The Indian Express (Delhi Edition)
Fault lines to the booth
From a violent one-year conflict and directions by community leaders against contesting, to special voting booths for the thousands of internally displaced people and an absent election buzz. SUKRITA BARUAH travels to Imphal and Churachandpur ahead of voting, which starts on April 19, to find out how the state’s protracted crisis frames the challenge this Lok Sabha election
“When Amit Shah came to Manipur after the violence on May 29 (last year), he made so many promises and even met with Kuki groups... When he left Manipur, all those promises also left with him” KHAIGOULEN,
A CIVIL SERVICES ASPIRANT
“We are extremely anguished. The violence has reduced just as everyone has become busy with the election — without addressing the plight of the people. That means that they have the capacity to end the conflict” KHAIDEM INAOBI,
A RESIDENT OF MANIPUR
FROM RELIEF camps to bunkers, from checkposts to battlelines — venues of conversations about the upcoming Lok Sabha polls reflect the turbulent year Manipur has had. As the state prepares to vote for its two Lok Sabha seats, Inner Manipur and Outer Manipur, in two phases starting April 19, fault lines between the Meitei and Kuki-zomi communities appear deeper than ever, and its impact is likely to be felt come polling day.
As The Indian Express travelled between Imphal and Churachandpur, the two troubled epicentres of the ethnic conflict located nearly 60 km apart, and spoke to voters, candidates and stakeholders, one thing became clear — despite the communities being tightly knit, there is little consensus on who their vote should go to. Many have, in fact, outsourced the decision to their community leaders.
Take the example of Lhoulkhomgam, 47, a naik in the Army, whose family has been living in a relief camp in a church in Churachandpur district’s Tuibongsincejune1lastyear,after being displaced from their village, Langching, in Chandel district. In a corner atop an under-construction part of the church complex, his family has maintained a neat “home” with four walls of tarpaulin that separate their quarters from those belonging to others.
In line with the Election Commission’s scheme on the estimated 50,000 internally displaced people voting in the elections, he has registered to vote close to the relief camp. There will be 94 special polling stations set up to allow internally displaced people to vote near their relief camps, outside the territorial limits of their constituencies. “It is good for the Kukis, for Manipur and for India for the government to be changed,” said Lhoulkhomgam. However, he does not know who any of the candidates in the fray are.
Campaign on mute
The first “checkpoint” where Kuki volunteers verify the identities of people entering the Kuki-majority Churachandpur district is Kangvai village, which lies close to the border with Meitei-majority Bishnupur district. While campaigning is quiet in the Meiteidominated valley areas, it is close to absent here. Len Haokip, who heads the “defence committee” in this sensitive area, says campaigns have little meaning here. “Our leaders will decide and we will vote,” he said.
Congresscandidatealfredkarthurvisited Churachandpur on April 9 and focused on meeting the civil society organisation leaders there.allkuki-zomimajorityareasinmanipur come under the Outer Manipur constituency, a seat reserved for Scheduled Tribes. The constituency,whichextendsacrossthetribal-majority hill districts of the state, also includes eightassemblysegmentsfromthemeitei-majoritykakchingandthoubaldistrictsinthevalley and the mixed district of Jiribam.
This seat, currently represented by a Naga leader, Lorho Pfoze of Naga People’s Front (NPF), usually alternates between Naga and Kuki-zomi MPS. This time however, since violence started on May 3 last year, no Kukizomis are in the fray and all four candidates are Nagas. Both major national parties have backed Naga candidates: the Congress has fielded former Ukhrul MLA Alfred K Arthur, while the BJP is backing the NPF candidate, retired bureaucrat Timothy Zimik.
During the nomination process, major community organisations, including Kuki Inpi Manipur and the Indigenous Tribal Leaders’ Forum, directed that nobody from the community should contest in the election — and this was heeded.
Even as voters await a decision on the next course of action, there seems to be a diversity of opinion. Some are firmly in favour of boycotting the election, others think that opting for NOTA (none of the above) is their only option, while the rest have a favoured candidate or party in mind.
But Jamkhomang Khongsai, an officebearer with the Kuki Students’ Organisation, emphasised, “Everyone categorically believes that we should stand together. Our community did not get tickets from the Congress or the BJP (units), which are based in Imphal…, and after that, the political department of the Kuki Inpi Manipur decided that we shouldn’t have our own candidate. So now there will be another meeting and by next week, a decision will be made on what next: take the approach of a boycott, go with NOTA or go with the flow of one of the candidates.”
This decision has been taken despite the lack of a political voice for the community currently. The community does not have a sitting MP and its 10 MLAS in the 60-member Manipur Assembly have not been a part of the two Assembly sessions since the start of the violence, citing inability to travel to Imphal because of safety issues.
On April 8, leaders of the Indigenous Tribal Leaders’ Forum (ITLF) convened a “presidential meeting” with leaders of nine tribes to discuss this. Muan Tombing, the secretary of the ITLF, said it was unclear if the community would vote. “We will have meetings with leaders within the community, and with candidates to hear their manifestos and understand whether they will represent our interests. After that, we will let our people be aware of the situation and which candidate will help us out. We want our vote to go together this time. If our votes are scattered, our voice will be diluted. Nothing is normal about the situation. It’s a crisis, which is why people are waiting for our decision,” he said.
