Clear cut stand from the Nagas : Politics of homeland
- The Sangai Express Editorial :: July 02, 2024 -

The Nagas took note of the political 'ambitions' of the Kukis much before the Meiteis did and the Separate Administration call is nothing but the earlier 'muted' call for a Kukiland or a Zalengam.

If the Meiteis today have risen as one to oppose tooth and nail the call for a Separate Administration that may come in the form of a Union Territory, the Nagas had earlier woken up to this impending 'threat' and this perhaps may explain the 'quit notice' served on the Kuki settlements located in what the Nagas say are their ancestral lands.

Anyone who has studied and followed the 'politics of homeland' in the last four or five decades of Manipur will understand the stand adopted by the three major communities of the State and for different reasons.

Politically educated and conscious Kuki leaders must know that the first and foremost opposition to the Separate Administration demand will come from the Nagas, for the 'Kukiland Map' that has gone viral on the social media contradicts the understanding of a Greater Lim, a demand put forth by the NSCN (IM) and with which the Government of India has been engaged in a political dialogue since 1997.

The call for a Kukiland too could have been there on the agenda in the course of the negotiation held under the SoO pact since 2008.

It is only after the May 3, 2023 conflagration that this agenda has been Vocalised to the extent that it is today and it is only now that the Meiteis as a community have woken up to this.

The politics of homeland and while the demand of the Kukis at the moment seems to not have crossed the Union Territory mark, Delhi is not that naive to believe that it will stop there, for the writings on the wall are clear and it could well be a case of first asking for 25 paise before going in for 50 paise and then to one rupee.

This should be understood in the context of upping the demand from UT to Statehood to ultimately Zalengam, a composite geographical entity comprising parts of Myanmar, Manipur, Mizoram and Bangladesh.

The politics of homeland would surely not have blown over the heads of the mandarins at New Delhi but this is no reason for Manipur to sleep over the matter.

It should be clear that in as much as the Nagas would oppose the Separate Administration demand of the Kukis on the ground that it affects the ancestral lands of the Nagas, it should be clear that this is not exactly batting for the geo-political reality called Manipur.

This is the reality and a point which should register in the consciousness of every Meitei and anyone who believes that Manipur is a geopolitical reality and an entity which merged with India in 1949 with the existing geographical boundary.

The Merger Agreement of 1949 covered the whole of Manipur and not only the valley.

A point which should not be lost on anyone.

It was in August 2023 that the Nagas of Manipur under the aegis of the United Naga Council lodged a strong stand against the Separate Administration call from the Kuki hardliners.

The stand of the Nagas is simple enough to understand.

Kangpokpi and Tengnoupal districts were carved out of Naga lands - Senapati and Chandel in the winter of 2016 and any move to give away the ancestral lands of the Nagas to the Kukis under the Separate Administration arrangement would be opposed tooth and nail.

Manipur must still remember the record breaking 139 days economic blockade imposed by the UNC against the district creation move.

To the UNC and the Nagas, the decision to create Tengnoupal and Kangpokpi was not less than giving away the ancestral land of the Nagas to the Kukis and herein lies a long, long tale.

Now with the ten Naga MLAs coming together to oppose the Separate Administration demand, one wonders how the latest development would be taken by the Government of India. Manipur should also understand the stand of the ten Naga MLAs and see the walk that can be taken together.

And perhaps the first should be for Manipur to acknowledge that the politics of the Kukis dawned on the Nagas much earlier, for ultimately it was in the hills that the Kukis first settled and expanded, thanks to the unchecked infiltration as refugees, as way back as 1967, a point which a certain Padlienlal Haokip had highlighted in a written article back in 2002.