KIM memo to PM alleges hate campaign against Kukis
Source: Chronicle News Service
Kpi, June 01 2022:
Kuki Inpi Manipur (KIM), the apex body of the Kuki tribe, apprised Prime Minister of India about the alleged outright abhorrence and racial discrimination against the Kukis in Manipur.
In a representation address to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, KIM vice presidents Lal Robul Pudaite and Sominthang Doungel said that the main mantra of the BJP's 'Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas, Sabka Vishwas' sounds hollow for the Kuki-Mizo community in Manipur under the helm of the incumbent chief minister N Biren Singh, saying his disposition towards the community is far from healthy.
Urging the PM to look into grievances of the Kukis and initiate remedial measures, KIM said that Kukis might be compelled to re-think on the future relationship with the N Biren Singh led BJP in Manipur if the PM fails to look into the matter.
The Kukis are by nature peaceful, freedom loving nationalists who dared to raise the banner of revolt against the mighty British imperial power from 1917-1919, known in history as the Anglo-Kuki war, it added.
When Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose revived the Indian National Army and gave the clarion call to liberate India from the colonial British, it was the Kukis who responded to the call and extended their unflinching support to the Azad Hind Fauj.
Even after India gained Independence, the Kukis have always remained law abiding citizens of the country, with many serving in the military, in the administrative services, and contributing their mite in the nation building process, the representation said, adding that the Kukis have never been secessionist and will never be.
According to the representation, the N Biren led BJP government's policies and attitude towards the Kuki community is one of outright abhorrence and racial discrimination in spite of contributions and support that Kuki MLAs extended in saving the BJP government in 2017.It said that KIM is taken aback by the vitriolic attacks of the incumbent chief minister on the Kuki Mizo community of the state and the CM is being ably assisted by Rajya Sabha MP Leishemba Sanajaoba in these verbal tirades with a malicious intent to villainise the Kuki-Mizo community of the state.
The duo has always resorted to the rhetoric of hate against the Kuki-Mizo ethnic group in the state, questioning their history and indigeneity, the representation added.
It also said that the brazen attempt to change the historical narratives of a community/ethnic group through the execution of Forest Act and removal of old statutes will not change the events of the past nor erase the historical truth of a community.
The recent statement of chief minister N Biren terming Mark Thangkhomang Haokip as a Myanmarese is nothing short of a fabrication, baseless and at most insensible to say the least.
Dr Mark Haokip's father Limkhosei Haokip (76), is son of (L) Ondou Haokip, who was a member of Indian National Army and they belong to the family of Indian freedom fighters, the KIM representation said and strongly condemned the chief minister for giving 'blind and irresponsible' statement.
It also pointed out that the Kukis have indiscriminately been termed as foreigners and refugees by many valley people backed by organisations such as Haomee Federation and Kangleipak Kanba Lup and also by BJP-BJYM.
These hate-mongers utilise various social media platforms to propagate their flagitious ideology, instigating communal hatred and prejudice and hurting the sentiments of Kukis-Mizos.
Though many Kuki-Mizo individuals and CSOs filed cases against those who made hate speeches and derogatory remarks in print media as well as on social media platforms with intention to incite hatred, Manipur police department refused to register any complaint or FIR against such hate spewing individuals and fringe groups, it added.
On the issue of indigeneity, KIM stated that Kuki Research Forum (KuRF) in its press release on May 25, 2022 had categorically stated that 'it is a well-known fact that the increasing number of Kuki villages in Kuki dominated districts and the decrease in other districts, of the state in recent times (since 1980s) have been the consequence of their internal displacement from Naga dominated districts.
It has nothing to do with immigration from beyond the border, it added.
In fact, Kukis who came from Kabaw valley in 1967 and thereafter (so-called 'foreigners/aliens') after the Khadawmi Operation were home-comers (returnees), who were expelled by Burmese authority for being Indian citizens who had crossed the border from Manipur due to displacement caused by Naga movement in the Indo-Burma border districts.
It also further stated that KuRF considered such narratives against Kukis as immature, arrogant, communal and concocted in a highly dystopian way.
It also said that Kuki-Mizo community in Manipur is distressed and lost confidence in the biased and prejudiced N Biren's government, whose hostile and vindictive attitude towards them is truly unbecoming of a chief minister.
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