By Prasenjit Biswas
What drives me to this diagnosis are the weird justifications for acts of suppression and terror, dominance and dogged denial of any space for others in all of the North-east. NSCN(IM) general secretary Thuingaleng Muivah’s determination to visit his Somdal village birthplace aroused resentment in Manipur’s valley areas and even those who decried chief minister Ibobi Singh as a “killer” now credit him for having kept Muivah out of the state. Keeping in mind Muivah’s persistent demand for the inclusion of Manipur’s Naga-inhabited areas in his Nagalim cause, Ibobi’s intent is to defend the state against any attempt at conceding territory to Naga nationalists.
The action at Mao Gate only sharpened the division between various ethnic and cultural communities. This has opened up multiple possibilities of conflict and each of the major tribal formations in Manipur — such as the Hmars, Paites, Kukis, Tangkhuls and others – would now be wary of their immediate neighbors.
Such insecurity was further shored up by the announcement of Ibobi’s plan to go ahead with the Autonomous District Council elections.
Does this imposition of political authority by the state help settle demands by tribes for autonomy and fair treatment? Relative deprivation of tribes in employment and other basic sectors of development have kept the fires burning in Tamenglong, Senapati, Ukhrul, Chandel and Churachandpur — the five hill districts of Manipur.
These districts lack the very basic infrastructure that the state is obligated to provide. The absence of roads, health centres and primary schools, since independence, has virtually created two different worlds within Manipur — one where the dominant majority rules its “underclass” with the usual carrot-and-stick policy, and another where abject neglect and insensitivity to the lives of multifarious tribes force them into insurgency.
As a direct consequence of keeping the polity of Manipur divided and fractured, no legislators are elected from the smaller tribes. Going by the majoritarian ethos, only Nagas, Hmars and Kukis are represented in the Assembly, as if the only thing that matters is how big the tribe is.
And this persistence with placating the majority has led to ethnic cleansing and displacement. The involvement of insurgent groups in ethnic cleansing and then the government’s response in terms of a ceasefire has failed to resolve inter-tribal clashes.
If one takes a hard look at their constitutional rights, it is still not clear what strategies of state-building left Manipur’s hill districts out of the purview of the Sixth Schedule. In the third amendment to the 1971 Autonomous District Council Act, why was the term “autonomous” deleted and why were hill councils renamed Manipur (Hill Areas) District Council?
This amendment gave rise to several flawed and anomalous actions by the state government. For example, the very purpose of setting up an autonomous district council was defeated by this amendment.
Further, the status of an elected chairman was reduced to that of a Zilla Parishad member by another notification in February 2010.
Which would imply that the sole intent of the Manipur legislature was to systematically undermine the specific rights of tribes living in the five hill districts and ensure they did not enjoy any special rights.
Worse, the already existing provisions for transferrence of tribal land to non-tribals under the infamous Manipur Land Revenue and Land Reforms Act, 1960, and subsequent amendments read with the third amendment to the 1971 Autonomous District Council Act aims to circumvent the authority of local tribal bodies and councils on their land, forest and minerals.
The blockade of two of the three arterial highways — namely National Highway 39 (Dimapur-Imphal Road) and National Highway 53 (Silchar Imphal Road) by Naga civil society organizations — is merely a reaction to such arbitrary legislation that curtails the rights of tribes to local self-governance.
To legitimize the curtailment of power and function of the hill district councils, the Manipur government declared elections at the end of May.
When hill councils are no longer “autonomous” and do not even have rights over their land and forest, what is the meaning of such elections? Apart from Naga civil society bodies, a conglomeration of tribes called the Movement for Tribal People’s Rights, Manipur, and the Hmar Tlawmngai Pawl have also been critical of the state government’s discriminatory stand on tribal rights.
In fact, the HTP called a blockade of National Highway 150 that connects Mizoram and Manipur’s Tipaimukh subdivision against the Ibobi Singh government’s move to transport essential supplies through this road, which otherwise has been languishing for years without repair, adding to the suffering of the Hmar people.
The apocalypse now returns to Manipur, allowing all the tribes the chance to change the discrimination scenario and reclaim their constitutional rights. Within the democratic framework of India, the subversion of constitutional provisions by a dominant community of Manipur in no way strengthens the claim of its territorial integrity.
**The writer is Associate Professor, Department of Philosophy, North-Eastern Hill University, Shillong
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