The Complex Conflict In Manipur

Northeast India has always had a plethora of ethnic groups clamouring for their rights and distinct identity—at times not just fighting the Indian state but engaged in internecine turf wars, stoking sub-national aspirations

- VAISHALI BASU SHARMA

On the night of June 15 Union minister Rajkumar Ranjan Singh’s house in Imphal was burnt down by a mob of over 1,000 people. A day before this attack, the official residence of Nemcha Kipgen, the state’s industry minister and only female minister in Manipur, was burnt down by attackers. In the wake of a directive of the High Court asking the Manipur goverment to consider including the Meitei community in the list of Scheduled Tribes (STs), the ethnic violence which broke out between the Meitei and Kuki-Zo communities on May 3, continues to grip the state.

Death and destruction have engulfed the sensitive border state of Manipur for nearly two months now. The unprecedented violent clashes witnessed attacks and arson of houses, vehicles, government and private properties in more than 10 districts. Curfew has been imposed under section 144 in Manipur, more than 100 people have died since then, and violence continued even during Union home minister Amit Shah’s trip to the state. A total of 37,450 people is currently sheltered in 272 relief camps.

Dynamics of Ethnicity

The Meiteis, mostly Hindus, account for about 53 per cent of Manipur’s population and live mostly in and around the Imphal Valley. The tribal Nagas and the Kukis constitute another 40 percent of the population and reside in the hill districts that constitute nearly 80 percent of the state’s territory. Most of the Meiteis fall in the general category. A small section of them belong to either the Scheduled Castes (SCs) or the Other Backward Classes (OBCs). Meiteis cannot buy land in the tribal-dominated hills, but the Naga and Kuki tribes can buy land in the state capital.