The Murder of Revolutionary Kishan in Manipur
- Part 3 -

By Malem Ningthouja *

Why were they killed?

According to the statement of NSCN-IM there was 'collusion that has nothing to do with socio-political interest other than laundering public money…(and) when studied from the angle of criminal detective, the mastermind of the whole thing points towards Pankaj, conniving with the ruffians within NSCN and outside NSCN'.

The statement sounds escapism. How would a militant party say that the party's Lt. Colonel, Town Commander and Seargent Major were not accountable to the party? Does it mean to say that there is institutional breakdown in the disciplinary order or gangsterism within the party?

On the other hand, even if the primary motivation of murdering was extortion of public fund for personal interest; the character of the well planned killing, selection of victims and spot of abandonment of the death bodies were bent on communalism, i.e., three Meeteis and three Tangkhuls were abducted by Tangkhul criminals and the three Meeteis were murdered brutally and abandoned near a Kuki village.

Wasn't it aimed at inciting suspicion of Meeteis vis-à-vis the Kukis if in case the involvement of Tangkhul criminals were not being exposed? Doesn't the exposure generate intercommunity tension between the Meeteis and the Tangkhuls on the one hand and between the people of Senapati and the Tangkhuls on the other hand [15]?

Logically, the crime was communal and it had socio-political ramifications. Who gains from it? Communalism strengthens communal organisations, weakens the bond of community co-existence and serves the material interest of class rulers who exploits surplus value of peasants and workers within communities in the name of community assertion.

There could be other reasons as well. Dr. Kishan as I knew him was a progressive intellectual cum activist influenced by Marxism. Born on 26 February 1972 in Imphal in Manipur, he had completed B.A. and M.A. in English with first class first position from Jamia Milia Islamia University in Delhi.

He had cleared National Eligibility Test for teaching in 1998. He had taught in Shyamlal College, University of Delhi from 1996 to 1999; D.M. College of arts, Manipur University from 2005 to 2005, 2005 to 2007; Churachandpur College, Manipur University in 2005; and was appointed as Assistant Professor in the Department of English, Manipur University in 2007.

He was a founder member and editor of the journal Alternative Perspective that was aimed at exploring material perspectives of Manipur within South East-Asian economic paradigm. Apart from several published works in journals and editions his notable volumes include among others; Rethinking Colonialism, World View, New Delhi, 2006 and "Ordeals and Upheavals; A Critique of Hindu Proselytisation in Manipur" in Proselytisation in India, The Process of Hinduisation in Tribal Societies, Dharmendra Kumar & Yemuna Sunny (Ed.), Akar Books, New Delhi, 2009.

As a student activist he had worked with the Northeast Committee on Human Rights and the Manipur Students' Association Delhi in 1990s. If the GPRN had to question for "where are the Meiteis when the Naga public and the Kuki are at daggers drawn?", it would not be a posthumous eulogy to mention that Kishan was among the Meeteis who in his capacity as a student had devoted in campaigning and organising cultural fest Wakchingee Nong to promote unity & peace among the warring communities [16].

Before he became editor of the journal Alternative Perspectives he was working with the All Manipur United Clubs Organisation. He was a man who was born and brought up in the cities but was willing to work for the development of backward rural areas.

He was less concerned about community boundaries and territorial hangover than for the welfare of the marginalised and underprivileged sections of population. He had lived with a progressive ideology and while serving with the Manipur Civil Services (2007 batch) he had stood for structural reform, at least in his capacity within his administrative jurisdiction, to carry on with equitable distribution of rights & incentives.

He was, therefore, an enemy to corrupt bureaucrats and mercenaries who had converted India's administrative institutions into a den of private profiteering and corruption. Indian state had also foreseen in the person of Kishan a potential revolutionary against Indian capitalist superstructure.

He was, therefore, kidnapped and assassinated in a high level 'structural conspiracy' executed by an alliance of counter-revolutionary mercenaries including the corrupt DC who had laid a trap for Kishan in the format of a meeting scheduled for 13 February 2009.

Both the associates of Kishan, driver Aribam Rajen and Yumnam Token were being murdered simply because they were with Kishan and to cover up true character of the plot. The enemy of the people had executed the murdering with communal colouring so that it incites communal tension and diverts attention from both the cause and the culprits.

to be continued....