While many stakeholders including Manipur Chief Minister Nongthombam Biren and civil society organisation, Coordinating Committee on Manipur Integrity (COCOMI) among others perceive the violent conflict between the Kuki-Zomi militants and Meiteis that erupted on May 3, 2023 is due to the narco-terrorists and illegal immigrants, India’s Union Home Minister Amit Shah once again reiterated that the violence in Manipur is an ethnic clash, not linked to terrorism or religion.
Speaking at the Agenda Aaj Tak of India Today on December 14, Union Home Minister Amit Shah has characterised the ongoing violence in Manipur as an ethnic clash, distancing it from terrorism or religious conflict.
“The violence in Manipur is an ethnic clash, not linked to terrorism or religion. I am not saying this as an excuse, but to provide the background,” Shah said.
Shah noted that ethnic disturbances in Manipur have historically lasted for years, adding, “Violence in Manipur has persisted for over a year and a half. Many lives have been lost. However, the intensity of the violence has now decreased.”
This is not the first time the Union Home Minister Amit Shah has been saying that the violence in Manipur is an ethnic conflict between two communities – Kukis and Meiteis.
Earlier, in an interview on May 9, 2024, Union Home Minister and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Amit Shah dismissed ‘terrorism’ charges against ethnic violence that broke out in Manipur between Kuki-Zomi militants and Meitei communities in May 2023.
Amit Shah stressed that the Government would need to resolve ‘differences’ between two communities through ‘dialogue and empathy’. “It will be our priority after elections that we hold discussions with both the sides and come up with an amicable solution. The situation in neighbouring Myanmar has added to our problem, but we have taken steps like fencing of the border and regulating the Free Movement Regime (FMR) along the India-Myanmar border” Amit Shah said in the interview published in Mint.
Moreover, Union Home Minister Amit Shah blamed the Manipur High Court (HC) for “triggering the violence” while speaking for about 45 minutes on Manipur violence during his over two hours speech on the second day of the debate on the no-confidence motion in Lok Sabha on August 9, 2023.
Shah said the HC then added “fuel to the fire”, referring to its March 27 order asking the state government to submit a recommendation to grant Scheduled Tribe status for the Meitei community. “It (HC) suddenly heard a petition that had been pending with it for years. And it did not take affidavits from the National Commission for Scheduled Tribes, or the Union Ministry of Tribal Affairs, or the Manipur government… This caused a lot of unrest in the hills. The order was passed without any legal process,” he said.
In his over two-hour-long counter to the motion, he traced the origin of the current cycle of ethnic violence to an influx of Kuki refugees from Myanmar following the regime change there in 2021. “A Kuki Democratic Front started a movement there, and the military rulers launched a crackdown on them. As there is no border fencing, a large number of Kuki brothers came to Manipur and Mizoram as refugees,” he said. As the Kuki refugees settled down in the forests of Manipur valley, there were fears of a demographic change, he said.
“I appeal to both communities in Manipur with folded hands to renounce violence. Please come to the talks table with the Government of India and let us find a way to restore Manipur to the path of progress and prosperity,” he said. “Only dialogue can lead to a solution… We do not wish to change the demography. I am talking to them personally,” Shah said.
Additionally, Manipur Chief Minister and BJP leader Nongthombam Biren also claimed that the peaceful situation in Manipur had been disrupted by the ‘infusion of people from the outside (Myanmar)’ and hailed the Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led Government’s decision to remove the FMR (Free Movement Regime).
However, while replying to the no-confidence motion moved against his government on August 10, 2023, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said, “Yesterday (August 9, 2023), Amit bhai (Shah) said that an order came from Manipur High Court, which saw a sequence of events that led to violence in Manipur. Many families lost their loved ones. Terrible crimes were committed against women and this is condemnable.”
Modi’s brief comments on Manipur violence focussed on the High Court order, asking Government of Manipur to consider recommendation of Meitei for Scheduled Tribe (ST) status to the Government of India, as if it was the root of the ongoing violent conflict.
PM Modi did not delve into the violent conflict between the Kuki-Zomi militants and Meiteis except generalising the conflicts in India’s Northeast by saying that “The root cause of all problems in the Northeast is the Congress’s earlier policies.”
Besides, India’s External Affairs Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar also stated that part of the problem stemmed from the destabilising impact of migrants in the region. Additionally, he noted historical tensions in Manipur that have contributed to the challenges faced by the state. Jaishankar addressed the situation in India’s Northeast State of Manipur during a discussion at the Council on Foreign Relations in New York on September 26, 2023.
The External Affairs Minister said, “If you ask me, you know, what is happening today in Manipur? I think, one—you know, one part of the problem in Manipur has been the destabilizing impact of migrants who have come. That’s one aspect of it. But there are also tensions which obviously have a long history which precede that. And today, I think the effort is on the part of the state government and the union government to find a way by which, you know, a sense of normalcy returns, that arms which were seized during that period are recovered, that there is an adequate law and order enforcement out there so that incidents of violence don’t happen.”
