Tag: manipur clashes

Manipur: Kuki Group Calls for Bandh; Heavy Firing By Meitei Group in Imphal

As per witness reports, the armed mob consists of members of the Meitei right-wing group Arambai Tenggol. The Wire couldn’t independently confirm this claim.

New Delhi: Heavy firing between an armed Meitei mob numbering over 3,000 and the Manipur Rifles has been reported in the heart of Imphal city on Wednesday evening.

As per witness reports, the armed mob consists of members of the Meitei right-wing group Arambai Tenggol. The Wire couldn’t independently confirm this claim.

Locals said the mob gathered at the palace compound of Leishemba Sanajaoba, the BJP Rajya Sabha MP and a member of the Manipur royal family, in the afternoon. Several were armed, they claimed.

“Around 6:25 pm, the mob barged into the Manipur Rifles premises situated close to the Kangla Fort. What we heard is they did this because they wanted to seize arms. As we talk now, heavy firing is going on and reports of some killings have also come though, but we can’t confirm it. What we have heard is, more Manipur Rifles stations have been targeted too to loot arms,” an eyewitness told The Wire from Imphal.

NDTV reported that the Manipur Police fired several rounds in the air on Wednesday to disperse a mob that surrounded a police station near the Chief Minister’s office in Imphal.

The Arambai Tenggol, said to be close to Sanajaoba, has been accused of carrying out several attacks on the Kuki community in Imphal during the ethnic clashes that began in May. The immediate trigger for Tuesday evening’s mob attack on state police stations is said to be the killing of a police officer from the Meitei community, allegedly by Kuki militants a day ago in Tengnoupal district.

At a rally held a month ago, members of Arambai Tenggol gathered at the Kangla fort and pledged to “protect” Manipur.

A cabinet meeting held in Imphal on Tuesday said the officer of SDPO rank belonged to Imphal’s Marak Chingtham Leikai and was shot in the abdomen by Kuki militants “in unprovoked firing” in the Tengnoupal district’s Moreh town. Two other Manipur police officers have also been injured in a separate attack, also allegedly by Kuki militants, in the same district, hours after the SDPO’s killing.

The district magistrate of Imphal East cancelled the earlier announced curfew relaxation in the district in an order passed at 6:15 pm. The curfew relaxation was supposed to be from 5 am to 10 pm.

In response to the additional security deployed in Moreh, the Kuki Students’ Organisation has called for a complete 48-shutdown in Kuki-Zo areas starting midnight of November 1. The KSO has stated that home minister Amit Shah had promised that security deployment in the area would be removed after his visit, but instead it has only increased.

In the ongoing violence in Manipur, the state police force has been accused by the Kukis of supporting the Meitei mobs.

The Wire has tried contacting the office of security adviser Kuldiep Singh for more information but was unable to get across.

Mohan Bhagwat’s Comments on Manipur Violence Show Northeast Remains a Puzzle That RSS Can’t Solve

The Hindutva idealogue’s blaming ‘external forces’ for the clashes between the Meiteis and Kukis could be an attempt at narrative correction. But they also reveal the group’s lack of understanding about a peculiar element in societies in the northeast.

New Delhi: On October 24, Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) supremo Mohan Bhagwat squarely blamed ‘external forces’ for the Manipur violence. 

Much as it matches the stand taken by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) governments at the Centre and in Manipur, it, nevertheless, comes off as a strident attempt at narrative correction by the top Hindutva leader – perhaps to garb the right-wing outfit’s own powerlessness in the Northeast.

Soon after the ongoing violence broke out in Manipur on May 3, the narrative in both local and national media was set. It broke out during a tribal solidarity march carried out in all hill districts of the state against the Manipur high court’s order to the state government that it should recommend the inclusion of the Meitei community in the Scheduled Tribes (ST) list. 

In quick succession, we saw the line shifting to ‘narco-terrorism’, allegedly by “illegal” Kukis. It was particularly vented not just by the Meitei-faction of the BJP in the state but also the Sangh parivar across the country. Peddling of drugs within the state, and from outside the international border, has been a matter of concern not just in Manipur but in some other northeastern states too. However, in a state where the incumbent chief minister was once accused by a police officer in an affidavit in the high court for asking her to “go slow” on a drug kingpin (from the Kuki community), it was only a matter of time before that narrative lost steam.

Lo and behold, it did. None other than the chief minister, N. Biren Singh, began telling select local and national media outlets that ‘external forces’ infiltrating Manipur through the open border with strife-torn Myanmar piloted the violence that left hundreds dead and injured and displaced at least 70,000 people belonging to both Kuki and Meitei communities.

The same narrative was mouthed by Bhagwat at his annual Vijayadashami address to the cadres at the RSS headquarters in Nagpur. The Hindutva ideologue said:

“Why, and by whom, was an attempt made to give a communal tinge to this mutual conflict between the Manipuri Meitei and Kuki communities, who were apprehensive about the future of their existence? Who has a vested interest in trying to drag and besmirch an organisation like the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, which has been engaged in serving everyone without any bias for years, into this unfortunate incident without any reason? Which foreign powers may be interested in taking advantage of such unrest and instability in Manipur, located between Nagabhoomi and Mizoram in this border area? Does the geopolitics of Southeast Asia also have a role in these events?”

His utterance came across as an attempt to separate the RSS from the Manipur violence, perhaps because local rightwing outfits with alleged links to it – like the Arambai Tenggol and Meitei Leepun – were widely alleged to have a hand in the attack on the Kukis in the valley areas. 

More importantly, Bhagwat’s words miss a peculiar element within societies across the Northeast, which organisations like the RSS, hinged on religious hegemony, find hard to crack. 

Across large parts of the country, caste and religion can play a determining role in huddling a society under one umbrella. In the northeastern belt, what cements a group of people as one is the strong sense of community. Pluck out from recent history any bloody strife that rocked the region and you will find that fear of one community losing its power to another is at its root. Not religion or caste. It is this strong sense of community that gives agency to any grouping of people across the region, whether it is a majority or minority.

This factor was seen playing out in the Kuki-Meitei clashes too. Kukis may be a minority in Manipur but are certainly not voiceless; not cowering against a community which is in greater numbers in their state and also has in Biren Singh, a chief minister perceived as batting only for his Meitei community. The agency required to put up a fight was drawn from the neighbouring Mizos, their kindred tribe. Mizoram chief minister Zoramthanga soon acted as the equivalent of Biren Singh for the Kukis of Manipur.  

It is this sense of community that also kicks up a peculiarity during a riot or violent situation in the Northeast. While Church and Hindutva leaders were going all out in the media, counting the number of churches and temples burnt respectively during the Manipur violence, on the ground, Meitei Christians were accusing the Kuki Christians of setting fire to their churches. Clearly, then, religion appears to have played a subservient role to the sense of community. If those accusations were true, Meitei Christians were lumped in by the Kukis with the Meities who are Vaishnavites and followers of Sanamahism. Ditto the case with some recent attacks against the Meitei Pangals or Muslims in the Kwakta area that borders the Kuki-dominated Churachandpur. 

