Remember Manipur? It’s a lot more complex than you realise |
On 5 February, a day after Kuki-Zo BJP MLA Nemcha Kipgen was sworn in as deputy chief minister, protests broke out in Manipur’s Churachandpur and Tuibuong. Many in the Kuki-Zo community saw it as a betrayal of a collective resolution to stay out of government without a written commitment to a negotiated political settlement. The Kuki Students’ Organisation called a 24-hour shutdown on 6 February and announced further protests.
Those not conversant with Manipur’s cultural nuances would have missed the symbolism at the swearing-in ceremony at Raj Bhawan in Imphal on 4 February. Yumnam Khemchand Singh took oath as Manipur’s new chief minister, Kipgen and Losii Dikho as his deputy chief ministers. Singh is a Meitei, Kipgen is a Kuki-Zo woman and Dikho is a Mao Naga.
This is just the latest example of identity politics being perpetuated by the Indian State without any vision for a future that might actually address the deep-rooted reasons for unabated violence. Appointing a chief minister and two deputies from three dominant communities is no solution, because the problem in Manipur is much deeper than ethnic conflict.
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When events in Manipur made front-page headlines in 2023, most Indian citizens were largely ignorant about the state, its geography and its demography, let alone its complex history going back several centuries. The media reported the conflict as an ethnic conflict between the Meitei and the Kuki-Zo or as a conflict between hill tribes and plains people.
In a way, this was correct, since the majority Meiteis do live in Imphal Valley, while the Kuki-Zo tribal communities live in the surrounding hills. And yes, the immediate cause of the conflict seemed to be objections from both Kuki-Zo and Naga tribes to Meiteis being included in the Scheduled Tribes.
This somewhat simplistic narrative, however, quickly fell apart. More than 300 Meitei churches in the Valley were burnt down by Meitei extremist groups in the first three days of the conflict.
Israeli media reported a crisis for India’s Bnei Menashe community. According to the NGO Shavei Israel, over 1,000 members — that’s........