The European Parliament has adopted a resolution condemning the Indian government over the Manipur violence and urged it to protect the rights of the minorities. It also denounced in the strongest terms nationalistic rhetoric deployed by leading members of the BJP
The escalation of ethnic and religious violence in Manipur is deeply troubling. Reports of targeted attacks, discrimination and persecution against religious minorities have created an environment of fear and insecurity. It is disheartening to witness innocent individuals being subjected to violence solely based on their religious beliefs. So far over one hundred Christians have reportedly been killed there whilst 1200 churches and buildings destroyed. Aside from looting the valuables from houses and business centres owned by the Christians, their properties worth millions of rupees have been destroyed or set ablaze. Tens of thousands of victims have fled as their homes and businesses have gone up in flames. Everything with a Christian identity/mark is being attacked by the Meitei majority community in Manipur with the connivance of authorities. Thousands of security personnel deployed to control the violence are partisan. They are not protecting the religious places/ homes/ properties of the Christians. In this backdrop the very resolution by the EU Parliament is welcoming which also calls on India to allow independent investigations to look into the violence to tackle impunity. Indeed those behind these despicable acts must be punished but we do not expect anything like that happening under the Modi regime. The fact of the matter is that no minority is safe in India today and those targeting them enjoy complete impunity. There have been so many incidents of violence against Indian Muslims but the extremist Hindus have never been taken to task. India’s response terming the European Parliament’s resolution as unacceptable and reflective of a colonial mindset itself suggests a resistance to transparent assessment and accountability. In fact what is happening in Manipur draws certain similarities with the indigenous movement in IIOJK. In both cases, the people are struggling to protect their distinct identity and existential threat by Indian (Hindutva) settler colonialism designs. The international community, especially important capitals, will have to take a serious notice of the Indian leadership’s extremist policies and come forward with concrete steps to protect the minorities there.