A protest in Manipur against the killing of a Meitei pangal man. Photo: By arrangement

A small section within the Kukis is Bnei Menashe, or Jewish. Wilson Hangshing, an MLA and co-founder of the Kuki People’s Alliance, who has been an important voice in the national media for the Kukis during the Manipur clash, belongs to that community. But religious identity was never a factor when it came to joining hands with the rest of the Kukis, who are mostly Christian. It is also this sense of community and kinship that pivots the Mizoram government’s refusal of orders from New Delhi to push back the Chin refugees into Myanmar.

In the run-up to the 1983 Nellie riots of Assam too, the sense of community played out. Multiple instances of violence were noted where villagers attacked villagers from other communities. E. Rammohan, who was an Assam police officer then, notes in his book Simply Khaki: A Policeman Remembers that a group of Assamese Muslims attacked Muslims of East Bengal origin in the state’s Darrang district. Clearly, then too, community was the pivot.

In the all-so-common insider-outsider conflicts that break out across the Northeast, religion more often than not takes a backseat when posed against the idea of community. Take the Chakmas of Arunachal Pradesh. They may be Buddhist, like a section of people in the state, but it is never a concession when it comes to counting who comes under the umbrella of Arunachalee as a whole. The BJP-RSS have a strong base in both the Chakma and Arunachalee communities, but have not been able to bring them under one umbrella even after years of work.

In recent times, when the National Register of Citizens (NRC) was being updated in Assam under the BJP, religious polarisation of the society was seen to be at its peak. That the state has a considerable population of Muslims of Bengali origin has helped matters for both Hindu and Islamic forces to blow their trumpets. However, by the time the Union government brought in the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), the old equations came to the fore. Firm lines of division were drawn not as per religion but community. Much as the BJP-RSS and chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma kept prodding the Assamese community to ‘identify the enemy’, the Bangladeshi Hindus found no acceptance. The religious card was thrown by the wayside when Guwahati saw a large crowd of anti-CAA protesters hitting the roads, mouthing the 17th century Sufi saint Azan Fakir’s Jikir, ‘Hindu or Muslim, we are the children of the same god…’

A protest in Guwahati against the CAA. Photo: Dr Vikramjit Kakati/Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0

The violence in Manipur has uncanny similarities with the ‘Assam problem’ of the 1980s – the bogey of ‘illegal immigrants’. Even then, there is a variation. In Assam, a sub-nationalist movement led by the majority Assamese community began tilting towards religion (read Hindu) in later decades (until the anti-CAA movement against accepting Hindu Bangladeshis in Assam broke that continuity). In Manipur though, it began as a religious assertion with the involvement of groups like Arambai Tenggol and Meitei Leepun but is now gradually leaning towards an assertion of Meitei sub-nationalism.

In other words, a sense of community overrides that of religion. For outfits structured around religious hegemony, Manipur may prove a puzzle hard to solve.

Watch | ‘BJP Government Siding With Meitei Against Kuki; Modi Was Wrong Not To Reach Out’

In an interview with Karan Thapar, former Union home secretary Gopal Krishna Pillai criticised the response of the Union and state governments to the ethnic clashes in Manipur. He said he has not seen such an incompetent and ineffective response to a crisis in his entire career.

Former Union home secretary Gopal Krishna Pillai, who is an acknowledged expert on the Northeast – and, in particular – Manipur, has said the BJP government’s strategy is to deliberately side with the Meitei against the Kuki in the now four-month-long, ongoing ethnic clashes in Manipur. Pillai says this is why chief minister N. Biren Singh, a Meitei, has not been replaced, despite his incompetence in restoring law and order and his unacceptability to the Kuki, who are 16% of the state’s population, and 15 out of 32 BJP MLAs – including eight who are Meitei. Pillai added that the BJP strategy means that home minister Amit Shah has placed the interests of his party’s politics ahead of the requirements of India’s constitution.

In an extensive interview with Karan Thapar for The Wire, Pillai said Prime Minister Narendra Modi should have reached out to the different communities in Manipur in the early days of the crisis and certainly after it became clear that Shah’s visit in late May had failed to resolve the crisis. Pillai said Modi should have provided a healing touch, adding this is what the “emotional” people of the state need. Pillai said the prime minister could have done this by visiting the state or by calling key people to Delhi. He said by choosing not to do this, Modi has made “the wrong call”.

In the interview, Pillai spoke at length about the failure of the state administration to restore law and order as well as provide relief and rehabilitation. One of the key points he made is the state administration should have immediately acted to recover stolen weapons. He said they know who’s got them and they should have “raided houses” to get them back. Failure to do so, he added, suggests they’re happy for the weapons to remain in stolen hands. Pillai also said all the officials who failed to prevent the theft of the weapons should have been immediately punished or sacked. That hasn’t happened.

The former home secretary was also sharply critical of the state government’s failure to provide rehabilitation and compensation. The picture he paints is of a state government that knows what needs to be done but is failing or refusing to do it.

Pillai was also sharply critical of the Union government’s response. He said several joint secretaries, from ministries such as home, health and water supply, should be camping in Manipur, to ensure an effective response but have not been sent. He specifically referred to Amit Shah’s promise, made in May, to send medical teams which, three months later, remains unfulfilled.

He said he has not seen such an incompetent and ineffective response to a crisis in his entire career.

He points out there were clear warning signs well before the crisis erupted on May 3 which were ignored both in Imphal and Delhi. Again, this points to the incompetence of the people in charge in both capitals

The interview also contains a detailed discussion of what Pillai calls “background issues”. These are the refugees seeking shelter from tyranny in Myanmar and how they should not be seen as a factor that threatens demographic change; the poppy cultivation and drug trade, in which he says both Kuki and Meitei are involved; and the charge of forest encroachment, which he says is exaggerated.

Pillai says he expects relative calm till November-December but is worried about what could happen thereafter.

In the interview, Pillai also discusses the Meitei “land hunger” and the Kuki demand for a separate administration. These are the two key political issues that are most difficult to tackle and resolve, he said and gives clear answers to how they should be handled.

The former home secretary also puts the recent pro-Kuki statements by the United Naga Council in context.

Manipur Violence: Supreme Court Says Trial in CBI Cases Will Be Conducted in Assam

The top court said victims should not be expected to travel to Assam and should instead be facilitated to provide statements through video conferences.

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Friday, August 25, said that the trial of criminal cases connected with the Manipur violence that the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) is probing can be conducted in Assam.

