What have the Meiteis Benefitted through this Conflict?

When the Meiteis started the current ongoing ethnic pogrom against the Kukis on May 3, 2023, little did they imagine that it would stretch the whole year. They have entirely underestimated the Kuki-Zo. Now that the year has lapsed and a new year has dawned, it’s time for the majority community, Meiteis, to assess what they have actually benefited from declaring a ‘national war’ against a minority community. 

At the beginning of the war, the Meiteis rampaged the Kuki-Zo (henceforth Kuki) in Imphal and hounded the people like dogs. Meitei society, from all hues, was cheering the Arambai Tengol and Meitei Leepun as they went about venting their deep-seated envy, insecurity and misplaced apprehensions. Biren was even hailed in some corners as a legendary Meitei leader who has gone full throttle to regain Meitei’s ‘lost glory.’

However, as the war went on, Kuki started regrouping after their initial setback when they were caught napping. Soon, the Meiteis intruders were ‘Khamenloked’, signalling a shift in the war. If one counts the number of deaths in Sugnu, Kangchup, Leimakhong, Saikul, Gamgiphai (Kanggui) and Lamka frontlines, Meitei casualties while attacking Kukis will be multiples of the number of innocent Kukis killed in Imphal. Even a conservative count made public by COCOMI months ago crossed 80+ dead and nearly 3000 injured. Did the Meiteis expect the Kukis to defend with sticks and stones when their zombie-like herd came attacking the surrounding Hills with automatic rifles? Was this heavy casualty worth the war? 

For years, the Kuki-Zo officers have made Imphal their home as most of them were stationed there.  The investment of these officers in Imphal might have become an eyesore for the Meiteis but it was also at the cost of development of their own hills. However, once the war started, and the separation between the Kukis and Meiteis was completed, they began to think about investing in their traditional homeland, i.e., the hills. Even if this war ends, the Kukis are unlikely to go to Imphal any time soon. Having learnt their lessons, they will now invest in the towns of Kanggui, Lamka, Saikul, Moreh, Tengnoupal, etc. There would be a real estate boom, and business enterprises are bound to grow even as human settlement also increases. New colleges, hospitals, schools and such other institutions of imminence which will soon don the towns in the hills would be a blessing amidst the storm.  

On the other hand, since almost 40-50 thousand Kukis have left Imphal, the impact of the demographic switch is bound to be huge. Meitei businesses will be severely hit in the short term as they will lose many Kuki customers. In the erstwhile Kuki-dominated areas of Imphal, the small-time Meitei pan-shops and roadside vendors might already struggle to survive. Not to forget the houses that had Kuki students as their tenants! 

While it wouldn’t be difficult to find replacements in the long run, the people who would eventually populate these spaces would likely be the mainland Indians, including businessmen and labourers, who would increasingly give tough competition to the Meiteis in every sphere – especially in the small-scale businesses. In trying to chase out Kukis, Meiteis have cursed themselves by inadvertently inviting a far bigger monster!

If one looks at history, Kukis has always been an ally of the Meiteis. Kukis are said to have aided the Meiteis during the Ava invasion. Meitei King Chandrakirti was rescued from kindred Kamhau-Suktes by Kukis. Kuki Levies were used by Meitei Rajas in most of the military campaigns. This has even resulted in Kukis making enemies which are actually not of their own bidding. For many years, the Meiteis courted the Kukis to collectively prevent the disintegration of Manipur in the face of the Naga’s demand for ‘integration’ of all the Naga inhabited areas with Nagaland. Kukis were not opposed to the Naga movement as such but were only opposing the exclusive claims of all hills barring Churachandpur. 

In a sense, the Meiteis were afraid to stand up to the Nagas alone, even as the Nagas themselves didn’t have much confidence to take the Meiteis for a full-scale war. The most significant loss for Meiteis in this conflict is that they have lost their age-old trusted ally, the Kukis, forever.  Friendships and loyalties that were built brick by brick for ages are now bulldozed by N.Biren Singh with the full support of all the radicalised Meitei societies. The propaganda machines have drugged the Meiteis so much that there was not even one Meitei intellectual who saw through the hate-filled narratives that were spewed against the Kukis. From news reporters to politicians, celebrities to intellectuals, it was like drowning in a deluge of lies. In fact, they all believed what their itching ears wanted to believe, and that is because they have been fed a venomous narrative for the last seven years, or more. 

Suddenly, the tribe that has helped the Meitei Kings for ages became refugees and illegal immigrants! There could be an Anglo-Manipur War, but no Anglo-Kuki War; Kuk illegal immigrants were allegedly growing and were about to take over Manipur, but there are no illegal migrants among Meiteis from Cachar or Myanmar! And for that matter, no Naga entered Manipur from Myanmar! In simple words, this whole narrative produced by the bloodthirsty Meitei militias and their intellectuals has exposed the intellectual bankruptcy of their Professors at Manipur University and the ignorance of the journalists, including editors in the press rooms, in Imphal.

Meitei civil society leaders have been frequenting Dimapur’s Hebron Camp in the last few years. Similarly, Meiteis have also been hobnobbing with the Saffron brigade from Nagpur. While one can’t be sure of what transpired in these meetings, it sometimes seems like they have been hoodwinked to fight someone else’s battle. The overzealousness of the Federation of Haomee and other pseudo-civil society organisations also indicates that someone far away from Imphal is pulling the strings. In the end, what have the Meiteis benefitted? Meitei Revolutionary groups have now done a never-before act of signing a Ceasefire with, rather surrendering to, the Government of India. The titular king, Leishemba Sanajaoba, too had surrendered his position for a five-year tenure in the Upper House of the Parliament, which he had stood against at least symbolically for years. With this, the hallucinated Manipuris’ dream of an independent nation has been dumped in the drain. 

In this situation, will the silent legions of Meitei revolutionaries and the families of those who had made supreme sacrifices for a cause ever forgive Biren and his Tenggols? Moreover, a much weakened Meitei society now stands vulnerable in the face of another more formidable foe whose entire politics revolved around stopping the Meitei nationalism and breaking up Manipur’s territorial integrity.

Perhaps one of the greatest loss of this conflict is that it has destroyed the Meitei social fabric. A time is coming soon when there will be a civil war within the Meitei society; then they will no longer trust their press; every new day, there will be new organisations, and people will be at a loss as to whom to trust; the monetary demands from the ‘who knows who’ will keep increasing; the Kuki-Zo may shut the national highways indefinitely if the war stretches for too long; the Scheduled Caste will soon refuse to send their men to the frontlines since the sons of the affluent have mostly left for the Metros; the patience of the Meitei-Pangals (Manipuri Muslims) can’t last forever, and the movement for Naga integration and Zeliangrong Homeland may also shake the boat soon. So, the Meiteis must now prepare to face the wrath of the monster that they have created.

One thing the Meiteis must have surely discovered by now is that the Kuki-Zo, whom they underestimated, actually turned out to be the only group who had the guts to stand up against them (while others were wetting their pants). And in a nightmare beyond their dreams, the Kukis were actually hunting them like dogs in the Hills of Kuki-Zo! A time may also come when the Meiteis begin demanding ‘Separate Administration’ from the Kuki-Zo and hang Biren for good!

(Written by an Anonymous person(s) for Thingkho le Malcha on 6th January 2024.)