New Delhi: It’s been four days today that Union home minister Amit Shah chaired an all-party meet on the ongoing crises at Manipur. A day after that meeting, Manipur chief minister N. Biren Singh met him at Delhi on June 25. And a day later, reports had it that the prime minister, Narendra Modi, had held a meeting on Manipur.
Amidst the flurry of meetings, the people – stakeholders from the Meitei and Kuki communities – whom Amit Shah met during his three-day visit to the state exactly a month ago, say they feel betrayed as violence continues in the state.
Shah had landed in Manipur late evening on May 29. His visit ended on the morning of June 2.
Kuki village chief and former defence official J. Lhungdim. Photo: Video screengrab.
J. Lhungdim, 64, is a Kuki and a resident of Churachandpur. At present, he is in Shillong for a surgery. But another, rather, important part of his identity is that he had been principal integrated finance officer in charge of Army ordnance at the headquarters of the Indian Army until he retired from the services three years ago. He met Shah when the latter visited Churachandpur on May 30.
Speaking to The Wire over phone on June 26, Lhungdim said that Shah made three promises to representatives of the Kuki community at Churachandpur. Not one of them has been met yet, he added.
Lhungdim said that Shah promised the community that he would see to it there was a ceasefire between the two warring factions from the very night on which he met them. Violence is ongoing and there has been no ceasefire announcement. “Look where we are now,” Lhungdim said.
In fact, on the evening of June 26, a school and a church were burnt at Phoisenphai village at Churachandpur itself, according to information provided by the Indigenous Tribal Leaders’ Forum. On the same day, the Spear Corps division of the Indian Army issued a public appeal requesting the women to lift their blockades so that the forces could ensure peace – indicating that the normalcy which the Union home minister had described after the all-party meet was not exactly a reality in the area.
Lhungdim said Shah also promised that restrictions on the movement of the two communities would ease. However, people are still bound to specific areas in the state.
“Shah also told us that helicopter services would be started from Churachandpur to Aizawl, Dimapur, Guwahati and Shillong,” Lhungdim said. Except for a service that runs between Imphal airport and Churachandpur, not a single helicopter has taken off since Shah left.
The helicopter service was crucial as members of the Kuki community could not travel to Imphal or through any other area lying in the Meitei-majority valley over fear of violence. As The Wire has highlighted, a pastor and his wife were recently stuck at the Imphal airport for three days after landing as they were strictly advised not to travel by road to their hometown of Moreh. For them, their only resort was a helicopter service.
As a result of helicopter services not resuming to the very towns that Shah had reportedly mentioned, Lhungdim was among those who had to take a lengthy detour by road to reach Shillong from Churachandpur for a surgery. Instead of going via Imphal and the connected national highway, he took a route via Aizawl that required him to travel by car for two consecutive days. He is hypertensive, diabetic and has cardiac issues. “Had I gone via Imphal, it would have taken less than half the time,” he said.
Churachandpur to Shillong, via Aizawl. Photo: Google Maps.
Lhungdim was also made a member of the peace panel conceptualised by the Union government early this month. He refused to be a part of it.
“Not just because they forgot to take my consent, they also did not let me discuss the matter with any civil society groups of the Kukis. Who am I to represent them without their congruence?” he asked. The panel has remained a non-starter because subsequently, representatives of both the Kuki and the Meitei communities decided against joining it.
Not just Kukis, even Meiteis say that Shah’s visit has proved to be largely futile. The Coordinating Committee on Manipur Integrity (COCOMI) is one of the most prominent bodies representing the Meiteis of the state. Its media coordinator Somendro Thokchom told The Wire on June 26 that Shah had promised them, at their meeting with him in Imphal, that he would come back to the state after 10-15 days of his first visit. Even Lhungdim attested to Thokchum’s words and said this was the third promise that the minister had made to the Kuki delegation at Churachandpur
But Shah has since not visited the state.
Asked both of them if they would consider becoming part of the peace panel, again, if the Union government makes a fresh attempt, they laid out one common prerequisite: some semblance of peace has to come back to the state first.
Thokchom and Lhungdim both said that while the Union government can constitute another peace panel but the easiest thing for it to do is to bring back peace.
However, Shah’s unkept promise of meeting the people of Manipur again in a fortnight and their prerequisite of peace are the only two things on which Lhungdim and Thokchum are on the same page.
Lhungdim said that since the Kukis have no faith in the Biren Singh government, he may join a new proposed peace panel only if it is be headed by a senior official of the Union home ministry. Earlier, the Union government had proposed that it be headed by the Manipur governor Anusuiya Uikey.
“The governor would only act in tandem with the CM,” the former defence official said.
On the other hand, the Meiteis’ representative, Thokchum, says the Cocomi would join such a panel if they come to know about the real ‘Mann ki Baat‘ of the Union government, in a reference to PM Modi’s radio show. “I am surprised that none of our MLAs got a chance to meet the PM. Is there any hidden cause why the PM refused to give them an audience?” Thokchum wondered. He added that till they get to know about the purported cause and the plan of the Union government in treating the issue, the Cocomi would not like to join any peace efforts.
Missing posters, allegedly in Manipur. Photo: Twitter/@ashoswai
Thokchum and Lhungdim have completely different opinions about immediate action that needs to be taken to end the violence in the state which has made 60,000 people homeless and killed more than 200, according to some estimates. The clashes started on May 3.