According to Bar and Bench, the top court said victims should not be expected to travel to Assam and should instead be facilitated to provide statements through video conferences. The bench led by Chief Justice of India (CJI) D.Y. Chandrachud was assured by solicitor general (SG) Tushar Mehta that proper internet facilities shall be provided in Manipur to allow statements via a video conference. However, those who wish to travel to Guwahati to appear in court physically can do so.

“So you want the statements to be recorded in Manipur and not in Assam or wherever the victims are … Chief Justice of Gauhati High Court will take care and the entire process will be done virtually … We will not ask the survivor to travel to Assam.. and we will have statements and evidence recorded in Manipur,” the CJI observed orally in response to concerns raised by lawyers Colin Gonsalves and Vrinda Grover, according to Bar and Bench.

In response to Senior Advocate Indira Jaising’s query over why Assam has been chosen for the conduct of the trial,

SG Mehta said that Assam was chosen because it has “maximum” internet connectivity.

The top court also passed some directions to ensure a fair process. Among these was asking the chief justice of the Gauhati high court to nominate “one or more officers above the rank of Judicial Magistrate First Class and sessions judge to deal with such trial cases”.

It said that judicial custody shall be permitted in Manipur, while the recording of statements under Section 164 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) shall be recorded in the presence of a local magistrate in Manipur. The acting chief justice of the Manipur high court shall designate one or more magistrates for this, the apex court said, according to Bar and Bench.

All applications for the production of the accused, remand, judicial custody, extension of custody, and other proceedings are allowed to be conducted online, bearing in mind both distance and security issues at the courts that will be designated to conduct the trial.

The bench also said that the chief justice of the Gauhati high court shall nominate judges who are conversant with one or more languages spoken in Manipur to deal with the criminal trial.

The court’s directions came during a hearing of a batch of pleas related to the ethnic clashes between the Meitei and Kuki communities in Manipur. Among the petitioners were two Kuki women whose assault by a mob was recorded on video and later went viral.

After the video emerged, the top court took suo motu cognizance of the matter and constituted an all-women committee – headed by the former chief justice of the Jammu and Kashmir high court Gita Mittal – to suggest measures. It had filed three reports on its findings on the violence, suggesting recovery and reconstruction of documents lost in arson and gunfire and just compensation rules and the appointment of domain experts.

Ethnic clashes in Manipur have been ongoing since May 3. More than 150 people have been killed and several thousands have been displaced. Leaders of the Kuki community say they have no faith in the government led by the BJP’s N. Biren Singh, a Meitei, and that a separate administration for the Kuki tribe is the only way forward.

Manipur CM Biren Singh Holds Discussion on Rehabilitation, Security Measures With Amit Shah

Singh has asked for Rs 150-200 crore from the Union government to begin rebuilding houses destroyed in the violence.

New Delhi: Manipur chief minister N. Biren Singh met Union home minister Amit Shah on Thursday (August 24) to discuss rehabilitation of those displaced by the violence in the state and sought assistance in rebuilding houses that were destroyed in the clashes, the Hindu reported.

Singh has asked for Rs 150-200 crore from the Union government, the report said. “The chief minister has recently inaugurated 400 prefabricated huts built to provide shelter to those who lost their homes in the violence. The Centre has given Rs 100 crore to build shelters and provide other relief, but we need to start rebuilding the destroyed homes – it will instil confidence among people,” an official was quoted by the Hindu as saying.

While the Manipur government intends to rebuild all houses burnt during the violence, the initial target is to deliver approximately 1,000.

The security situation in the state, coordination between Manipur police and central forces, and surrender of looted weapons were also discussed in the meeting, the report said.

Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) said 50 more companies of the CRPF are being sent to Manipur to strengthen buffer zones between the hills and the valley and provide security to the CBI team probing multiple FIRs related to violence in the state.

Also read: Manipur Governor Summons Assembly Session on August 29

Following the clashes, there has been a geographical separation of the communities, with Kukis withdrawing to the hills, and Meiteis leaving the hills for the valley. Central forces have been instructed to strictly maintain the sanctity of buffer zones created to prevent the movement of Meiteis towards the hills and Kukis towards valley areas, the report said.

“Right now emotions are running high…but let’s remember that the Naga-Kuki war was far more violent, and yet with time we have seen them coexisting peacefully. It may take some time but it will happen in this case, too,” an official was quoted by the Hindu as saying.

More than 150 people have been killed and more than 50,000 displaced in the ethnic violence between the Kuki and Meitei communities. Singh said the violence that began on May 3 was likely preplanned.

He said that “there was no reason for the violence” because the state government had not taken action on the high court ruling that prompted the initial protests. “Had we agreed for ST demand then there would have been a reason. We cannot take the decisions unilaterally, there are 34 tribes in Manipur,” Singh said.

The chief minister also claimed to have been unaware of the sexual assault of the three women who were paraded by a mob on May 4 in Thoubal and said that the video was ‘leaked’ a day before the Monsoon session of the Parliament as part of a ‘conspiracy’.

Ahead of the upcoming session on August 29, Singh said he has spoken to the Meitei civil society groups and will ensure that the Kuki-Zo MLAs are not harmed. The tribal MLAs are likely to skip the Session due to security concerns, the Hindu reported.

“The [Kuki] MLAs and Ministers, we are old friends, I am talking to them, I told them we cannot be separated. We have been together all these years and will be together in future as well. Only the illegal migrants cannot be accommodated,” Singh said.

Manipur Needs ‘Healing Touch’ Say Former Civil Servants, Urge Union Government to Act

In a statement, the Constitutional Conduct Group said that the ethnic conflict in Manipur threatens not just to tear apart the social fabric of the state but calls into question the “very spirit of harmony and fraternity that is the foundation of India’s ‘unity in diversity’”.

New Delhi: A group of retired civil servants have said that the ethnic conflict in Manipur threatens not just to tear apart the social fabric of the state but calls into question the “very spirit of harmony and fraternity that is the foundation of India’s ‘unity in diversity’”.

The open statement by the Constitutional Conduct Group (CCG), released on August 6, is signed by more than 100 former civil servants. It accused the Manipur state government and the state police of dereliction of their fundamental duty to protect the life and property of citizens.

“This has created the conditions for a complete breakdown of law and order, with a deliberately orchestrated and targeted carnage that has included large scale arson, lynching, collective rape, vandalism, looting, mob violence and obstruction of central security forces from carrying out their duties, followed by armed attacks and retaliation by both communities,” the statement says.

The “total failure” of the state is evident in the raiding of police armouries, which has allowed people to loot around 4,500 weapons and an estimated 5 lakh rounds of ammunition, the statement says. Such looting is unimaginable and without precedent in India, the signatories added.

For the Union government, the “immediate priority” must be to provide a healing touch through relief and rehabilitation measures, compensation and other assistance, CCG said. The statement adds that the “underlying causes” of the conflict “need to be objectively identified and addressed within the bounds of constitutional parameters”.

