Flames of violence engulfing Manipur are the perfect example of fissures in the claimed sisterhood and its internal collective rights and harmony. 

India’s Northeast has forever been looked at as a unified thread of seven sisters, who, with closely knitted communities, customs and proximity to nature, bring out a mystic land that is one big family. While there’s always more than what meets the eye, the uneven terrain and geopolitical differences among and within the States in the northeastern region had never been as visible as they are now. The recent flames of violence engulfing Manipur are the perfect example of fissures in the claimed sisterhood and its internal collective rights and harmony.

To understand the internal dichotomies of the northeastern States, one needs to go back and beyond the lenses of AFSPA [Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act] or insurgency and take a broader perspective through the lenses of community, tribal rights, land ownership, dependence on the forest and economic opportunities.

Land at the Core

The unique way of tribal lifestyle in sync with nature had existed in all of the northeastern States even before independence, where land ownership was community-driven and economic opportunities were attached to the land, creating a unique system of the socio-economic structure. However, post-independence, new systems of government ownership emerged in India where the State or the central government became the new owner of the land rather than the communities. The geographical distance and difficult terrain, however, kept the region’s catch-up with the regulation of the union slow. But, due to the fluidity of the eastern borders, the desire to live side by side with its own community, own tribal structure and way of life, was very high.

The indigenous and outsider debate has been grappling Assam, Tripura and Manipur since independence, and it is believed this is due to the loose definition of communities and borders. 

For a long period, neglect of the central government to understand the region’s aspirations and desires led to the creation of many loopholes in the governing system of the northeastern States, which then became fertile ground for breeding militant ideologies which echoed age-old traditions of living among own tribal communities with own rights on the land and economic dependence on the land. This struggle over the decades became an issue of outsider versus insider debate in all of the northeastern States. For example, in Nagaland, the prime insurgency struggle was/is to have a greater Nagalim indicating greater autonomy of all the Naga people in Northeast and Myanmar in terms of socio-economic needs, including land rights. Similar struggles can be seen in Tripura, where the rights and way of life of the tribal Tripuri people are at odds with the immigrant Bengali people. Ultimately these struggles took a violent turn and became an issue of culture and, indigenous and outsider struggle.

Ethnicity, Identity Politics

This brings us to a few pivotal questions. One, how are ethnic and cultural identities constructed, and how the claims of exclusive territories/land rights in northeast India are justified? Two, what is/are the alleged consequence/s of this form of ethnic nationalism? The multiple facades of ethnic conflicts in the Northeast are a reflection of the complexity of ethnicity and identity politics that exist in culturally plural societies.

A glance at the recent violent events that unfolded in Manipur and we have a textbook example of these two questions through the eyes of culture, identity, tradition, territoriality and ownership. Traditionally, the land rights have been attached to the tribal communities living there, and hence, they had the right to economically exploit the land and the forest while being mindful of the sensitivities of nature.

In Manipur, the majority Meitei community which used to rule the State till its accession to India, lived in the valleys of the State, which comprise 10% of the State’s land mass. The rest of the State is hilly and dominated by the tribal Nagas and Kukis belonging to various groups. Most of these ethnic groups within the Naga tribes would fall into national minority categories with their distinct dialect, origin and unique cultural practices. However, there has been a process of projecting the Nagas as an ethnic nation with a demand for ‘self-governance’. Being non-tribal, Meiteis are barred from settling in the hilly regions of the State with very few exceptions. However, the tribal population — predominantly Nagas and Kukis that form about 40% of the State’s population — resides in the reserved hill regions consisting of the rest of the 90% of the State and is not prohibited from settling in the valley region.

Though many would claim this is a war of local versus non-local, it is rather one about land and extraction rights and a cultural tug of war which no one is willing to concede 

Further, the Meiteis dominate and exert political, economic and cultural influence over the State and yet cannot access 90% of the land rights of the State. There has been a political and cultural discord among these communities for decades which has been slowly brewing. Being at economically disadvantageous positions, Kukis and Nagas are dependent on the hills and their forests for livelihood. Their disadvantage is aggravated as Manipur overall is also discriminated against by the central government, and then Kukis and Nagas further get sidelined by the State. The perpetual struggle over land rights prompted the Manipur government to initiate measures aimed at removing unauthorised immigrants from settlements located within reserved forest areas.

Immigration Issues

According to officials, unlawful Naga immigrants from Myanmar have been establishing residency in Manipur since the 1970s. Conversely, tribal communities argue that the claim of illegal immigration serves as a pretext for the Meitei population to dispossess the tribal population of their ancestral lands. In February 2023, the ruling government launched an eviction campaign targeting the districts of Churachandpur, Kangpokpi and Tengnoupal, labelling the forest dwellers as encroachers —  an action perceived as being antagonistic and discriminatory to the tribal groups. This development also highlights that despite being geographically distant from mainland India, the Northeast has been facing immigration problems causing sociocultural conflicts and upheavals in the political system. The indigenous and outsider debate has been grappling Assam, Tripura and Manipur since independence. Many believe this is happening due to the loose definition of communities and post-independence sudden international borders drawn on the map.

