The widening manifestations of the Manipur violence between the Meiteis and Kuki-Zo communities reveal that it will stay prolonged. It has rendered the State into administrative chaos and gruesome killings involving armed groups on both sides, which is unusual in the State’s political history. However, the violence has the feature of having a “sui generis” moment for Manipur in a way that will make the State revisit, reform, and restructure its political foundations. This will be achieved when the “other” belligerent groups stop “terrorizing” Manipuri people to obtain “separate administration” from the State of Manipur, which has remained “absolutely inseparable” since its political foundations.
It would be naïve to say
that the demand for a separate administration by Kuki-Zo communities employing
an “armed aggression” against the State of Manipur and the Manipuri people,
which is “undemocratic,” will be achieved easily. Despite the unabated violence,
the State’s territorial and administrative integrity is here to stay at the
status quo ante. This is due to the nature of the Meiteis agitation during the
violence, which is patriotic, national in form, and integrationist,
coincidentally assimilating with the politics of the ruling regime.
On Meitei Unity
The unified mobilization
of the Meitei community in their response to Kuki-Zos separatism is an
indispensable moment for the State. So, what unites Meiteis in this movement
shaping Manipur? The answer relies on two factors: First is the ethno-religious
feature of the violence. In the last years, Manipur has witnessed the intensification
of revivalism of the indigenous Sanamahi religion of the Meiteis. The ethnoreligious
uprising among Meiteis’ seven clans, not to exclude the Gaudiya Vaishnavite
Meiteis during the violence against the demands made by Kuki-Zo communities is
a turning point in the multiplicity of Meiteis unity. The violence coinciding
with the revivalism of Sanamahi, now endorsed by various cultural and religious
organizations of the ruling regime, has made the Meiteis ethno-religious
uprising a unified entity.
The other factor is due
to the perception of fear and anger among the Meiteis about the possibility of
losing their “indigenous identity.” The Meiteis also feel threatened on the religious and cultural belonging it enjoys in the State, which has now become a
reality. Here, the notion of “indigeneity and religious belonging through ties
to land” of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) icon Vinayak Damodar Savarkar
became relevant among Meiteis. Given these two factors together, any threats to
disintegrate the State’s territorial integrity or administration would require
dismantling the core ideological beliefs of the ruling regime, which has endorsed
the political interest of the State’s majority community in its integrationist
politics. Consequently, Kuki-Zo communities’ demands for a separate
administration will likely wane away in the coming years after losing political
traction. This will arise after facing “disagreements” within their community and
realizing demand becoming “unachievable” due to its undemocratic
nature.
A National Movement
The argument on
emphasizing the movement as national in form may seem peculiar to those who
study the ideological secessionist history of the State. A clear manifestation
of the violence that needs to be stressed is that it has “integrated the State’s
politics within the national politics” of building a strong and religiously unified
modern India. For instance, questions on national security, erosion of border
security, Christian proselytizing, drugs and terrorism, and the influx of
illegal immigrants, mainly from Myanmar, were loudly discussed in local
television debates and widely reported in the media, which is absurd about the State’s traumatizing martial history.
Despite many criticisms
about the Meiteis chauvinist to an extent fascist in character during the
violence from critics. The community has received widespread support from the
majority of Hindus across India. This is due to genuine democratic agitations and
the regressive nature of the Meiteis during the violence. A careful observation
of the Meiteis agitation is seen to be fundamentally around the issue of
sub-nationalism and Meiteis self-determination against the influx of illegal
immigrants into the State threatening the State’s territorial integrity. This
sums up that the movement is national in form despite the State having a long
history of secessionism and separatist movements.
Manipur Revisited
Assam also witnessed an anti-foreigner’s upsurge. However, it ended after the signing of the Assam Accord on 15 August 1985, which restored normalcy in the State. Two months later, movement leaders from the All-Assam Student Union (ASSU) and All Assam Gana Sangram Parishad (AAGP) formed the Asom Gana Parishad (AGP), which came to power after the election of 1985. In the case of Manipur, the anti-illegal immigration movement comes with a twist with the demand for a separate administration by Kuki-Zo communities. This was bound to happen since the Meiteis failed to realize when it was developing. Lately, the communities have been labelled illegal immigrants and consistently blamed by the State and Meitei frontal organizations for helping the illegal immigrants from Myanmar easily settle into the State. This is how the demand for implementing the National Register of Citizens (NRC) arose in Manipur after Assam to identify and deport them. This reveals that the anti-illegal immigration movement in Manipur shares stark similarities with that of Assam’s anti-foreigners upsurge, resulting in the signing of the Assam Accord.
Not surprisingly, in
Manipur, the Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP) is in power with an absolute majority
of thirty-two seats, with seven of its legislatures belonging to Kuki-Zo
communities. It will be interesting to see how the BJP addresses this political
puzzle to uphold its credibility in the State. However, given the complexity of
the violence, the State will continue to witness various forms of protests about supporting and exposing the movement. However, it will also create a landmark
in the contemporary political history of the State.
Nevertheless, the
violence has become a testament for Manipur to revisit, reform, and
restructure its political foundations. This is due to the “Manipuri people’s
profound apprehension about the possibility of an influx of illegal immigrants
from Myanmar into the State, which could affect Manipur’s social, political,
cultural, and economic life. Even so, this will be achieved after being full of
emotions and political contours from the violence, which will likely continue
for years.” In the meantime, the people of Manipur must study the Assam Accord.
By looking into the Accord, preparations must be made on how Manipur should be
constitutionally safeguarded in legislative and administration to preserve
and promote the Manipuri people’s social, political, cultural, and economic
life.
The article first appeared in the editorial section of The Sangai Express and is being republished with slight modifications. The original version of the article can be accessed here (https://www.thesangaiexpress.com/Encyc/2023/8/18/Amom-Malemnganba-SinghThe-widening-manifestations-of-the-Manipur-violence-between-the-Meiteis-and-Kuki-Zo-co.html#/google_vignette). Views expressed in this article are personal.
The writer is a Research
Scholar at the Department of Political Science, Manipur University.
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