The Indian Connection with Manipur Conflicts

The present conflict between the Meiteis and Kukis in Manipur has reopened the old wounds between the union of India and the erstwhile kingdom of Manipur though it is not helping anyone, with much appreciation to the charismatic PM Narendra Modi.   

NOTE . . .unless the context otherwise requires, “the State’’ includes the Government and Parliament of India and the Government and the Legislature of each of the States and all local or other authorities within the territory of India or under the control of the Government of India. Article 12 lays down that unless the context otherwise requires, the State includes the Government and Parliament of India and the Government and the Legislature of each of the States and all local or other authorities within the territory of India or under the control of the Government of India. The definition of State is inclusive and provides that State includes the following:

• Government and Parliament of India i.e., the Executive and Legislature of the Union.
• Government and Legislature of each State i.e., the Executive and Legislature of the various States of India.
• All local or other authorities within the territory of India, or under the control of the Government of India.

Source: Drishti Judiciary

If we go by speculation on how the prime minister of India has been responding—or rather not responding at all when a part of its union is going through a bloody crisis—there is a serious missing link between India and Manipur. If you talk to political observers, you will get the idea that this has always been the case ever since the signing of the Merger Agreement of 1949. However, when there is a situation like it is now, there must be no space to replace realpolitik, for the simple reason that people are dying, and they are getting polarised for no good reason. At all! People are always more important than constructs like a nation-state. It might sound paradoxical to state that this is the time when the general public as well as people in governance and administration need their leader the most, while the most you can see is the least care from that person. And this is so unacceptable.

The ruling regime promotes itself with the concept of double engine, taking the idea of a federal structure in which the Centre and the constituent state work together when there is a single political party in these two places. Apparently, it turns out it is just one of the political gimmicks that the Bharatiya Janata Party is notorious for. The joke goes that the social-media savvy prime minister will speak out when a hooligan is killed in the state of Uttar Pradesh, but he has nothing to say when there are killings, and internal displacement of thousands of people in a place like Manipur. You will not be wrong to say that India is still clueless when it comes to issues in a place located absurdly far from its imagined nation-ness.

This has been going on for a long time now. Incidentally, does India have a limit to test the patience of one of its people inhabiting in a periphery that shares no social, racial, historical or cultural affiliation? Above all, there have been proxy wars against the citizens with the imposition of draconian act like the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act. Kill the people and you enjoy all the legal impunity. The relationship between the union of India and the Manipur state has been reduced to, in the words of Prof A Bimol Akoijam from JNU, New Delhi, ‘a patron-client culture with a jeopardized self-agency of the client’.  (Note: Prof Bimol also stated in an interview that Modi epitomises the fault-line between India’s and the rest of country. Source: The Interview with Karan Thapa, The Wire)

Apart from historical and geographical reasons, one inevitable cause behind the existence of armed movements is the prejudiced views at best, and often negligence and apathy of the Indian State. Once a proud kingdom, it was merged as a Part-C state with a chief commissioner positioned at the helm of affairs way back in 1949, following the controversial Merger Agreement. So, here, PM Modi can take a breather, because he has already been working for 20 hours a day, and many of the present issues were created and nurtured during the monotonous three-decade Congress rule of free India from Forty-seven to Two-thousand Fourteen with some minor hiccups in-between. 

However, can we end the deliberation here? More than 200 people have lost their lives and nearly 50 thousand people are struggling and suffering in relief camps in the wake of the ongoing riots in Manipur. We simply cannot take things for granted, including the fact that it amounts to utter ignorance and arrogance when the head of the state can afford to not say a single word about the severe humanitarian crisis, while he travels around the world, visits places in other parts of India, and spreads the propaganda of his right-wing organisation, and what not.

This tells a lot about India as a State as much it does for PM Modi. And more than this realisation, there is a huge question mark on the nation-state of India. Is it incompetent? Helpless? Or is it consumed, as always, by its indifference and lack of political will?  Or is it that it knows no other way but only to sanction heavy militarisation to solve the political problems? The last one, contemporary history shows, is just too little in terms of intervention though the military occupies a major space in our collective lives, for the simple reason that India is hell bent on applying brute military solutions to political problems albeit in vain. 

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What kind of cruel English-cold irony is that the idea of India has remained incomplete even after achieving independence for 76 years? How can you call yourself a complete country when parts of the body politic is ripped off relentlessly? And this is important because the Indian State is one of the parties to all the conflicts, and this will not change despite the number of times it gatecrashes to play a negotiator’s role.

