Manipur Crisis: Why Imposition Of President’s Rule Has Angered Meiteis And Emboldened Kuki Hardliners

The imposition of President’s Rule in Manipur Thursday (13 February) evening has once again brought to the fore the sharp divide between the warring Meiteis and Kukis in the trouble-torn state. 

While various Meitei organisations voiced their opposition to the imposition, Kuki bodies welcomed it on the grounds that the state would not be ruled by a “Meitei Chief Minister”. 

The Indigenous Tribal Leaders’ Forum (ITLF), the apex body of Kuki organisations, said that President’s Rule was the preferred option to having another Meitei as Biren Singh’s replacement to the post (of Chief Minister). 

“The Kuki-Zo community does not trust Meiteis anymore, so having a new CM from the Meitei community would be far from comforting for the Kuki-Zo community. So President’s Rule is much better,” ITLF spokesperson Ginza Vualzong said. 

The ITLF has also said with Manipur now having a neutral administration, the chances of the aspirations of the Kuki-Zo community being achieved has brightened.

It is, thus, apparent that the Kuki-Zo community which wants a separate state for themselves carved out of Manipur has been emboldened and feels that the imposition of President’s rule will help them achieve their goal. 

Political observers in the state say that the forced resignation of Biren Singh from the CM’s post Sunday (February 9)--the Kuki-Zos have been demanding his removal since May 2023 when ethnic clashes broke out--has only encouraged the Kuki-Zos to harden their stance on their demand for a separate state for themselves. 

The imposition of President’s rule, which places Manipur under the direct rule of the Union Government and, more specifically, the babus in the Union Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), has boosted the Kuki-Zo community’s belief and confidence that their goal of a separate state can be achieved soon. 

This hardening of stance by the Kuki-Zos only pushes away the prospect for peace in the state. Because there is no way that the Meities, for whom the territorial integrity of their state is very dear, will agree to even discussing the demand of the Kuki-Zos for a separate state. 

In fact, the Meiteis are completely opposed to even granting any more autonomy to the Kuki-Zos because they think that greater autonomy would be one step towards bifurcation of Manipur.  

Resentment Among Meiteis Deepens

The Meiteis view this imposition of President’s Rule as a vote of no-confidence by the Union Government against them. 

While many Meiteis were not averse to Biren Singh’s departure from the Chief Minister’s post, none from the majority community of Manipur wanted President’s Rule to be imposed. 

Meitei civil society organisations, politicians and community leaders all blame the BJP central leadership for the failure to appoint a successor to Biren Singh. 

“Before asking Biren Singh to step down, the BJP central leadership should have decided on his successor. By not doing this, the BJP central leadership paved the way for at least four contenders to jockey for the top post. That led to intense factionalism and bad blood among party MLAs and leaders,” a senior state BJP functionary told Swarajya from state capital Imphal. 

“The failure to get someone to succeed Biren Singh reflects very poorly on our party, especially our central leadership. For four days, a central leader (Sambit Patra) stationed himself in Imphal and met us (party MLAs) and leaders individually and in groups. But he could not hammer out a consensus and get a majority of the party MLAs to back any one candidate (for the CM’s post). This is a terrible failure and has damaged the party,” a BJP MLA who did not want to be named told Swarajya. 

The Meiteis have, since the outbreak of ethnic clashes in early May 2023, felt that the Union Government has been favouring the Kuki-Zo community. 

This impression has gained ground due to the perceived inaction of the Army, Assam Rifles and Central Armed Police Forces (CAPFs) in curbing the activities of Kuki-Zo militants. 

Not only have the Kuki-Zo militants been allegedly given a free rein in the hill areas of Manipur, many acts of defiance by them like open display of arms, confrontation with security forces and attacks on Meiteis have gone unchallenged. 

Along with this, the Army and Assam Rifles, especially the latter, are perceived to have looked the other way when Kuki-Chin militants from Myanmar entered the state over the past 21 months. 

Central forces are perceived by the Meiteis to be soft on Kuki-Zo militants who have provided the muscle to the Kuki-Zo community’s demand for a separate state.

The Meiteis also blame the Union Government, especially the bureaucrats in the MHA, for failure to resolve the mess in Manipur. 

The MHA, they argue, has been in charge of the law and order machinery in the state and the chief minister (Biren Singh) had little power and control over this machinery. Hence, it is the Union Government that is to blame for the current situation in the state. 

