Since May, more than 180 people have been killed in a savage sectarian struggle that has been centered along a mile-long stretch of highway in the verdant foothills of India’s Manipur state, badly denting the strongman image of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
As Modi gets ready to host a conference of G20 leaders in September and to run for general election next year, he is deeply embarrassed by the bitter conflict between the Meitei community and the Kuki tribals, which has continued for about three months in the country’s distant northeast.
The state high court’s ruling that the government consider expanding economic benefits currently only available to the Kuki tribals to the Meiteis sparked conflict between the two communities in early May.
Following the escalation of street protests into an armed war, armed groups have dug into bunkers and outposts along the highway and elsewhere in Manipur, where they exchange frequent fire with assault rifles, sniper rifles, and handguns.
Residents and media outlets allege that the fighting has forced tens of thousands of people to flee their homes, that towns have been set on fire, and that many women have been sexually abused. Army personnel have been commanded to protect the peace but not to disarm fighters, and the Meitei-dominated state police are considered as partisans.
There appears to be no quick answer in sight.
The situation was “a mixture of anarchy and civil war and a complete breakdown of the state administration,” as historian and author Ramachandra Guha put it.
Guha continued by saying, “it is a failure of the prime minister at a time of grave national crisis,” during a television interview. “Narendra Modi is in denial and believes he can ride out the storm on his own,” says one critic.
A spokeswoman for the state government and the prime minister’s office both declined to comment.
According to fresh official data obtained by Reuters this week, the Kukis, who make up a third of the Meitei population, have borne a disproportionate weight of the violence and make up two-thirds of the victims. Most of the minority Meiteis have left the valley and city of Imphal and have gone to the mountains.
Buffer zones in Manipur’s foothills have been the scene of frequent fierce fire engagements, according to security officials.
Some of the bloodiest violence in the buffer zones has occurred along the national highway where the Meitei-dominated Bishnupur district meets the Kuki-controlled Churachandpur.
What Modi Said
Gunfire could be heard from both sides this week as a Reuters crew stopped by the Kuki village of Kangvai, located just off the highway.
Jangminlun Touthang, a Kuki fighter in his thirties who was armed with a hunting rifle, was stationed across from the Meitei lines.
The Meiteis, he added, “are going to attack us, who are going to burn our houses,” therefore he came there to protect his village.
“When they attack, we fire,” he declared.
After the unrest in Manipur had already been going on for nearly two months since early May, Modi finally spoke out against it last week. When footage of two Kuki women allegedly being paraded naked and attacked by a crowd went viral and received international attention, he vowed swift action.
With all its power, the law will act decisively. He remarked, “What happened to the girls in Manipur will never be forgotten.”
The governing party in Modi’s home state of Manipur is the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). For the second time in his more than nine years in leadership, Modi is being tested by a no-confidence motion in the federal parliament due to the violence.
Modi will likely have to address the matter in depth despite the fact that there is no threat to his government.
The opposition will likely question his loyalty to Meitei and BJP state government chief of Manipur Biren Singh.
One of India’s smallest states, Manipur shares a border with Myanmar and has a population of only 3.2 million. Only 16% of the state’s residents identify as Kuki, whereas 53% are Meitei.
According to information reviewed by Reuters that had not been previously reported, 181 people were slain, including 113 Kukis and 62 Meiteis.
According to the statistics, there were 77 deaths among Kukis and 10 among Meiteis during the first week of the violence in early May.
Both parties have different resources at their disposal. A government security official in Manipur told Reuters that this conflict is not a battle between equals.
The government claims that the Meiteis still possess 2,780 weapons (such as assault rifles, sniper guns, and pistols) stolen from the state armoury, whereas the Kukis only have 156.
The fight, according to Kae Haopu Gangte, general secretary of the umbrella Kuki civil society group Kuki Inpi Manipur, was sparked by the Meiteis’ ambition to take control of traditional Kuki territory.
Apparently the Kukis are now demanding their own independent nation within India.
Gangte pledged, “We will not rest until we have a state.” We’re fighting the government as well as the Meiteis.
All Meiteis support the conflict, according to Pramot Singh, founder of Meitei Leepun, a renowned Meitei group with members on the frontlines.
He was sitting outside his house in Imphal, holstered pistol in hand, and declaring that his people would fight the Kukis until they abandoned their aspiration for an independent state within Manipur.
The Meitei side will carry on with the war. As he put it, “this is the start of something big.”