Different community leaders have diverse reasons for deciding against fielding a Kukizomi candidate. “There isn’t a fighting chance,” said one. While the Nagas make up more than 4.6 lakh voters in the seat and Kukizomis constitute around 3.2 lakh voters, the community leader said the 2.5 lakh Meitei voters from valley areas could swing the vote against a Kuki-zomi representative. “We don’t have free movement outside our areas and will not be able to canvas freely,” said another.
On the lack of Naga voices in politics at present, Khaigoulen, a 26-year-old civil services aspirant, said, “Of course we would like to have our own representative. We feel suppressed and we should have a voice. I don’t think any of the current candidates would take much interest in our cause.” The main demand that the Kuki-zo community has been pushing for is the establishment of “separate administration” for parts of the state where they are in majority.
Simmering discontent
Despite differences in opinion about how the election should be approached, there is dissatisfaction across the board over the Centre’s handling of the violence. Khaigoulen said he would like his vote to express that.
“When Home Minister Amit Shah came to Manipur after the violence on May 29 (last year), he made so many promises and even met with Kuki groups. Even when he was here, the violence didn’t stop and firing was taking place. When he left Manipur, all those promises also left with him,” he said.
Another student like Khaigoulen, Timothy Haokip, 24, has a much harder line and is opposed to any engagement with the election process. “We want a separate administration, and participating in the election for Outer Manipur means accepting that we are still a part of Manipur. Even opting for NOTA means we are participating in the process. It doesn’t go well with our demand. My friends and I have decided to not vote, regardless of any broader decision. Our families will not vote either,” Haokip said.
ITLF’S Tombing had a different point of view, “We are not against the BJP or in favour of any other party. But our biggest enemy is Chief Minister Biren Singh. His allies are also our enemies. Our main focus is someone who has integrity towards the tribal cause.”
Meanwhile in the Valley
The women of Koutruk Haraopham village in Manipur valley, where Meiteis are in majority, have been spending their nights in bunkers since May last year. They spend all day cooking together for families in their village’s community hall and spend their nights on vigil by a bunker a few metres away. The men of the village are armed and at the border of Imphal West with the Kuki-zomi majority Kangpokpi district.
Areas such as this, and Kangvai where the valley and Kuki-zomi majority hill areas meet, have been in a state of near-constant conflict since the beginning, with frequent exchanges of gunfire. “For 11 months, this is the only thing that has been happening. No one is going to work, there is no money being earned. It’s just this,” said Eshaihanbi Ningthoujam, 59, one of the women who was cooking lunch there one afternoon.
“We are extremely anguished. The violence has reduced just as everyone has become busy with the election — without addressing the plight of the people. That means that they have the capacity to end the conflict,” said Khaidem Inaobi, 45.
They have many options to choose from and the conflict is at the centre of the poll agenda for all six contestants in the fray from the Inner Manipur constituency, which covers most of Manipur’s valley. Declaring that she does not have the time for elections, she says they will vote after arriving at a consensus on “who will be best for us”. Six candidates are contesting from the Inner Manipur seat this time.
The poll plank of BJP’S candidate Th Basanta Singh, a Cabinet minister in the state, is countering criticism against the government by highlighting the steps taken by the Centre to “save the indigenous people of Manipur” in the long term: introducing the Inner Line Permit regime in the state, deciding to the fence the India-myanmar border, stopping the Free Movement Regime with Myanmar, taking steps to introduce a National Register of Citizens (NRC) and starting the identification of illegal immigrants.
Criticising BJP’S handling of the Manipur situation, Congress candidate Bimol Akoijam has been emphasising the need for reconciliation, besides supporting the need to address “illegal immigration”. Maheshwar Thounaojam from the Republican Party of India (Athawale) has even promised action against “narco terrorists”.
Around 16 km away from Koutruk Haraopham village, the Meira Paibis (women vigilantes) of a locality in Imphal’s Sagolband are sitting together during their nightly vigil. The Meira Paibis in the Sagolband area say they “will choose someone who can win the trust of the locals”. Keeping a vigil with other women of her locality, a Meira Paibi, 44, said, “The BJP didn’t hear what the people wanted. We have been living in a conflict (situation) and they have not done anything to win our hearts.”
She said many of them look at Congress candidate Akoijam as a potential representative, while Thounaojam of RPI (A) also has a fair share of well-wishers. Both have been vocal about the crisis in their own ways.
In Chingamakha, nearly 5 km away, many women said they lack faith in the current government. One of the reasons they continue to keep vigil is to intervene in case these armed men run into trouble with security forces at night. At midnight, they will return to their homes.
Echoing these sentiments, a young Meira Paibi said there are other considerations too as far as she is concerned. “People are scared. Everybody knows that armed people like the Arambai Tenggol (a radical, hard-line Meitei organisation suspected to be involved in many Meitei-kuki clashes since May 2023) are connected with BJP leaders,” she said.
An associate professor at Jawaharlal Nehru University, Akoijam of Congress had told The Indian Express earlier, “We haven’t seen a situation like this in our entire history…we have seen Muslim colonies being guarded (following a communal riot) with the full force of the State so that nothing happens there… Where the State was either complicit or failed to perform its role was the case of the Kashmiri Pandits, and this time Manipur…why is it that Meiteis were shifted out of Churachandpur? Why is it that you try to inject this narrative that there is no Kuki in the (Manipur) valley and there are no Meiteis in the hills? Partition is being practised here. What happened in 1947 is what the Indian State is doing here.”