Burn Manipur, Burn! Documenting State-Sponsored Brutalities | M.R. Narayan Swamy

BOOK REVIEW

Viewing Indian Polity from the Prism of Manipur: A Compendium on the Continuing Manipur Conflict and Crisis

Compiled by: Dr Syeda Hameed, Clifton D’Rozario

Manak Publications, USA
Pages: 119; Price: Rs 400/$ 15

There cannot be a much better example than Manipur to prove the abject and colossal failure of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s much-touted and supposedly magical “double engine government†.

Modi’s long silence on the horrific ethnic conflict that raged in Manipur was sickening. Here was a prime minister with a passion for public speaking who did not feel it necessary to utter even a word when human beings turned on fellow humans like animals in an unprecedented breakdown of virtually all social relations in Manipur last year. Modi was stirred into (verbal) action only when a video emerged showing women paraded naked by a mob in Manipur. He never bothered to visit the state. The best (worst?) part is that Manipur is ruled by Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). The unending violence and suffering in Manipur shows that a “double engine government†owing allegiance to Modi is no guarantee for a better today or tomorrow.

This is where the report under review comes in. Faced with the Central government’s seeming indifference to the Manipur mayhem coupled with a prolonged Internet ban, choking of transport network (anyway bad at the best of times) and a biased Imphal-based media, this report is an eye-opener on all that turned Manipur into a burning cauldron. Besides Manak Publications, those associated with the compendium’s publication include Karawan-e-Mohabbat, Muslim Women’s Forum and Delhi Solidarity Group.

First, some facts about Manipur. It is a multi-ethnic state with a population of, according to the 2011 census, 28.56 lakhs. Meitei Hindus constitute 41 percent, followed by Muslims (3.41 percent) and Meitei Christians (1.25-1.7 lakhs). Nagas and Kukis, both tribals, account for 24 and 16 percent of the population respectively. Meiteis dominantly live in the oval-shaped Imphal Valley, which accounts for 10 percent of Manipur’s land area of 20,089 sq km and is the most developed part of the state in every respect.

The tribals live in the nine hill ranges all around the Imphal Valley that form the remaining 90 percent of the territory. But in every sense of the term, it is economically the most backward region. There is a marked disparity in development parameters between the hills and the valley. There has always been – until the recent violence – a marked migration from the hills to the valley for employment, never the other way. Also, the percentage of Manipuri population living below the national poverty line in 2011-12 was 36.89 percent against the all-India average of 21.92 percent.

Although the immediate trigger behind the outbreak of the violence in May 2023 was a High Court order recommending the extension of Scheduled Tribe status to Meiteis, the volcano called Manipur had been heating up for some years. The report by the Communist Party of India (Marxist Leninist) and its two fraternal organisations, the most exhaustive among all documents in this volume, speak of a divide-and-rule policy that was adopted after the BJP took power in Manipur in 2017.

Chief Minister N Biren Singh, who is said to be very close to Home Minister Amit Shah, has very consciously pushed a narrative of victimhood of the Meitei community and stoked fears that the Meiteis could soon become a minority. (Note the similarity to the Hindu-is-victim-and-will-be-overtaken-by-Muslims theory in mainland India.) The one Meitei organisation of youths blamed for much of the bloodbath and savagery, Arambai Tengol, is said to be patronised by the chief minister.

There is also a vicious demonization of the Kukis in particular, with unending allegations that many if not most of them are “infiltrators†from Myanmar and are heavily into poppy cultivation and drug trade. Some Meiteis also insist that it was not the High Court order but the Kuki pushback to the crackdown on drug trade by the Manipur government that led to the violence. But the report under review reveals after talking to numerous people on both sides of the ethnic divide that the drug industry is Manipur is overseen by some powerful people which includes Meitei politicians.

This compendium makes it evident that while there is certainly an ethnic issue in Manipur, the Hindu majoritarian ideology is also at play. This is what caused a systematic and coordinated violence against Christians, leading to the wholesale destruction of hundreds of churches. Indeed, Meitei Christians living in the valley were also threatened with death if they did not renounce Christianity and embrace another religion. The homes of tribals (and so Christians) who fled Imphal have also been looted and occupied illegally.

Survivors of the Manipur tragedy tell the authors of this volume that much of the violence that erupted last year was planned and well-organized, whatever the trigger. The state administration was clearly complicit. There is no other way thousands of weapons and ammunition could have been looted from armouries of the security forces without anyone coming to harm. When a four-member women’s delegation visited Imphal, they saw people moving around with AK-47s casually slung over their shoulders and clad in casuals or military fatigues! Could there be a more visible sign of breakdown of governmental authority? Yet, Modi did not act against the state administration because it was part of his “double engine government†.

The report by the women’s delegation makes a chilling observation: “The first hand accounts of brutality and mayhem (were) extremely shocking, especially accounts of the sexual violence and the complete breakdown of any norms of humanity.†In fact, both sides, but particularly the Meiteis, seem to have violated the basic principles of the Geneva Convention in the manner they treated one another as if a war was raging without rules and regulations. Sadly, even women were involved in encouraging sexual violence on the “other†women – and in blocking the movement of security forces rushing to places under attack.

The violence has not only dehumanized Manipur but destroyed within hours wealth accumulated by many over long decades. While the State watched impotently, thousands fled their homes with nothing but the clothes they were in. Not everyone was lucky to escape waiting blood-thirsty mobs. Today, Manipur has been physically divided into two ‘war zones’ – one which Kukis and Nagas cannot enter and another where the Meiteis do not dare to go.

In the process, even government employees are glued to areas of their community, irrespective of where they are officially posted. Thousands now live in refugee camps of very poor quality. While the chief minister has made arrangements to continue the education of displaced Meitei school children, the tribal students have been left to their fate. Basic necessities are in perennial short supply due to road blockades. The worst hit are the tribals who were dependent on goods from Imphal.

Was there a long-term design behind the Manipur violence? The CPI (ML) report quotes people as saying that the state is floating on a bed of oil, uranium, platinum and precious stones. According to an unnamed Meitei intellectual, the government was unable to start mining in Churachandpur and Tamenglong districts due to tribal resistance. So, the State is using the bogey of narco-terrorism and land discrimination to gain control of the resources in the hills. Catholic Church officials also feel that this is the main reason for the present conflict.

May God save Manipur! We can make no other appeal since the government has failed to protect Manipur’s people and social fabric.