Presently, the ongoing problem is highly intricate, however, viable solutions do exist provided there is a degree of political determination. This could be overly optimistic considering India has coopted so many faulty systems of politicking from its past colonial masters and it is imitating them so accurately for its own good. AFSPA, sedition laws, the concept of divide and rule and so on—and the list goes on. In the competition to stay relevant through the periodic ritual of elections, the focus is on the here and now and all things short term. Social and political reforms in a place like Manipur will require, so to speak, a sort of longitudinal study. As an authority figure, as the head of a body politic, the Indian State must lead from the front. Otherwise, many people are demanding and arguing for a pre-Merger status to finetune the power dynamic in favour of the Manipuris.    

In another context, when groups of people like those in subaltern studies are making a link between the change of agency and ownership, the government can learn something from its experts and ideologues. In fact, that will be the least the nation-state can do for the sake of formality and satisfaction of the people who have unfortunately been bearing the brunt of the conflict while the authority stands as a nonchalant bystander. The State can still take control of the organisations, with which it has been in talks, under a nomenclature like the Suspension of Operations (SoO) agreements with groups belonging to one ethnic group that began in 2005. There is a way, as it goes, when there is a will.

India has also been in talks with another ethnic group, or the National Socialist Council of Nagaland (IM faction). However, it seems it simply cares little because there are other Naga groups who are against the so-called peace agreement that was formally started in 1997. It is the same thing with the SoO agreements by taking only only a few groups into its confidence. In terms of quantity, the State is in talks with 25 Kuki groups, out of which 17 are under the umbrella group Kuki National Organisation (KNO), and eight under the United People's Front (UPF). Yet, these are only with Kuki groups and simply, Manipur is home to scores of ethnic groups. Officially, there are main three groups: the Meiteis who predominantly live in the Imphal valley; plus 33 other ethnicities that are categorised under the Nagas and Kukis, both of whom live in the surrounding hill areas. 

As the present fighting shows, this is only deepening the ethnic fault lines. This must be a blessing for India because it is easier to dominate when the natives are divided on every kind of identities. Still, is it going to achieve its political goals of Akhand Bharat by employing the Kautilyan magic formula of using force, monetary inducement, reconciliation, and the policy of divide and rule? Very unconvincing. This only shows clearly both the levels of Indian ignorance and arrogance. For the sake of formality, though, the present Manipur is legally and politically very much a part of India, and the latter has every right to make an intervention since the state government is just too incompetent to contain the issue. It should not join the state government in being so hopeless. After all, they can flex about the double-engine government if it can make some reconciliation between the warring groups; though clearly, it is not happening. 

Most of the time, there is nothing to do with a ruling political party in the sense that it will come and go, and the issue is at hand is the chronic violence and impoverishment. This also implies that the buck stops with the Indian State. Now it is an open secret that the action of the Indian State in this part of the world is driven by four inter-related factors: counterinsurgency operations, national security, geopolitics in general, and engaging with Burma in particular. The National Socialist Council of Nagalim (IM) has exposed how India has been providing support to the Kuki National Army and People’s Defence Force (PDF). Since the irrationality and inefficacy are too obvious, a tiny bit of sincerity in expressing its motives and owning up could make a big difference. Some people allege India is waging a proxy war, and that alone rationalises its clandestine way of dealing with the people and the place but again it can still do the bare minimum of connecting with the masses. There is a guarantee that that kind of gesture will help earn the trust of the populace, which in turn can revitalise the body politic in a clinical style.    

 

Read:

• Meiteis, Nagas and Kukis: The 4Ds of Disconnection, Drugs, Demography and Diversions in Manipur: A partisan reflection on the ongoing ethnic conflict between the Meiteis and Kukis in Manipur  
• A Short Note on Ethnonationalism in and around Manipur: What are the implications of ethnic-based politics and nationalism in our contemporary world? The Meitei-Kuki Conflict of 2023 offers some clues.

Coming back, it is not an issue when PM Modi wants to wear the most expensive kurta-pyjama (that reportedly costs ₹4,31,31,311). This will, of course, help propagating the perfect idea of Indian soft power. However, when it comes to substance, the only thing the PM has mastered is not even in expressing his indifference and cluelessness but only in showing off all the styles as dictated by the regime’s affiliated organisations, such as the Sangh Parivar and Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) that is headquartered in Nagpur in western India. It is not without reason that many people call him a feku, which according to Urban Dictionary, is ‘a colloquial Hindi slang which typically refers to a person who continuously and shamelessly brags and lies about things/deeds far beyond their capacity’. It is even worse when the client-patron binary brings forth a politician like Nongthombam Biren, who is so impressed with the prime minister that he even started growing his beard like how Modi used to flaunt before the pandemic. 

