@Evening: 👉 Where It All Went Wrong In Manipur, Explained Clearly

2️⃣💥 The twin triggers

Trouble-torn Manipur is limping back to some normalcy now, though the state remains replete with heavy state security apparatus. 

Context: Beneath all the human suffering caused in Manipur lies one important question: where did it go wrong?

• Let's be clear: Manipur has never been entirely peaceful with all communities — the majority Meiteis and the tribals (Kukis and Nagas) — living together in harmony.

• Ethnic clashes and militancy have troubled the state for decades.

• Apart from ethnic tensions, poor governance, endemic corruption, and lopsided development have always been Manipur’s bane.

• However, the immediate triggers were two recent developments.

The twin triggers. The deep-seated tensions between the Meiteis and Kukis were aggravated and brought out in the open by two recent developments.

• One was the large-scale drive initiated by the state government to clear reserve and protected forests from human encroachments in the Kuki-inhabited areas of the hill districts.

• The state had notified many forest tracts in the hills as reserve and protected forests and sent eviction notices to a few Kuki villages in February.

• The second trigger was the order by the Manipur High Court asking the state government to submit its recommendation to the Union government on granting ST status to the Meitei community.

Kuki POV. The Kukis were upset with the Manipur government over the eviction drive.

• It resulted in many houses and churches being demolished, which created a lot of resentment among the Kukis.

• They were also angered by and refute the allegation that they sheltered thousands of their fellow tribesmen who have been immigrating illegally into India through the porous, unfenced Indo-Myanmar border.

• The Kukis belong to the larger Chin-Kuki-Zo ethnic group that is spread out over Mizoram, neighbouring areas of Manipur, and Sagaing and Chin provinces of Myanmar.

• In addition, the Meiteis' demand for ST status angered the Kukis.

• Mostly Vaishnavites, the Meiteis are in a majority and used to be listed as tribals by the British. But they lost the status after the kingdom of Manipur merged with the Indian Union in 1949. 

• The Kukis argue that if the better-placed Meiteis are granted ST status, they would gobble up all benefits, including reservation in government jobs, meant for tribals.

• The fear of losing their lands to the Meiteis agitates the Kukis.

Meitei POV. The Meiteis contend that they fulfill all criteria for being classified as tribals.

• Practising Hinduism should not disqualify them from being recognised as tribals, they say.

• The Meiteis point out that the illegal infiltration of thousands of Kukis from Myanmar into the hills of Manipur is a fact that cannot be denied.

• The ‘foreigners’ (Kukis from Myanmar) have to be evicted from Manipur, say the Meiteis. 

• The Meiteis also resent the fact that while the tribals (Kukis and Nagas) can purchase land and property in Imphal Valley (the land of the Meiteis), the Meiteis cannot do so in the hills.

• The tribals, they allege, have been squeezing them out of their homeland (the Imphal Valley).

Could this flare-up have been avoided? For that, and much else, read Jaideep Mazumdar's report.