Bad Santa of Manipur

Doctored news about the volatile situation in Manipur is rampant in the mainstream media. A small glimpse of the ground situation posted on November 17, 2024 can be read here (https://news4masses.com/manipur-supreme-court-india/),  which covered; Chief Minister N Biren Singh using Arambai Tenggol (AT), UNLF and police for ethnic cleansing, his cross-border links; the Manipur Tapes saga,  no dialogue with Kuki-Zo MLA’s; rape, torture and burning alive of Zosangkim Hmar (mother of three), followed by 10 suspected Kuki insurgents killed by the CRPF unleashing fresh wave of ethnic violence; gunfights, arson and shutdowns rocking Manipur despite additional central forces pumped in; AT caught on camera ordering CRPF, NSCN (IM) general secretary threatening to resume armed resistance, etc.

Post-mortem reports of 10 Kuki-Zo youths killed in supposed encounter with CRPF on November 11 shows multiple fatal bullet injuries mostly from behind. The bodies, brought for postmortem to a hospital in Assam on November 14 were in early stages of decomposition; four bodies each had one eye missing – indicating severe torture. The Indigenous Tribal Leaders’ Forum (ITLF) maintains they were village volunteers. After the burial ceremony, with a Mizoram delegation in attendance, in Manipur’s Churachandpur District on December 5, 2024, the ITLF reiterated its demand for a separate administration in Manipur.

Had the encounter involved the Army, there would have been hell to pay, a string of court martials and the mainstream media rubbing the Army’s face in mud. But central and state administrations remain soft and silent on police forces. Not surprising that the Telangana High Court has ordered a second post mortem of suspected Naxalites killed by the CRPF in an encounter amid allegations that the victims were poisoned and/or sedated and shot dead in cold blood.

Extortion and anarchy in Imphal Valley by the AT became the order of the day with shopkeepers and businesses hurt the most. There were numerous extortion threats by the AT, especially in urban areas such as Imphal city and the district headquarters in Churachandpur and Kangpokpi during October 2024, as reported by locals to the media. The Centre has pumped in 288 additional companies of central forces in Manipur but violence and extortion has continued. On November 25, 2024, Lashiram Kamal, a Meitei went missing from the Army Camp at Leimakhong and is still missing.

The takeover of Imphal by AT armed cadres roaming freely in vehicles is on record, with no security forces in sight, which must be the result of the governance of Biren Singh. Same was the case when the AT forced the MLA’s and even a junior union minister to congregate and take an oath of allegiance, Biren Singh can hardly absolve himself of this default.  

Now the AT chief Korounganba Khuman is reportedly on radar of the National Investigation Agency (NIA) for the above with the Supreme Court transferring the case from the NIA Court in Imphal to the NIA Special Court in Guwahati. Khuman and eight others are also involved in two other cases (shifted from Imphal to Guwahati) for attacks on police, looting arms and accusations by Kuki-Zo groups of orchestrating attacks on their community since violence began in May 2023.

However, with the strong bond between Biren Singh and the Korounganba Khuman-led AT, all these cases are expected to be no go. The so-called “looting” of arms from police/IRB armouries, which happened in mid-2023 quite possibly with full knowledge of the state administration and according to ground sources. The official figures of 4,000 plus weapons and 50,000 rounds of ammunition (actual figures being many times more) were “distributed” to Meitei militants (read AT).

There is also news of action being taken against three AT cadres for extortion and possessing firearms. Is this to show a semblance of justice? AT maintains it began as a youth group of valley-dominant Meitei and took up arms when violence broke out in May 2023. But, how did AT expand to an incredible armed strength of 15,000 to 20,000? Biren Singh will not dump AT, his private army, which he has so lovingly nurtured, armed, and given a free run. Concurrently, a lawyer indicates Biren Singh has raised another group (EYOOM); his personal elite 200-250 strong force of well trained, heavily radicalized fighters drawn from police commandos and foreign outfits.

The veracity of this would be known to Biren Singh and the Centre but EYOOM was raised in January 2024 as a socio-cultural group. Will it be expanded and armed like the AT?

A dicky bird in the core of the national hierarchy says our aim is to arm every Hindu. Fair enough, but why in Manipur and why by looting police/IRB armories? Why not systemize it and tap the illegal weapons business in the country, imports included, like narcotics under political patronage? In a recent article, GK Pillaii, former union home secretary with the reputation of an upright officer, has called for criminal charges to be filed against CM N Biren Singh. But this is hardly possible because Biren Singh is the blue-eyed boy of the Centre, especially of the union home minister. Despite the burning state, Manipur doesn’t even have a full-time Governor, giving a free hand to the chief minister. Not only this, nothing will come of the Manipur Tapes Case which purportedly shows Biren Singh giving instructions for ethnic cleansing of tribals and related actions.

The story earlier circulated was of Bangladeshi Islamists helping the Kuki-Zo, indicating severe discrepancies between announcements and reality; radical Islamists helping Christian tribals (Kuki-Zo, Hmar and Nagas) instead of killing them? The story having fallen flat, Biren Sing is accusing P Chidambaram the root cause of the crisis in Manipur and the entire northeast.

The question raised is why is Chidambaram not prosecuted and jailed/hanged for this? What has Biren Singh done as chief minister in the last seven years (since 2017) other than branding indigenous tribals as infiltrators and indulging in ethnic cleansing?

Biren Sigh began his first chief ministership in 2017 portraying himself as the Santa Claus of the Meitei, who are Hindus. He never realized Kuki-Zo, being tribal fighters, would not take ethnic killings lying down; the backlash was inevitable. So, Meitei are also suffering and call him the “Bad Santa of Manipur”. They say we don’t understand what is the Centre’s policy? Why the intransigence to burning Manipur? A veteran asks, “Why is the prime minister ineffectual and avoiding visiting the area? Is this the development of the northeast the political hierarchy is thumping its chest about?”.

Unfortunately, the reality is far more hideous than what has managed to emerge from the dark depths of Manipur; watch this  a must see expose; ugly truth of not only promoting and arming an organization like AT in Manipur but opening its branches in New Delhi, Chandigarh and West Bengal. It lays bare the perverted administration at the Centre and the State, as also an intransigent judiciary. The latter is far more dangerous than the Supreme Court query on how an electronic voting machine (EVM) could log 1,500 votes in a time period where at best 660 votes can be logged; which is quietly shoved under the carpet.  

India chants Jai Shri Ram and preaches Shri Krishna’s Gita gospel of moral code of conduct, human values and the like, but is promoting terrorist organizations as barbaric as ISIS? The West is already celebrating Christmas but America has handed Syria to Al Qaeda where Christians can’t celebrate Christmas on pain of death. Are we imitating the US by celebrating Maha Kumbh 2025 next month while Manipur burns?

Finally, why cry about inimical forces trying to destabilize India when we willingly present this asymmetrical battlefield? What message are we giving to the coming Trump Administration – only killing of Hindus in Bangladesh? The Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) has been sparingly reimposed but not in all Manipur and the deep state is already protesting to repeal it altogether. The Centre is giving no indication of changing from ethnic cleansing of tribals, placing more restrictions on them and contemplating abrogation of the SoO agreement, which will aggravate the situation more. The average Meitei doesn’t want violence but is trapped in vicious political games.

The author is an Indian Army veteran, Views expressed are personal.