‘1,000 Kukis from Manipur came here’: In Assam’s Karbi Anglong, new claim and new row

On Tuesday, KAAC CEM Tuliram Ronghang told reporters that he called a meeting with Karbi and Kuki leaders on November 28 to arrange to move out the Kuki people who he said had settled in the area after coming from Manipur.

“Today, close to around 1,000 Kuki people from Manipur have come here. Close to 500 families have come here. I have called the Karbi Students’ Association and the Kuki gaon buras (village heads). I will have discussions with them so that we can send them off properly and they don’t stay here. We do not have a place here for the newly arrived migrants, even if they are tribal,” he said while speaking on the sidelines of an event at Howraghat in Karbi Anglong.

A local Kuki leader from Karbi Anglong, who has been invited for the meeting on November 28, said he was “taken by surprise” by Ronghang’s statement to the media. The allegation that Kukis from Manipur were settling in Karbi Anglong had previously been raised last month by a Karbi literary body – Karbi Lammet Amei. It had alleged that there was an “exodus” and wrote to the CEM seeking that displaced people from Manipur not be given land under the KAAC, and instead be placed in shelters or camps under state supervision.

“When that happened, we submitted a memorandum to the CEM saying this was just an allegation. When the violence first started last May, some people from our community had come from Manipur and we had provided them shelter with the knowledge of the autonomous council. Many of them have now either returned to Manipur or have gone to other places, like Guwahati, so that they can continue their children’s education. We don’t have any information about a large number coming, and the cited number of 1,000 came as a big surprise to us. Since there is a meeting, there should have been a discussion with us before such a statement,” the Kuki leader said.

Karbi Students’ Association’s Mirjeng Kro said the group had raised concerns over the matter a few months ago with the KAAC and that two rounds of talks were held with the autonomous council.

“Our biggest worry is that it might not just be civilians, but also armed people coming and taking shelter in the hill areas here. We have asked that the newly arrived people be kept under surveillance and that suspicious people be sent away,” he said.

David Changsan, general secretary of Kuki Students’ Organisation Assam, said there were no attempts to settle permanently in Karbi Anglong.

“Our colleagues in Karbi Anglong have met the CEM and said that there are no new villages being set up. Whoever came here came only for some mental peace and to seek temporary refuge… So, it shouldn’t become an issue. We are a very small minority here and don’t want any tension here,” he said.