2023-08-05 20:19:11
In the state on the border with Myanmar, which is comparatively small for India, there is a predominantly Hindu and politically dominant majority, the Meitei, as well as two predominantly Christian tribes, the Kuki and Naga. The latter see themselves disadvantaged by the Meitei, while the latter complain that Kuki and Naga are favored as “Scheduled Tribes” (“registered tribal peoples”).
The trigger for the outbreak of violence was a ruling by Manipur’s highest court in May, according to which the Meitei should also receive the status of “scheduled tribes” and the associated rights – including special access to forest areas and quotas for government posts and university places. India’s Supreme Court declared the verdict “completely wrong” but it was too late to stop the violence.
Archyde.com There have been protests across the country for months
fear of civil war
All over Manipur, Kuki and Naga protested the verdict. By being granted Scheduled Tribes status, the already privileged Meitei would receive additional privileges and further weaken the minority. The protests were also directed against displacement. Meitei mobs responded with unprecedented violence, which activists and human rights groups say was condoned by the state government.
Apparently systematically and quickly, Meitei burned down one church after the other. To date, 237 churches have been torched, demolished and looted. The violence was ethnic rather than religious in nature. Over 140 villages were destroyed and more than 60,000 people displaced. According to local information, more than 150 people have died in the riots so far.
New Delhi deployed army units to Manipur, cut internet connections and imposed travel restrictions. Tens of thousands of security forces were tasked with maintaining law and order along ethnic lines. The Kuki then demanded an independent administration of their areas. The Meitei, meanwhile, warned that dismembering Manipur was out of the question and stoked fears of civil war.
Silence as calculation
Despite the excesses of violence and numerous calls from within his own ranks, the Hindu nationalist Prime Minister Modi has so far avoided dealing with Manipur. It was not until a video on social networks showing two Kuki women being dragged naked through a village by a Meitei mob that prompted him to make a public statement last week – but without going into the ethnic conflict in the state. The incident “brought shame on India,” said Modi, “no culprit is spared.” His heart was “filled with pain and anger”.
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Analysts explained Modi’s silence with next year’s general election. Modi is considered the favourite, and his supporters do not want public opinion to associate him with atrocities in Manipur. He has been India’s prime minister since 2014, and his BJP party has an absolute majority in the lower house of parliament with 303 out of 543 seats. Critics say there is less democracy in India under Modi. The president of the opposition Congress Party, Mallikarjun Kharge, accused the government of turning a democracy into a “mobocracy”.
Ripple Effects Warning
India’s opposition, of which 26 parties recently formed a new alliance, is also using the conflict to increase pressure on the Modi government in the year before the parliamentary elections. She accused Modi of not doing enough about it and tabled a motion of no confidence in him to force him to address Manipur in parliament. Due to the majority situation, the vote of no confidence has no prospect of success.
AP/Yirmiyan Arthur Enemy groups burn houses and businesses
However, Interior Minister Amit Shah confirmed that he was ready for an open debate in Parliament. Modi will be informed about everything. Opposition leader Gaurav Gogoi warned that the ethnic groups involved in the violence were spread across several states and that “ripple effects” were possible. In a memorandum, the opposition pointed to the “complete breakdown of law and order” in Manipur.
“Ancient Wounds”
Since India’s founding as a republic seven decades ago, tribal and ethnic grievances have fueled insurgencies in the north-east of the country. Many of these have ended in fragile ceasefires that are easily broken in the struggle for land, resources and trade links. The New York Times quoted University of London expert Avinash Paliwal as saying that the spiraling violence in Manipur “calls into question more than just India’s domestic political history”. “It opens ancient wounds.”
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