Editorial: The PM's late visit to Manipur

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s much-delayed visit to strife-torn Manipur on Friday, Sept. 13, was notable for its word soup of development, typical optics, and performative empathy. During a hurried five-hour visit, he participated in foundation stone ceremonies for roads, drainage, infotech, hostels, hospitals, infrastructure, stadiums; heard poem recitals by cute kids; and lent an ear to common man litanies.

However, belying the hopes raised by a prime ministerial visit, there was no announcement of a special political initiative to bridge the gulf between the two warring ethnic groups of the state, the mostly Christian Kuki-Zo tribes in the hills and the Hindu Meiteis in Imphal Valley. The two identities remain implacably opposed, separated by buffer zones manned by paramilitary forces. They remain so far apart that the PM had to meet the rival groups separately, the Kuki-Zos in Churachandpur, and the Meiteis in the capital Imphal.

Although the Prime Minister spoke of “a new dawn of hope and confidence in Manipur,” it did not seem like the Union government had any new ideas on persuading the Kukis and Meiteis to live in peace in one state. From the drift of the visit, it is apparent that it sees development rather than any institutional rearrangement as the answer to the Manipur problem.

New Delhi continues to see cross-border infiltration of tribal people into the Kuki-Zo hills as the root cause of the problem. While the PM chose not to say anything divisive himself, Governor Ajay Kumar Bhalla insisted that illegal immigration is the real problem to tackle. “We have a duty to safeguard our country. We cannot afford our land to be encroached and illegally inhabited by people from beyond the borders,” he said. Since he has been the man in charge of the state since President’s rule was clamped on February 13, it can be surmised that there has been no shift in the Centre’s approach to the Manipur problem since the wholly partisan N Biren Singh was removed as chief minister.

Thus, on the whole, the Prime Minister’s visit was a disappointment. With 60,000 people still displaced from their homes, Manipur remains a state in stasis. Kukis fear going to the capital in the Imphal Valley for work or education, and Meiteis are afraid of travelling on National Highway 2, which remains practically inoperable despite the Union Home Minister’s claims to the contrary. With the Kukis demanding a state of their own and the Meiteis hellbent on not sharing power, Manipur remains a chimerical entity that can neither be delivered from pain through partition nor restored to peace under continued union.

If nothing has changed in Manipur and nothing promises to change, the question is for the Prime Minister himself to consider whether anything has been achieved by waiting 27 months to take charge of the problem. If Meitei militias armed with weapons stolen from police armouries continue to roam the valley, how can tribal people trust the peace offered? If, after 260 people have been killed, scores of women raped, and trials cannot be trusted to courts within the state, what justice can the displaced people expect from this dispensation?

The wait-it-out policy on Manipur may have been intended to cool things down, but the warring parties have drifted too far apart over 865 days. The question is, could something have been saved had the PM visited sooner?