Witoubou Newmai
The assertions of some important groups in the past one month---the Kuki National Organisation/United People’s Front (KNO/UPF), the United Naga Council (UNC), the Joint Committee on Inner Line Permit System (JCILPS), the United Committee, Manipur (UCM) and others---form a lucid panoramic view on the present social landscape or configuration of the State of Manipur that is likely to snowball soon.
Since this column is not even a cursory analysis, only the turns of recent developments are recalled as a way of presenting the panoramic view of intricate political landscape in Manipur.
Amidst the ranting by the ‘Manipur territorial integrity protection’ campaigners such as the UCM, the AMUCO and others, the KNO and the UPF, who are holding talks with the Government on the formation of the “Territorial Council,” had expressed happiness that the June 25 talk in New Delhi was good. The Kuki groups even disclosed to the media that there were a “good number of agreements on the issue” between the former and the Government. Both the Kuki groups and the Government had agreed to meet again at the “earliest possible time” to discuss further on the issue.
Concerned regarding this development, the United Naga Council convened its ‘presidential council’ meeting and “seriously deliberated”. The UNC meeting then "strongly voiced" that the 'territorial council' demanded by the KNO and the UPF "should not affect the Naga ancestral territory under any circumstances". Without elaborating much the UNC said that “it is only in the recent past that other community(s) intruded into our ancestral homeland." The UNC also urged the Government of India to honor the well "established" political position of the Naga people on land, identity, history and rights, and also to exercise its "prerogatives cautiously".
On the other hand, the Joint Committee on Inner Line Permit System based in the valley is campaigning now talking about the “common land law” for the State of Manipur. The JCILPS reasoned that separate laws for the hills and the valley “is an attempt by the Government to create divisions” among the peoples of the State of Manipur. The JCILPS also said that the “presence of different laws, like valley law and hills law, all inside the same State is a recipe for tension and disaster.”
As the valley has become too congested, the kind of demand for “common land laws” or the demand of the Meiteis for the Scheduled Tribe (ST) status will intensify.
Interestingly, such assertions from the valley organizations or the Meiteis bring the Kukis and the Nagas together in the “tribal platform”.
Such are the intricacies of the State of Manipur which will continue to attract various study centres.
