Open letter to President of India & Chief Minister of Manipur on Sadar Hills

Morung Express | L.Stephen Makuimai | August 23

In a democratic country like India, every individual or community have every right to live, to lay down one’s desire or wants and aspiration to the Government but the demand for Sadar Hills District by our Kuki brothers may be beyond consideration and the law of the land. Every happening has its own reason, every child has its parents and every people has its own history and the history of the Kuki brothers do not guarantee to claim Sadar Hills or Homeland for themselves.

Gradually with the departure of the Britishers and Indias Independence on 15th August 1947 and emerge of Meitie Kingdom to Indian Union and inauguration of Manipur State Assembly on 18th October 1948 by Maharaja Bodhchandra including Naga territories without the knowledge Nagas leads to internal conflict between the Nagas and the Meities. To subdue the Naga revolt the Meities used the Kukis for the same purposed as British India did and pave ways for the existence and recognisation of the Kukis in the Naga Hills under their administration.

However, as Nagas belong to an independent race and stood tood and nail to it the Kukis make their settlement in the present land on payment of Rampon Ramkha or Lamban or Revenue to the Nagas which is paid in the form of animals, salt, wine etc till the recent past but have gradually ceased to pay after the 1st and 2nd Kuki revolt which was no doubt the handy work of the Meities for their political gain.

Now therefore before going ahead with any decision on the issue of Sadar Hills District by our Kuki brothers the State and Central Government need to re-ponder and revive our society for future good. We have our own history, our existence is not simply a matter of some past days, we cannot simply ignore the truth and consider the present manipulated and bogus social structure and figure for our present benefit.

We are never against Kukis to have a district or a Homeland but we will also never surrender an inch of our land for creation of Sadar Hills District. In the matter of Sadar Hills it is a term used and applied to the hill people living in the immediate circular mountain to the valley and is purely meant to the Nagas and it should be the wish of the Nagas to create it into a district or not.