Do the Meitei Change Thier Leadership Like One Changes Clothes?

The Meitei chief minister, N. Biren Singh, recently said that he had been anticipating the current ethnic turmoil from back in 2013 which he claimed he had already expressed on his social media post. He also pointed out that when he shared about such a possible ethnic flare-up in the near future, his seniors [politicians] mocked him for being too naive.

Now, a critical observation of the series of events that have unfolded since Biren became the CM, particularly from the latter part of 2021, all points towards a well thought out plan possibly involving experts from all walks of life including intellectuals, academics, social activists, defence personnel, intelligence, top police officers, lawyers, and even journalists, most of whom remained behind the screen.

However, when their militias began attacking the Kuki- Zo, few individuals and organisations stood out above others though many participated and competed for relevance in Imphal valley. Among these, the Arambai Tenggols led by Mr. Korounganba Khuman remains the most infamous organisation though it is unlikely that it will continue its dominance beyond the end of the current year. Keeping aside the negative impact its activities would have on the Meitei community in the future, it appears that the Arambais were the best agents whom Biren and his cohorts entrusted to carry out this ethnic cleansing pogrom against the Kuki-Zo community.

Initially, the Meitei Leepun was quite popular after its chief Pramod Singh gave interviews on a few selected electronic media outlets. Yet, since the Meitei Leepun militias are hardly seen in the frontline, their popularity has gone down tremendously except on Facebook. The same was with Kangleipak Kanba Lup (KKL) who had been spearheading the campaign to stigmatize the ‘Kuki’ community even before the violence but is nowhere to be seen since May 3. In its desperate attempt to stay relevant, the KKL has offered a sum of Rs.1 lakh for anyone who can bring a ‘Kuki’ alive for sacrifice at Kangla. If what the KKL said is true, it is horrific to learn that the Meiteis need a human sacrifice to win a war they have started!

The Coordination Committee on Manipur’s Integrity (COCOMI), a joint body of various Meitei organizations tacitly supported by the NSCN- IM, had been leading the Meitei community for the last few years. When the current violence began, the Committee openly declared “Manipuri National War” acknowledging that the Kukis are a different nation. The various steps taken out by the Committee made it seem that the whole Manipur, or for that matter the Meitei community,was in their hands. However, the last time they did something worthy of news headline was on September 6, 2023, when they organised a mass protest to remove barricades and check-posts manned by central forces along Imphal-Churachandpur road in Bishnupur district. In the protest, thousands of protestors, including womenfolk, took part but it was so badly organised that it ended with the injury of more than 40 without any tangible benefit. Since then, COCOMI has gradually disappeared from the scene until a few days ago when it suddenly reappeared with a notification for an emergency meeting with admins of social media handles/pages. An organisation who had declared a national war is now busy dealing with admins of Facebook pages!

It is also not so surprising that the ever active Meira Paibis are slowly losing ground. In the last one week or so, the main activities carried out by these ‘women torch bearers’ has been the collection of unwarranted donations along all roads passing through the valley to support the Arambai Tenggols prompting the district magistrate of Imphal West to issue a warning. As a professor of Manipur University once put, these donations are ‘voluntary by force’. Meira Paibis are not an organised single entity but womenfolk at the locality level having their own affiliations or support base from VBIGs, and hence the fragmentation.

In the initial days of the violence, some politicians were quite vocal, appearing on national televisions and what not. Among them, the most notorious one was Mr. Nishikant Sapam, an independent MLA from Keishamthong AC who extended an unconditional support to Biren’s government. To the Meiteis, he is one of the most educated legislators having good command over the Whiteman’s tongue. However, after he gave all his facts and figures wrong during an interview with the noted journalist Karan Thapar for The Wire, he too has slowly disappeared. He made some bold attempts to cover up his mistakes on some talkshows, including Hindi and Meitei media outlets, but the damage got worse. It was such a disgrace for his voters that the womenfolk had to come out publicly demanding his resignation instead of hiding somewhere in mainland India!

In the 2022 state assembly elections, Nishikant’s biggest rival was the young and inexperienced actor Maheshwar Thounaojam who lost by a small margin. It is interesting that the gradual disappearance of Nishikant has nearly been proportionate to the rise of Maheshwar. On a few occasions, Maheshwar was given a grand reception for speaking out boldly for his community. However, his level of intelligence seems to be at par with that of Nishikant. In fact, getting acknowledgements for writing to certain departments at the Centre, meeting the Hon’ble Governor and Union Home Minister, are more than enough for his stature. By the way, what has he achieved for his community?

