A movement shaping Manipur

Amom Malemnganba Singh *

The widening manifestations of the Manipur violence between the Meiteis and Kuki-Zo community 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 community employing an “armed aggre- ssion” against the State of Manipur and the Manipuri people, which is “undemocratic,” will achieve 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 decade, Manipur has witnessed the revivalism of the indigenous Sanamahi religion of the Meiteis.

The ethno religious 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 Meitei 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 Swa-yamsevak Sangh (RSS) icon Vinayak Damodar Savarkar has become 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 integra-tionist 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 sharp criticisms from their community when they realize that the demand has become “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 unified modern India.

For instance, questions on National security, erosion of border security, 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 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. This easily 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 move- ment 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 in the State. This is how the demand for implementing the National Register of Citizens (NRC) arises 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 Assam Accord.

Not surprisingly, in Manipur, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is in power with an absolute majority of thirty-two seats, with seven of its legislators belonging to Kuki-Zo communities. It will be interesting to see how the BJP address 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 exercises supporting and exposing the movement. However, it will also create a landmark in the contemporary political history of the State.

Nevertheless, the violence has now 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 adapting the Accord, preparations must be made on how Manipur should be Constitutionally safeguarded to preserve and promote the Manipuri people’s social, political, cultural, and economic life.


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