A meme viral on social media after the meeting of the Prime Minister, Mr Narendra Modi, with Pope Francis on the sidelines of the Great Eight summit in Europe, implies the Catholic supreme religious leader mentioning the continuing violence in Manipur, now well into its fourteenth month.
That is pure conjecture.
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But there is little doubt that the violence in Manipur, between the Meiteis of the Imphal valley and elements of the state forces, an extra-constitutional militant group, and the Kuki-Ho on the surrounding hills, is part of the national and international human rights discourse.
RSS Chief Mohan Bhagwat has spoken about it, albeit so very late. He reminded Mr Modi of an “absence of governance” which could bring about peace in the state. The political analysts in the ruling party have identified Manipur as a major contributory factor in the party losing both Lok Sabha states in the state, and over much of the North East. The loss of the two Lok Sabha seats – which the party can ill afford considering it is a minority in the lower House – must be particularly jarring for the prime minister as local leaders think his failure to visit the state all of these fourteen months angered the people.
Home Minister Amit Shah called yet another high-powered meeting in New Delhi this week to review the situation. His expression of the nation’s concern lost much of its sheen as the stat chief minister failed to turn up for the meeting. The reason, however plausible, does not matter. Chief Ministers have ways of travelling to Delhi when it suits them.
The casualty numbers add on, even if the two sides and the government differ on the count tabulated by the two sides to the conflict. By now, 225, including more than one bay, are known to be dead. Some15 Kuki-Zo men and 32 Meiteis are still missing. As many as 200 villages have been destroyed, with 7,000 or so houses, 360 churches and other structures razed or burnt. The displaced, now in government and church-run refugee camps, number 50,000 persons, 42,000 of them Kuki-Zo.
Less known is the fact that 4,500 weapons were looted, or given away, from police armouries, and remain untraced. Only 1,800 surrendered by civilians. These are sophisticated weapons used by paramilitary forces, including machine guns. There is no count of ammunition.
The Lok Sabha results were surprising in that both communities, the Meitei, largely Hindus, and the Kuki-Zo, almost entirely Christian, voted against the BJP, so furious was their anger against chief minister Biren Singh.
In the inner Manipur constituency seat, Angomcha Bimol Akoijam, a professor of JNU, defeated the Bharatiya Janata Party’s T Basanta Kumar Singh, who is also the state education minister in the BJP-led Biren Singh government. In the Outer Manipur reserved seat, Alfred Kanngam Arthur defeated his rival from the BJP ally, the Naga People’s Front.
Mr Biren Singh is alleged to patronise the Meitei Leepun and Arambai Tenggol, a main actor in the violence. Arambai Tenggol was established in 2020, under the aegis of the titular king of Manipur and then BJP Member of Parliament Leishemba Sanajaoba.
The Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of India intervened after a spate of writs in the court by civil society and victims. His intervention led to the setting up a relief committee of three retired high court judges and a probe into the violence headed by high-ranking police officer. As of this article, there is no information on the progress made by these committees.
The Editors Guild of India studied the role of the state media in aggravating violence. That led to a case filed against them by the state government. The Karawane Mohabbat and Women’s teams led by Anne Raja and Syeda Hamid toured the main effected areas and the refugee camps. They had warned of the unfolding human tragedy in Manipur.
International human rights groups have noted alleged acts of sexual violence, extrajudicial killings, home destruction, forced displacement, torture and ill-treatment. Their experts also pointed to an “inadequate humanitarian response” by the government.
Political observers are intrigued to why the prime minister persists with the continuance of Mr Biren Singh as the chief minister. He, and the titular king of Manipur, are the parents of the Arambai Tenggol, which is a militant group, but not underground, ostensibly to protect Manipuri Hindi and traditional culture. It has often clashed with established authority, humiliated elected members of the state legislature, and is yet another “tax collector”, as people describe it.
The state, like its neighbours in the North East, is totally dependent on resources from the Central government for everyday existence, and for the development to bring it at par with other regions of the country.
The two Modi regimes did not have a coherent development plan for the region, and almost none for Manipur. Their main focus was on successfully ensuring that the Bhartiya Janata Party and its allies ruled in every state capital. That plan met a shaming denouement in the recent general elections.
The Prime Minister’s Office and the Intelligence agencies, which in truth are formulating the overall approach to the state and the northeast, have no coherent or far-looking policy. They remain incident driven, hoping a grand policy name can substitute for political and development content.
This was visible in the “general framework agreement” with the Naga underground groups. Years later, there has been almost no movement on the agreement. Adding to it is the failure of the external affairs ministry to speak about the terrible atrocities of the Myanmar army on civilian populations, especially on the tribes of the north and west regions adjoining India. This violence has impact a large number of people who want to flee to the safety of Indian villages across the border in.
Civil society activists feel the central and governments continue to vouch safe an end to the violence, reconciliation between the warring ethnic communities as well as normalcy, while taking no visible measures to stop the violent conflict or to heal the festering wounds.
(John Dayal is an author, editor, occasional documentary film maker and activist)