The Meiteis are also deeply distressed over the BJP’s failure to resolve internal differences and name a replacement for Biren Singh. 

The Meiteis believe that President’s Rule has been imposed in their state as a sop to the Kukis. And that President’s Rule will lead to more mollycoddling of Kukis by the state machinery which is now directly under the Governor (a former bureaucrat) and the babus of the MHA. 

This widespread resentment among the Meiteis has also dimmed the prospects of peace returning to Manipur anytime soon. 

The Meteis have not only doubled down on their stand against any division of Manipur, but are also completely unwilling to even consider discussing any form of autonomy for the Kuki-Zos. 

There is, thus, little hope now for the two communities to sit across the table and talk. 

All, However, is Not Lost

The situation in Manipur can be salvaged. All is not lost and there is still time for the Union Government to set things right. 

The first step should be to enforce the rule of the law in the state. That means cracking down and neutralising the threat posed by militant groups in the Imphal Valley (which is home to a host of Meitei insurgent groups) as well as the Kuki-Zo-Chin groups in the hills. 

All these groups have to be disarmed, and immediately. Even the radical groups in both the communities have to be disarmed and all those accused of crimes have to be booked. 

This is not an impossible task; with more than 80,000 troops (of the Army, Assam Rifles, CAPF and state police) on the ground in Manipur, it should not be very difficult to nab all the militants and radical groups and disarm them, recover illegal weapons from citizens, and restore the rule of the law in the state.  

Along with this, the state machinery has to be deployed to identify all Kuki-Chin-Zo community members who have entered Manipur illegally over the decades and obtained Indian citizenship. 

The population of Kuki-Chin-Zos in Manipur has risen exponentially over the last few decades. The illegal infiltrators have settled down in new villages that have come up by clearing large tracts of forests. 

Also, these new settlers are largely engaged in illegal poppy cultivation. The consequent trade in narcotics brings a lot of revenue to the coffers of Kuki-Chin-Zo militant groups and fuels insurgency in the state. 

The MHA now needs to roll out the process of identifying all the illegal immigrants from the Kuki-Chin-Zo community, disenfranchising them and deporting them. The best way to do this is to update the National Register of Citizens (NRC) through a fool-proof system of procedures and regulations. 

The Union Government, which is now administering Manipur directly, also has to launch an intensive crackdown on illegal poppy cultivation and raze all villages set up  by the illegal infiltrators from Myanmar. 

It may be mentioned here that the current trouble in Manipur started only after Biren Singh started the process of clearing out hundreds of illegal immigrants (from Myanmar) from the reserve and protected forests where these immigrants had settled down. 

Biren Singh also launched a comprehensive crackdown on illegal poppy cultivation. His actions angered the Kuki-Zos, who launched an agitation against the crackdown on the illegal immigrants and their poppy cultivation. 

The Manipur High Court order asking the Manipur Government to take a stand on granting Scheduled Tribe (ST) status to Meiteis was used as an excuse by Kuki-Zo organisations to intensify their agitation. 

This intensification of their stir against the Manipur government involved unprovoked and planned attacks on Meiteis in the hills of the Kuki-dominated Churachandpur district on May 3. 

These attacks were carried out deliberately with the intention of triggering a backlash from the Meiteis. Meiteis in Imphal Valley attacked Kukis settled there, and Manipur has since then been wracked by an unending cycle of violence and counter-violence.

This objective of triggering the ethnic violence was to create and deepen an ethnic divide between the Kukis and Meiteis. And, ultimately, show to the world that the Kukis and Meiteis cannot live together under one administrative setup.

The Union Government has to foil this gameplan of the Kukis and make it clear to them that a separate state is out of the question. 

Only when this is made clear to Kukis, the lakhs of Kuki-Chin-Zo immigrants from Myanmar detected and deported and militants of the community neutralised will peace return to Manipur. 

The Union Government also has to make it clear to the Meiteis that the territorial integrity of their state will be preserved. But in return, the community’s support to Meitei insurgent groups has to stop and the Centre’s efforts to end the Meitei insurgency should be supported wholeheartedly by the Meiteis. 

This is the only way the mess in Manipur can be resolved. 

Also Read: Why Biren Singh's Resignation Might Do Precious Little To Restore Peace In Manipur