Peace proves elusive in India’s strife-torn Manipur

UCA News reporter

Women protesters shout slogans during a 48-hour general strike in Manipur on Sept. 19, 2023. (Photo: AFP)

Peace is proving elusive in India's strife-torn Manipur due to diametrically opposite demands raised by warring tribal Christians and majority Hindus.

Christians belonging to the Kuki and Zo tribes want a federally-ruled region after the 15-month-old violence claimed more than 220 lives and left more than 50,000 displaced, mostly Christians.

But the Meitei Hindus are against the bifurcation of the hilly state in India's northeast, bordering civil-war-hit Myanmar.

The Kuki-Zo Christians form nearly 41 percent of the state's 3.2 million people while the Meiteis constitute nearly 53 percent.

The division between both the communities is complete and there seems to be no immediate chance of any co-existence, a Church leader told UCA News on July 1.

The indigenous communities are not allowing Meitei Hindus to enter their areas, the Church leader added.

The indigenous people especially Kuki-Zo tribal Christians have been eliminated from Meitei strongholds like the capital Imphal, noted the Christian leader who sought anonymity.

Thousands of people, including women and children, from the Meitei community staged a protest in Imphal on June 28 to preserve the territorial integrity of the state of Manipur.

The protestors shouted no separate administration, referring to the demand raised by tribal Christians at their rallies on June 24 in five tribal people-dominated districts, demanding a federally administered status with a legislature within Manipur.

Their bodies submitted a memorandum to the federal government, urging the interior ministry to speed up the bifurcation.

The rally by the Meitei community began at Thau ground in Imphal West district and culminated at Khuman Lampak stadium, covering 5 kilometers and was organized by the Coordinating Committee on Manipur Integrity, an umbrella organization of the Meitei community.

The hostilities have reached such a flashpoint that both the community members would not like to see each other. They are not able to venture into each other's territory, the church leader noted.

The Indigenous Tribal Leaders' Forum which organized the rallies for tribal Christians, has reaffirmed the division, saying, It is evident that Kuki-Zo [Christians] and Meitei [Hindus] cannot co-exist. We must be separated. Total separation is the only solution.

Yambem Arun Meitei, secretary general of the World Meitei Council, blamed Christians for the violence in a recent statement.

  Their objective is to force the federal government to grant them a separate administration, he added.

However, Meitei and tribal leaders were unanimous in their views that Prime Minister Narendra Modi could solve the communal flare-up in the tiny state.

Modi has not visited the state since violence broke out on May 3, 2023, despite repeated demands. The state is ruled by his pro-Hindu Bharatiya Janata Party which suffered a jolt in the recently concluded polls.

Modi's party is accused of following a Hindu-first policy in its effort to turn India into a nation of Hindu hegemony.

Christians, who live in the hilly districts, are up in arms against the move by the state government to grant tribal status to the Meitei Hindu community to avail benefits under India's affirmation action that guarantees quotas in jobs and education.