Recently, it has come to the notice of social media users that RK Somendro @Kaiku, a former movie heartthrob but a miserable politician who lost all his deposits in every election he has contested, has visited some relief camps and frontlines. However, as he is a wannabe legislator, his fans might be hoping that he doesn’t cross the buffer zones where he could be the target of a sniper at any moment!

Among the artists, Mr. Jayenta Loukrakpam @ TAPTA who is at the fag end of his career, has been doing a wonderful job with his genocidal ‘Kukiland’ songs. These songs not only provoke the Kuki youngsters but has also popularised the term ‘Kukiland’ once again. It may be noted that Kukiland is an imagined political homeland put forth by various Kuki insurgent groups since the 1980s. Now it is heartening to see that the Kuki village volunteers have begun to shout for ‘Kukiland’! Sadly, TAPTA has also been silent for a while now.

Again, among the Meitei academics, two JNU professors had been standing tall during the initial days of the violence. Whereas Bhagat Oinam has been forced to shut his mouth, specifically after clips of his interview in which he justified the videos of the naked parading and gang-rape of two women and the brutal beheading of David Thiek by his own community went viral. The second professor, A. Bimol Akoijam is also slowly vanishing from public discourse. Bimol had for months called for a grand people’s assembly (Meepham) for the Meitei community. But when one such meeting was organised by the six students’ bodies -- AMSU, MSF, DESAM, AIMS, SUK, and KSA -- at Khumanlampak, nobody was concerned with the resolutions taken as the fight among the participants went viral and caught the attention of the masses! The Kangla meeting where all the Meitei legislators bowed to Korounganba could also be his [Bimol’s] suggestion! Anyway, the six students’ bodies have also been largely silent probably since the assembly yielded no tangible outcome.

For the Kuki-Zo, the other ethnicity in the current conflict, it is extremely sad that such academics who cry for their own community’s doom are highly respected. He should have been silenced even before Bhagat’s mouth was shut, because he seems to be a bigger threat to his community. At least Bhagat wouldn’t cry for such an assembly, or oath taking!

Among the non-Manipuri academics, Dr. Rami Niranjan Desai is one who enjoys a highly respected position among the Meiteis. She was invited to Manipur University as a resource person where they also had a lengthy closed-door meeting. Anyway any sane academic wouldn’t consider someone an expert on northeast India if her publications are not even found in the GoogleScholar [forget about Scopus, Web of Science, etc.]. She too is now relatively silent.

Among the social activists, it is quite difficult to choose one since most of them are not consistent in their appearance on national media. But one person worth mentioning is Mr. Rajendra Hijam because he was among the first person to defend his community’s position outside the state. However it is far better to leave him there than to dig the irrational arguments he put forth in the Lungleng Show.

There are many others like Binalaksmi Nepram, Dr. Malem Ningthouja, Prof. Homen Thangjam, former minister Mr. Irengbam Hemochandra Singh, Pradip Phanjoubam, Ratan Thiyam, and the likes who spoke on a few occasions on the national televisions, but are not regularly seen to give a fair judgement.

In a nutshell, in a society where gems like human rights activist Babloo Loitongbam and the decorated former Police Officer Thounaojam Brinda came under attack but fools like Maheshwar and Nishikant, and daughter of a conman Licypriya Kangujam are accorded a hero’s welcome; where revolutionary artists like Akhu Chingangbam@ Ronidkumar are kidnapped and forced to bow at the feet of Korounganba for doing nothing wrong, but someone who sang genocidal songs like TAPTA get mass support; where all legislators are forced to bow and take an oath before a militia group; where mothers hand over girls to their boys to rape; where anyone who goes against the traditional moral values gets beaten-up in front of a camera for public judgement; where all the sane minds are forced to keep silent, but anyone who calls for annihilation of a minority community are given free hand to spew venom; where anyone can kidnap anybody at gunpoint for ransom, or take away their cars and belongings without fear of the law; where armed groups shoot anyone and later charge them with drug trafficking or for committing rape on minor girls; where all the media outlets broadcast fake news on the same line; where discussants on local televisions call for violence... What could be their future? So, it’s not surprising that anyone who appears in the media, including social media, has put their hopes on the newly found saviour in the militia group Arambai Tenggol. And mind you, a society led by such rag- tag desperados are bound to be doomed!