Two Years After Ethnic Cleansing, Standing Firm For A Separate Administration

Outbreak of violence and the complicity of the society and the state

May 3, 2023, marked an inglorious chapter in the post-independence history of India. It scripted a dark tale about the paradox of a country where we live, which, on the one hand,  prides itself as the largest democracy in the world. On the other, it seemingly ignored a community whose existence was sought to be eradicated from the face of the earth two years ago.

The fateful day witnessed a pogrom that we have never seen before in India. For several days, unmitigated violence was allowed to be carried out against the Kuki community in Imphal. As they were fleeing for their lives from the clutches of malevolent Meitei extremists, they were cursed and ridiculed as ‘hao macha’ and by other derogatory names by the Meitei locals who yelled at them to never return to Imphal again as they gleefully watched them flee.

The complicity of the state government was in stark display as the police led mobs in carrying out arsonist attacks at the homes and locality of the Kukis. The experience of Kukis in Imphal is akin to the ordeal that the Kashmiri pandits went through in Kashmir from the majority Muslims in the 1990s. The state-sponsored violence resulted in the countless loss of lives, properties, and homes. Imphal, the home of many Kukis, became a distant memory etched in an imagery of violence and nightmare.

Free-flowing hatred and genocidal intent of the Meitei community

Over the past two years, everyone who knows about the conflict in Manipur knows the genocidal hatred the Meiteis have harbored against the Kukis. We have seen public demonstrations and rallies attended by thousands where blood-baying crowds cried out, yelling, ‘Kill all the Kukis,’ ‘Kukis, go back to Myanmar,’ and ‘Kukis are illegal immigrants” in the streets of Imphal. Such public demonstrations motivated by hate were reminiscent of the Nazi rallies in Germany during the 1930s. Songs by popular singers like Tapta, whose lyrics are filled with genocide and violence against the Kukis, became a top hit in Meitei society.

It is also a society where the biggest Civil Society Organisation, COCOMI, has publicly branded the entire Kukis as ‘Narco-Terrorist’  in an attempt to legitimize violence against them. Apart from all these, the print newspapers and TV debates in Imphal Valley are filled with propaganda and biased narratives that would even put the Soviet propaganda newspaper Pravda to shame.

The practitioners of riots from the Meitei community deliberately invented all this misinformation, propaganda, and hatred to politicize the emotions of the Meitei community against the Kukis. Against this backdrop, it will be a suicide mission for the Kukis to ever think that living together with the Meiteis will be possible again.

Institutionalised Riot System as the nature of conflict in Manipur

The nature of violence in Manipur resembles the communal riots in North India as analyzed by Paul R. Brass, an American political scientist. After years of research, he described how communal riots were manufactured in North India as an ‘Institutionalised Riot System.’ According to him, the Institutionalised Riot System follows a systematic pattern where the riots were ‘prepared, activated and given an explanation.’

A similar playbook was employed in the violence in Manipur, where the Kukis were vilified and demonized as ‘illegal immigrants,’ ‘poppy planters,’  and ‘drug peddlers’ etc in the discourse of the state. This tactic is strategically employed by riot practitioners like N. Biren Singh and his supporters to provoke and incite hatred against the Kuki community. The vilification of the Kukis was also aimed at distorting the image of the community and causing harm to the community’s reputation. 

The next step was to activate the state forces and Meitei chauvinistic elements like the Arambai Tenngol and Metei Leepun that selectively targeted Kukis for violence. The objective of the violence was to draw a counter-violence from the Kukis, which would then be escalated into a full-blown conflict. This conflict would then be used as a pretext for carrying out state-sponsored ethnic cleansing.

The third stage was to explain the violence by the state. Similar explanations and excuses for ethnic cleansing were also seen in the conflict of Manipur. An explanation like ‘war on drugs,’ ‘separatist elements,’  ‘homeland politics,’ or the comparison of the ‘Solidarity March’ on May 3, 2023, with the  ‘Direct Action’ by the Muslim League were given to excuse the pogrom launched against the Kukis.

Some Meitei intellectuals jumped onto the bandwagon of this third stage by explaining the conflict as an inevitable response by the Meiteis to thwart the attempts made by the Kuki political elites to break up the state. They cooked up cock-and-bull stories about the Kuki political aspirations for ‘Zalengam/Kukiland’ and other discredited theories to excuse and justify the violence perpetrated by Meitei zealots. This false narrative is mainly based on their wishful thinking and a figment of their imagination to explain away the violence that largely indicted members of their community.

Separate Administration is the only way forward

Having briefly explained what happened on May 3, 2023, and the context of why violence was allowed to occur freely without any efforts to contain it, let us now focus on the demand for a political solution. The political demand drafted by the Kuki legislators in the aftermath of the violence was the demand for a Separate Administration. The demand transformed into a spirited public movement thanks to the massive support from the Kuki people.  The acronym ‘SA’ became a buzzword among the Kukis in the initial weeks and months.

The demand for a Separate Administration preceded the current conflict in Manipur. It echoed the demand made in 2015 when three anti-tribal bills were introduced by the state assembly, which led to widespread agitation among the tribals of the state. The difference is that there was much more urgency this time owing to the unprecedented nature of the conflict. Having been mercilessly killed, raped, tortured, looted, and ethnically targeted for violence and left homeless, the Kukis have been pushed to demand Separate Administration for their political and collective survival.

We are now caught between the devil and the deep blue sea. The demand for a political solution should not be compromised with anything. It is now or never for us. We cannot allow our children to go through the same vicious cycle of violence that we have unfortunately become accustomed to under the hegemonic rule of the Meiteis. The empty goodwill and gesture of a few Meiteis civil society groups for peace must not sway our leaders. They should not cede their ground and firmly stand on our demand for Separate Administration.

I believe that there are many good Meiteis who want genuine reconciliation and peace. However, I’m not ready to give a clean chit to the whole community because of my experience on the night of May 3 and the subsequent days, where terror was permitted to reign freely. As the malevolent radical elements went on a violent spree, the good ones either remained mute spectators or were tacitly okay with their violent activities. Therefore, to agree to live together with them again is to consent to sign our death warrant foolishly.

We have no other means but to stubbornly stick to our political demand come hell or high water. The road will be long and the task ahead will be difficult. History shows us that political movements did not achieve their objectives overnight. If our forefathers fought the mighty Britishers for their freedom, we must fight for Separate Administration till the end for the sake of our children.

(Views expressed are personal)