The communal politics and extremist Hindutva ideology being pushed by the Modi-led government are erupting anger in several Indian states. Blatant human rights violations and atrocities of all sorts against minorities, including Muslims, Christians, and Sikhs, are only further fueling the separatist sentiments.
One such state where the situation has reached a precarious point is Manipur. Recent weeks have seen violence, arson, and mayhem in various of its districts.
The latest factor triggering the violence in Manipur is a high court’s decision ordering to grant a Scheduled Tribe (ST) status to the Meiteis, who are predominantly Hindus that would give them access to forest lands and entitle them to reservations in government jobs and educational institutions. The move has created fear among tribal communities, mostly Christians, of losing their lands.
Meiteis are financially rich and well-developed. They have domination in the legislative assembly, and if awarded Scheduled Tribe Status, they will be legally eligible to purchase land/property in hill districts as well. Scheduled Tribes’ peculiar culture, tradition, history, customs, rites, and tribal ethos will get jeopardized in case Meiteis are given the Scheduled Tribes status. This is the reason that the tribal communities are expressing their strong opposition. ST/Hill tribes are facing the identical situation as being faced by Kashmiri Muslims in IIOJK.
These scheduled tribes are currently at the receiving end. Over one hundred fatalities, mostly of Christians, have been reported whilst 1200 churches and buildings have been destroyed. Aside from looting the valuables from houses and business centers owned by the tribals, their properties worth millions of rupees have been destroyed or set ablaze. Tens of thousands of victims, the majority of them Christians, have fled as their homes and businesses have gone up in flames. Everything with a Christian identity/mark is being attacked by the Meitei majority community in Manipur.
There is an organized movement to subdue the tribal population, evict them from areas where they have been living for decades, and occupy the resources which they are constitutionally guaranteed to own.
Thousands of Military/ Paramilitary and police deployed to control the violence is partisan. They are not protecting the religious places/ homes/ properties of the Scheduled Tribes population (Christians). Hindutva mongers feel there is no place for a population other than Hindus in India.
What is happening in Manipur draws certain similarities with the indigenous movement in IIOJK. In both cases, the people are struggling to protect their distinct identity and existential threat by Indian (Hindutva) settler colonialism designs.
The BJP-led government aims to fiddle with Article 370C, barring Meiteis from buying tribal lands/ property as it did with Article 370 in IIOJK. The people of IIOJK and tribal communities of Manipur are the victim of the Hindu supremacist mindset endeavoring to protect the interests of the Hindu community.
Both in Manipur and IIOJK, the indigenous status of the community, displacement, forced assimilation, and induced disappearance of its heritage and institutions are being carried out. Erasing Kashmiris’ political identity, disempowering the Muslim majority community to reduce them to second-class citizens, turning them into a political minority, and minimizing their role in political decision-making presently underway. The same threat is looming large for Manipur’s Hill Tribes/ Scheduled Tribes. The objective of the abolition of article 370 in IIOJK was to change the demography of only Muslim-majority region and deprive Kashmiris of their true leadership by installing a BJP CM. The same fate is feared by Manipur’s Hill Tribes. Manipur protests against the Indian state is just a glimpse of the Skeletons India is hiding in the cupboard.
In view of Hindu majoritarianism brutally prevalent elsewhere across India, where Muslims, Sikhs, and even Dalits (low Castes) are being persecuted, separation is the only solution for the tribals of Manipur.
India has to learn an important lesson from the current situation in Manipur; accept the fact that the struggle for the right of self-determination in IIOJK is indigenous. India can’t hide behind the strategy of blame game and propaganda of Pakistan-sponsored cross-border terrorism narratives.
