The internal conflict in Manipur has all the ingredients that kept different parts of unpartitioned India on the boil on different occasions for over 150 years — the majority community’s penchant to develop too quickly — and the minority community’s extreme levels of suspicion.
Two years after ethnic strife split Manipur into two different enclaves, the Central government has imposed President’s rule. This is the 11th time that Article 356 — whose provisions relate to the breakdown of constitutional machinery in the state — was invoked to impose the President’s rule in Manipur — the maximum for any state in India, followed by Uttar Pradesh which went under President’s Rule 10 times.
There was a demand for the President’s Rule in Manipur since violent clashes flared up between the dominant Meiteis, the dwellers of the lowlands, and tribal Kukis, who reside in hill districts and make up 25 per cent of the state’s population. However, the Centre chose to ignore the demand in the belief that its chief minister N. Biren Singh, who now resigned, would manage the situation.
The Narendra Modi government’s trust in Biren Singh proved wrong when he resigned on February 9, incapable of facing a potential no-confidence motion in the Assembly. The BJP’s attempts to find a consensus-candidate as his replacement did not bear fruit immediately. Article 174(1) that mandates Assembly to meet at least twice within six months closed the shorter window available to the BJP, forcing the Centre to impose the President’s Rule.
As President’s Rule was imposed as a result of the ruling party’s political exigency, and not as part of its strategy to restore normalcy in the state, the hope for a reconciliation between the warring populations in the state is extremely low.
The internal conflict in Manipur has all the ingredients that kept different parts of unpartitioned India on the boil on different occasions for over 150 years — the majority community’s penchant to develop too quickly — and the minority community’s extreme levels of suspicion. Starting from Hindu-Muslims riots in the 1870s over the script of Hindavi, which sowed the seeds for the creation of Pakistan, all conflicts in India have centred around trust deficit between different communities. Unless attempts are made to foster trust between communities in Manipur, the President’s Rule will achieve absolutely nothing in that state.
