While mobs kill 100 and burn down 25 churches in Northeastern India, it is said that ethnic tensions have festered for decades, and leaders in Manipur say religious extremism is fueling the extreme aggression.\u00a0 BJP MLA Paolienlal Hoakip made a startling statement by saying, “The Manipur violence is ethnic cleansing, Chief Minister Biren Singh is anti-Kuki, he must go.”\u00a0 He reinstated that he was not anti-BJP or antinational but only standing up for the Constitutional provisions as part of his duty<\/p>\n
The recent violence in Manipur stems from disputes over land and special privileges, which have created divisions between religious and ethnic communities in the state. The protests by tribals against the Meitei community have resulted in over 100 deaths unofficially reported with more Kuki tribal deaths than Meitei deaths, and around 35,000 Kukis had to seek shelter in various camps such as Manipur camps, Assam Rifle camps, and Army camps.<\/p>\n
In a very intense interview with Karan Thapar, the famous Indian journalist, an interviewer with The Wire,<\/em> Haokip said, “State governments, not only BJP but various governments over the years have neglected various provisions of the Constitution that provided for the rights of the tribals whether it be on land or whether it be in administration.”<\/p>\n He went on to say that the Hill Areas Committee and supervisor have been rendered powerless.\u00a0 While part of the blame goes to the elected MLAs from the hill areas but a larger part of the blame goes to the state governments over the years for denying the role of the Hill Areas Committee.<\/p>\n He said that for instance, when protested forests were constituted, the standing committee which precedes the Hill Area Committee was never consulted.\u00a0 This neglect has been the backdrop between the hills and the valley.<\/p>\n He said some leaders in the present government and some sections of society in the dominant majority community had started building a narrative targeting the Kukis as poppy planters, illegal immigrants, etc.<\/p>\n Karan Thapar brought out the point that it was the order of the Manipur High Court uploaded on April 19th that sparked off the present trouble.\u00a0 The High Court made the decision of the inclusion of the Meitei community under the scheduled tribe category within four weeks without consulting the tribals.<\/p>\n He said, “BJP leader Dinganglung Gangmei<\/a> filed a petition in the Supreme Court to say there is no proposal to include Meiteis in the scheduled tribe list pending with the Central Government nor has such a proposal ever been sent by the state to the Centre and yesterday, the Chief Justice said that the High Court doesn’t have the power to give such an order.”<\/p>\n Paolienlal Hoakip informed Karan Thapar that people and national media assume that the clashes were caused by the court order, but it was not.\u00a0 While the court order made its declaration, saying that the government should expedite the matter.\u00a0 After that, the tribal students were apprehensive that this new declaration which favoured the Meithei community could end up challenging their rights on their ancestral lands and properties.\u00a0 To display their concerns, on May 3rd, they organized a peaceful solidarity march which went off peacefully.<\/p>\n Hoakip said that the radical Meitei organizations that have been nurtured by certain sections of the Meitei population called a counter blockade.\u00a0 However, the tribals had just conducted a peaceful march.\u00a0 The night before the 3rd, several blockades were organized as a countermeasure that sparked angry passions in the valley.\u00a0 After the peace march on the 3rd, they were picketed at the borders in Churachandpur, and other areas and started harassing them and burning areas.<\/p>\n Hoakip also specified it is not all the Meiteis who acted on violence but a specific radicalized group who have been nurtured by people in power over the years.\u00a0 He stated emphatically, “It is an ethnic cleansing, clear and simple,” on Karan Thapar’s questioning.<\/p>\n He also stated that the national media tried to portray it as a Hindu-Christian riot<\/a>, which it was not.<\/p>\n Hoakip believes it is a pogrom because all the settlements within the Kuki areas within the Imphal Valley have been set on fire resulting in deaths, Kuki settlements have been targeted, and villages burned down.\u00a0 He said he is very sorry to say this, but there was ground evidence that the Manipur police commandos protecting and making way for the Meiteis and firing teargas at the Kuki villages. The Meitei volunteers were allowed to carry out arson, loot.