-Sami Ahmad
NEW DELHI–Though Manipur in the Northeast has seen large scale violence in the the past, it is for the first time that it saw communal disturbances on a large scale last week.
This tiny state of 28 lakh population, witnessed the worst clashes between the minority tribal Christian Kuki community and the majority non-tribal Meitei community who are mostly Hindus.
More than 60 persons are reported to have been killed in the violence-hit and dozens of churches and others properties were burnt down.
About 11,000 persons were rescued from the violence-hit areas, including 5000 from the Churachandpur district alone that borders Myanmar.
Several columns of Army and Assam Rifles were requisitioned and deployed to quell the violence with a ‘shoot at sight order’.
Chief Minister N Biren Singh of Bhartiya Janata Party said that the clashes were a result of a misunderstanding between the two communities.
The genesis of the current violence is said to be a recent High Court on March 27, declaring Hindu Meitie community as Scheduled Tribe. It asked the government implement the order within four weeks.
The Meitei community accounts for about 53% of Manipur’s total population. They inhabit in six districts of Manipur valley and it is they who send the maximum number of MLAs and control the government.
Tribals, who are mostly Christians, live in 10 districts of hilly areas and account for another 40% of the state’s population. The rest of the population belongs to Muslims and others.
However, hilly areas comprises of 90 percent of state’s geographical area and valley accounts for only 10 percent of the land where the majority of the population lives.
After the court order, the All-Tribal Students Union Manipur (ATSUM) gave a call for Tribal Solidarity March on May 3 in the ten hill districts of the state. All the hill districts are inhabited by Kuki and other tribes all of whom happen to be Christians.
The march was also against the state government’s survey on reserved forests/protected forests and eviction from villages.
The state government’s survey will affect the Christian tribes as many of the Kuki tribes are also located in bordering Myanmar also. Due to porous border, many Kukis have reportedly migrated to Manipur due to Army action against them by Myanmar. State government wants to identify ‘migrant’ Kukis from Myanmar.
During this march, violence broke out and spread across the state. It went uncontrolled for three days. Meitei youths are accused of setting a portion of the Anglo-Kuki War Memorial Gate ablaze at Churachandpur which started the violence. Several Christian religious places were burnt. A BJP MLA Vungzagin Valte too was attacked.
The Meitei community wants ST status to buy land in hilly areas for its expansion. But the existing law doesn’t allow them to buy ST land in hilly areas. But the ST community from hilly areas can buy land in the valley.
But the tribals say that the Meitei community already have the benefits of OBC (Other Backward Caste) and EWS (Economically Weaker Section). The hill people have also a grudge that the Meiteis dominate the state’s political and economic arena.
So, the declaration of Meities as ST that will enable them to settle in hilly areas of the state dominated by tribes with Christian faith is said to be at the centre of the current violence.
A report by Christianitytoday.com reported that the rioters destroyed or burned down more than 25 churches. Local leaders told Christianitytoday.com, “Church burnings are the result of the growth of Hindu nationalism among the dominant Meitei community.”
It also wrote, “In recent years, these tensions have been exacerbated by the political influence of the Hindu nationalist organizations Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which have sought to promote their faith as the dominant religion in India and have used the Meitei community to advance their political agenda in the state.”
According to a report in Indian Express, “In 1993, Hindu Meiteis clashed with Pangals (Muslims), and there was horrific violence involving the tribal Nagas and Kukis, which saw more than a hundred Kukis massacred in a single day, and thousands driven from their homes.”
Tensions between the hill tribals and the Meiteis are very old since Manipur was a kingdom. After merger of Manipur into the Indian Union, there was a call for an independent Kukiland which led to a violence between Kukis and Nagas as the latter wanted Manipur’s hilly areas to be merged into Nagaland.
Political observers say that the Biren Singh government must try to involve all the communities to ensure peace and harmony.
