Open Memorandum to Prime Minister Narendra Modi : Kuki Inpi Manipur
- The status of communities living in Manipur -

21 August 2015

In the present State of Manipur there are three main communities - Meitei, Kuki & Naga. Prior to British colonisation the central plain area was controlled by the Meiteis and the hill areas by the Kukis. The Nagas of Manipur consisted then of small communities without any united political forum. Even within each community there was no political forum covering the entire community.

This being the case, the British colonialism was resisted through war by only the Meiteis (1891) in the central plain and the Kukis (1917-1919) in the hill areas. The Kuki war covered all the present hill districts and was fiercely fought to protect our sovereignty as part of the resistance to colonialism fought by many communities in the Indian subcontinent.

The present Nagas of Manipur started to organise themselves politically only after our Indian independence by joining the Naga national movement which started towards the end of British rule. It may, therefore, be concluded that the Nagas of Manipur (and most likely other Naga tribes as well) have never enjoyed territorial sovereignty outside of their respective villages in their long history.

In the sheltered environ of our Indian govt, the Nagas of Manipur have been gradually and systematically seizing the Kuki villages in areas where they are more in number by use of organised militancy (apparently with separatist-nationalist ambition?), covertly in the beginning and openly around 1994. Though it was very apparent that the NSCN (IM) had started the open aggression (which resulted in heavy loss of life, property and land for the Kukis), the govt, instead of punishing the aggressors, washed its hands by calling it an ‘ethnic conflict’.

The Kukis of Manipur never had a militant organisation after British colonization and thus suffered heavily as we were forced to defend ourselves without any govt support. At this juncture a few Kuki militant groups with ‘defensive’ intent started to surface amongst the Kukis of Manipur. As the fight got more even the NSCN (IM) leader was arrested in Thailand.

To the utter surprise of the Kukis, instead of deporting the NSCN (IM) leader to face trial for his horrible crimes, the govt announced a ceasefire with the NSCN (IM) and accorded a WTP welcome.

Ignoring the various pleas by the Kukis for justice, reinstatement of land, complete restoration of normalcy etc etc the govt has gone out of the way to accommodate the NSCN(IM) by signing an accord with a community who claim to have a ‘unique history7 but do not possess any histo-political backing of note to support their communal and unjustified claim.

The Kuki people of Manipur, therefore, justifiably demand the following:

1. As the Kukis and the Meiteis were the only two communities in Manipur who have fought imperialist British power sacrificing many lives to retain their sovereignty, a prior consultation/ agreement of these two communities with the govt at the highest level is mandatorily required before any sort of finalisation of agreement by the govt with the NSCN (IM) on any issue related to Manipur and communal in nature in the NSCM (IM) agenda.

2. Prior to any finalisation of agreement between the govt and NSCN(IM) there must be complete restoration to normalcy and also a proper enquiry for justifiable punishment of the guilty for the NSCN(IM) aggression on the Kukis

3. That the govt mandatorily take into consideration the socio-political history of Manipur before awarding any special socio-economic-political privileges on communal lines to any community in Manipur.

4. The govt must ensure no socio-economic-political injustice is done to any community in Manipur and that the independence of our great country from foreign rule should not result in undue socio-economic-political advantage to any community. The Kukis have been through a lot struggle/sacrifice against the greatest of odds to retain our freedom through the ages.

It may be mentioned here that the Kukis had also joined the erstwhile INA in great numbers to fight British imperialism. Therefore, it must be ensured that the freedom of our mother India should not result in the eventual subjugation/ deprivation of the Kuki community and the loss of our freedom.

Otherwise, it would be tantamount to state terrorism, gross injustice, unjustified state-sponsored-communalism and exploitation of the highest scale.