Manipur on mute: Manipur is not warming up to polls. Who wins or loses is not going to change much
Kuki communities in Manipur since May 3 last year, such a flurry of activity in the marketplace signals a revival of normalcy. “What normalcy?” Devi retorts with a poignant blend of anger and despair.
“My daughter Mayuda is still confined in the shelters of a relief camp near Imphal. When the unrest erupted, she was just married, starting a new life with her husband in Churachandpur. The Kukis ravaged all their personal belongings, including the grocery shop they had taken on rent.” That’s just one side of the story.
About 30 km northeast of Imphal, in Shangkai, Ngamminlen Haokip recounts a harrowing incident of armed Meitei assailants scaling up a nearby hill before launching a deadly assault on Thowai Kuki village. Shangkai is one of the 14 Kuki villages located in the foothills of Ukhrul district, “That’s Thowai Kuki,” he says, pointing towards a hill.
“The incident took place in May last year. Though geographically the village falls in Kamjong district, it is located so close to us that we could hear the frightening sound of gunshots. Most villagers fled to the forests while three of them died,” he says. Haokip, an official of the Ukhrul chapter of the Kuki Students’ Organisation (KSO), says the spectre of violence looms unless their political grievances are addressed. “The only solution lies in granting a Puducherry-type Union territory, with an assembly of representatives to Kukis,” he asserts.
POLL AMID TURMOIL Ahead of a two-phase Lok Sabha election in Manipur on April 19 and 26, the state’s calm
