This Is How Amit Shah Deftly Negotiated The Manipur Minefield Both Inside And Outside Parliament Yesterday

Union Home Minister Amit Shah’s strong response to opposition charges of government inaction in Manipur in Parliament on Wednesday (9 August) is on record. 

What, however, is little known is his equally firm response to a delegation of Kuki leaders who met him at his office yesterday. 

The meeting, which lasted for a little over two hours, saw a polite but firm Amit Shah adroitly tackling the 10 demands tabled by the Kukis under the banner of the Indigenous Tribal Leaders’ Forum (ITLF). 

An imprudent response to these demands could have inflamed passions in Manipur. 

But Shah expertly navigated the minefields while indicating to the Kukis that their main demand — that of a separate administration for them — cannot be brought to the table now. 

Inside Parliament, while replying to the no-confidence motion brought by the opposition, Shah asserted that no changes in Manipur’s demography would be allowed. 

That addressed a major concern of Meiteis who are worried that largescale infiltration of members of the Kuki-Chin community from Myanmar will alter the demography of Manipur. 

Inside Parliament, Shah also firmly rejected demands for removal of Manipur Chief Minister Nongthombam Biren Singh and asserted that the Chief Minister was cooperating with the Union government in restoring peace in the state. 

With these two assertions — preserving Manipur’s demographic balance and rejecting demands for Biren Singh’s removal — Shah had effectively addressed concerns of the Meiteis and sent a strong message to the Kukis who had also been pushing strongly for Singh’s sacking. 

At their meeting with the Union Home Minister, the ITLF delegation raised their core demand for a separate administration for Kukis. 

According to senior officers of the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), Shah immediately interjected and told the Kuki leaders that this demand cannot even be considered as long as ethnic violence continues in Manipur. 

The Union Home Minister, the senior officers who are in the know of what transpired at the meeting between Amit Shah and ITLF leaders told Swarajya, that not only violence, but even tensions have to ease and complete peace should prevail in Manipur before this demand can be taken up for discussion. 

The Home Minister also advised the Kuki leaders to dial down on their rhetoric about a separate Kuki state since that was accentuating ethnic tensions. 

Shah also pointed out that any demand with far-reaching consequences will have to be a consensual one involving all stake-holders. What Shah effectively but very subtly did was reject the Kukis’ demand for a separate state. 

The meeting between Amit Shah and the ITLF delegation commenced with Shah getting down to business immediately and asking the Kukis to find an alternative site for mass burial of the 35 Kukis who died in the violence in Manipur. 

Ethnic tensions had peaked last week when the ITLF declared its intent to conduct the mass burial of the 35 bodies at a site in Meitei-dominated Bishnupur district that Meiteis claim belong to members of their community. 

The two sides had amassed thousands of people and another round of bloodletting seemed inevitable. But last minute intervention by Shah, Mizoram Chief Minister Zoramthanga and an early morning order by the Manipur High Court saved the day (read this). 

But tensions had persisted because the ITLF had vowed to conduct the mass burial at the same site this week (read this). 

Shah asked the Kuki delegation to choose another site for the mass burial. He also told the ITLF that they should not erect any memorial at that site since that would remain a permanent cause of friction between the Kukis and Meiteis and would thwart efforts to restore peace in the state. 

“There were murmurs of disapproval from the Kuki side, but the Home Minister countered by asking the Kukis if they want peace in Manipur. When they said ‘yes’, Shah told them to follow his advice and refrain from doing anything provocative,” said a senior officer. 

The ITLF leaders said that they would need to consult their people (the Kuki community at large) on an alternative site and get back to the MHA. “Do that, but please keep in mind that the burials cannot take place at the site you have chosen,” Shah reportedly told the ITLF team. 

He also told the ITLF leaders that they should desist from making statements that can be considered provocative by the Meiteis or other communities of the state. 

“Please keep the necessity to bring about peace uppermost in your minds whenever you say or do something,” Shah advised the ITLF delegation. 

Another major demand of the ITLF — withdrawal of Manipur Police from the Kuki-dominated hill districts — was met with a firm refusal by the Union Home Minister. 

The ITLF delegation contended that the Manipur Police was biased and, being dominated by Meiteis, had been acting in a highly partisan manner. 

Shah told the Kukis that this demand cannot be considered.

“To ensure impartiality, the Manipur Police will be accompanied by central forces for now. But the police cannot be withdrawn from the hills. That is not legally tenable,” Shah told the Kuki delegation. 

The other demands put forward by the ITLF were: transporting the bodies of Kukis lying in morgues in Imphal to their home districts, a helicopter service from Churachandpur to Aizawl (Mizoram), facilitating education for Kuki students in the hills and those who had fled from Imphal Valley, installation of prefabricated structures to house Kukis living in camps, transfer of all Kuki inmates in prisons in Imphal Valley to prisons in other states and setting up an office of the Justice Lamba Inquiry Commission (set up to probe the violence in the state) at Churachandpur to enable Kukis to depose freely before the Commission. 

The Union Home Minister promptly agreed to start a helicopter service between Aizawl and Churachandpur. 

“The Union Home Minister also said that topmost priority would be given to start schools and colleges and facilitate the education of displaced students, be they Kukis or Meiteis. He also assured the ITLF delegation that the Union and state governments are working together to provide housing for internally displaced people,” said the senior MHA officer. 

When a couple of members of the ITLF delegation raised the issue of lack of food, medicines and materials in camps housing displaced Kukis in the hills, Shah told them that they should ask Kuki bodies which have set up checkposts on roads leading from Imphal Valley to the hills to allow passage of relief materials. 

Kukis manning these checkposts have been refusing many vehicles, especially those owned by Meiteis, to enter the hill districts. Last week, two trucks owned by Meiteis were torched by Kukis in Churachandpur district. 

“If you do not allow free movement of vehicles to the hills, how will relief material reach the camps there?” Shah asked the Kuki leaders. 

Shah also appealed to the Kuki leaders to cooperate with the state authorities in ensuring return to normalcy. He subtly underlined the fact that a democratically-elected state government has to be allowed to administer the state without any constraints. 

Shah’s deft negotiating skills left the ITLF leaders quite satisfied even though their three core demands had, for all practical purposes, been turned down by him (Shah). 

MHA officers told Swarajya that the Shah adroitly negotiated the minefield of demands (by the Kukis) which had the potential of inflaming passions further. 

The Kukis left the meeting feeling quite content, while the Meiteis who were keenly watching the outcome of the meeting also had nothing to complain about at the end of the day. 

Also read: Manipur: How Late Night Appeals By MHA And Mizoram CM, And 6 AM Order Of HC, Averted Fresh Flare-Up In State

Manipur On The Edge Again As Meiteis And Kukis Head Towards Fresh Stand-Off

Cycle Of Killings And Counter-Killings Resumes In Manipur, Darker Days Ahead For State