Manipur: Government Inaction Has Fossilised Kuki-Meitei Divide; State Staring At Long-Drawn-Out Hostilities

A number of factors, primary among them being prolonged inaction by the Manipur government that simply refuses to crack down on Meitei radical and terror groups, has made the Kuki-Meitei divide in the state permanent. 

The Kukis and the Meiteis, admit leaders of both the communities in private, can no longer coexist in harmony under one administration. And that sets Manipur on the road to catastrophe. 

Ties between the Meiteis and Kukis have become toxic, and not the least because the state government, especially chief minister Nongthombam Biren Singh, is viewed by all Kukis with distrust.

The Kukis, cutting across all political and socio-economic divides, hold Biren Singh responsible for their plight. Their allegations about the state machinery, including the police, acting in a partisan manner in favour of Meiteis, are endorsed by independent observers. 

The Meiteis, on the other hand, remain unrepentant about atrocities committed by Meitei criminals, radicals and terrorists on Kukis.

There are few sane voices among the Meiteis today, and the ones that exist do not dare to speak out. The ones that did have been hounded and ostracised, and a few have had to seek refuge outside the state.

An overwhelming majority of Meiteis justify violence against the Kukis who, they say, are mostly illegal immigrants from Myanmar who illicitly cultivate poppy and have encroached on forest lands. 

The Meiteis have started regarding the Kukis as illegal residents of the state who need to be evicted from Manipur.

While it is true that the continuing bloodshed in Manipur was triggered by attacks on Meiteis by Kukis in Churachandpur on 3 May, the retaliation against Kukis is seen as disproportionate. 

And that has happened because the state machinery has exposed itself as biassed against the Kukis. 

Right from the beginning of the conflict, the state machinery has turned a blind eye to the depredations of Meitei radical groups--the Arambai Tenggol and the Meitei Leepun--who have carried out unrelenting attacks on Kuki villages. 

That triggered retaliation by the Kukis. But the indisputable fact remains that an overwhelming majority of the 150-odd people who died in the ethnic violence so far have been Kukis. 

The complicity, or at least acquiescence of the state machinery under chief minister Biren Singh in the crimes committed against Kukis by Meitei miscreants, terrorists (belonging to Meitei outfits like the KYKL and UNLF) and the two radical organisations has turned Kukis against the state machinery and the chief minister. 

The complicity of the state machinery in the violence perpetrated on Kukis is suggested by the fact that Meitei mobs looted 4,000 sophisticated rifles and small arms and tens of thousands of round of ammunition, besides explosive devices, from police armouries without the police putting up even a token resistance. 

Contrary to all expectations, the state government did not penalise a single police officer for what constituted a grave dereliction of duty. 

The chief minister limited himself to only issuing meek appeals to the criminals to return the looted arms when he should have ordered raids to recover the looted arms and penalised the criminals who dared to loot the police armouries. 

These arms were used by the Meitei radicals and terror groups to attack and kill Kukis.

The earlier coexistence between Meiteis and Kukis has now been replaced by intense animosity between even ordinary members of the two communities. 

All Kukis and Meteis that Swarajya spoke to in recent times say unequivocally that they can no longer dwell beside each other. 

All Kukis who, till early May, had been residing happily in Meitei-majority Imphal Valley have fled to the Kuki-majority hill districts en masse. This includes even top IAS and IPS officers. 

The former DGP of the state, P. Doungel (who was replaced since he was Kuki) lives in Imphal under protection of a central force. All other Kuki officers and employees have fled to the hills, and have vowed never to return. 

They have nothing to return to, anyway. Their houses have been destroyed and reduced to ashes, their possessions looted by their neighbours and all that are left are painful memories. 

The same is the case with Meiteis who used to live in the Kuki-dominated areas in the hills. Churachandpur and other Kuki-dominated areas no longer have any Meiteis. Even police officers and men posted there are all Kukis, and some Nagas. Meitei policemen who were posted in Kuki areas have left their posts and taken refuge in Imphal Valley. 

The transfer of population--Kukis from Meitei-dominated areas and vice versa--is complete and, by all accounts, irreversible. 

The level of animosity that has developed between the two communities can be gauged from some videos that had been doing the rounds on social media showing alleged Meitei women urging men of the community to rape a Kuki girl who was being thrashed in Imphal. 

According to Kuki leaders, hundreds of women belonging to the community have been raped and even killed. But no FIRs have been registered by the partisan police force. 

The latest video that has surfaced of two Kuki women being paraded naked by a crowd of Meitei men and youngsters, all of them jeering and molesting the women, has added fuel to the ethnic fire. 

The younger of the two women were gangraped and her relatives killed by their tormentors (read this). The incident took place on May 4 and an FIR was lodged on May 8. But the state police didn’t take any action even though the faces of the Meitei men were clearly visible on the video.

Though chief minister Biren Singh condemned the horrific act Thursday (July 20) and said that the rapists should be given capital punishment, the question being asked of the chief minister is why he has remained silent so far. 

The crime was committed two and half months ago and an FIR lodged after a few days. But the police took no action. It was only after the video surfaced and went viral, and condemnations poured in, that the chief minister was shamed into reacting and condemning the act. 

A number of Kuki leaders told Swarajya that the inaction by the state machinery, and appalling lack of remorse by the entire Meitei community, only illustrates the deep enmity that Meiteis harbour towards Kukis. 

Kuki leaders also say that while some incidents (of gang rapes and murders) have come to light, most such incidents are never reported. There is no point in registering complaints with the police because the latter will not take any action, they say. 

Admittedly, Meiteis have also been killed by Kukis (though the number of Meitei victims is far lower than that of Kukis), but brutalities towards their victims have been the trademark of Meitei criminals, radicals and terrorists. 

All this, say independent observers, has happened because the Biren Singh government did not crack down on perpetrators of violence right from the very beginning. 

The continuing cycle of violence and counter-violence has now made the Kuki-Meitei divide permanent. 

The Kukis have, since mid-May, been demanding separation from Manipur. This demand is vehemently opposed by not only the Meiteis but also Nagas who contend that the proposed Kuki state includes many areas that the Nagas consider their own. 

But given the irreconcilable differences and the divide that has fossilised between the two communities, as well as the complete transfer of population (Kukis from Meitei dominated areas and vice versa), the breakup of Manipur may become unavoidable. 

And that can only trigger a renewal of the demand by Nagas of Manipur for integration of the areas they inhabit in the hills with Nagaland.