In consonance with what all Kuki civil society organisations have been demanding since the riots started, as an immediate measure, Lhungdim said he wants President’s rule in the state – the implementation of which should be strictly monitored by the Union government without any interference of the state government.
He said, “I told Shah I used to sign deals for purchase of weapons in multiple countries on the behalf of the president of India. And now, the CM and his likes are terming Kukis like me foreigners and illegal immigrants.”
He also brought up the issue of arson at more than 200 churches before Shah. He added that Shah had been silent on both these points.
Thokchom, on the other hand, junks the idea of the removal of the chief minister. “We can demand accountability from elected representatives of the state government that we can’t do under a President’s rule,” he argues.
While Kukis are in favour of Union government security forces to be deployed in the state, the Meiteis want the ouster of the Assam Rifles – a Union government force.
Two-time former MLA R.K. Anand. Photo: Yaqut Ali/The Wire
But unlike Cocomi which doesn’t want the ouster of the incumbent CM, as per Thokchom, a former two-time MLA, R.K. Anand, and other Meiteis whom The Wire met at various relief camps, are not really enamoured of Biren Singh, incidentally also a Meitei.
“The catastrophe is shameful.. A change of guard instils confidence and this is the least that the Union government can do,” Anand had told The Wire at Imphal on May 29.
Anand is a two-time former MLA. He was associated with the Congress and the National People’s Party. “Biren is a long-time politician but he appeared like a student who was given all the advice but followed none, despite being capable of doing so,” he added.
Retired professor of Manipur University Lokendra Arambam, a Meitei, said on June 1, when The Wire met him at his residence in Imphal, that Biren has failed the community and state.
‘Main problems left unaddressed’
Those The Wire spoke to said that not just recent troubles but longstanding issues that culminated into the clashes could have been better handled by the governments.
One such issue is the declaration of villages as ‘reserved forest’ land by the Manipur state government. A report from Churachandpur by the Land Conflict Watch noted how a verification drive was undertaken without consultation with residents who were later driven out as ‘illegal immigrants.’
Lunghdim told me on May 28 that many residents of the village of which he is the chief face eviction as their areas have been declared a forest despite decade-long association with the land. This drive targets Kukis, he said.
Meitei MLA Anand, who has vocally demanded an NRC to “identify illegal immigrants,” said that such drives should be conducted with humanity.
The illegal poppy cultivation is also at the heart of the current conflict. In this detailed piece for The Wire, Dhiren A. Sadokpam, the editor-in-chief of The Frontier Manipur explained how hills, dominated by Kukis, have been used for mass plantation of poppy. Lhunghdim does not dismiss the claims and said in the last 15 years he has actively attempted to dissuade Kukis from poppy cultivation. But he alleged that while Kukis might be the ones growing poppy, politicians and influential people also have a say in the trade – something Sadokpam also said. While the editor did not identify them, Lungdhim did not mince words to say that many of them were Meiteis themselves.
With the conflict entering second month in less than a week, the Kukis have also been consistent in the demand of separate administration from the state of Manipur — saying they have zero trust in the CM now. The Meiteis, on the other hand, have threatened high-pitched retaliation if the state is divided.
Lhungdim when asked what happens if the Union government does not concede to the demand, said the Kukis do need a separate administration even it does not come in the form of another state or Union territory – maybe something on the lines of Bodoland Territorial Council (BTC). But he clarified he was citing this just as an example and that this was his personal opinion alone.
According to the Assam government website, the BTC has legislative, administrative, executive and financial powers over 40 policy areas in the Bodoland Territorial Areas Districts comprising four administrative districts and various protected tribal belts and blocks in Assam. It has 40 elected representatives to the BTC Legislative Assembly.
Another issue, which is also seen to have contributed to the origin of the current conflict was the March 27 order of the Manipur high court which asked the state government to give the status of Scheduled Tribe to the Meiteis, also, something that the Kukis enjoy now, and thereby avail of special provisions regarding land ownership, among other things.
” [If the Meiteis demand this status] the Meiteis will have to come forward and say that they are not what they are,” said another Imphal-based scholar, also a Meitei, who requested anonymity.
“If you need to be there [getting ST status], two things are needed. You must have a very, very learned socio-economic survey on this. You must have a complete ethnography on Manipur Meiteis. I am really not sure such sound data exists,” he said.
The scholar had advised many Meitei civil society groups to not push for such a status. He had spoken to The Wire on record but after the interview, one of his family members called this reporter to request that his name not be mentioned as they feared that their house might be targeted in retaliation by Meiteis.
Meanwhile, Kuki organisations have once again refused to heed a fresh appeal by the CM for engagement. Meiteis continue to call for withdrawal of Assam Rifles – something they have been doing for a month.
CM Biren recently announced that if the state government workers refused to join work, strict action would be taken against them. It may be mentioned here that The Wire, quoting doctors, teachers and state government officials, had reported that most were not ready to join, especially those posted in areas which were not dominated by their respective community members.
The ITLF issued a statement on June 27 saying it was an insensitive move on the part of the government as people from their community have been maimed in various areas, and hence it was impossible for them to join work now.
