When retired Union Home Secretary Ajay Kumar Bhalla was appointed governor of riot-torn Manipur last December, it was evident to the discerning that the Centre had major plans to change the status quo in the state. Bhalla is an able administrator who is perhaps on his toughest assignment so far. Soon enough, Chief Minister N Biren Singh was shown the door and Manipur placed under president’s rule. Singh was a lightning rod for controversy and seen as representing the interests of the majority Meitei community in a state that has Nagas and Kuki-Zos as well. Bhalla started well by issuing a public appeal to surrender firearms looted from the armouries thus far. The weapons returned by the deadline last week are a fraction of the estimated 6,000-plus stolen from police and military camps ever since violence broke out in 2023 following an ill-advised judicial order on jobs quota.
Manipur’s topography is such that the Meiteis live in the Imphal valley surrounded by the Kuki-Zos based in the hills. When the ethnic faultlines grew deeper, their compartmentalisation became total. Now, members of one community cannot even dream of taking a highway that cuts through the landmass controlled by the other without threat to life and limb. As a result, Meiteis can only fly in and out of Imphal, and Kukis cannot even step into the Imphal valley, forget driving to the airport there. Union Home Minister Amit Shah’s recent fiat on restoring free movement in the state was read by the Kuki-Zos as facilitating Meitei travel through their territory, and opposed tooth and nail. Two buses sent to the Kuki-majority areas of Kangpokpi and Churachandpur on March 8 as an exploratory exercise were vandalised. One life was lost in the resultant clash with security forces. And the Kuki-Zos imposed indefinite shutdown in the districts dominated by them.
The ethnic violence has reignited Kuki-Zo sub-nationalism and aspirations for a separate land. To participate in the peace process, they want a separate administration and Union Territory status with a legislature. Expecting them to yield in the short run would be naive. At a debate in parliament, the government claimed Manipur's law and order situation has improved. However, the state appears headed for a long phase of central rule.