Following a similar line of argument, in March 2023, several Manipuri (Meitei) organisations staged demonstrations in New Delhi, advocating for the establishment of a National Register of Citizens (NRC) with 1951 as the reference year. Their grievances centred around the perceived abnormal population growth in hill areas and the degradation of forests. The initial outbreak of violence occurred when a clash resulted in five individuals sustaining injuries in the Kangpokpi district, where protesters had gathered to hold a rally against the “encroachment of tribal land in the guise of reserved forests, protected forests, and wildlife sanctuaries.”

In response, the State cabinet asserted that the government would keep the measures implemented to safeguard the forest resources of the State and eliminate poppy cultivation. Subsequently, on April 11, 2023, three churches situated in Imphal’s Tribal Colony locality were demolished on the grounds of being “illegal constructions” on government-owned land.

The rights and way of life of the tribal Tripuri people are at odds with the immigrant Bengalis, which take violent turns and become an issue of culture and, indigenous and outsider struggle 

Subsequently, on April 20, the Manipur High Court issued a directive to the State government to “deliberate upon the appeal made by the Meitei community for their inclusion in the Scheduled Tribes (ST) list.” This development raised concerns among the Kuki and Naga communities, as they apprehended that granting ST status to the Meiteis would enable the majority group to acquire land in the restricted hilly regions, consequently displacing them from their native lands and forests. And thus, the final nail in the coffin was hammered, whereby Manipur was engulfed in severe violence under which the State is still reeling.

While many would claim that this is a war of local versus non-local, it is rather one about land and extraction rights, and a cultural tug of war which no one is willing to concede. The fear of Nagas losing their rights to the use of forest land indicates their economic dependence on one limited resource, but the destruction of forest cover, interest in poppy cultivation and rampant drug trafficking point fingers towards exploitation.

Severing ties with Nature

An absence of sustainable economic opportunities and the availability of easy routes of money through drug trafficking has penetrated almost all States of the northeast, forcing its people to sever their decades-old ties with nature and build stronger conceptions of ethnic territoriality.

In February, the ruling government in Manipur launched an eviction campaign targeting the districts of Churachandpur, Kangpokpi, and Tengnoupal, labelling forest dwellers as encroachers  

Illegal coal mining has almost destroyed and hollowed the Khasi, Jaintia and Garo Hills of Meghalaya, and after putting an end to it, people are now moving to illegal log trading and drug trafficking to East Asia via Bangladesh. However, the loose border definition and inherent culture of territoriality put Khasis at odds with the Assamese for exploiting the forest where the demarcation of forest boundaries with Meghalaya is not defined stringently. These loggerheads led to the fatal conflict between Assam’s forest guards and Khasis while exploiting forests on November 22, 2022. Similar incidents are also happening in Lakhimpur on Assam’s northern border with Arunachal Pradesh. Assam’s clash with Nagaland over forest and territoriality has been brewing for decades, and all border districts face similar nature of conflicts.

While in the past, ethnic territoriality was created out of the necessity to address common concerns of the constituting groups, in the current times, they are instrumentally created out of culturally different and territorially dispersed communities by outside agencies to meet the latter’s economic and political ends. The land has, as always, emerged as a significant political agenda, giving rise to ethnic and cultural conflicts among various groups. The contested nature of land ownership and territorial claims within the geographically limited northeastern region, which is home to numerous ethnic communities, naturally fuels conflicts.

The fear of Nagas losing their rights to use forest land indicates their economic dependence on one limited resource, but the destruction of forest cover, interest in poppy cultivation and rampant drug trafficking point towards exploitation 

Even among the tribal groups themselves, conflicts arise over the issue of ownership and territoriality. A notable example is the conflicts surrounding the demand for Moreh, a crucial economic and political centre in Tengnoupal, which the Nagas assert as their ancestral province. Conversely, Moreh has also been a focal point for the Kuki community’s political aspiration known as ‘Zale’n-gam’. These territorial politics have been repeatedly manifested through the demands put forth by underground extremist organizations representing powerful tribes such as Kukis, Nagas and Mizos. It is important to acknowledge that these clashes have far-reaching consequences for the smaller intermediary tribes who are caught in the midst of such conflicts.

The recent conflicts in Manipur have caused significant displacement and hardships for the people. These conflicts are a consequence of ethnic groups’ aspiration for exclusive territories based on their ethno-nationalistic and cultural ideals. Such aspirations are bred by the politics of ethnic identity, culture wars and resistance. Similar to all past instances, the issue of land, culture and ethnic identity has become the central concern for all the ethnic communities and belongingness in the northeastern region.

This article has been authored by Prof. Rituparna Kaushik, Faculty of Economics, FLAME University.