My home state of Manipur has been burning for the past two months due to an ethnic conflict between two communities — Meiteis and Kukis. More than 100 people have been killed, scores of villages razed to the ground, and more than 50,000 people have fled their homes to seek refuge in relief camps. Despite two months of incessant conflict, there is no sign of peace or normalcy. Fault lines run deep and there is massive mistrust between the two communities. Manipur today is a tinderbox.
Both the state and central government have failed to restore law and order. In May, more than 30,000 security personnel from paramilitary forces were brought into Manipur. Yet, the violence has continued unmitigated. A few weeks ago, Chief Minister Nongthombam Biren Singh made a statement. He said that Union Home Minister Amit Shah asked him to look after the affairs of the valley areas whereas the Union ministry will be responsible for the hill areas. This was an unprecedented arrangement wherein the state gets divided into two separate administrations, one led by a state government and another by the Centre. This is akin to an unofficial imposition of the President’s Rule in select areas. Despite this unique arrangement, there was no stopping the carnage.
The people of Manipur have suffered immensely. There is a desire for peace amongst the ordinary citizens of both communities. But there is also palpable suspicion and mistrust of each other’s intentions due to all the pain and loss they’ve endured. The threads of Manipur’s social fabric are bare and broken.
The path forward is a riddle that will take years of concerted efforts to resolve. But the immediate priority is to stop the violence. I have been looking at history for answers and M K Gandhi’s famous Noakhali experiment comes to mind. The communal riots in Noakhali in the Chittagong division in Bengal (now Bangladesh) in October-November of 1946 may be the most brutal conflict in pre-independent India. Thousands of men were killed, women raped and forcibly converted, and houses and places of worship were burnt down. More than 70,000 people were displaced. The British administration could not control the situation.
Gandhi arrived in Noakhali in November 1946. He and his aides lived in relief camps for four months as they tried to rebuild the social fabric of the area. They organised prayer meetings, held meetings with local leaders, and tried to inspire trust between the communities in question. There was some resentment against his efforts which led to stray incidents of violence. But it is undeniable that his presence stopped the riots from escalating further.
Similarly, when the Union home minister visited Manipur in May and interacted with various groups of people, there was relative calm in the state momentarily. It is proof that the people of Manipur want to be heard. It is also an indication that Gandhi’s Noakhali experiment might work in Manipur if national leaders spend considerable time in the areas with conflict to reconcile the communities in question. But it is an exercise that can be carried out only by the central leadership, given the state leaders’ affiliations to their communities and the prevailing mistrust. Additionally, the security cover for national leaders might deter further violence in peripheral areas and provide some respite to the people.
Call it far-fetched and impossible, but we have seen the sheer will of the government in states that are going to the polls soon. An equivalent political will to save Manipur from this civil war is the need of the hour. Hopefully, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will finally break his silence and lead the reconciliation efforts. After all, the pain and suffering of the people of Manipur are also the pain and suffering of his people.
The writer is founder, Femme First Foundation
