By M K George

Rome, July 29, 2023: There could be no doubt about this: Every Indian of some sensitivity feels ashamed of what is happening in the state of Manipur with no end to the shame and pain.

The visuals of two women gang raped and paraded naked keep stirring people to protest, and express their shock in variety of ways including songs and music.

However, the tragedy within the tragedy is the wide divergence in the analysis and understanding of the situation and the lack of readiness to get involved in the amelioration of the suffering and the establishment of peace.

Making sense of the conflict

The most common and widely accepted explanation seems to be that two tribal groups, Meitei and Kuki, are fighting along the traditions of inter-ethnic clashes. The various groups among them are armed and have been fighting among themselves for decades.

It is a fight for resources. ‘The immediate provocation for the ethnic unrest appears to have been the demand for the Meitei community, which accounts for 53 percent of Manipur’s population and primarily inhabits the Manipur Valley, to be included in the ST list’ (Sadokpam May 6, 2023).

Then there is the official version that it is the poppy cultivators and the drug mafia that are behind the trouble. Of course, there is also the allegation that the infiltrators from Myanmar, the Chin group, who are also close to the Kukis, are the troublemakers.

So, the state government feels justified in its tough stand against what they call ‘poppy cultivators, drug mafia and the infiltrators.’

What confounds the ordinary Indian is the lack of accurate information and data. Internet is still not available. Fake news items have a field day. The government controls the media and therefore people hear and see only things that the government wants them to see. In addition, remember India is ranked 161 in press freedom, lower than Pakistan and Afghanistan. (RWB, World Press Index 2023)

Getting to the core problem

No action can become effective unless the analysis is precise. Hence, one needs to go beyond the popular and official versions.

Who else is better able to articulate than a BJP MLA, but belonging to the Kuki tribes?

Here is what Paolien lal Haokip has said, ‘Atrocities are beyond words…We have been crying hoarse. We have sought appointments with the Prime Minister. Till today (79th day) no response…Silence is deafening… I am disappointed as the leader of the people. It feels priorities are misplaced. It is not incompetence on the part of the state government…it is a cover up. I happen to be a member of the party. Ninety-nine percent of the violence happens because of the attacks of the Meitei militia alongside the police commandos on Kuki villages in the fringes. So, the violence would stop the moment Mr. Birendra Singh would reign in his militia. It is not a law order situation…It is a political problem…We have no hope for justice in the state government…. Even as an elected MLA there is no security of life for me to go and attend the Assembly in Imphal…” (Newslaundry.com)

The statement of Haokip that even as an elected MLA, he is not secure enough to visit Imphal, should really give an indication of who is in control or who is not.

In a very insightful blog, M.P. Tripunithura (May 25, 2023) analyzes the Manipur situation as primarily a state-sponsored strategy to access the forest resources. Given the current forest regulations, the corporates, the blue-eyed boys of the government, have no access to the forests. Hence, they are making an all-effort attempt with the full connivance of the state and Central Governments, to displace the tribals and outsource the forest to the Corporates.

In fact, M.P. recalls, long before the violence started the Meitei leader Pramot Singh spoke to Karan Thapar, (the Wire) that the “Kukis are outsiders who are not indigenous to Manipur.” Singh accepted that the Meitei Leepun was training people to use arms and warned that there “will be a civil war and the Kukis will not be able to defend themselves.”

The case filed by the Kuki Students Organisation on June 13 (but the case was registered only on July 8) at the Kangpokpi police station confirms the above. The first information report (FIR) invokes charges such as criminal conspiracy, promoting enmity between groups, intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of peace and criminal intimidation, among others. (The Hindu , June 13 2023).

The long-standing fascist agenda skilfully engineered by the Hindutva forces, effectively experimented in Gujarat, Kandhamal, and now in Manipur in a big way, hangs like a Damocles’ sword above the democratic India.

Going beyond pitying

Yes, everyone is feeling pity, shame and helplessness in the face of such inhuman violence in Manipur. But, meaningful conversation and deliberate action are the core of democratic processes.

Can each of us engage in conversations around us, based on serious reading, analysis and sharing so that the deeper political games involved in these violent events are comprehended and shared.

Further, can we join the voices of those who speak up? Can we share our resources for rehabilitation of those victims of violence? Can we at least write a post card to those in power saying we are concerned about their deafening silence and inaction?

“Silence becomes cowardice when occasion demands speaking out the whole truth and acting accordingly,” says Mahatma Gandhi