minister has undone the good work he had done to keep the hills relatively peaceful during his first term.

It is for him now to clear the mess and restore peace in Manipur.