The former civil servants urged the Union government to impose President’s Rule in Manipur; provide relief and rehabilitation measures; and take severe punitive action against individuals and groups intent on fomenting unrest.

The full statement and the list of signatories are reproduced below.

§

CCG OPEN STATEMENT ON MANIPUR: MANIPUR NEEDS THE HEALING TOUCH

6 August 2023

The Constitutional Conduct Group, a group of former civil servants firmly committed to the Constitution of India, and not affiliated to any political party, notes with the greatest concern the total breakdown of the rule of law and constitutional values in the state of Manipur since early May 2023. What started as a protest by the Kuki-Zo community against the decision of the Manipur High Court, directing the state government to recommend to the Government of India the grant of Scheduled Tribe status to the majority Meitei community, has since snowballed into a dangerous, internecine ethnic conflict that threatens not just to tear apart the social fabric of Manipur but calls into question the very spirit of harmony and fraternity that is the foundation of India’s “unity in diversity”. 

We wish to strongly highlight the dereliction of their fundamental duty by the Manipur state government and the state police in protecting the life and property of their citizens. This has created the conditions for a complete breakdown of law and order, with a deliberately orchestrated and targeted carnage that has included large scale arson, lynching, collective rape, vandalism, looting, mob violence and obstruction of central security forces from carrying out their duties, followed by armed attacks and retaliation by both communities. These atrocities have taken place under a double-edged internet ban, lifted only partially on July 25, that has prevented their horror and scale from coming out earlier, while also providing grist to rumour-mongering and spread of fake news.  This total failure of the state has allowed the raiding of police armouries by perpetrators of the violence, reportedly resulting in around 4,500 weapons of varying sophistication and an estimated 5 lakh rounds of ammunition being looted, which is continuing even to the present day. Such looting is unimaginable and without precedent anywhere in India.

What lends credence to the charge of the Chief Minister, Mr. N. Biren Singh, being partisan in his approach to tackling the tragedy is his demonisation and targeting of one community as ‘illegal migrants’, ‘poppy cultivators’, ‘encroachers’, ‘narco-terrorists’ and ‘terrorists’. These “dog whistles”, which tend to smear an entire community, have served to excite the passions of the majority community to which the Chief Minister belongs. A high constitutional functionary, like the Chief Minister, is expected to restore the rule of law and take steps to cool inflamed passions, rather than stoke them further. The failure to take strong action against militant organisations of the Meitei community, the Arambai Tenggol and Meitei Leepun, which openly issue threats of “annihilation” and “blowing up” of the tribal Kuki-Zo minority, or the Coordinating Committee on Manipur Integrity (COCOMI), which advocates a “Manipuri national war against Chin-Kuki narco-terrorism” and the arming of civilians, only seems to confirm fears about the partisan approach of the state administration; the same applies to the approach of the law enforcement authorities of Manipur state to the aggressive actions of the Meira Paibis, which include their preventing the army from apprehending those engaged in violent activities.  

What causes us even deeper anguish, as former civil servants who have dealt with surcharged law and order situations in the course of our careers, has been the largely passive role that the union government has played in this entire imbroglio. What was required at the very onset of the violence in May 2023 was the imposition of President’s Rule, given the abject failure of the state government to function in accordance with the provisions of the Constitution. However, instead of invoking Article 356 of the Constitution to impose President’s Rule, a Security Adviser to the state and a new Director General of Police from the cadre of a neighbouring state were appointed, and a Unified Command constituted, all reporting to the Government of Manipur, headed by the Chief Minister. Apart from the visit to Manipur by the Union Home Minister end May-early June 2023, when he met with different sections of society, there has been no active political involvement of the centre in establishing peace between the opposing communities.   

The union government also lost a golden opportunity to involve the opposition parties in trying to arrive at a political solution to the problem. Political expediency has won out: we are witness to the spectacle of a non-functioning parliament at a time of crisis, with the Prime Minister making no statement in Parliament on the Manipur crisis, which would enable the initiation of a dialogue on the issue. 

We are even more appalled at the approach of the union government to the ghastly events of the stripping and parading naked of two women, the alleged gangrape of one of them and the murder of two male members, all of the same family, on May 4. While expressing his outrage over the incident, outside Parliament rather than on the floor of either House, the Prime Minister seemed to draw an equivalence between this incident in Manipur and other incidents in states like Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh, though the incidents are not at all comparable. There was no explanation of how his government and the Manipur state government were blissfully unaware of this heinous incident despite the filing of an FIR over two months ago. 

We would like to bring to the union government’s notice that the May 4 incident (along with other such similar incidents of sexual violence against women during the last three months in Manipur) represent the disgraceful phenomenon of Conflict Related Sexual Violence. The intent of the perpetrators of this violence and their instigators is to use womens’ bodies for signalling dominance. Failure to nip such perverted tendencies in the bud can lead to escalation in conflict and make reconciliation difficult. 

While the Union Home Minister, during his visit to Manipur, announced the setting up of a panel headed by a retired High Court judge to investigate the reasons for the violence and to identify those behind the violence, this will not suffice to heal the wounds that have been caused by the ongoing violence and the severe trust deficit between the two communities, as well as the lack of confidence of the minority Kuki community in the impartial conduct of the state government and its police force. The nonpartisan and positive role played by the army, the Assam Rifles and central paramilitary forces, which has been appreciated, indicates that there is need to continue with the deployment of these forces in the buffer zones between the two communities, to forestall offensive attacks . 

The immediate priority is to provide a healing touch to the affected persons of both communities. The lethargic relief measures taken by the state government have been very inadequate. Effective relief and rehabilitation measures as well as adequate compensation need to be provided to all affected individuals/families to enable them to rebuild their lives. These should include: (i) providing suitable shelters to the affected, either in public buildings or in requisitioned private premises, with proper hygiene and security, for as long as a return to their homes is not feasible; (ii) providing free food supplies for those in the relief camps and free PDS rations for internally displaced people residing elsewhere ; (iii) starting MNREGA works that could provide income to those affected; (iv) providing childcare, health, trauma care and education services that would meet the needs of those in the relief camps, especially mothers and children, including newborns (v) in the medium term, providing assistance for rebuilding damaged houses and other public premises.

The underlying causes of the ongoing mayhem in Manipur need to be objectively identified and addressed within the bounds of constitutional parameters. Unsubstantiated charges and dangerous brinkmanship by all parties, and grave disruptions of the social fabric of Manipur, as well as sustained violence, could resonate and spill over not only into neighbouring states but also across international borders, where ethnic bonds exist. This would be a recipe for unimaginable strife which will not leave the rest of India unscathed.

We, therefore, urge the Government of India to take the following actions at the earliest:

1) Impose President’s Rule in Manipur and appoint, as Advisers to the Governor, experienced former administrators and police officers who have knowledge of the region and can empathetically interact with the local populace. Every effort should be made to restore the trust of all sections of the citizenry in the local administration.

