The immediate reason for the present violence in Manipur could well have been the Manipur High Court’s 27 March 2023 judgment directing the state government to consider the “inclusion of the Meitei community in the Scheduled Tribes list within four weeks and send a recommendation to the union government for its consideration”. But the truth of the matter is that the casus belli for the present almost unprecedented hostility lies in the manner in which Manipur’s geographical setting presents itself.
Although it may seem simplistic, the geography of Manipur is the most important contributor for the Hill-Valley Divide. With a total area of 22,327 square kilometres, Manipur separates itself into Hills and a Valley. The Valley accounts for only 2238 square kilometres, a mere 10.02 % of the total area. But it houses 57.2 per cent of the total population of the state. The state’s hill area with 20,089 square kilometres represents the rest 42.8 per cent.
The backstory
Of the three major ethnic groups, the Meiteis, who largely inhabit the Valley, constitute the largest section of the state and are a non-tribal grouping. The hills are the abode of the Nagas and the Kukis with their 29 sub-tribes. Muslims, who are mostly immigrants from pre-partition East Bengal, the erstwhile East Pakistan and present Bangladesh, and who are known as Pangals, are mostly residents of the Valley. This grouping forms around eight per cent of the state’s population. The remaining non-tribal population, known as Mayang (outsiders), are from different parts of the country. The manner in which the physical setting plays itself out to conflict can be seen from one instance.
The Meiteis, the Vaishnavite Hindus (41.39 per cent of the total population), are not only debarred from special constitutional privileges granted to the Scheduled Tribes of Manipur, but are not even permitted under the state’s “Land Reform Act” to settle in the hill districts. On the other hand, there are no restrictions on the Nagas and the Kukis, who are largely Christians (41.29 per cent of the total population), to settle in the Valley.
This is one of the primary reasons for the distrust and hostility between the Meiteis and the hill tribes. In addition, in the absence of a homogenous social architecture, the different ethnic groups continue to maintain their respective distinct identity without a commonality of Manipurihood that could have been the basis for harmonious existence. Indeed, this phenomenon is largely becoming a pan-North-East problem, with every ethnic group in the region asserting their identity and seeking separate status.
If the setting as described above provides the framework for the Hill-Valley divide, which continues to be the core of the problem, history provides the rendition that furthers the divide.
Historically speaking
Historically, Manipur was a principality until the British annexed it in 1891. However, the colonial rulers provided it the privilege of a princely state under its dominion, as was the case with other territorial monarchies in the sub-continent. But, the imperial rulers, despite their “policy” of superficial non-interference utilised Christianity in its divisive game. The Christian missionaries, who followed the Union Jack and arrived in Manipur in 1894, gradually began to convert the animistic tribes into Christianity. This was achieved through a variety of allurements such as provision of basic medical aid and education. In the 1901 Census there were only 8 per cent Christians as against 60 per cent Hindus.
But by 1991 the number of Christians in Manipur had increased to 34.11 per cent. Indeed, if 41 per cent of decadal growth (1991-2011, as projected in the 2011 census report) in the overall state population is taken into account the Christian population of the state might have exceeded 45 per cent in 2021. As a result, the increasing Christianisation of the tribes widened the socio-cultural gap between the Hindu Meiteis of the Valley and the Christian tribes of the Hills. This, over time, became a permanent source of socio-political rivalry.
But to be fair to the tribal population of Manipur, it must be said that, despite the cartographical incongruity, political power rests in the hands of the Meiteis with the Valley enjoying 40 out of the 60 assembly constituencies in the state. Arguments against the inclusion of the Meitei community in the Scheduled Tribe List are also of the opinion that as a dominant social formation, the Meiteis have been controlling the state and its apparatuses.
The challenges
Prof. Thongkholal Haokip who teaches in the Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi has noted in his paper, “The Politics of Scheduled Tribe Status in Manipur” that “To that hill tribal people of Manipur, the demand for ST status (by the Meiteis: Author) is a ploy to attenuate the fervent political demands of the Kukis and Naga in, as well as a tacit strategy of the dominant Valley dwellers to make inroads into the hill areas of the state.” It has been already highlighted above that the Meiteis are not permitted under the state’s “Land Reform Act” to settle in the hill districts.
Resentment has also come to the fore as a result of a government order on protected forest land. In this case, the state is reportedly using the word “encroachment” which the tribal population is terming as “settlement”. The Manipur government has cited Manipur Forest Rules, 2021 (No.73) which empowers the state to evict any encroachment/trespass on forest land. Although the government clarified that only a new (2021) settlement is being evicted, the inhabitants argue that they have been living in the land for years. The eviction drive is being lamented as an attempt to deprive the tribals of their ancestral lands.
In any event the present scenario in Manipur is grim to say the least with (at the time of writing) “shoot at sight” orders in “extreme cases” being issued and over 9,000 people fleeing their homes and taking shelters provided by the Assam Rifles, the only non-partisan and highly committed force in the state.
Narrow political gains, especially in a General Election year, should not be permitted to further fuel the animosities between the people of Manipur. The state stands as a strategic sentinel for India’s “Act East Policy” and national security. It is a sad commentary of the times that an expanse so critical should be left to its own devices.
The inability of the national security establishment in New Delhi to cobble out a robust security policy could sound the death knell of the “enchanted frontiers”. Mere recourse to adhocism and an outdated Kautilyan dictum of “Saam”, “Daam”, “Dand” “Bhed” has brought Manipur to the state of affairs that it has presently come to be in. Indeed, the fires may spread to other areas of the North East where similar dissonances are in play.
Narrow political gains, especially in a General Election year, should not be permitted to further fuel the animosities between the people of Manipur.
Nirmal Nibedon, the celebrated observer of North East, had warned about such a peril in the 1980s:
“It is the ethnic explosion. Make no mistake about it. Have no doubts about it. World governments, more so in India and the South East Asian countries, will have to closely study the case of the ethnic minorities, whether they are Kachins and Karens of Burma, the Mizos or the Ahoms of India.
The ethnic minorities of India, particularly those of the Mongoloid stock, will deserve more attention. For, gone are the days when small bands of proud tribesmen fought and defended themselves with poison-tipped arrows. Today, in the 1980s, the ethnic minorities are wielding sophisticated weapons and engaging national armies in combat, unceasingly. In brief, they are all zealously guarding their ethnic identity.”
New Delhi should attend to the problem that is besetting the “land of emeralds”. This should be immediately attended to both by anvilling a stratagem for (a) restoration of law and order (b) instituting a peace mission consisting of respectable names acceptable to both the Valley and the Hill people such as Pu Zoramthanga, G.K. Pillai, Lt Gen (Retd) Arun Sahni, Nafisa Ali and Subir Bhaumik to Manipur and (c) arrange for an appellation in the Supreme Court of India to closely re-examine and adjudicate the Manipur High Court order’s directives to the Manipur State Government.
But the important step that New Delhi must take is to address the utterly inexplicable inappropriateness that characterises the cartographical and demographic imbalance (as aforesaid) between the Hill and the Valley of Manipur. Until a workable solution to the malaise is found, the “land of emeralds” would continue to be termed as a “frontier in flames”.
-This story earlier appeared on www.firstpost.com
