Let us speak the truth without fear and without favour. There is a dangerous, dishonest and immoral tendency among some sections to reduce the present catastrophe in Manipur to a simple, convenient phrase – “Meitei-Kuki conflict” or “Kuki internal conflict” or “Meitei internal issue.”
This is intellectual dishonesty. This is moral bankruptcy. And this is constitutionally anti-national.
When villages are destroyed in hundreds, when innocents are killed in hundreds, when thousands are rendered homeless, when women and children are living in relief camps for more than two years, when churches and temples are burnt, when bodies are still lying in morgues – you cannot call it an internal conflict of one community. It is a total collapse of law, order, humanity and constitutional governance.
The fallacy of ‘internal conflict’
To call the Manipur crisis an internal conflict is to escape accountability.
If it is a Kuki internal conflict, why are Meitei villages destroyed? If it is a Meitei internal issue, why are Kuki villages burnt to ashes? If it is internal, why are Nagas being killed, kidnapped and displaced from their own ancestral villages in between?
The truth is, this is not an internal conflict. This is a complete failure of the State to protect life, property and liberty as guaranteed by Articles 14, 15, 19 and 21 of the Constitution of India. This is a failure of governance, a failure of justice, and a failure of leadership.
Is it possible for fairness, morality and constitutionality to bring peace in Manipur if we start with a lie? No. Peace built on a false narrative is not peace. It is a ceasefire for the next war.
Peace in Manipur is impossible without a truthful narrative. The truthful narrative is this: Three distinct peoples – the Meiteis, the Nagas and the Kuki-Zos – are living together as neighbours, not by choice, but by history, geography and destiny. We cannot run away from each other. We are bound together in present India and in our proximity to Burma. In spite of our differences, our future is interlinked.
To deny this reality, to claim Manipur belongs to only one community, or to claim that one community can be erased, is not only unconstitutional, it is anti-humanity.
The self-destruction of fanatical intellectuals
Some intellectuals are becoming insane or fanatical, not because they lack degrees, but because of wickedness in their own hearts. And that wickedness is exposing itself in their public statements.
An intellectual who justifies killing of innocents, who justifies burning of villages, who justifies rape and dismembering of bodies for the sake of his community’s political agenda, has disqualified himself from being a leader for any civilized generation.
Extremists or fanatics taking over leadership is the most dangerous phenomenon for all communities in this post-modern world. When fanatics become the voice of the Meiteis, the Meiteis suffer. When fanatics become the voice of the Kukis, the Kukis suffer. When fanatics become the voice of the Nagas, the Nagas suffer. Because fanatics do not want peaceful coexistence; they want total domination.
Intellectual dishonesty is the fault line of Manipur today. It is the fault line that must be fixed with accountability for public and national security.
To write false history, to spread fake news, to dehumanize another community, to call another indigenous community “illegal immigrants” in their own ancestral land ( like the Kukis addressing the Nagas of Manipur and Meiteis in the most unrespected and despicable manner), to deny the documented killings and burnings – this is intellectual dishonesty. And this intellectual dishonesty is not just immoral, it is anti- customary laws, anti- constitution, anti-indigenous people, anti-democracy and against humanity.
Article 51A of the Constitution says it is our fundamental duty to promote harmony and the spirit of common brotherhood. Any intellectual who preaches hatred, who preaches division, who preaches communal cleansing, is violating the very essence of humanity, sacred customary laws and the Constitution of India. He is anti-national in the truest sense.
The reality we cannot deny
Nagas, Meiteis and Kukis cannot run away from reality. We should not deny the fact and reality that we are facing today.
The reality is:
a) We are three peoples with distinct history, identity, culture and landholding systems.
b) We have been living together as neighbours for a longtime now, with both conflict and cooperation.
c) The British brought us forcefully and deceitfully into one administrative unit called Manipur, and our customary laws and the Constitution of India- now are the most important laws of the land that all must abide and follow, thus they protect us all.
d) No community can be driven out. No community can dominate the other two. The valley cannot exist without the hills, and the hills cannot exist without the valley.
e) The present violence has created deep wounds that will take a generation to heal, but healing will never come without truth and justice.
However, we must courageously settle this through dialogue and common understanding. Courage is not taking up arms against your neighbour, there are other ways also. Real courage is sitting across the table with your neighbour when your hearts are full of pain and speaking truthfully.
We must have the courage to say:
To our Meitei brothers: Acknowledge the constitutional rights, land rights and identity rights of the hill tribes.
To our Kuki brothers: Acknowledge that violence and territorial aggression at the cost of Naga ancestral land and Meitei villages will not bring peace.
To our Naga brothers: Acknowledge your role as the elder brother to bring peace and balance between the two, and not to be a silent/mute spectator.
Peace is not the absence of differences. Peace is the presence of a system to manage differences with justice.
The way forward
What Manipur needs urgently is not another narrative of domination, but a truthful narrative for peaceful coexistence.
A truthful narrative must include:
a) Lawful and Logical Accountability: Every killing, whether of Meitei, Kuki or Naga, must be investigated and punished. No community should be allowed to be both judge and executioner. The six Naga bodies in the morgues must get justice. The homeless must get rehabilitation. Without accountability for public crimes, there can be no national security.
b) Constitutional Morality Above Community Morality: We must give respect and utmost importance to the Constitution of India for peaceful co-existence as neighbors. The Constitution gives us equality, liberty, freedom of religion, right to life, and protection of tribal rights under Article 371C. If we are anti-Constitution, we are against ourselves.
c) Dialogue, Not Propaganda: Replace propaganda with dialogue. Replace social media hatred with face-to-face common understanding. The future of Manipur cannot be decided in TV studios in Imphal or in press releases from Churachandpur or Senapati. It must be decided through sincere, inclusive dialogue under the framework of the Constitution.
d) Disqualify the Fanatics: The civil society of all three communities must have the moral courage to disqualify extremists and fanatics from leadership. Let the sane, moral, democratic and humane leaders emerge. Let the post-modern generation be led by thinkers, not by haters.
A vehement appeal to humanity
Let this be an imploring, assertive, powerful and moral appeal to all.
There is no Meitei-Kuki conflict that can be dismissed as their internal issue when the entire state of Manipur is burning. It is a human conflict. It is a Manipur conflict. It is an Indian conflict. And it is a failure of all of us.
We cannot change yesterday. We cannot run away from each other today. But we can courageously settle tomorrow through truth, through justice, through constitutional morality and through dialogue.
Let the intellectuals stop being insane and fanatical. Let them become truthful.
Let the leaders stop being extremists. Let them become peacemakers.
Let the people stop denying reality. Let them accept that Nagas, Meiteis and Kuki-Zos must live together, or we will all die together.
Manipur will be saved not by denying the truth, but by having the courage to face the truth and fix the fault line of intellectual dishonesty with accountability.
That is the only path that is lawful, logical, factual, constitutional, moral and human.
Let the truth prevail, so that peace may return.
***
Michael Meiphami Shaiza is Co-incharge of BJP Manipur State Political Programmes and Meetings and President of Ukhrul-based NGO Ecological Rehabilitators’ Association (ERA).
(Views expressed are writers’ own and do not, in whatsoever manner, reflect that of Ukhrul Now)
