Ethnic conflict casts a shadow on Manipur polls; KukiZo, Meitei people devise voting strategies
As Manipur heads into the first phase of the Lok Sabha election in the shadow of an ethnic conflict, the two communities involved in the conflict — the KukiZo and the Meiteis — find themselves in a peculiar situation.
In the first phase on April 19, most of the violenceaffected parts of the State go to the polls. These include all of the Inner Manipur constituency, which covers Imphal East, Imphal West, Bishnupur, and Thoubal districts having a largely Meitei population, and large parts of the Outer Manipur constituency (ST) covering Churachandpur, Kangpokpi and Chandel with a majority KukiZo population.
The ethnic conflict that began on May 3 last year, has so far led to at least 220 deaths (according to official figures), and left thousands injured and displaced tens of thousands, for whom the Election Commission (EC) has arranged 94 special polling booths in relief camps in the State.
The hill districts going to the polls in the first phase had more of a mixed population till the conflict began. But the first few weeks of the violence succeeded in creating a nearcomplete geographical separation of the two communities.
The KukiZo dilemma
Now, the KukiZo community finds itself in between a rock and a hard place — over whether to express discontentment with the BJP by either boycotting the polls or voting None of the Above (NOTA) or to participate in the electoral process so as not to antagonise whichever government is formed at the Centre.
This dilemma stems from the fact that only the Union government can meet the political demand of the KukiZos for a separate administration, a demand that has grown stronger after the conflict, said Chinkhanlun Guite of the Manipur Tribals Forum, Delhi.
In addition, the Indigenous Tribal Leaders’ Forum (ITLF), which emerged as a civil society organisation representing the interests of multiple KukiZo tribal associations during the conflict, has already issued a statement asking that no member of their community contest the upcoming election. But the ITLF has also made sure to stress in the statement that the KukiZo people should go out and exercise their right to vote.
The BJP has fielded State Education Minister T. Basanta Kumar Singh for Inner Manipur and has decided to publicly support the Naga People’s Front’s Kachui Timothy Zimik, from the Naga community, in Outer Manipur.
Meanwhile, the Congress has fielded Alfred Kanngam S. Arthur, also from the Naga community, for the Outer Manipur seat and has nominated Jawaharlal Nehru University Professor A. Bimol Akoijam to contest the Inner Manipur seat.
Mr. Akoijam is looking for ways to capitalise on the Meitei community’s disappointment with the BJP for not having taken a hard enough stance on dealing with KukiZo groups that had signed the Suspension of Operations agreement, and the Central forces’ alleged failure to protect the Meiteis from attacks during the ethnic conflict.
Campaign narratives
At the same time, the Meitei community is finding itself at the receiving end of politics fuelled by the ethnic tensions from both the BJP and the Congress.
The BJP’s campaign posters position Meiteis as “indigenous people” to “save” whom the Centre had started fencing the IndoMyanmar border, removed the Free Movement Regime, started screening illegal immigrants, and taken steps to implement the
National Register of Citizens (NRC).
Mr. Akoijam, meanwhile, is trying to appeal to the Meitei community along ethnoreligious lines, making a visit to the temple in Thangjing Hills in Moirang, a sacred site for the Meitei community, ahead of launching his campaign, during which a common theme has been to “protect Manipur’s integrity” — a phrase that has come to be seen as an opposition to the KukiZo people’s demand for a separate administration.
The hill range, somewhere in the middle of the buffer zone created between Churachandpur and Bishnupur districts, has been contested by KukiZos and Meiteis as having religious and cultural significance to their respective communities.
Disagreements over the right to pray and worship on the hill range have only escalated since the ethnic conflict between the two communities began in the State.
“In such a scenario, the KukiZo people might not be entirely comfortable voting for a Congress candidate in Outer Manipur when that party has fielded someone like Mr. Akoijam in the Valley,” a KukiZo community leader said, wishing not to be named.
The ethnic conflict that began on May 3 last year, has so far led to at least 220 deaths