Mohd. Naushad Khan analyses the volatile situation that has gripped the Northeast State of Manipur, claiming as many as 115 innocent lives so far and rendering over 50,000 homeless. Civil society analysts whom he talked to, say that finding political solution guided with reconciliation steps could be the long-lasting solution.
Manipur, which was once called a Jewelled Land, continues to burn and there has been no serious effort to bring it back to normalcy. The state continuous to count the dead, damage done to the property, houses are being torched and burnt. In the ethnic clashes that broke out on May 3, at least 115 people have died so far and more than 50,000 are living in relief camps.
The enmity and the gap between the Meitei and Kuki communities are widening each passing day and any kind of reconciliation among them appears to be a distant dream. Both the communities have created their self-confined boundaries with small check posts and any attempt to trespass could result in violent bloody deaths. Many believe that finding political solution guided with reconciliation steps could be the long-lasting solution and immediate solution from the governments is the need of the hour.
Very recently a mob comprising more than 10,000 men and women armed with axes, catapults and swords stormed the armouries of police stations and military outposts on several occasions, and fled with deadly weapons, carbines, and sophisticated guns, the FIRs filed by Manipur Police revealed.
Union Home Minister Amit Shah called an all-party meet, but many consider it to be too little and too late when there is complete silence by the Prime Minster.Even his own party members in Manipur and allies have termed the situation in Manipur as complete failure of rule of law in the state.
So far three delegations of leaders from Manipur, two from the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party and one from the state Congress failed to get an appointment with Prime Minister Narendra Modi in spite of having camped at New Delhi for some days before Prime Minister left for the USA despite complete breakdown of law and order in the state.
As per reports available, the Prime Minister’s Office has received a memo from nine Manipur Meitei MLAs indicating that “the public have lost complete faith in the present state government.” Eight of them are BJP legislators, and one of them supports the N. Biren Singh administration as an Independent.
“At present, there is no trust and confidence in the government and administration. The public has lost complete faith in the present state government. Some special measures for proper administration and function of the government by following the Rule of Law may kindly be resorted to so that the trust and confidence of the general public are restored,”reads the memorandum.
In the very latest development, which The Imphal Free Press has reported, around 2,000 residents of Pangei village, a majority of them women, blocked the entry of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) team which had arrived to investigate the loot of a large cache of arms and ammunition from the Manipur Police Training College’s armoury on June 22.
The apex body of 36 civil society organisations in Manipur protested against Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s decision to lead a special yoga session at the UN headquarters in New York and boycotted the International Day of Yoga on Wednesday, June 21. According to The Telegraph, RomeshwarWaikhwa, president of the ThoubalApunbaLup, said that the protest was organised because the prime minister held the special yoga session “without considering the suffering of the people of Manipur since May 3”.(The Wire)
According to John Dayal, a noted social and human rights activist, “The Prime Minister is away in New York posing for cameras on Yoga asanas, and buying unmanned weaponised drone. But the state of Manipur burning since the 3rd of May this year is yet to hear a word of solace from him, much less an order to the governor to restore peace so displaced persons can come home. Apparently, he will not, till his political objective in the northeast is achieved. We do not know what that objective is.”
He said, “So far, at least 111 people have been killed most horrendously. Over 300 churches had been burnt and perhaps 60,000 rendered homeless, now living on government and private camps as internally displaced persons. They do not like being called refugees. About 200 are in Delhi, in Christin run camps, or with relatives. The Kuki-Meiti divide, also a Christian-Hindu divide becomes deeper every passing day. My fear is graver. Manipur violence portends fires in Chhota Nagpur Adivasi belt.”
Dayal further said: “Manipur borders Myanmar and is currently ruled by Mr Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party. As a border state with a previous history of insurgencies, the state has a heavy presence of the Indian army and paramilitary forces. It is also covered under the notorious Armed Forces Special Protection Act which gives unfettered powers to the military and puts many of its actions, including deaths of civilians at its hands, beyond the purview of the law.”
Dayal also opined: “The Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh and its motley wings, backed by the central and state governments have been hard at work radicalising the Vaishnav Hindu Meitie, who worship Krishna Radha, to make common cause with the mainland Hindutva. This is reflected in the demand that the Meitie also be given the Constitutional status of Scheduled Tribes which the Christian Kukis, Mizos, Nagas and other tribes enjoy.”
He added: “This would also mean that the economically and politically weaker non-Meitie groups, who live in the very hilly terrain, would lose an important equalizer. Political power, in the state legislature and government, is with the Meitie. The Bharatiya Janata Party is currently in power. The ArambaiTengol and Meitei Leepun, the RSS equivalents among the people of the Imphal valley, have led the mob violence, according to Meitie Christian groups. The state government had also borrowed a page from the Yogi government of Uttar Pradesh, in using the bulldozer in recent times to demolish buildings, including churches in the valley region.”
He further said: “While in Manipur, the BJP wants Scheduled Tribe status for Hindu Meitie, in Adivasi and Hill areas of other states, it wants Christian Tribals to be ejected from the List which is a part of the Indian Constitution.”
Dayal revealed: “In the Chhotanagpur region covering Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh and parts of Madhya Pradesh, and in the tri-junction region of Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat and Rajasthan where the tribals are the indigenous ethnic community, the RSS says that converts to Christianity should not have reservations in Legislatures, educational Institutions and government jobs. This has led to much political strife in the entire region, which occasionally breaks into confrontations and violence, especially if an election is in the offing.
“The massive anti-Christian violence in 2008 in Kandhamal in Odisha had the same template. The Sangh triggered violence first against the non-tribal Panos, which eventually impacted Christians of both Dalit and Tribal origin. More than 75,000 people were rendered homeless and close to 400 churches and Christian institutions were destroyed. The wounds are still to heal. Government assistance to rebuild churches has not come, and many in the poor communities still await jobs or the small land holdings they once had.”
- Amarjeet Singh, Professor and Honorary Director, Centre for Northeast Studies and Policy Research, Faculty of Social Sciences, Jamia Millia Islamia, said: “A number of immediate measures have been implemented by the central government in consultation with the state government to address the situation in the state of Manipur. Along with the appointment of a security advisor, a police chief has also been chosen. A peace committee and a judicial inquiry commission have also been constituted. Additionally, security personnel have been stationed in a number of places that are vulnerable.”
On the way forward, Professor Amarjeet suggested, “Even though there is significantly less violence now, the situation is still difficult. But as a long-term solution, the central government should constitute an expert committee of academics, policymakers, constitutional experts, and journalists in order to look into the demands of the contending parties and provide corrective actions. The expert committee should be given adequate time to fully understand the main ethnic groups’ counter arguments. The government can ask the contending parties to abstain from violence until the expert report is submitted.”