Politics of Exclusion
- Hueiyen Lanpao Editorial :: January 11 2013 -
When he lamented over the failure of historians to acknowledge the contribution made by the people living in the hill areas during one of the darkest periods in the history of Manipur, Amu Kamei, the President of Zeliangrong Union (Assam, Manipur & Nagaland) may have drawn flaks from some of his younger kinsmen, especially from those who prefer to remain with blinkers on their eyes and deny the inalienable bonding among the different groups of people who have made Manipur their home since time immemorial.
Some of these young bloods, have advised Amu Kamei not to go beyond his lamentation contending that the hill people have nothing to do with the history of Manipur and they would gain nothing even if the chronicle of Manipur is replete with the hill-valley relationship.
But the bitter truth that these young bloods would never have the courage to swallow is that the present Manipur has been evolved and shaped over the centuries by the blood, sweat and toil of the common ancestral forefathers of both the hills and the valley people.
And this is a hard historical fact that no one, howsoever powerful or influential they may be, would be able to negate regardless of embracing new ideologies and shutting tight the eyes and ears tight to anything otherwise.
On the other hand, there is something profoundly truthful in the claim of Amu Kamei that the history of Manipur has been rather bias and the role of the people in the hills have not been given due importance in the historical books.
Throughout the history, Burmese soldiers invaded Manipur several times and but the joint effort of Manipuri forces which included people from both the hills and the valleys managed to repulse the invaders.
But during the reign of king Marjit in 1891, Manipur had to face one of the worst invasions under the great Burmese General Bandula, who occupied the seat of throne of Manipur and unleashed a reign of terror for seven years.
The period of Burmese occupation from 1891 to 1826 has come to known as known as 'Chahi Taret Khuntakpa' (Seven Years' Devastation) in the history of Manipur on account of the sheer extent of the devastation and chaos created.
To escape from the atrocities of marauding Burmese invaders, who did not even spare born child within the womb of its mother, everyone fled to seek asylum.
Some ran to as far as Cachar and Sylhet while many others took refuge in the remote hill areas until Gambhir Singh managed to re-organise the Manipuri forces comprising able men both from the hills and the valley and expelled the Burmese invaders to restore the lost sovereignty of the then independent kingdom of Manipur.
So, why the historians did make no mention about the contribution of the hill people not just in chasing away the marauding Burmese soldiers but also in giving shelter to the fleeing people from the hills?
Why this politics of exclusion? This is a moot question, historians need to answer.
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