Unsurprising it is here, because of the patron-client culture, the state government cannot even persuade its main man (read Modi) to speak up; regardless of the severity of the relationship between India and Manipur. Perhaps, this is one of the reasons why Modi enjoys his privilege as the head of a nation-state, as he travels around the globe bragging about the third-world country of India. (As of 21 June, when this article was written, Modi is visiting the US. He has reached there. It is said that India can get more quality arms and ammunition from this country than Russia, from where India has been regularly in business with, as far as military weapons are concerned). 

In the last 74 years or so, as noted earlier, the only thing that India has been successful in that part of the world is in sending in army and security personnel and imposing draconian and black laws. The same has been happening in the wake of the present conflict that exploded on 3 May 2023. India does not have to stage fake surrender dramas to show that individuals, who were former members of proscribed organisations, to join the mainstream. Just a bit of sincerity and concern can do wonders. And Narendra Modi, no matter how much vain he is, he can still make an intervention for the peace of mind of the citizens, for the welfare of different ethnic groups, and for the health of Indian democracy at least. After all we live in a modern nation-state and our collective well-being depends on the decisions of the government that enjoys the maximum privileges with access to all kinds of resources.

There are also facts and figures on the ground: CM Biren has to rush to New Delhi to make a decision, or rather get the decision from there. Despite the glaring security and intelligence failure, he has no say in appointing or dismissing security experts and advisors. The root cause of the conflict keeps changing—it is narcoterrorism and illegal immigration in one instant and lack of communication between the two warring ethnic groups in another, as put forward by the home ministry. For that matter, (i) Home Minister Amit Shah was in Imphal during the initial days of the conflict in May-June 2023 and he left promising he would be coming back in two weeks though he never did; (ii) then he also said, a year later in May 2024, that he will bring the Meiteis and Kukis together for a discussion once the election is over, as if he is the proverbial monkey judge. In informal conversations, we know this state of affairs is called a monkey business, not necessarily because Amit Shah is present here. Yet, the usage of the term to refer to its involvement in the whole fracas might undermine the dignity of this future superpower.

Manipur Requires Political Will, Which Seems Missing in Imphal, and in New Delhi

by John Dayal | 13 June 2024 | The Wire     Thirteen months after the border state of Manipur was rocked by the most vicious religious and ethnic violence seen since Gujarat’s 2002, the Supremo of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), Sarsanghchalak Mohan Bhagwat, opened his mouth to remind the Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, of an absence of governance which could bring about peace in the state.

    

In a Weberian world, only the State has the right to use or authorize the use of violence. This is a major characteristic of the modern State, and it can deploy security forces to control violence and provide relief to the population. The Indian State has always played the role of a mediator, and this is just the right time to facilitate dialogue between the warring ethnic groups to find a peaceful resolution. Finally. this will only be a long-term plan still it can always start promoting economic development, infrastructure projects, and social integration to address underlying socio-economic issues contributing to the conflict. On one hand, this is not done and on the other: 

Many Indians must not be aware that the nation-building project of their country is still a work in progress even after seven decades of independence; and many of them admire the head of the Indian nation-state under no conditions, because the head is banking on religious grounds and crony capitalism with the people regardless of his sincerity. Yet, this cannot go on forever. Check the world map from the last five hundred years and you can see how the boundaries of empires and kingdoms and nation-states have been changing all the time. It is just that Manipur happens to be simultaneously within and without India, overlapping with the deafening silence of the present regime and further layered with a bitter truth that this very territory is politically a part of India, but with no power to exercise its own agency. 

In the 21st century, experts term this phenomenon as neocolonialism. Why should Modi care about this insignificant thing of insignificant people? And it follows why India should be either. It is no wonder then, that the brutality from both warring ethnic groups continues unabated, with no solution in sight. Perhaps, the only light that at the end of the tunnel will be visible when we aspire for a Weberian world where the society is highly rationalized and bureaucratized, authority is derived from legal-rational structures, and economic and social behaviors are influenced by deeply ingrained cultural values.

Related articles on this blog:

1. The Responsible Indians: A reconsideration of the great Indian personalities with reference to the Manipur Merger Agreement 1949 and the successful expansionist world view of the Indian Hindus.
2. Why the Idea of India Is a Myth: India is a nation in the making. It has been many decades that the colonialists have left yet the process has not only been long drawn-out but also violent and often not successful politically.
3. India and I: Relationship Status — Complex: A reflection on nationalism and how we pass off our connection to a nation as mere political inevitability but simultaneously realising it is a part of the whole game that we have been mistaking as a way of life.
4. What India Is, What It Is Not: The nation-building process and then the merger of states with the union—define what India is and what it is not. 
5. The Problem of Periphery: A short recollection on the difficulty of locating Manipur in conflict resolution, as it survives in a suffocating and peripheral corner as one of the provinces of the Indian state.