Kangla Mothers recalls unique protest; dejected by continued killings and rape
Source: Hueiyen News Service / Thingnam Anjulika Samom

Imphal, November 24 2014: The harsh light of the dressing room in Bhagyachandra Open Air Theatre (BOAT), the largest open-air auditorium in Manipur, is an unwanted necessity, especially in the middle of the day.

But for the aging members of the All Manipur Reformation and Development Samaj, also known as Nupi Samaj, who has made this room both their office and home needs it to cook, read or meet people.

For the last few months, 84-year old Keisham Taruni, president of Nupi Samaj, had been nursing a broken kneecap here, seething with anger and frustration at her inability to move, to "take action." Taruni was one of the 12 aging women who had participated in the July 2004 nude protest in front of the western gate of Kangla after the alleged rape and killing of Thangjam Manorama by security forces a few days back.

"We were among the first to see Manorama's body.

We wept at the sight of her mutilated body, their audacity and cruelty � We continue to weep even today at the manner in which the honour of all Manipuri women was trampled upon that night," recalls Taruni.

In the wake of the nude protest of the Mothers, there have been numerous attempts to unravel the politicality, ideological, spiritual and even the performative aspects of the protest.

Deepti Priya Mehrotra in her article "Irom Sharmila's Protest Fast: Women's War, Gandhian Non-Violence and Anti-Militarisation Struggles" and Dr.Andrew Robinson in his article "The Rhizomes of Manipur" links the nude protest to the both past and ongoing protest movements in the state.

Mehrotra further calls it a "ritual of inversion" wherein the women (and the Manipuri society) had transformed themselves "from total victims to determined survivors" .

Kangla Gate

For these women, the frustration and desperation of the impotency of their previous movements had resulted in the "becoming-intense" protest as Dr Robinson terms it.

"We sat on dharna, we took to the streets crying ourselves hoarse.

Yet there was no result.

It was time for a last stand, to do something which had never been done before," explains Taruni.

Seated by her bed, 84-year old Thokchom Ramani, secretary of Nupi Samaj, adds, "That day we prayed to the gods, took a fast and came out ready to die.

We had come prepared, leaving behind our petticoats and blouses.

That day we came out so that her fate does not befall others.

We didn't think of fame, but only to vent our anger and grief" .

Many have also tried to find a precedent within the traditional and performative history of Manipur.

"Defiance is a deep-rooted cultural expression.

When the order, stability, equilibrium, and natural order of good and bad is threatened, our women had taken off their clothes and defied even the gods," says historian Prof.Lokendra Arambam, referring to a now-extinct tradition of Meitei women marching naked in the night in the ritualistic "nong-laoba" ceremony in times of famine calling on the gods for rain.

"It was a decision jointly taken by us women.

What use were our clothes if they have the power to do this so often? Since the AFSPA was imposed in 1980, they have killed us, raped us indiscriminately.

It was as if we do not cover ourselves.

So we said, 'Fine, take our clothes, we will fight with you naked.

Come out if you have the courage'," says 63-year old Laishram Gyaneshori of Apunba Manipur Kanba Ima Lup (AMKIL).

"As planned we gathered at the gate and then threw away our clothes.

We were in a trance; we could not hear or see anything," recalls 63-year old Ima Lourembam Nganbi vice president of AMKIL.

The 12 mothers were arrested soon after.

Yet the protests went unabated as they shouted slogans and went on hunger strike even inside the jail.

They were released after three months and all charges dropped.

The 12 mothers -- Taruni, Ramani, Jamini, Ibemhal, Nganbi, Gyaneshori, Momon, Ibetombi (now expired), Jibanmala, Tombi, Soro and Mema -- all between 54 to 84 years of age, have similar stories of early marriage and domesticity, and later on shifting to the social sphere first against liquor and alcoholism, and later against army excesses and human rights violations in the name of counter-insurgency operations.

Yet on July 15, 2004, these tradition-loving women shed their inhibitions and their clothes � lying spread-eagled on the ground, their hands up in the air in open invitation, shouting, "Indian army, come rape us, take our flesh.

We are all mothers of Manorama" .

Another demand was the removal of Assam Rifles from Kangla.

"The trend was that once a person is taken inside Kangla by the Assam Rifles, he/she will become untraceable.

Kangla is our most sacred place and yet we were not allowed free access at that time," observes 79-year old Yumlembam Mema of AMKIL.

While the Kangla protest has been hailed worldwide for being a unique and powerful protest, today ten years down the line, the mothers are just as dejected.

"They have removed AFSPA from seven assembly constituencies in the Greater Imphal Area, withdrawn Assam Rifles from Kangla and hand over Kangla to the people.

But what had happened to the Jeevan Reddy Commission on AFSPA, why hasn't there been any word on that?" asks Gyaneshori.

"Politician make tall claims in their manifesto and then rush to grab credit after we, old women, stand in front of teargas, spent so many days in jail, and protested under the sun," fumes 78-year old Mutum Ibemhal, adviser of AMKIL, referring to the Ibobi-led Congress government hightailing the "handing over of Kangla" to the people as their achievement.

"Why has the Manoroma case been suppressed, this is our main question," she adds.

Sixty-one-year old Soibam Momon, president of the All Manipur Tammi Chingmi Apunba Nupi Lup is adamant that life in Manipur remains just as chaotic and tumultuous as before.

"At one time in the past, the lost of a life was so precious and we would cry hearing about a killing.

But now ten lives lost have come to mean less.

Is this a conspiracy to wipe out the whole Meitei community? By using guns and drugs? What we want now is an end to the killings," she asserts.

"The army rapes have decreased, but now it is the police and our own brothers who have taken over the role of rapist.

Why this is happening? Because when the army were raping no punishment was given, so civilians also imitate.

Manipur government has not been able to put down its foot firmly in the past, so it cannot correct its wrong," says Nganbi.

The realisation that their protests and activities have done almost nothing to alter the status quo has resulted in a lot of depression and despondency.

"Not much change has come about, that's why we mothers are troubled.

When we old women gather, we discuss what to do next.

We have done so many things, what next now," says Taruni.

Again, the question of the next step of agitation to get the attention and sympathy of an indifferent government continues to dog these women.

"We had gone naked for the sake of the whole of Manipur.

But no-one has wrapped our phaneks back around us after we dropped them," says Ima Ibemhal, arranging her array of clothes in the deserted Lamphel Bazar .

But the despondency and uncertainty also give birth to a firm resolve not to quit.

"We can't remain silent even now.

We have seen two Nupi Lan, we are preparing for the third.

But not just five or ten women, all women.

We need a united force.

And awareness.

If we stop now, it will be the same as saying we approve the rapes and the killings," says Taruni.