2023–2024 Manipur violence
On 3 May 2023, ethnic violence erupted in India's north-eastern state of Manipur between the Meitei people, a majority that lives in the Imphal Valley, and the Kuki-Zo tribal community from the surrounding hills.[48] According to government figures, as of 3 May 2024, 221 people have been killed in the violence and 60,000 people have been displaced.[37][38] Earlier figures also mentioned over 1,000 injured, and 32 missing. 4,786 houses were burnt and 386 religious structures were vandalized, including temples and churches.[43] Unofficial figures are higher.[49][41]
2023 Manipur violence
The proximate cause of the violence was a row over an affirmative action measure. On 14 April 2023, acting on a writ petition, the Manipur High Court ordered the state government to send a recommendation to the central government on the demand for a Scheduled Tribe status by the valley-based Meitei community,[50] a decision later criticised by the Supreme Court.[51] To protest the Meitei demands for the scheduled tribe status, the All Tribal Students' Union Manipur conducted peaceful protest marches on 3 May. After one of these marches, clashes broke out between Kuki and Meitei groups near the border between the Churachandpur district and Bishnupur district, followed by house burning.[52][53]
The violence quickly spread to the Kuki-dominated Churachandpur town and the Meitei-dominated Imphal Valley, targeting the minority community in each area. According to Reuters, 77 Kukis and 10 Meiteis were killed within a week.[41]
In addition to the ST status, other issues had been festering prior to the violence. For example, the Kuki people in the hill districts saw themselves as being the target of the state government's treatment of indigenous land rights concerns.[54]
There have been evictions of Kuki communities as a result of efforts to survey forests, which were ostensibly made to stop the cultivation of poppy.[55][56][57]
The Meitei community has also experienced a rise in insecurity as a result of the flood of refugees from Myanmar following the military coup in 2021, particularly those from the Sagaing region.[58][56] In one of the instances, the Manipur government have questioned the central security forces, especially the Assam Rifles, of allowing illegal immigration from Myanmar.[59][60][61] Many organisations have protested against Assam Rifles of siding with the Kuki communities, including instance of Manipur police filing FIR against its personnel for enabling Kuki militants to escape by obstructing the police movements.[62][63]
According to several organisations, there have been accounts of partisan killings by security forces, as well as allegations of the police siding with the Meitei community.[64][65]
Supreme Court proceedings
On 31 July, the Supreme Court asked Manipur government to provide complete break-up of around 6000 FIRs related to the violence in the state. The court also expressed shock after learning that it took 14 days for the police to register even a zero FIR in the case of two women being paraded naked by a mob and were assaulted sexually in public.[190] During the hearing on 1 August, the Supreme Court called the police investigations as "tardy", and said that the state underwent "absolute breakdown of the constitutional machinery".[191]
On 7 August 2023, the Supreme Court took suo moto cognisance and formed a committee consisting of retired Jammu and Kashmir High Court Chief Justice Gita Mittal (who will lead the committee), former Bombay High Court judge Justice Shalini Phansaklar Joshi and former Delhi High Court judge Asha Menon to look into relief and rehabilitation, and appointed former Mumbai Police Commissioner Dattatray Padsalgikar to oversee the probe.[192]
Reactions
The Chief Minister of Manipur, N. Biren Singh, stated that the riots were instigated by “prevailing misunderstanding between two communities” and appealed for restoration of normality.[193]
Shashi Tharoor, a Member of Parliament, called for President's rule and blamed the BJP-led government, saying it has failed to govern the state.[194]
Peter Machado, the Metropolitan Archbishop of Bangalore, expressed concern that the Christian community is being made to feel insecure, adding that "seventeen churches are either vandalised, desecrated or defiled."[195]
Olympic medallist Mary Kom, a native of Manipur, tweeted an appeal seeking help for her home state.[196] The Union Government Minister of Home Affairs Amit Shah cancelled his campaign programs for the Karnataka election and held meetings with Biren Singh monitoring the situation in Manipur.[197]
A BJP MLA, Dinganglung Gangmei, petitioned the Supreme Court of India against the High Court's recommendation to the state government to add Meitei people to the Scheduled Tribes list.[198][199][200]
