Manipur: How eviction of tribals played a part

Violence was brewing for some time as a long history of mutual suspicion between ethnic groups in the Imphal valley and its surrounding hills turned into a simmering conflict after the BJPled Manipur government started a drive to evict tribal villagers from reserved forestsThe spark for the raging violence was lit by demonstrations by tribal groups against a move to grant the majority Meiteis the Scheduled Tribe ST status being availed by the tribals living in the hills since IndependenceThe government in Manipur regardless of the party has always been dominated by Meiteis who account for about 53 per cent of the statersquos population and live mostly in Imphal Valley Consequently the governmentrsquos actions have often been viewed through the prism of suspicion by tribalsmdashmostly Nagas and Kukismdashwho make up 40 per cent of Manipurrsquos population and live in the hillsInterestingly the Imphal valley makes up for about a tenth of the total land mass of the state while the surrounding hills account for 90 per centThe eviction drive which began in February was seen as yet another antitribal move leading to alarm and widespread discontentGeneral secretary of the Kuki Students Organisation Churachandpur D J Haokip told PTI ldquoSeveral areas in the hill district have been declared as reserved forests protected forests and hundreds of Kuki tribals have been dislodged from their traditional settlement areardquo ldquoThe anguish of the Kuki people is not about the evictions but the failure to provide rehabilitation to more than hundreds of those affectedrdquo Haokip addedEven as discontent grew over the eviction of the villagers three churches in Imphalrsquos Tribal colony area were demolished on April 11 for being ldquoillegal constructionsrdquo on government land leading to more discontentldquoThe ST communities of Manipur have been consistently opposing to the inclusion of fearing the loss of job opportunities and other affirmative actions granted to STs by the Constitution of India to a much advanced community like the Meiteirdquo the Indian Express IE quoted Janghaolun Haokip of the Kuki Inpi Manipur as sayingldquoThe claim that Meiteis need ST status to protect their culture and identity is selfdefeating The Meiteis are a dominant group controlling the state and its apparatuses The state has been protecting their cultural political and economic rights As such their culture and identity are in no way endangeredhelliprdquo wrote Thongkholal Haokip assistant professor at JNU in his paper lsquoThe Politics of Scheduled Tribe Status in ManipurrsquoldquoTo the hill tribal people of Manipur the demand for ST status is a ploy to attenuate the fervent political demands of the Kukis and Nagas as well as a tacit strategy of the dominant valley dwellers to make inroads into the hill areas of the staterdquo Prof Haokip wrote as per the IE reportFebMonth the govt started the eviction driveThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever