Ethnic clash stand of Union Home Minister

Ngaranmi Shimray
The Sangai Express reported in December 2024 that the Union Home Minister Amit Shah in an interview with Aaj Tak said that "the violence in Manipur is an ethnic clash, not linked to terrorism or religion".
The Union Government has several sources of intelligence reporting and they must have carried out indepth analysis to feed accurate reports to the Union Home Minister. With the truth that the clashes in Manipur is an ethnic conflict being stated by the Union Home Minister, which the State Government has been reluctant to state for 20 months, the Union Government should now task the State Government to talk with the valley based CSOs whose billigerent stance against the Kuki-Zomi-Hmar people has made them to stay away from Imphal. Even the legislators and Government servants from the Kuki-Zomi-Hmar people fear to return to Imphal. The question of ordinary citizens returning to Imphal does not arise without the valley based CSOs calling for peaceful coexistence and inviting the Kuki-Zomi-Hmar people back.
The Kuki-Zomi-Hmar people fear the valley based CSOs and non-State actors more than they fear the State Government. Nevertheless, they have lost confidence in the State Government and its ability to protect them. It will take a lot of confidence building measures to repose faith in the administrative system, valley based CSOs and the non-State actors. The return of Meitei people who have been evicted from Kuki-Zomi-Hmar areas, mainly Churachandpur, Kangpokpi and Moreh, could be facilitated once the situation is normalised with the return of Kuki-Zomi-Hmar people in Imphal. Also, the insecurity and threats faced by the valley farmers at the periphery between the Imphal valley and hills would automatically be resolved once understanding and settlement is arrived between the two parties under the aegies of the Union and State Governments.
The statement by the Union Home Minister that the violence is an "ethnic clash" is the ugly truth which the Manipur Government is unwilling to admit. The conflict has been refered to as a fight against "narco-terrorism" and "fight against infiltrators".
Kuki-Zomi-Hmar people have already fled Imphal valley and ethnic cleansing of Meitei people at Chura-chandpur and Kangpokpi is complete. The clashes do not involve any other communities but the Meiteis and Kuki-Zomi-Hmar people can only be termed as an ethnic conflict.
The refusal of the State Government and the valley based CSOs to acknowledge the conflict as an ethnic clash is perplexing unless one is compelled to draw a conclusion that the dominant community,  who control the State Government, do not wish to resolve the conflict at this stage, but at the time chosen by them. Prolonging the conflict could provoke thoughts of hidden agenda to wriggle out from some ticklish issues such as; the statutory mandate for delimitation based on a 2020 Presidential order for Manipur, Nagaland and Arunachal Pradesh (Assam has been implemented); conduct of Census 2026 (the Census of 2021 postponed on account of Covid 19); scheduled delimitation of 2026 based on Census 2026; demand for ST status by Meiteis; and proposal for redrawing district boundaries for administrative purpose (likely to violate the sanctity of Hill Areas protected by Article 371-C).
It could be suspected that the State Government, controlled by the dominant community, may prefer to keep the pot boiling in order to derail conduct of Census 2026 operations in certain areas by citing the adverse law & order situation. By doing so, the Census 2026 may be scuttled in certain areas and estimated population figures could be used for the scheduled delimitation of 2026. It is difficult to rule out this suspicion as Meiteis fear that their population could have further declined since Census 2011 compared to the tribal population and in such case it could affect their share of seats in the State Assembly.
Otherwise, the pressing need of the hour is to restore peace and normalcy in the State by initiating dialogue with the Kuki-Zomi- Hmar tribes. Political shadowboxing has been going on too long and the State Government should not ignore the stark facts pointed out by Union Home Minister that the "violence in Manipur is an ethnic clash, not linked to terrorism or religion". The State Government should realise that it is not only the Meiteis and Kuki-Zomi-Hmar tribes who are suffering in this protracted clashes, but the entire population of Manipur with skyrocketing prices, decline in business activities, slow down of Government development schemes, set back in education and the poor becoming poorer. Under these circumstances, the State Government should acknowledge that the clashes is of ethnic nature between the Meiteis and Kuki-Zomi-Hmar tribes.
Now that the Union Home Minister has clearly stated that the violence is an ethnic clash, the State Government should remove its blinkers and not waste further time to bring about peaceful resolution of the ethnic conflict by initiating dialogues between the two warring communities.
However, if the stance of the State Government remains unchanged by terming the clashes anything, but ethnic clashes, right thinking people across all communities will be tempted to conclude that certain political masters are more interested in continuing with the adverse law & order situation in certain areas of the state to stop 2026 Census operations from taking place so that the schedued delimitation process of 2026 is disrupted.
It remains to be seen whether the State Government will remove the blinkers it has been wearing for 20 months.
The ball is now in the court of the State Government notably the Chief Minister.