2) Provide relief and rehabilitation measures as well as compensation to affected individuals/families in a nonpartisan manner, with the aim of bringing back normalcy at the earliest.

3) Take severe punitive action against individuals and groups intent on fomenting unrest, including bringing to justice all the instigators and perpetrators of incidents of violence since the beginning of May, firmly checking hate speech, rounding up looted arms and ammunition and putting an end to offensive attacks against other communities. The message needs to firmly go out that no attempt by any non-state organisation to take the law into its hands will be tolerated.

  We earnestly entreat the Government of India as well as other stakeholders not to let issues of prestige and political expediency inform actions, when the imperatives of both internal peace and external security warrant mature responses. We must all realise that if India loses, no one wins. 

SATYAMEVA JAYATE

Constitutional Conduct Group (113 signatories, as at pages 4-7 below)

1 Anita Agnihotri IAS (Retd.) Former Secretary, Department of Social Justice Empowerment, GoI
2 V.S. Ailawadi IAS (Retd.) Former Vice Chairman, Delhi Development Authority
3 Anand Arni RAS (Retd.) Former Special Secretary, Cabinet Secretariat, GoI
4 G. Balachandhran IAS (Retd.) Former Additional Chief Secretary, Govt. of West Bengal
5 Vappala Balachandran  IPS (Retd.) Former Special Secretary, Cabinet Secretariat, GoI
6 Gopalan Balagopal  IAS (Retd.) Former Special Secretary, Govt. of West Bengal
7 Chandrashekar Balakrishnan  IAS (Retd.) Former Secretary, Coal, GoI
8 Sushant Baliga Engineering Services (Retd.) Former Additional Director General, Central PWD, GoI
9 Rana Banerji RAS (Retd.) Former Special Secretary, Cabinet Secretariat, GoI
10 T.K. Banerji IAS (Retd.) Former Member, Union Public Service Commission
11 Sharad Behar IAS (Retd.) Former Chief Secretary, Govt. of Madhya Pradesh
12 Aurobindo Behera IAS (Retd.) Former Member, Board of Revenue, Govt. of Odisha
13 Madhu Bhaduri IFS (Retd.) Former Ambassador to Portugal
14 K.V. Bhagirath IFS (Retd.) Former Secretary General, Indian Ocean Rim Association, Mauritius
15 Pradip Bhattacharya  IAS (Retd.) Former Additional Chief Secretary, Development & Planning and Administrative Training Institute, Govt. of West Bengal
16 Nutan Guha Biswas IAS (Retd.) Former Member, Police Complaints Authority, Govt. of NCT of Delhi
17 Meeran C Borwankar  IPS (Retd.) Former DGP, Bureau of Police Research and Development, GoI
18 Ravi Budhiraja IAS (Retd.) Former Chairman, Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust, GoI
19 Sundar Burra  IAS (Retd.) Former Secretary, Govt. of Maharashtra
20 Maneshwar Singh Chahal IAS (Retd.) Former Principal Secretary, Home, Govt. of Punjab
21 R. Chandramohan IAS (Retd.) Former Principal Secretary, Transport and Urban Development, Govt. of NCT of Delhi
22 K.M. Chandrasekhar IAS (Retd.) Former Cabinet Secretary, GoI
23 Rachel Chatterjee IAS (Retd.) Former Special Chief Secretary, Agriculture, Govt. of Andhra Pradesh
24 Kalyani Chaudhuri  IAS (Retd.) Former Additional Chief Secretary, Govt. of West Bengal
25 Gurjit Singh Cheema IAS (Retd.) Former Financial Commissioner (Revenue), Govt. of Punjab
26 F.T.R. Colaso IPS (Retd.) Former Director General of Police, Govt. of Karnataka & former Director General of Police, Govt. of Jammu & Kashmir
27 Anna Dani  IAS (Retd.) Former Additional Chief Secretary, Govt. of Maharashtra
28 Vibha Puri Das  IAS (Retd.) Former Secretary, Ministry of Tribal Affairs, GoI
29 P.R. Dasgupta IAS (Retd.) Former Chairman, Food Corporation of India, GoI
30 Pradeep K. Deb IAS (Retd.) Former Secretary, Deptt. Of Sports, GoI
31 Nitin Desai   Former Chief Economic Adviser, Ministry of Finance, GoI
32 M.G. Devasahayam IAS (Retd.) Former Secretary, Govt. of Haryana
33 Sushil Dubey  IFS (Retd.) Former Ambassador to Sweden
34 A.S. Dulat IPS (Retd.) Former OSD on Kashmir, Prime Minister’s Office, GoI
35 K.P. Fabian  IFS (Retd.) Former Ambassador to Italy
36 Suresh K. Goel IFS (Retd.) Former Director General, Indian Council of Cultural Relations, GoI
37 S. Gopal IPS (Retd.) Former Special Secretary, GoI
38 H.S. Gujral IFoS (Retd.) Former Principal Chief Conservator of Forests, Govt. of Punjab
39 Meena Gupta IAS (Retd.) Former Secretary, Ministry of Environment & Forests, GoI
40 Ravi Vira Gupta  IAS (Retd.) Former Deputy Governor, Reserve Bank of India
41 Wajahat Habibullah  IAS (Retd.) Former Secretary, GoI and former Chief Information Commissioner
42 Deepa Hari  IRS (Resigned)
43 Vivek Harinarain  IAS (Retd.) Govt. of Tamil Nadu
44 Siraj Hussain IAS (Retd.) Former Secretary, Department of Agriculture, GoI
45 Kamal Jaswal  IAS (Retd.) Former Secretary, Department of Information Technology, GoI
46 Naini Jeyaseelan  IAS (Retd.) Former Secretary, Inter-State Council, GoI
47 Najeeb Jung IAS (Retd.) Former Lieutenant Governor, Delhi
48 Sanjay Kaul IAS (Retd.) Former Principal Secretary, Govt. of Karnataka
49 Brijesh Kumar  IAS (Retd.) Former Secretary, Department of Information Technology, GoI
50 Ish Kumar IPS (Retd.) Former DGP (Vigilance & Enforcement), Govt. of Telangana and former Special Rapporteur, National Human Rights Commission
51 Sudhir Kumar IAS (Retd.) Former Member, Central Administrative Tribunal
52 Subodh Lal IPoS (Resigned) Former Deputy Director General, Ministry of Communications, GoI
53 Sunil Lal IFS (Retd.) Former Ambassador to Brazil and former Ambassador to Spain