Notably, Manipur Chief Minister Nongthombam Biren during his 2023 Independence Day speech in Imphal attributed the violence to a “foreign plot to destabilise the country”.
Earlier in March 2023 before the violent conflict erupted, as Kuki-Zomis took to the streets to protest against the State government’s eviction policy, Chief Minister Nongthombam Biren reiterated that “illegal immigrants from Myanmar” engaging in “poppy plantations and drug business” were destabilising Manipur.
Manipur Chief Minister Nongthombam Biren raised accusations against immigrants from Myanmar, alleging their involvement in deforestation, poppy cultivation, and drug-related nuisances.
Above and beyond, very significantly, prior to the eruption of violent conflict between the Kuki-Zomi militants and the Meiteis on May 3, 2023 in Churachandpur and its bordering areas of Bishnupur district, Manipur Governor Sushri Anusuiya Uikey on her maiden visit to Moreh, Manipur’s town at the Indo-Myanmar border on April 25, 2023 said that lack of regulation and proper documentation of illegal immigrants is a cause of great concern.
Manipur Governor Anusuiya Uikey said, “The humanitarian crisis created by the situation in Myanmar is well-known and we as a democratic country that believes in human rights have certain obligations. The lack of regulation and proper documentation of the illegal immigrants is a cause of great concern.”
Furthermore, Manipur Governor Anusuiya Uikey on July 13, 2023 during a visit to a relief camp at Naorem Birahari College, Khundrakpam in Imphal East district said some inimical elements could have infiltrated from across the border to fuel the current unrest in the state. However, security forces are taking action to eliminate any such threat, she added.
A Raj Bhavan release also added that the Governor’s statement was based on intelligence inputs.
It may also be mentioned that External Affairs Minister Jaishankar on July 16, 2023 met his counterpart from the Myanmar junta, U Than Swe, on the sidelines of the Mekong Ganga Cooperation (MGC) meeting in Bangkok. There, he noted how peace and stability along the India-Myanmar border “have been seriously disturbed recently”.
Before the violent conflict erupted on May 3, 2023, the United Naga Council (UNC) and the Coordinating Committee on Manipur Integrity (COCOMI) in a joint statement on July 22, 2022 said that the existence of indigenous people of Manipur is under threat and badly affected by the demographic imbalance caused due to continuous influx of illegal immigrants.
They submitted a memorandum to Manipur Chief Minister on June 4, 2022 urging the government to take up immediate and stringent necessary steps for stopping the demographic imbalance in Manipur. The copies of the same memorandum were also forwarded to the Prime Minister and the Union home minister on June 10, 2022.
The COCOMI and UNC demanded Update of NRC to identify illegal immigrants and deporting them to their respective countries or initiating a specific policy for illegal immigrants without affecting interests of indigenous peoples of the land; Establishment of Manipur State Population Commission at the earliest so that the commission could provide valuable recommendation to the government on NRC update after collecting proper information on the issue.
The joint statement further said that socio-political, economy and culture of indigenous peoples of Manipur are being badly affected by the demographic imbalance while illegal immigrants are detrimental to protection of indigenous people’s identity and right of land ownership.
Last year, in a letter to the European Union, Jeetendra Ningomba, Coordinator of COCOMI, blamed “narco-terrorist activities… primarily operated and managed by the armed (illegal) immigrants and their drug cartel syndicates in India from Myanmar belonging to Chin-Kuki tribes who are Christian”. Even Naga civil society groups, such as the Tangkhul Naga Aze Longphang (TNALP), have argued that “illegal immigrants” and “narco-terrorists” from Myanmar are the “root cause behind the conflict”.
Meanwhile, Manipur Chief Minister Nongthombam Biren while addressing the observance of Vijay Diwas (Indo-Pak War, 1971) in Imphal on December 16 accused some Central agencies of providing misinformation to the Central government about the ongoing ethnic crisis in the state.
CM Biren’s remark came after Union Home Minister Amit Shah recently characterized the Manipur violence as an ethnic clash, not terrorism or religious conflict while accusing the oppositions of politicizing the crisis for political gains. He also alleged that some Central agencies provided wrong and false reports on the violent crisis unfolding in the State to the Centre.
The misinformation provided to the Central government led to the procrastination of taking measures to solve the issue as the Central leaders were put in confusion on “what to do” to resolve the crisis, he said.
Nevertheless, the perceptions on the violent conflict between the Kuki-Zomi militants and Meiteis for 20 months are still divergent and there is no common understanding of the conflict, which will hinder to end the violence and resolve the conflict.
Senior Editor: Imphal Review of Arts and Politics
