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For the Kuki-Zo people of Manipur who have been restricted to the hills, as if under house arrest, time drags on and they see no light at the end of the tunnel.
The Kuki-Zo people working in various institutions in Imphal have not been able to return to their places of work due to fear of being attacked. What is crystal clear is that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BP) government in Manipur and the central government have turned a blind eye to all that has befallen the Kuki-Zo tribes of Manipur.
On 3 May 2024, the violence that killed and maimed over 200 people, with women subjected to the vilest forms of atrocities, including being mercilessly raped in broad daylight and hundreds of homes going up in flames, has touched the one-year mark.
Let's put aside Manipur for a minute.
Inflation has raised the cost of living to sky-high levels in the northeastern states where the cost of transportation adds to that of essential commodities. Add to this the rent-seeking economy where sundry groups collect their hafta from these goods-carrying trucks, and you have a situation where the poor can barely afford a square meal. 15 kg of free rice a month for a family of five or six does not take them too far.
In 2023, India was ranked 111th out of 125 countries in the Global Hunger Index. India scored 28.7 indicating a serious level of hunger. India’s ranking was worse than that of Pakistan (102), Bangladesh (81), Nepal (69) and Sri Lanka (60). As expected, the Modi government pooh-poohed the statistics, calling them "malafide".
Undernourishment or Malnourishment among children is also a huge problem in the rural areas of this country, particularly the northeastern region, where child wasting, which stands at 18.7 per cent in India, tells us the sordid story of acute malnutrition. But the Modi government is casting aside all these ground realities as if they have been crafted to denigrate his government.
Regarding Manipur, the prime minister has remained a silent spectator. He refused to utter the ‘M’ word for months after the violence occurred and had to be literally dragged to parliament by an uncompromising Opposition, where in a speech lasting over an hour, he only uttered the word "Manipur" only once. What sort of a leader is this who has left a section of his own people to suffer in silence, that too because they are too weak to put up any resistance, having been deprived of all their physical resources and their willpower eroded to the point of complete helplessness.
In normal circumstances, no matter how callous a central government, the state's chief minister presiding over such a reign of terror would have been asked to step down, but none of that happened. To date, the Kuki-Zo people are unable to travel to places outside the state via Imphal airport. They either have to take the Aizawl or Dimapur route. What would it take for the prime minister to even acknowledge that the government has failed Manipur and its people?
The three major ethnic communities residing in Manipur have their own claims over the state. The Kuki-Zo people have been demanding a separate administration on the plea that they will suffer from a development deficit as they have done since the state of Manipur was created. The state government of Manipur will not bow down to that demand and has convinced the central government that the demand for a separate administration is untenable.
Above all, what sort of election can be held in a state that is wracked by violence that has wrecked thousands of young lives and their educational endeavours, who are now living hopeless lives, uncertain as to what the future holds for them? Does the prime minister care about the plight of these young desperados? Perhaps he cannot even relate to them because they don’t resemble the normal “Indian.” That is the tragedy of being a northeasterner, nay a hill tribal, in this country.
(This article has been republished as the ethnic conflict in Manipur touches the one-year mark. It was originally published on 12 April 2024. Click on the link to check out our ground reports from Manipur – and become a member.)
(The writer is the Editor of The Shillong Times and a former member of NSAB. She can be reached at @meipat. This is an opinion piece and the views expressed above are the author’s own. The Quint neither endorses nor is responsible for them.)
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Published: 12 Apr 2024,09:25 AM IST