The recurring pattern of violence is symptomatic of the state’s complex history in which identity is only one part of the story.
In the year since ethnic violence ruptured Manipur, killing over 200 people and displacing over 60,000, both the Centre and the state administrations have repeatedly laid the blame on outsiders — “illegal” migrants from Myanmar, with whom the Kuki-Zos in the state’s hilly region share a common ethnicity — holding them responsible for the disruption as well as the state’s illicit drug trade. Now, in his first interview after the Lok Sabha elections to this paper, the admission of Chief Minister N Biren Singh of his government’s failure to contain the unrest comes as a welcome, though belated, acknowledgement of responsibility. With fresh violence in Jiribam and an attack on Singh’s advance convoy to the district, it is imperative that the government begins at the earliest the long overdue work of healing.
The recurring pattern of violence is symptomatic of the state’s complex history in which identity is only one part of the story. With its mixed population of Meiteis, Kuki-Zos, Bengalis, Muslims and Nagas, Jiribam, to the west of Manipur and bordering Assam’s Cachar district, for instance, was one of the few places to have been insulated from the unrest in the state. That changed last week following a murder. The conflagration may also reflect other insecurities. Manipur has the third lowest per capita income in the country, down from the highest among northeastern states in the 1990s. The state ranks low on most indices, from education and employment opportunities to infrastructure building and healthcare facilities. The resultant anxieties exacerbate ethnic tensions and accusations of partisanship in resource allocation and administration.
In the interview, Singh owned up to the erosion of confidence that led to his party, the BJP, losing both the Lok Sabha seats in the state. BJP’s vote share in the state dropped from 34 per cent in 2019 to 17 per cent in 2024. A solution to Manipur’s violence, Singh said, would require the intervention of the Centre to help “… convince the original tribal people that the (state) government is not against them, but is targeting outsiders who came after 1961”. It is, of course, true that greater initiative by the Centre and the state is imperative to bring about a mediated solution — so far a failure despite the formation of a multi-ethnic peace committee in June 2023. For a PM who has visited the Northeast more than most of his predecessors, his absence from Manipur since the violence began has been glaring. It also cannot be overstated — as RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat noted at an event in Nagpur on Monday — that the work of restoring peace should have been a priority much earlier. While narcoterrorism, poppy cultivation and illegal migration are all parts of the problem, it is essential that the CM, a Meitei, moves beyond the insider-outsider rhetoric. Manipur’s road to rehabilitation lies not in myopic lip service, or a narrow law-and-order approach, but in a genuine willingness to substitute identity politics for equitable and inclusive governance.
Click here for real-time updates on the Lok Sabha Election Results 2024
