Senior citizens take part in a peace rally to demand restoration of peace in Manipur in the capital Imphal on Oct. 7, 2023. The sectarian unrest has so far claimed the lives of more than 200 people. (Photo: AFP)
“We cannot be under a government who killed and destroyed our churches and properties, who separated us physically and demographically,” said a declaration adopted at the Indigenous Tribal Leaders’ Forum in Manipur.
The northeastern hilly state, bordering civil war-hit Myanmar, has been engulfed in sectarian violence between tribal Christians and the majority Hindu Meitei community since May 3 last year.
The 10-month-old strife has so far claimed more than 200 lives and displaced around 50,000 people.
Nearly 500 places of worship, including churches, have been set on fire in the state, ruled by the pro-Hindu Bharatiya Janata Party of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
At the Jan. 27 meeting, the tribal body said the federal government “should administer us directly from New Delhi,” India’s national capital.
The indigenous body’s demand came after a radical Meitei group – Arambai Tenggol – reportedly forced state legislators, including ministers, to take an oath to work for the interest of the Meitei community.
In the 60-member state assembly, 40 legislators belong to the Meitei community.
Those legislators who refused to fall in line were assaulted and humiliated.
Ten legislators reportedly have written to Modi on Jan. 29 seeking his “prompt intervention” to create a “separate administration” for tribal people in the state.
The ongoing conflict in Manipur “has turned from bad to worse,” they wrote.
State Chief Minister N Biren Singh “has maintained eloquent silence on the public harassment of his lawmaker colleagues,” they told Modi.
The Indian prime minister has not visited the state since the outbreak of violence, despite repeated demands from the opposition and civil society groups.
However, he condemned the assault and humiliation of two tribal women who were paraded naked in a village in May last year, after a nationwide outrage.
An indigenous Christian leader told UCA News that the “situation in the state is pathetic” and unrest is growing further since the radical Meitei group threatened and humiliated legislators.
The violence started last year after the Manipur High Court directed the state government to consider the request of the Meitei community for its inclusion in the list of Scheduled Tribes (ST).
The tribal Kuki, who are mostly Christians, objected as the ST status would have allowed the sociopolitically powerful Meitei community to gain preference in government jobs and quotas in state-run educational institutions.
It could also allow them to buy tribal lands which are predominantly inhabited by tribal Kukis in the valleys of the hilly state.
The Meiteis account for 53 percent and tribal Christians 41.29 percent of Manipur’s 3.2 million population. The sole Catholic diocese is based in the capital Imphal.