With the "Tribal" conflict of Manipur going mainstream lately, it is very important to get to the root cause of the conflict, while the issue is very complex in nature, I will very carefully attempt to identify all the factors which have led to the situation today and also discuss how we as a Country can move forward.
To understand this conflict,
It is essential for us to have some basic background of the History and Geography of Manipur.
Many historians and scholars have come to an agreement that the History of Manipur is at least 2,000 years old, with all the rulers of Manipur documented chronologically.
It is worth noting that, all of the Kings that have ruled over the years belonged to one Ethnic group i.e.; the Meiteis. The language of Manipur as we know it today is the language of the Meiteis, the most popular dance form of Manipur comes from the Meiteis, the people who discovered the sport of Polo, were again the Meiteis, as a testament to the fact one could look at the oldest polo ground in the world located in Imphal. Reviewing all these facts, it is clear that the Meiteis are in fact the Indigenous people of Manipur.
At this point, It is helpful to remind ourselves that Manipur is a hill state, located at the foothills of the Himalayas, the Imphal Valley is almost 900 meters above sea level, making it a high-altitude region. Now, around 2000 years back there happened to be a huge flood in region, resulting in the valley being underwater for a while, as the water started receding, the Manipuris who lived in the hilly regions started settling down in the dry parts of the valley, while the others remained in the hills, this created a division in the eyes of western Historians, and hence the indigenous hill tribes were called the Nagas, though the origin of both the hill tribes are same, over time the Nagas developed a slightly different culture with a slightly different language.
To summarise, the Meiteis and the Nagas are the indigenous tribes of the region.
A fast forward to the 13th century brings us to the initiation of the
Manipuri King Chara Rongba and some members of the royal family into Vaishnavism, which was later adopted as the state religion of Manipur, Vaishnavism reached its Zenith under King Bhagya Chandra who ruled during the second half of the 18th century. At the beginning of the 19th century, we witnessed the beginning of the decline of the Manipuri kingdom, due to infighting and improper succession, the Kingdom of Manipur became politically weak, taking note of which the Burmese launched a series of attacks between 1819 to 1826, at this point, a desperate Manipur in order to protect its sovereignty seeks the help of the British East India company ultimately defeating them. However, there still lurked the fear of another series of attacks and hence the treaty of Yanbado was signed effectively making Manipur a British Vassal, it was at this point that British interference in the internal affairs of Manipur started.
With time, the British made the Manipuri king settle a bunch of "evangelised" Burmese Tribals in the southern parts of Manipur which was purely Naga territory.
The Manipuris, now frustrated with the state of affairs in the state and the rule of the British, decide to fight the British in the year 1891 and unfortunately lose the war and the defeated Manipuri king is now sent to exile somewhere in the Andaman.
To humiliate the Manipuri people the General and the crown prince were hanged in front of the whole of Manipur in broad daylight, to this the Meiteis fought and offered a stiff resistance but failed, in order to punish the Meiteis for such disobedience, they were restricted to only 6 per cent of their OWN territory (they consisted of about 90 per cent of the population at the time) and the other parts were given to the evangelised Burmese tribals (zojin) who would attack the indigenous Nagas for territory, finally succeeding in Establishing themselves in the southern part of Manipur.
In the first two to three decades of the 20th century, the British engineered a massive influx of these evangelised Burmese tribals, re-engineering the demography of the region. They started evangelising the indigenous people of the North East on an industrial scale, artificially creating famine-like conditions only to bring them relief material in exchange for their conversion to Christianity, the converted tribals would later also be offered the post of the chief of the hill tribes if they were loyal enough to the faith, because of which the 90 per cent of the population of Mizoram had become Christian.
Well, now this was the story of Manipur till the year 1947, what happened next?
As we know, Manipur merged with India in the year 1949.
Every ruling government till the year 2014, gave the North East of India a
step-motherly treatment, all these governments displayed an utter lack of understanding about the traditions, customs and Native faith systems of the region, which led them to persistently follow British divide-and-rule policies, along with oppressive measures. This approach proved to be utterly disastrous, with development and infrastructure sorely lacking and the state governments failing, the people of the North East of India started feeling neglected as a result of which in almost all of the North Eastern states insurgency groups started demanding secession from India.
As a result, the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) was imposed in Manipur and other parts of the Northeast in 1958, designating them as "disturbed regions." This status persisted until 2006, subjecting Manipur to decades of hardship without significant improvement.
The situation was dire across the region. In Mizoram, the situation deteriorated to the point where Prime Minister Indira Gandhi ordered air strikes on the capital city of Aizawl and other areas. The 1960s, 70s, 80s, and 90s were marked by intense unrest and suffering, especially for Manipur's Hindu Meitei population.
Is this the way to treat your own citizens? First, ignore them, and when the situation goes out of control bomb them?
I think Some questions are better left unanswered.
In 2006, AFSPA was lifted from parts of the Imphal Valley, but most of Manipur remained under its influence. A significant turning point occurred in 2008 with the "Suspension of Operations Agreement". This agreement was signed with the Kukis which basically allowed them to retain their weapons, camps, and uniforms, and forther offered a stipend Ruppees 6000 to each insurgent in exchange for not fighting the Indian government, at Indian Taxpayer expense.
However, it is worth noting that, the Meitei insurgent groups were disarmed, as they had transformed into more criminal enterprises. By 2008, they no longer represented a cause for emancipation, having transitioned into acts of terrorism and criminality. Today, many of these disarmed groups operate from beyond the border in Burma.
In short as a consequence of the "Suspension of Operations agreement", the Meiteis were essentially disarmed and the Kukis were allowed to carry their weapons.
Do you understand the logic behind this?
Additionally, if one looks at the location of all of the Kuki insurgent camps they are all surrounding Imphal, the way water surrounds an Island, isn't this a threat to the Meiteis living here? Nobody seems to think so.
Fast forward to 2017, when Mr Biren Singh and the BJP took power Manipur for the first time in Decades saw peace. Now there was Nightlife in Manipur, businesses started booming, people started returning back to their homes, and the state was witnessing Normalcy after Decades as compared to before when curfews would be imposed as soon as the sunset. However, things changed in 2023.
I will continue further, with a continuation to this article with a part 2. I find it very important to analyse this from every aspect possible, but, I will be back soon and till then,
I urge all of you to raise your voices for our Meitei brothers and sisters.
Hari om Tat Sat.
Disclaimer:
The views expressed in this article are strictly my own and do not represent the opinions or beliefs of any organization, institution, or individual. I have formed these perspectives based on my personal experiences, research, and analysis. It is important to clarify that the intention behind expressing these views was not to hurt or offend any religion, caste, nationality, gender or tribal identity. The aim was to foster constructive dialogue and thoughtful discussion on the topic at hand. It is my sincere hope that readers approach this article with an open mind and understand that differing viewpoints can contribute to a broader and more informed understanding of complex issues.
Excellent insights to the history of meities !!! Keep posting more