MANIPUR is a north-eastern state in India, bordering Bangladesh and Myanmar, with over 3.3 million population and home to numerous ethnic groups who are often victims of violence and Hindutva extremism of BJP in India. The Manipur conflict is a decade-long, state-sponsored conflict that deprives its people of their fundamental rights and affects the resource-rich region. The State of Manipur is dominated by three prominent ethnic groups: Meitei, Kuki and Naga. The majority comprises Meitei, an ethnic Hindu group, whereas the minority comprises Kuki, Naga, and other ethnicities. Meiteis and Kukis are indigenous groups of the state and both have lived there for decades. Meiteis originally worshipped nature and later converted to the Hindu religion in the 18th century due to a strong Hindu influence. Meiteis have never accepted Kuki Christians as the indigenous population because they migrated from Myanmar. To undermine their strong ties with the region, Kukis have been labelled as ‘invaders’.
This ideology set a precedent of division amongst the state population. Owing to this historic ethnic rivalry, a video went viral on the 4th of May, 2023, displaying abhorrent scenes of abuse against three Kuki women who were dragged on the streets without clothes by Meiteis. This act of brutality further fuelled the decades-old Meitei-Kuki rivalry. Ironically, the police station was just a few yards from the crime scene. Despite receiving the best police station award in 2020, it did nothing to stop the brutality. The incident resulted in the burning of 360 churches and left at least 130 killed, 400 wounded, many sexually assaulted, and more than 60,000 taken as refugees. Another dynamic of the Manipur conflict is the composition of these tribes. The Kuki and Naga tribes comprise 43% of Manipur’s population, who live in the hilly areas and have the status of Scheduled Tribe (ST). This status enables them to secure jobs through a special quota and protect their land by reserving property rights to only Kukis. In contrast, the Meiteis are predominantly Hindus and comprise 53% of the population residing in the Imphal valley. They also dominate the state’s legislative assembly with 50 seats, while the minority groups have only 19. The Meiteis still aspire to attain ST status to increase social and political influence by buying property in Kuki-inhabited areas.
The irony is that Meiteis are involved in atrocities against other vulnerable minority groups in the region backed by the ruling Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP). Even the former Chief Minister, Biren Singh, who used to propagate himself as the de facto leader of the Meitei community, vehemently denied the allegations of violence against vulnerable groups in the state. The Indian central government’s hypocrisy does not end here. Minority groups have been marginalised through the lopsided distribution of the development budget. For instance, the 2017-2020 budget for the valley inhabited by Meiteis was INR 21,481 crores, contributing 98%, whereas for the Kukis was only INR 419 crores, less than 2% of the total budget. This unequal resource distribution and political marginalization of minority groups has fuelled severe grievances in the Manipur state.
Furthermore, the internet shutdown during the Manipur violence created a blackout of outgoing information and left the rest of the country and the world in the dark. This unconstitutional act curtailing the right to freedom of expression raises severe doubts about India’s so-called commitment to upholding its citizens’ and others’ fundamental human rights. It also calls into question India’s claim of being the world’s largest democracy. The internet shutdown strategy in India is the government’s tried and tested way of building self-created, biased narratives. It is also effectively employed in other states, such as India’s Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJ&K). Moreover, the infamous Gujrat riots of 2002, which were a byproduct of Modi’s Hindutva extremism, involved prolonged Hindu-Muslim communal riots and resulted in the death of more than 1,000 Muslims.
During the investigation of these riots, a senior Gujrat police officer, Sanjiv Bhat, stated in the Supreme Court that the riots were allowed by the Modi administration. The police were provided with data on Muslim-owned properties to be destroyed. This is like the tactics used against the Sikh community in 1984. These multiple cases of violence bear witness to the Indian state-sponsored terrorism against minorities. Shivasundar, a social activist in India, compared the riots of Manipur and Gujarat and concluded that both were state-sponsored acts of terrorism. The rise of Hindutva ideology in recent years supposedly aims to make India one nation, language, and religion and calls for the demise of diversity of any kind. In the case of Manipur, the BJP explicitly supported Meiteis, and Mr Modi remained silent over the burning of Manipur – he had to face a no-confidence vote, which he survived.
Due to PM Modi’s politics of violence and division, the BJP lost seats in both inner and outer Manipur to the Indian National Congress. However, the BJP still holds the provincial government in coalition with other regional parties. The National Congress party’s win can be interpreted as a strong message to the Modi regime that its politics of suppression and hatred are no longer acceptable. The divisive Hindutva-based antics of the BJP have polarized the sociopolitical order of India. The successive events of violence against minorities, along with several insurgencies in India, present a perfect recipe for potential implosion and pose serious threats to peace and stability in the region and beyond. Although BJP’s policies are self-destructive, yet Pakistan must watch these developments with due interest and care because the extremist and polarized mindset of the Hindutva-led BJP can constantly shift political rhetoric against Pakistan to divert the attention of its masses from its internal sociopolitical fault lines.
—The writer is a columnist with regular contributions to the national press.
