Ethnic divisions at odds with party loyalties

Shubhadeep Choudhury

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New Delhi, June 18

The representatives of 10 parties that have written to the PMO, seeking an appointment with the Prime Minister over the Manipur violence, are all Meiteis. What is conspicuous about this delegation led by Congress leader and former Chief Minister Okram Ibobi Singh is the absence of a leader from the Kuki community. The signatories of the letter are camping in Delhi hoping to meet the PM and urge him to take appropriate steps to restore normalcy in Manipur. “The Kukis are not coming out,” Congress leader and former Manipur Assembly Speaker Hemachandra Singh said without elaborating his statement on the absence of a Kuki representative in the delegation.

Last month too, Ibobi Singh and other Congress leaders had given a memorandum to President Droupadi Murmu, seeking her intervention in the matter.

Former Deputy Chief Minister and Naga tribal Gaikhangam Gangmei was part of the delegation then but there was no one from the Kuki community even though the ethnic clashes that have kept Manipur on the boil for more than a month now have been between the Meitei and Kuki communities.

Senior Kuki Congress leaders of Manipur such as TN Haokip (former MPCC president) and Ngamthang Haokip (former minister) have also kept away from the delegations visiting Delhi.

“There is no meeting point any more between the Meiteis and Kukis,” Paolienklal Haokip, Kuki MLA from Saikot constituency in Churachandpur district of Manipur, told The Tribune.

Despite being a member of the state’s ruling BJP, Haokip, a JNU alumnus, alleged the ongoing violence is “actually ethnic cleansing” being carried out by Meitei elements “with active support of the state forces”.

“The Kukis are only defending their villages or whatever has remained of the villages,” Haokip said. The BJP MLA said violence could be stopped if the Centre gave the right instruction to central forces deployed in the state. “Why this is not being done is a million-dollar question,” he said.

W Tiken, a senior journalist based in Imphal, said Kuki politicians had no choice but to support the demand for separate administration for the Kuki-inhabited areas of Manipur. “That is preventing them from associating with people who are against this idea,” Tiken said.

The bond of common religious affiliation has also crumbled in the wake of the ethnic strife. Meitei Christian Church Council Manipur (MCCCM) has asked the Manipur Tribal Forum Delhi (MTFD), which represents the Kukis, to remove all names of Meitei churches from the list of churches that the MTFD mentioned as having been burnt by mobs in its petition before the Supreme Court.

Meanwhile, AAP national spokesperson Sanjay Singh said, “Peace and tranquillity in the country will remain a far cry so long as the BJP is in power. “Spread hatred and rule this is the formula of the BJP.”

BJP MLA raises issue

• No Kuki Congress leader part of former CM-led delegation
• BJP Kuki legislator raises the issue of ‘ethnic cleansing’ with ‘support’ of state forces

No meeting point

There’s no meeting point any more between the Meiteis and Kukis. Violence can be stopped if Centre gives the right orders to forces. Paolienklal Haokip, Kuki MLA