Looted Bullets Meant for Kuki Massacre Backfire, Murder Meiteis' Own Democratic Rights

As opposed to his earlier stance against the infamous radical group; the Arambai Tenggol and Mr Biren, where he can be seen even greeting the Arambai Tenggol members along with his daughter while they were on their way to Kangla fort for the ULTRA KANGLA FORT Meet, on the fateful day when all constitutionally elected representatives were forced to surrender and bow to the Arambai Tenggol, Mr Maheshwar Thounaojam in his Post Voting press conference expressed concerns about the status of democracy in the Meitei districts by indirectly taking a dig at Arambai Tenggol and Biren’s BJP workers for booth capturing in various places, use of weapons to intimidate voters and polling booth officers. In his press conference, he stated that the unfolding of things in yesterday’s election cleared the doubts as to why and who orchestrated the violence in Manipur, holding Biren and the BJP Responsible.

Everything now seems to no longer be FAIR in Love, war and politics for the Candidates contesting in the Inner Manipur constituency for the Lokshabha elections 2024. As agents who legitimised and popularised the activities and atrocities of the Arambai Tenggol, with little to no concern for ethics, morals and humanity, they called the terrorists as “Heroes “ of Meitei society who fought for The cause of The Meiteis. Today as they became the victims of the same group that they so held highly, it is rather ironic that they are now fearful to even call them by their name, Arambai Tenggol, and hid behind the term “Armed miscreants “. The wound must be as deep and painful, after the lengths they had gone, to legitimise their acts of violence and popularise their name, that only Biren and his party BJP Manipur alone reaped the benefits.

The anti-Kuki stance of Mr. Maheshwar spiralled upward since the start of the genocidal pogrom to ethnically cleanse the Kukis executed by Biren and Arambai Tenggol in partnership with Meira Paibis. Rather than spreading facts and the message of harmonious co-existence, he excelled in adding fuel to fire which radicalised the Meitei public to nurture more hatred towards the Kuki community. He manipulated the Meitei public by making baseless accusations of the hereditary Chieftainship Rights, the existence and non-existence of which has no tangible impact upon the Meiteis, is responsible for abnormal growth of the Kuki population and the spread of insurgency among the Kukis.

He relied on incorrect and concocted data to stigmatised and defamed a whole community, sowed the seeds of hatred to the young minds. A deeper research on the demographic transition of Manipur would have educated him on who has had an abnormal growth among the communities residing in Manipur, the factual data however would be of no practical use for him in spreading lies and hatred against the Kukis which simultaneously was a ploy to garner a fan following for himself, apparently aimed at canvassing votes for the recent polling. If the Kukis hereditary Chieftainship, as claimed by Mr.Maheshwar, is wholly responsible for the growth and strengthening of insurgency within the Kuki community. What of the Meitei radicalised groups, the insurgency and terrorist organisations who are given the free hand, the back-up and the morale to stand against the central security forces? Do we then come to a consensus that the Meitei community also follow the concept of Cheiftainship as well? Baseless allegations of such nature are simply wild and ludicrous.

“A Little knowledge is a Dangerous Thing” and “Empty Vessels Make the Most Sound”. Despite the availability of authentic records of the Government of India to disprove his accusations, Maheshwar has incessantly accused the Kukis of being illegal immigrants and narco-terrorists. Despite the existence of drug manufacturing factories in Imphal owned by Non-Kukis and the proof of their seizure by Manipur police, the proof and evidences of involvement of Meitei themselves including the close kins of Biren and his ministers in the drug mafia, despite Biren government declaring the illegal immigrants tally less than 5000, Maheshwar so conveniently, against all facts, abruptly labelled Lakhs of indigenous Kuki population as Illegal immigrants and narco-terrorists. Indeed Maheshwar has categorically established himself as an empty vessel.

The involvement of Meitei insurgents based in Myanmar in the drug-trade is an open secret as well. To indulge in memory on one of the many instances, as per Indian Army officials, on September 17, 2022, 3 PLA (Meitei insurgents groups) members were killed at Momo village in Myanmar in a clash over narco funds with Myanmar-based drug cartels. A lot of these groups are not able to pay the money to drug cartels in Myanmar despite being successful in smuggling drugs into India via the North Eastern region. Not only do the Meitei terrorist groups have their base camps in Myanmar, but thousands of Meiteis are residing in Myanmar too. Thus, the illegal immigrants and narco-terrorists tag attributed to the Kukis are again a part and strategy of the pogrom to create an antipathy attitude against the Kukis from Mainlanders.

As for matters relating to defaming and slandering the kukis are concerned, Mahesh Thounajam is the force to reckon with. He travelled far and wide, knocking on the doors of government departments and Right-wing organizations, to campaign against the indigenous status of Kukis in their own ancestral land, to deprive them of the ST status they avail, and of them being a threat to the Meitei Sanamahi followers, wearing Hinduism as a veil to garner their support. He made himself a champion of the Meitei cause, but he ironically could not avail the fruit of his hard work, as unfortunately, he was merely a chess-piece, of the Arambai Tenggol and Biren, in their political game.

In their greed, Meitei candidates in their own capacity worked as agents to legitimize the savagery, barbaric and illegal activities of the Meiteis and their radicalised groups, some befriended and funded the Arambai Tenggol, some justified their heinous crimes even in the National television shows and some acted like ambassadors to spread their ideology. In an effort to woo both the Meiteis and the Arambai Tenggol, they celebrated every inhumane atrocities committed against the Kukis by Arambai Tenggol and Meira Paibis. When the constitutional and democratic rights of the Kukis were murdered systematically by the Biren government and Arambai Tenggol, they were happy spectators unaware that the guns facing and shot towards the Kukis will soon be shot at them as well. When their every efforts backfired against them, it did hurt bad.

Meira paibis whose blessings the Arambai Tenggol sought before their every mission to attack and massacre the Kukis, who acted as THE WALL for the Arambai Tenggol from the central agencies and central forces, acted as the Finance Department demanding ransom from everyone and anyone along the roads, shops and houses too were not spared from Arambai Tenggol’s massacre on the Meiteis’ Right to vote. Apparently they too were mere chess-pieces for the Arambai Tenggol and Biren.

The backfiring of the looted bullets and weapons, which was thought to be directed towards the Kukis and their constitutional and fundamental rights alone; the acts of which were thus protected and justified is indeed a watershed moment. The genocide pogrom which was fueled by scapegoating the Kukis in everything was unmasked but the unmasking of the truth comes with a price; them losing their democratic rights of voting for who they wish to be their representative. The revelation of the truth to who or what the Arambai Tenggol is and for whom they work will not lessen the hatred and animosity of Meiteis against the Kukis but will definitely enlighten them on their role as pawns in the tyrant’s Political game. Lastly, why did Mr Mahesh Thounaojam choose a pen nib with seven rays as his political symbol? Like his half-baked knowledge that does more harm than good for the society, a pen nib without its body and refill is useless, unless you meant for it to hurt someone. A sincere advice for him is to nourish himself with more knowledge and to get a complete pen as a symbol for his electoral symbol if he sincerely love and care for his community members, or a totally different and more meaningful symbol to represent him. Him being a peddler for fake and false Information is harmful to his society and its members. So Mr Mahesh Thounaojam, even if you can’t become an MP for your people, you can still serve your people by not spreading hatred and false information. If you cannot enlighten them, the least you can do is to not add to the huge chunk of fake and false information.