54 P.M.S. Malik  IFS (Retd.) Former Ambassador to Myanmar & Special Secretary, MEA, GoI
55 Harsh Mander  IAS (Retd.) Govt. of Madhya Pradesh
56 Amitabh Mathur IPS (Retd.) Former Special Secretary, Cabinet Secretariat, GoI
57 Aditi Mehta IAS (Retd.) Former Additional Chief Secretary, Govt. of Rajasthan
58 Shivshankar Menon IFS (Retd.) Former Foreign Secretary and Former National Security Adviser
59 Sonalini Mirchandani  IFS (Resigned) GoI
60 Malay Mishra IFS (Retd.) Former Ambassador to Hungary
61 Sunil Mitra  IAS (Retd.) Former Secretary, Ministry of Finance, GoI
62 Avinash Mohananey IPS (Retd.) Former Director General of Police, Govt. of Sikkim
63 Geetmala Mohananey IRS (Retd.) Former Chief Commissioner of Income Tax, GoI
64 Satya Narayan Mohanty IAS (Retd.) Former Secretary General, National Human Rights Commission
65 Jugal Mohapatra IAS (Retd.) Former Secretary, Department of Rural Development, GoI
66 Deb Mukharji  IFS (Retd.) Former High Commissioner to Bangladesh and former Ambassador to Nepal
67 Shiv Shankar Mukherjee IFS (Retd.) Former High Commissioner to the United Kingdom
68 Gautam Mukhopadhaya IFS (Retd.) Former Ambassador to Myanmar
69 Ramesh Narayanaswami IAS (Retd.) Former Chief Secretary, Govt. of NCT of Delhi
70 P. Joy Oommen IAS (Retd.) Former Chief Secretary, Govt. of Chhattisgarh
71 Amitabha Pande  IAS (Retd.) Former Secretary, Inter-State Council, GoI
72 Mira Pande  IAS (Retd.) Former State Election Commissioner, West Bengal
73 Maxwell Pereira IPS (Retd.) Former Joint Commissioner of Police, Delhi
74 Alok Perti  IAS (Retd.) Former Secretary, Ministry of Coal, GoI
75 G.K. Pillai IAS (Retd.) Former Home Secretary, GoI
76 R. Poornalingam IAS (Retd.) Former Secretary, Ministry of Textiles, GoI
77 Jayant Prasad IFS (Retd.) Former Ambassador to Nepal
78 Rajesh Prasad IFS (Retd.) Former Ambassador to the Netherlands
79 Rajdeep Puri IRS (Resigned) Former Joint Commissioner of Income Tax, GoI
80 T.R. Raghunandan  IAS (Retd.) Former Joint Secretary, Ministry of Panchayati Raj, GoI
81 N.K. Raghupathy  IAS (Retd.) Former Chairman, Staff Selection Commission, GoI
82 V.P. Raja IAS (Retd.) Former Chairman, Maharashtra Electricity Regulatory Commission
83 K. Ramanujam IPS (Retd.) Former Chief Information Commissioner, Tamil Nadu
84 M. Rameshkumar IAS (Retd.) Former Member, Maharashtra Administrative Tribunal
85 K. Sujatha Rao IAS (Retd.) Former Health Secretary, GoI
86 M.Y. Rao  IAS (Retd.)
87 Satwant Reddy  IAS (Retd.) Former Secretary, Chemicals and Petrochemicals, GoI
88 Vijaya Latha Reddy IFS (Retd.) Former Deputy National Security Adviser, GoI
89 Julio Ribeiro  IPS (Retd.) Former Adviser to Governor of Punjab & former Ambassador to Romania
90 Aruna Roy  IAS (Resigned)
91 A.K. Samanta IPS (Retd.) Former Director General of Police (Intelligence), Govt. of West Bengal
92 Deepak Sanan IAS (Retd.) Former Principal Adviser (AR) to Chief Minister, Govt. of Himachal Pradesh
93 G.V. Venugopala Sarma IAS (Retd.) Former Member, Board of Revenue, Govt. of Odisha 
94 N.C. Saxena  IAS (Retd.) Former Secretary, Planning Commission, GoI
95 Ardhendu Sen  IAS (Retd.) Former Chief Secretary, Govt. of West Bengal
96 Abhijit Sengupta IAS (Retd.) Former Secretary, Ministry of Culture, GoI
97 Aftab Seth  IFS (Retd.) Former Ambassador to Japan
98 Ashok Kumar Sharma IFoS (Retd.) Former MD, State Forest Development Corporation, Govt. of Gujarat
99 Ashok Kumar Sharma IFS (Retd.) Former Ambassador to Finland and Estonia
100 Navrekha Sharma  IFS (Retd.) Former Ambassador to Indonesia
101 Avay Shukla IAS (Retd.) Former Additional Chief Secretary (Forests & Technical Education), Govt. of Himachal Pradesh
102 Sujatha Singh IFS (Retd.) Former Foreign Secretary, GoI
103 Tara Ajai Singh IAS (Retd.) Former Additional Chief Secretary, Govt. of Karnataka
104 Tirlochan Singh IAS (Retd.) Former Secretary, National Commission for Minorities, GoI
105 A.K. Srivastava IAS (Retd.) Former Administrative Member, Madhya Pradesh Administrative Tribunal
106 Parveen Talha IRS (Retd.) Former Member, Union Public Service Commission
107 Anup Thakur IAS (Retd.) Former Member, National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission
108 P.S.S. Thomas IAS (Retd.) Former Secretary General, National Human Rights Commission
109 Geetha Thoopal IRAS (Retd.) Former General Manager, Metro Railway, Kolkata
110 Jawed Usmani IAS (Retd.) Former Chief Secretary, Govt. of Uttar Pradesh & former Chief Information Commissioner, Uttar Pradesh
111 Ashok Vajpeyi IAS (Retd.) Former Chairman, Lalit Kala Akademi
112 Ramani Venkatesan IAS (Retd.) Former Director General, YASHADA, Govt. of Maharashtra
113 Rudi Warjri IFS (Retd.) Former Ambassador to Colombia, Ecuador and Costa Rica

 

Why is the ‘Strongest PM’ India Has Ever Had Silent on Adani, Brijbhushan, Manipur and China?

Karma for the ‘Maun’mohan Singh jab seems to have finally caught up with Narendra Modi.

During the 2014 election campaign, Narendra Modi took great pleasure in deriding incumbent prime minister Manmohan Singh as ‘weak’ and ‘voiceless’. At rallies, he was frequently taunted as ‘Maun’mohan Singh, playing on the Hindi word for silence. At a Shimla rally, Modi asked why ‘Maunmohan’ Singh and Sonia Gandhi kept a stony silence on issues like inflation and price rise under the UPA.

Each epithet Modi threw at Manmohan Singh is now rebounding on him with a vengeance. Some call it Modi’s own karma while others say it is Keshubhai Patel’s curse.

