Violence in Manipur that started on 3rd
May, 2023 following a clash between two communities “Meitei (a majority
community)” and “Kuki (a minority tribe)”, has claimed nearly 71 lives, injured
230 people and burned 1700 houses till now. Curfew is still in place and
internet shut down. The violence is in control thanks to central paramilitary
forces deployed by the central government.
What started this
violence? What was the motif? Who are involved in the violence and why? What
could have avoided these unnecessary losses? And what happens next? These are
the questions lingering in my head since the start of this communal clash. I
have been reviewing the past and I would like to share my insights on these.
On 3rd of
May, ATSUM (All Tribal Student’s Union Manipur) organised a “Solidarity March”
in all hilly regions of Manipur to protest the Manipur High Court’s directive
to State government to submit a recommendation to Ministry of tribal Affairs
granting Scheduled Tribe(ST) status to the Meiteis (as reported in The Frontier Manipur). The afternoon of
that day, there was a violent clash between demonstrators of Churachandpur(Kuki)
and some people from neighbouring Bishenpur district (Meitei). That incident
triggered the heat and a full on clashes occurred between two communities. Yes
that was the start. But let us look a little further in the past. May be we can
find a clarity on the tension between two groups.
There are two premises
for the tension between two communities – Demand for ST status and Demand for
implementation of NRC. The demand for implementation of NRC may seem unrelated
to this incident but that is not true. Kuki community felt sidelined from the
unity and brotherhood of the state in the past recently when a group of Student organisations (from Meitei
Community and Naga Community) staged a demonstration in Jantar Mantar demanding
implementation of NRC and deport illegal immigrants from Maynmar and settled in
hilly areas of Manipur. There were many such demands by different groups to
implement NRC in the past few months. These incidents pointed indirectly to the
Kuki community to be accepting and hosting illegal immigrants.
The second premise is
the ST Demand which everyone thinks is the main cause for this violence. Schedule
tribe demand committee of Manipur (STDCM) has been demanding have been
demanding ST status for more than 10 years. Their premise is that Meiteis (44%
population in the state as per 2011 census) feel marginalised and need
constitutional protection. They claim that Meiteis enjoyed tribal status before
merger to India in 1949. On 27 March 2023, High court of Manipur issued the
said directive to the state government to submit recommendations to Union
ministry to grant ST status to Meiteis following a petition by Meitei Tribe Union. This court order
angers all tribal population. But then again the clash is with only one of the
tribal community. This is because the Kuki community are already upset with the
Majority community for the NRC demand which then fuelled the rage by the Court
order. On 3rd May violence broke and the rest is as you know.
What have people interpreted
from the High court order?
Well educated people
understand that this order from the court does not mean much when it comes to
whether Meitei community will get ST status or not. There are many procedures
to go before actually granting it. Central government won’t distribute ST
status to everyone who desires it without a long discussion and investigation
of whether the said community deserves ST status or not. But the general public
is not much aware of the standard procedures of the system. They trust the
court so much that they see this High court order differently. Many people
among Meitei community see it as an achievement towards the cause towards
getting ST status. So when Tribal communities protested against the High court
order they felt that as a challenge to their rights. The same goes for the
general public in Kuki community. They saw the High court order as actually
granting ST status to the majority community and court siding with the Majority
without considering the impact on the lives of the minority communities. This
misunderstanding among the public on both sides were fuelled by opportunists
and violent people in both the communities. All the losses were because of
these misunderstandings which could have been avoided if handled properly.
Why do tribal minorities
protest Meitei’s ST status?
Is Meitei community
marginalised or endangered or disadvantaged compared to the rest of India? That
is a question for a Commission or Government of India to decide. But in context
of the state of Manipur, Meitei community is fairly advantaged than the
remaining communities in demography, economic conditions, education and every
aspect you can think of. So if Meitei community is given ST status, will it affect
the privileges enjoyed by the tribal communities? The answer is yes, only if
proper arrangement is not made to ensure that the special rights granted to the
tribal minorities to protect their lands and heritage are accommodated by
establishing new provisions in the law. Without this protection the tribal
communities will find it impossible to compete with Meiteis for any government
jobs as they are not at the same level of economic and educational status.
What could have been
done to avoid this riot?
The tension could have
been diffused at many steps. Regarding the NRC demands, it wouldn’t have hurt
feelings if the demands were “implementation of NRC to identify illegal
immigrants in the whole state among all community” instead of “immigrants in
hilly areas”. For the ST demands, it would have been wise to have demanded for
a Commission to investigate the validity of the majority community’s claims.
Meiteis already believe they deserve ST status so they shouldn’t have a problem
with that. On the other hand Kuki community should have demanded for Commission
to investigate implications granting ST status to the Meiteis on the Tribal
communities and investigate how to accommodate the already existing privileges
in the event of granting ST status to the Meiteis. Concerning Manipur High
court order, the Court could have used different narrative insisting the State
government to take necessary actions without implicating what actions the State
should do. Things could have been a lot better.
What could the state government
have done then?
It is evident that the
state government failed to tackle the communal tension in time. There are many
reports that neither fire fighters nor police arrived when people needed them.
There are reports of nearly 1000 arms snatched from police stations by the mob during
the violence. The response system in the state is really bad both police and
fire departments. The State government should take proper recruitment and
enlarge the police force to proper enforce the law. The government should also
assess situation way before such violence happens. The notion of tending to an
issue only after some protest/ demonstration or violence should be gone.
Intelligence service should be strengthened.
I hope that this
violence and bloodbaths stops and never touch he unity of Manipur. I do not
want to see another communal riot in my lifetime. The suffering and the losses
this incident has cursed us is enough for a hundred lifetimes. I hope I
remained neutral throughout this article.
Let’s hope for the
best.
0 Comments