Roots of Manipur insurgency

The tragic death of 18 security forces personnel in an ambush in the Chandel District of Manipur on 4th June has once again jolted the people and policymakers of India to the fragile situation in the state. While the central government has rushed the army chief and ordered the military operation “Search and Destroy“, many have simultaneously renewed their defence of the draconian Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA). The ongoing debates and discussions however fail to analyse the roots of the problem in its historic context. This lack of understanding is what lies behind the collective failure to maintain the peace in Manipur for so many decades. This article tries to facilitate an understanding of this beautiful and historically rich North-Eastern state, which has been mismanaged and misunderstood for so long. 

Manipur remained independent until the Lapse of Paramountcy in 1947 when the British quit India. It was then that the then maharaja of the state, Bodh Chandra relinquished his monarchy and instituted a new constitution, perhaps the first of its kind in India. The constitution was called the “Manipur Constitution Act, 1947”. This was an attempt to introduce democracy in Manipur. As mandated by the Act, an election was held in 1948.The first ever elected Manipur State Assembly was inaugurated by the maharaja on October 18, 1948.

On September 1949, the Governor of Assam, Sri Prakasa, invited Maharaja Bodh Chandra to Shillong for talks. On the first day of the meeting, September 18, 1949, the governor presented to the maharaja a tailor-made “Merger Agreement,” whereby Manipur would be merged with India. Bodh Chandra was asked to sign the “Merger Agreement,” which he refused. He offered instead to discuss the matter with his council of ministers. The maharaja on return to his Redlands residence in the hill station found that Indian Army personnel had surrounded the premises. And the maharaja was placed under house arrest. Finally, on September 21, 1949, Bodh Chandra signed the “Merger Agreement.”

Under the terms of the agreement, Manipur was to come under Indian rule from October 1949. The agreement was kept secret until October 15, 1949. The same day an executive order was passed dissolving the Manipur state assembly and the elected council of ministers. Following the dissolution of the assembly, Hijam Irabot Singh, a member of the dissolved council went underground. Although Irabot died six years later, in 1955, the seeds of protest then sown germinated into full-blown insurgency by the early 1960s. 

Meanwhile, elections were held during November and December 1951. In the elections, around 30 people were elected to guide Manipur into an era of peace and prosperity. But that was never to be. The main architects of democracy had betrayed Manipur, and led the state to a half-a-century of bloodshed.

In the year 1952, Manipur’s first general elections were held. Fourteen political parties contested these elections. In the year 1956, the 7th Amendment Act in the Constitution of India converted the Part ‘C’ state status of Manipur into a Union Territory.  

A prolonged agitation had started on April 11, 1960, for the restoration of a responsible government. The agitation ultimately led to the granting of statehood to Manipur in 1972, and BK Nehru was sworn in as the governor. Although Manipur continues to enjoy the status of a full-fledged state within the Indian Union, many people are angry at the way New Delhi handles the situation in the state. This sense of apathy for the Indian nationalist ideal paved the way for the second phase of insurgency.

The unfinished task of Manipur’s first communist leader Hijam Irabot Singh was taken up in March-April 1969, almost 18 years later, by an underground group which called itself the Revolutionary Government of Manipur (RGM). A decade later the RGM was dissolved by the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) leader, Bisheshwar Singh.

In 1970, the Government of India declared Manipur as a disturbed area and all revolutionary organisations were declared unlawful. The Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act, 1958 was enforced. An army officer, stationed in Manipur during the time, had then observed: “Imphal, the capital for Manipur – today -- is like Saigon during the Vietnam war and nobody can explain why so many paramilitary forces are stationed in such a small area. Thus began the era of little wars and insurrection, a bane which continues to ail Manipur to this very day.”

The story of Manipuri insurrection, which began in the 1950s and the genesis of which seems to lie to an extent in the manner in which the state was merged with India, continues without an endgame in sight. At present, there are over 72 armed groups which operate in the state. Every ethnic group seems to be arming itself. While the first few armed groups were set up to fight the Indian State, several others were later formed to demand autonomy for the state or to preserve the state’s natural resources. Some armed groups had political objectives. Armed insurrections have even been mounted for the revival of culture and religion.

As of 2015, Manipur remains the most violent state in the region with over 20,000 killed. Over 20,000 women became widows as many young men from the state were killed in conflict. Manipur Women Gun Survivors Network was launched in 2007 to respond to the humanitarian crisis that has engulfed the state’s widows. 

Manipur’s women and children are traumatised by the deaths of family members. They bear the brunt of the emotional and socio-economic impact of violence. Apart from that, women themselves are particularly vulnerable to violence and intimidation at gunpoint, often used as a deliberate military and political tactic. Also women and girls continue to be tortured, raped and killed at gunpoint. In most operations, the armed forces, under the aegis of AFSPA, have done away with the basic, minimal safeguards accorded to women suspects by the Criminal Procedure Code as well as the Supreme Court. Manipur alone has 20,000 registered conflict widows.

Recall the incident of 12 Manipuri mothers disrobing themselves and storming the local army headquarters in an extraordinary act of protest following the rape and brutal murder of Thangjam Manorama, a 32-year-old Manipuri woman, picked up and brutally raped by Indian armed forces personnel, in July 2004.Till date, the killers of Manorama have not been punished. It is the women of Manipur who continue to be a guiding light in the dark night. In a meeting with the Union Minister of State for Home Kiren Rijiju, I emphatically conveyed that there can be no peace in Manipur without women’s participation. It is time that Government of Manipur and India include the women of Manipur and North-East India in the peace talks and negotiations. The women have the blueprint for bringing peace to Manipur and the North-East. In September 2015, women leaders from across North-East India will lead the campaign to develop a National Action Plan revolving around women, peace and security. The women of Manipur and the North-East have to be the legitimate vanguard of a peace process if it is to succeed in this region. 

The author is founder of Manipur Women Gun Survivors Network/Control Arms Foundation of India and is convenor of North-East India Women Initiative for Peace. She tweets at @BinaNepram