More than a decade ago, in 2012, Modi found himself isolated. Even the RSS organ Panchjanya had hit out at Modi’s ‘style of functioning’ as Gujarat’s chief minister. Pitted against Modi were an array of Gujarat seniors like former chief minister Suresh Mehta, Kashiram Rana, Gordhan Zadaphia, Nalin Bhat, Sidharth Parmar and Pravin Maniar.

Aging and ailing, Keshubhai Patel often cursed his old chela and called him a ‘rhino’. He asked people to guard against the antics of the lanpot sankh (a Gujarati term for braggart). He described Modi as a ‘demon’ favouring industrialists at the expense of the poor.

A decade later, Modi’s involvement with the industrialist that Keshubhai had in mind has seemingly left him speechless. He has not uttered a word about the damning revelations contained in the Hindenburg report about his friend Gautam Adani’s alleged stock market manipulations, accounting irregularities and undisclosed transactions. In the resultant stock market turmoil, the Adani Group’s net worth was halved.

The issue rocked parliament, with the opposition insisting on a joint parliament committee (JPC) inquiry into the scam and that the prime minister should come to the house to explain his relationship with the Adanis. While Modi himself maintained maun all along, his colleagues persistently stonewalled every demand for public scrutiny, made in and outside parliament. Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal went to the extent of alleging that the money involved ‘actually’ belonged to Modi. He said Adani was merely a front. 

This is an extremely serious allegation levelled by a chief minister. He has challenged the very personal integrity of the country’s prime minister. Modi had in the past charged the UPA government with a series of scams. But no one had ever accused Manmohan Singh of personal involvement. In fact, no prime minister in India was ever accused of this kind of direct personal involvement in any such misdemeanours, not even Rajiv Gandhi, who was accused of enriching his friends but not himself. This renders Modi’s silence on the Adani imbroglio even more surprising.

Rahul Gandhi holds up a photo of Narendra Modi in a private jet with Gautam Adani in the Lok Sabha, February 7, 2023. Photo: Screengrab via Sansad TV

Blame it on the stars or karma, the dawn of 2023 found Modi totally tongue-tied on half a dozen pressing issues. For several months, India’s champion wrestlers were on the streets seeking action against the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) president, Brijbhushan Sharan Singh – who is also a BJP MP. Women wrestlers, including minors, alleged repeated sexual misbehaviour by Singh, who had for years established a vice-like grip on the entire federation.

Crucial positions in the WFI are held by his kin and friends who controlled the entire outfit. As the agitation and dharna continued at Jantar Mantar, Modi and his ministers were busy breaking the morale of the protesters. While Singh was gaily rubbing shoulders with his party bosses at the inauguration of the new Parliament building, the police were manhandling the wrestlers at Jantar Mantar. They were detained and kept in the police station for hours before finally being charged with rioting.

At one stage, the wrestlers were so disheartened by Modi’s refusal to break his silence that they went to Hardwar to throw their medals into the Ganga. However, they were persuaded not to do so by leaders of the farmers’ unions. The wrestlers also got widespread support from the middle classes and youth. A C-Voter survey found that 68.4% of the people interviewed wanted the PM to take strong action against the accused BJP MP.

Khap panchayats extended full support to the wrestlers and organised their own protests. Women from the mahapanchayat rushed to Delhi to join the wrestlers’ dharna. None of this moved Modi who, as a diehard despot, went by his own cold calculations. Jat votes, which can influence 40 Lok Sabha seats spread over four states, are important for him. But ignoring the Brijbhushan factor in Uttar Pradesh could also be politically fatal.

It is this dilemma that forced India’s “strongest prime minister” into a long maunvrat on the issue. Yet behind the scenes, he tried to break the agitation. He deputed Anurag Thakur, who sought to wean away what the establishment thought was the most vulnerable section. Though the Supreme Court refused to monitor the investigation, its verdict forced the police to move.

Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh at the parliament inauguration. Photo: Special arrangement

The reason for Modi’s stony silence on the Manipur violence, now ongoing for over two months, belongs to a third category. The ethnic clashes which began on May 3 have forced 37,000 people into relief camps, 12,000 people to flee and have killed at least 142. Over 36,000 central forces personnel have been deployed in the state. Caught in a cleft stick of its own creation, any solution the government suggests could bounce back on it.

Authoritarians the world over avoid such risks. They always seek to take credit for positive achievements and carefully avoid unpopular decisions. Hence, Modi deputed Amit Shah to Manipur – where the latter drew a blank. This explains his refusal even to meet an opposition delegation to discuss the situation in Manipur for 10 days. Finally, they left a memorandum at the PMO. Other delegations from Manipur also had similar experiences. Angry at Modi’s silence, the protesters refused to listen to his ‘Mann Ki Baat’ homilies.

The clashes have forced even the RSS to make a formal appeal for peace. But not India’s prime minister.

Consider how A.B. Vajpayee handled a similar situation in July 2001. He took an all-party delegation to Manipur and held two all-party meetings. This should be the practice in a democracy. Discussion at the National Integration Council was another tradition during the pre-Modi era.

Sidestepping uncomfortable truths

Silence as a device to sidestep uncomfortable truths has been spreading to new areas. The PM persistently avoids talking about the ingress of Chinese troops at the Line of Actual Control (LAC) ever since his 2020 faux pas. Modi had surprised everyone by claiming that “neither has anyone intruded into Indian territory nor has anyone captured any military posts”, which contradicted his government’s statements. 

Similar silence prevails on price rise and the economic situation after his gaffe on inflation in February last year.

In one of his rare retorts, Manmohan Singh had way back in 2018 asked Modi why he was afraid of holding press conferences and thus avoiding media scrutiny. The former PM has a point. Unlike other PMs, Modi has never held a press conference. In the US, he attended a press conference after eight years but took only one question.

Even this misfired badly. Instead of the soft questions Modi is used to, the Wall Street Journal‘s correspondent asked a highly embarrassing question. This led to wild trolling of the journalist by the BJP’s social media soldiers. Things got so ghastly that the White House issued a formal statement condemning the ‘harassment’. 

It is not for nothing that Maun-Modi sets great value by what is now his trademark silence.

P. Raman is a veteran journalist.

Manipur: Case Registered Against Fact-Finding Team Which Said Violence Was ‘State-Sponsored’

In a separate development, the commisisoner of Manipur’s home department has asked the director general of police to register a case against the Zomi Students’ Federation and Kuki Students Organisation for publishing a booklet.

New Delhi: A case has been registered against the three members of a fact-finding team which visited Manipur recently and declared that the ethnic clashes in the state were the result of “state-sponsored violence”.

The first information report (FIR) was registered on July 8 at the Imphal police station against Annie Raja, Nisha Siddhu and Deeksha Dwivedi. The three women were part of a the National Federation of Indian Women (NFIW)’s fact-finding team that visited Manipur from June 28 to July 1. Raja is the general secretary of NFIW while Sidhu is its national secretary. Dwivedi is a Delhi-based lawyer.

