The Manipur conflagration seems to be a culmination of several developments. Since 2019, this BJP-ruled state has pushed an aggressive agenda to legalise cannabis/marijuana for medicinal and industrial purposes. Large swathes of the tribal inhabited hill areas of Manipur grow marijuana. In the early 2000s, the International Fund for Agricultural Development tried to wean villagers away from growing marijuana by introducing passion fruit and aloe vera.
But this initiative did not take off because marijuana requires little care while other plants need careful nurturing. Moreover, marijuana already had a ready market and setting up processing units for passion fruit and aloe vera would take time. Common sense and livelihood concerns dictated that the people take the path most travelled.
The origins of the current trouble can be traced to the Manipur government’s attempts to survey the forest in the hills on the plea of bringing them under “reserved forests”. In the tribal states of the Northeast, particularly in the Sixth Schedule areas, natural resources belong to the people, not the state. These resources are under the custodianship of the District Councils enacted under the Sixth Schedule of the Constitution. In Meghalaya, for instance, only 4 per cent of forests come under the ambit of the state.
In February, the Manipur government began evicting tribals living in forest areas in February. This has been opposed by the tribals who say that they are indigenous to the area. It’s another matter that the tribals (Kukis in this case) grow poppy and drug lords in Manipur have made their wealth from this business. The role of the drug lords in stirring protests that turned violent, cannot be ruled out.
According to Land Conflict Watch, a research agency that tracks land and resource conflicts in India, the sequence of events is as follows. In February, Manipur’s forest department, along with police forces, evicted residents of a Kuki tribal village, K Songjang, in Churachandpur district. The state government initiated the eviction drive, alleging that the villagers were encroaching on the Churachandpur-Khoupum protected forest. The Deputy Commissioner of Churachandpur district then ordered a verification drive to identify “illegal immigrants” in several villages under the Churachandpur and Mualnuam sub-divisions. These so-called illegal immigrants are mostly refugees from Myanmar.
It seems that kinship ties have prevailed. The Kukis like other tribes believe it’s illegal for the government to take over their ancestral lands. People of Kungpinaosen village in the same district were also asked to vacate the land for the same reason. This naturally created heartburn since there was no prior engagement with the people and their traditional institutions.
In March, the Indigenous Tribal Leaders’ Forum (ITLF), a newly formed conglomerate of tribal groups, and the Kuki Students Union (KSO), organised rallies in the hill districts of Churachandpur, Ukhrul, Kangpokpi, Tengnoupal and Jiribam to protest the evictions. The protest was taken to Jantar Mantar in Delhi. In Kangpokpi, the rally turned violent when police used tear gas to disperse the crowd. The unguided protesters started pelting stones, injuring five people and police personnel.
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The Meiteis, because of their larger population, make up two-thirds of the Manipur Assembly. The tribals feel excluded from the decision making processes that affect their lives and livelihoods.
The Manipur Forest Department recently issued a clarification that K Songjang village is a new settlement established in 2021, much after the notification of the Protected Forest in 1966, and is, therefore, in violation of state forest conservation laws. Close on the heels of the state government’s drive into forest lands, the Manipur High Court ruled that the state should follow due processes to give Scheduled Tribes status to the Meiteis — a long pending demand. The order added fuel to the fire. Meiteis are Vaishnavite Hindus having converted to the faith propounded by their king in 1724. The tribes of Manipur feel that the order is an attempt by the more well-heeled Meiteis to take away their share of reservation.
On May 3, the All Tribal Students’ Union of Manipur (ATSUM) took out a solidarity march and the police resorted to tear gas firing even while homes and churches of tribals were reportedly set on fire.
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The correct thing to have done is to challenge the Manipur High Court’s order at a higher bench or the Supreme Court instead of turning the issue into a point of conflict. And sadly, in all this, the voices of elders from other tribes are missing. It appears that all decisions are now taken by students’ bodies without any elders to guide them. Hence, the violent fallout.
The problem with India’s Northeast is that boundaries between people and homelands have been drawn by colonialists like Henry McMahon and Cyril Radcliffe who were completely ignorant and insensitive to the kinship ties on either side of the border. There are Kukis of the ‘Zo’ ethnic group in Myanmar as well as the Indian side — they seem to be undeterred by national or international boundaries. It’s the same with the Mizos of present-day Mizoram. The violence in Myanmar brought many desperate families of Zo origin to Mizoram. There are Nagas of different tribal ethnicities in Myanmar and Manipur. Boundaries drawn by a colonial power are therefore problematic and every now and again thorny problems crop up.
At the same time, it must be said, states face a difficult problem when immigrants take up a share of the resources. That’s the hard reality that the Manipur government is trying to balance. It must be alive to one reality: Poppy fields destroy lives.
The Meiteis and the Kukis and Nagas have to learn to co-exist and resolve differences amicably. In the meantime, the Manipur government has to strengthen the District Councils by giving them Sixth Schedule status. Let the tribals govern themselves and not feel alienated by the feeling that all decisions are taken by the Meiteis.
The writer is editor of Shillong Times
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Patricia Mukhim writes on Manipur conflict: Meiteis and the Kukis and Nagas have to learn to co-exist and resolve differences amicably - The Indian Express
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