On 12 May 2023, all 10 Kuki MLAs, including eight from the Bharatiya Janata Party, issued a statement demanding a separate body be created to administer their community under the constitution of India in the wake of the violent ethnic clashes.[201] They alleged that the violence had been “tacitly supported” by the BJP-run state government, and that living under a Meitei-majority administration after the violence would be “as good as death” for their community.[201] Five organisations of tribal students of Manipur in New Delhi also demanded a probe into the alleged involvement of two radical Meitei groups, Arambai Tenggol and Meitei Leepun in the violence.[202]
The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk said in a statement that the violence in Manipur "revealed the underlying tensions between different ethnic and indigenous groups". He urged the authorities to "respond to the situation quickly, including by investigating and addressing root causes of the violence in line with their international human rights obligations".[203]
On 29 May, hundreds of women from Kuki, Mizo, and Zomi tribes staged a protest at Jantar Mantar in New Delhi, demanding intervention by the central government to end communal tensions in Manipur. The women waved national flags and held posters declaring themselves as Indians, not immigrants, while criticising the state government stirring tensions by evicting of Kuki villagers from reserve forest land.[204]
On 30 May 2023, eleven international and national award-winning sportspersons from the state said that they will return their awards if the territorial integrity of the state is compromised. The sportspersons said that if the government does not meet their demands, they will not represent India and will not help in training new talent.[205]
On 1 July 2023, Joseph Pamplany, Archbishop of Thalassery in Kerala, said the violence is sponsored by the Modi government to destroy Christian communities in Manipur.[206]
On 14 July 2023, the BJP's vice-president from the state of Mizoram, R. Vanramchhuanga, resigned from his post accusing BJP governments in the centre and the state of supporting demolition of churches.[207]
On 20 July 2023, Modi broke his months-long silence after a video of two women being paraded naked and subjected to blatant acts of sexual assault by a group of men went viral. He said the incident shamed India and that no guilty will be spared.[208] Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been criticized for being silent on the violence for almost three months, for not visiting the state and for avoiding the broader situation in his statement after a video showing two women being paraded naked went viral.[209][210]
On 27 July 2023, the BJP's Bihar wing leader, Vinod Sharma, resigned alleging that the violence in the state has defamed the country.[211]
On 7 August 2023, Kuki People's Alliance withdrew their support to the BJP government of the state led by N. Biren Singh.[212]
The parliamentary opposition under the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) tabled a no confidence motion about the crisis on August 10 in order to make Modi address the situation in more detail to parliament. Modi delivered a two hour speech mainly focused on the accomplishments of his government and criticising the opposition for "defaming India" through the vote, to which opposition MLAs walked out. Afterwards, Modi addressed the conflict, stating that "there would soon be peace in Manipur" and that the whole country would get behind resolution efforts. The motion failed as expected due to the overwhelming BJP majority, with it being seen more as a way to force Modi to speak about the matter and showcase the unity and power of the INDIA grouping.[213][214]
Media coverage
Mainstream television channels from India ignored the Manipur conflict for a while, and covered it only after a viral video surfaced showing two naked women being paraded by a mob.[215] However, a team of independent researchers on national media coverage of Manipur Violence argued that "The study finds some discernible patterns in this regard that indicate shortcomings and perceptible biases in the ways in which the crisis in Manipur has been covered by the ‘national’ newspapers" , and it has been found that the Kuki sources are quoted far more than the Meitei sources in the news reports of the mainstream media.[216][217][218] Also, as per "the Wire" major newspapers and broadcast media from Manipur and the rest of India[219] have avoided reporting on violence faced by the Christian-majority Kukis, while highlighting violence by Kuki militants. It is argued that three of the most read English newspapers in the region did not even report on the incident of a mob burning a woman and a boy alive. The Sangai Express referred to Kukis by the adjective "aliens" in an editorial, while an editorial in the Imphal Free Press justified the villagers looting arms from the security forces in the state.[220]
On 21 July, ANI incorrectly reported that a Muslim man has been arrested in connection to the incident in which two naked women were seen paraded forcibly by a mob in a viral video. ANI later apologized for the tweet, saying that it was based on an erroneous reading of previously published tweets by Manipur Police.[221]