According to reports, the FIR invokes several sections of the Indian Penal Code, including waging war against the state, provocation and defamation. The complaint was filed by one L. Liben Singh for statements made by the three women at a press conference where they detailed their findings.

The case against the fact-finding team comes after three people – a leading academic and two Kuki activists –  were summoned by an Imphal court in cases filed by Meitei activists who claimed that statements made by them in recent interviews with The Wire had “inflamed communal passions”.

The three women had said a press conference on July 2 that the clashes in Manipur are “not communal violence nor is it merely a fight between two communities.” It involves the “questions of land, resources, and the presence of fanatics and militants. The government shrewdly carried out strategies to materialise its hidden pro-corporate agenda, which has led to the current crisis”, they said.

They called it “state-sponsored violence” which “didn’t occur without any build-up”. According to Newsclick, they said, “A clear backdrop of mistrust and anxiety was stoked amidst both communities by the ruling dispensation at the state and Centre to precipitate a full-blown civil war-like situation.”

This claim shows that the women are conspiring “to overthrow a democratically elected government by instigating people to wage war against the Government”, according to the complaint.

Apart from objecting to the fact-finding team’s claim that the violence between the Kuki and Meitei communities is a state-sponsored violence, the complainant has also taken offence to their categorisation of Manipur chief minister N. Biren Singh’s decision to withdraw his resignation as “stage-managed drama”. By describing the protests, which Singh cited as the reason for reversing his decision, as such, the three women “in complete disregard of facts have abused the woman Meira Paibis of Manipur”. The Meira Paibis or “women torch bearers” are loosely organised civil society groups that march through the streets at night with flaming torches.

The Wire spoke to one of the three women, who said she got to about the FIR through various local media reports. She said has not received a copy of the FIR yet. Asked for a comment on the development, she said she could only do so after looking at the FIR.

According to Nagaland Post, the NFIW fact-finding team said on July 2 that Biren Singh, as as the elected representative of the people, was “responsible for protecting the lives of the people of the state, irrespective of communities they belonged to”.

She added:

“But he did not do it. He fails in discharging his constitutional responsibility of protecting and safeguarding life and livelihood. That is why he should take moral and political responsibility…  He (chief minister) should have resigned from his post within the week after violence erupted on May 3 itself. He did not do that.”

Case against Kuki students group

In a separate development, the commisisoner of Manipur’s home department has written to the director general of police, asking for a case to be registered against the Zomi Students’ Federation and Kuki Students Organisation for publishing a booklet called ‘The Inevitable Split: Documents of State-Sponsored Ethnic Cleansing in Manipur, 2023’ on May 28.

T. Ranjit Singh, commissioner (home), government of Manipur, wrote to the DGP on July 8 to register an “FIR and take stern action” against the two organisations. The letter references a complaint filed by an advocate Thokchom Punshiba Singh and has asked the DGP to take stern action “under section 154, etc.of IPC and also to take appropriate steps to submit a detailed proposal to forfeit and issue necessary search warrants agains the book under section 95 of CrPC.”

The document, a copy of which is available with The Wire, has six chapters. They are titled as follows: Modern Manipur: A historical background, Systematic exploitation of tribals: A deep-rooted injustice, Recent precedents to the Ethnic Cleansing, Crimes Against Humanity, Reality Checks: Some False Propaganda, and, the Way Forward: Separation only solution.

Responding to the letter, the Zomi Students’ Federation issued a statement on July 9 and said it was not surprised. The statement reads, “We will not shy away from the government’s suppression of our freedom of speech and expression, which is enshrined in the fundamental rights of the Indian constitution.”

2 Months of Manipur Riots: People Say Present and Future Have Been Destroyed, State Has Failed Them

It has been two months today since ethnic clashes erupted in Manipur. More than 200 people have died in the riots which started on the evening of May 3 in the state.

It has been two months today since ethnic clashes erupted in Manipur. More than 200 people have died in the riots which started on the evening of May 3 in the state. More than 60,000 people have been displaced; they have lost their homes and are now lodged in about 350 relief camps.

The Wire travelled to various villages of four districts – Kankgpopki, Kakching, Imphal East and Churachandpur – between May 27 and June 1 and spoke to scores of people in the relief camps. In this video, we share stories of people whose life has been affected in myriad ways much beyond what the statistics say and statements of governments seem to reflect.

You can also read The Wire‘s detailed ground reports:

1. Ground report on violence in May

2. Voices from ground zero of people lodged in relief camps

3. How various services — healthcare, transport, education, government services — were hit due to violence

4. Stock taking after Union home minister Amit Shah’s visit

Rahul Gandhi Urges Manipuris to Take Steps Toward Peace

Speaking to the media, he described the violence as a “horrible tragedy” that is painful for the people of Manipur and India. Gandhi said that the basic amenities in the relief camps should be improved and better food should be provided.

New Delhi: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi urged the people of Manipur to move towards peace, saying that nothing can be achieved through violence as he concludes his two-day visit to the state that has been in the throes of ethnic violence for nearly two months.

On Friday morning, Gandhi visited Moirang by a chopper and met people in two relief camps, meeting people from the Meitei and Kuki communities. He was accompanied by former Manipur chief minister Okram Ibobi Singh, Congress general secretary (organisation) K.C. Venugopal, Manipur PCC president Keisham Meghachandra Singh and former MP Ajay Kumar.

In an Instagram post, he said that it was “heartbreaking” to see and listen to the plight of those who have lost loved ones and homes due to the violence. “There is a cry for help in the face of every brother, sister and child I meet. The most important thing Manipur needs now is Peace – to secure the lives and livelihoods of our people. All our efforts must unite towards that goal,” he said.

Speaking to the media, he described the violence as a “horrible tragedy” that is painful for the people of Manipur and India. Gandhi said that the basic amenities in the relief camps should be improved and better food should be provided.

He said he is ready to help in any way he can to bring peace to the state.

When asked by media persons to comment about Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s silence on the clashes, Gandhi responded in Hindi, “I haven’t come here to make a political statement. I will not comment on these issues. I hope that peace returns to Manipur soon.”

According to reports, Gandhi also met leaders of political parties and members of civil society in Imphal.

On Thursday, the former Congress chief was on the way to Churachandpur when his convoy was stopped. He eventually flew there on a chopper.

Ethnic violence began in the northeastern state in early May, over a high court recommendation that the majority Meitei community should be granted Scheduled Tribe status. The clashes have led to the deaths of nearly 200 people and displaced over 60,000.

On Friday, Manipur chief minister Biren Singh was set to tender his resignation but declined to do so after his supporters protested against his plan. Singh has been accused by several Kuki MLAs of being anti-Kuki and of siding with Meitei groups like Meitei Leepun and Arambai Tenggol, which they claim are involved in attacks on tribal communities.