Why Manipur’s Pangals want to distance themselves from other Indian Muslims

Lilong is a small town in Manipur’s Thoubal district off the Indo-Myanmar Friendship Road that connects the neighbouring country via Moreh.

This was the route of many military expeditions by the forces of erstwhile Manipur kingdom and Burma.

This rundown town by the historic link route is the heartland of Pangals, a small Muslim community of Manipur.

Caught between Qawwali and Mariafat — the two music forms that in a way define their religious and ethnic identity — Pangals are now at the crossroads as Manipur sees a subtle ignition of Hindu nationalism with the growth of BJP in the state.

The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) has been operational in Manipur since the 1950s running schools, shakhas, Milans and Mondolis around Imphal valley, with little influence in the hills. But with the BJP coming to power, chief minister N Biren Singh and the RSS pracharaks have been on an urgent mission to polarise Vaishnavism followers in the region.

Between 2016 and 2018, Manipur witnessed a series of mob attacks against Pangal youths, stereotyping the community as thieves. Chengis Khan, a PhD scholar from Jawaharlal Nehru University, belonging to the community, was arrested by the Manipur government in 2020 for writing an article criticising a state government eviction drive against the community in Imphal East district.

Such developments have made the position of Pangals rather tenuous though fortunately there had been no fresh attacks on the community largely because of the civil society interventions to uphold the state’s pluralist culture.

Manipuri Muslims or Meitei Pangals?

This is one question that haunts the community, whose members feel their religious identity often overrides their unique ethnic traits in popular perception.

“We should not be put in the same bracket with other Muslims. We may share common faith with Bengali-speaking and other Muslims. But that does not mean we are same. We have our own history, culture and tradition that go back at least 400 years,” said convener of the Meitei-Pangal Scheduled Tribe Demand Committee (MPSTDC) Islam Makakcha.

The committee feels that the granting of the Scheduled Tribes status to the Pangals is imperative for protecting the “unique” identity of the minuscule community.

Around 250 representatives of the community staged a peaceful dharna at Jantar Mantar in New Delhi on February 23 to draw the Centre’s attention to their ST demand. Earlier in January, a one-day people’s convention was organised at Kshetrigao in Imphal East district where a resolution was adopted by hundreds of delegates seeking ST status.

“We want ST status because that will be a recognition of our distinct ethnic identity, which needs protection,” Makakcha told The Federal.

Moreover, he said, Panglas are the most backward community in the state who need adequate reservation benefits to overcome the backwardness.

The contention is validated by the last census report and other government surveys.

The community has a population of around 2.5 lakh, which constitutes about 8 per cent of the state’s total population. According to an estimate of Manipur’s Directorate of Economic and Statistics Department (MPSTDC), 71.17 per cent of Pangal population is out of the labour force. The same survey showed that 90.12 per cent of Pangal women are outside the labour force.

Another survey found that around 62 per cent of cultivable land owned by Pangal households has no irrigation provisions. Their literacy rate at 67.76 per cent is also the lowest among all religious sub-groups in the state.

Only around eight per cent government posts in Grade-I, Grade II and Grade III categories are occupied by Pangals, according to an estimate of the MPSTDC.

“The percentage of Meitei-Pangal representation in the higher category of government jobs is extremely low (almost nil). The most important factor for the low representation is the exceedingly poor access to quality education, which again is due to large-scale poverty within the community,” read a representation the committee submitted to RK Ranjan Singh, the MP from Manipur, who is also a Union minister.

Over the years, they have been stereotyped by the larger community as thieves and drug peddlers and have been at the receiving end of targeted communal violence.

The community’s plight remains so despite the fact that the first chief minister of Manipur — after it became a full-fledged state in January 1972 — was a Pangal, Mohammed Alimuddin. Realising the socio-economic backwardness of the community, a special reservation of four per cent in government jobs and professional courses within OBC quota was introduced in 2006 for Pangals.

This has, however, failed to make much difference. “Even this four per cent quota is hardly allocated to the community,” said Safiur Rahman Maibam, a Pangal who works for a local newspaper.

Many social organisations representing the community have been demanding that a socio-economic survey be conducted to assess the impact of the reservation.

“The state government has so far not responded to any of our demands. It is of the view that if the larger Meitei community is accorded the ST status, Pangals will automatically get it,” Makakcha said.

The Meiteis of Manipur have also raised the ST demand much to the chagrin of the state’s existing ST communities. Tribal organisations like the All-Tribal Students’ Union of Manipur have openly opposed the demand.

The MPSTDC pointed out that such umbrella reservation will not help its purpose and pointed out that it did not benefit from sharing OBC quotas with majority population.

“We need our exclusivity to be recognised by providing constitutional safeguards under the sixth schedules,” Makakcha added.

The origin

According to most historic accounts, Pangals are descendant of 1,000 Muslim soldiers brought to the Kingdom of Kangleipak, as Manipur was known then, by one of the Meitei princes in 1606. He wanted to dethrone his brother King Khagemba. The prince, however, failed in his ploy and his hired soldiers brought from Sylhet (now in Bangladesh) area were captured.

Khagemba, known for his benevolence and wisdom, allowed Pangals to settle in his kingdom. But there was a problem. Since all the soldiers were men, they needed women to raise families. The king allowed them to merry local Meitei women.

Subsequently, the king allocated them various categories of works depending on their skills. To make the classification, a surname was assigned for each skill. For instance, those who were proficient in medicine was given the surname of Maibam.

Perhaps, Meitei-Pangals are the only Muslim community who have such work-based classifications.

Incidentally, Pangals came to what is now Manipur even before Vaishnavism became the state religion after King Charai Rongba was initiated into Vaishnava tradition in 1704.
After the spread of Hinduism, the inter-marriage between Meitei-Pangals and Meitei-Hindus stopped, said Makakcha.

But Pangals continued to assimilate to the new settings adopting Meitei language, culture, food habits and even attires.

Starting from the 20th century, that is after the British conquered the Manipur kingdom, Pangals also started getting influenced by Muslims from rest of India. That is how Qawwali was introduced to them.

Now, the Islamic devotional songs that are part of Sufi tradition are as popular among the community as Mirafat, a folk song that narrates the community’s glorious past.