In his book My Experiences in Manipur and the Naga Hills, the Late Major-General Sir James Johnstone has written about the massive migration of Kukis into the sparsely-populated hill tracts of Manipur beginning from the year 1845 onwards. The enormity of their migration can be gauged from the fact that during the period 1851-52, a huge chunk of 8000 Kukis had moved into the Zeme Naga-inhabited areas of the North Cachar hills of Assam. By the year 1860, a Kuki colony of 1,356 inhabitants had come up in seven villages of this region in Assam. In 1866, 500 Kuki immigrants from Manipur had settled down in North Cachar.

This eventually resulted in many older inhabitants of these areas, primarily the different Naga communities such as Zeliangrong, Rongmei, Zeme, etc. fleeing from here in due course of time. Col. W. McCulloch, the then Political Agent of Manipur, exploited this situation to the advantage of the British colonial state. He was the mastermind behind the settlement of Kukis in the hills of present-day Manipur which were back then predominantly populated by the Zeliangrong Nagas. Several villages in this region were earlier known by Zeliangrong names. For example- Pherzawl village in Tipaimukh sub-division of Churachandpur district was called Duigai, when inhabited by the Zeliangrongs.

The name ‘Churachandpur’ itself has been derived from the Hindu King Maharaj Churachandra Singh who had ascended the throne after his predecessor Kulachandra Singh was jailed. However, nowadays, the word ‘Lamka’ which is a Kuki name, is mostly used for any reference to Churachandpur. Depending upon their population, McCulloch allotted lands to the new Kuki migrants and settled them strategically in different areas. His motive was to use the Kuki settlements as a buffer zone, a deterrent in order to ward off all threats faced by the British from the hostile Nagas. Large sums of money were advanced out to them along with the assignment of different duties to further the interests of the colonial state.

For instance, on the advice of McCulloch, Kukis were recruited into the Manipur militia as Kuki Irregulars, a regiment in the Manipur Army. They were a part of the expedition against the Lushais and the siege of Kohima in the Naga Revolt of 1879-80. All Nagas, especially the Zeliangrongs, resented this policy. However, the continuous migration and settlement of the Kukis which was mediated by the state to serve its own long-term political objectives further reinforced the growing animosity and resentment between the Kukis and the Nagas, resulting in armed confrontations between the two communities over land and forest resources. The Nagas being permanent dwellers were deeply attached to their lands and villages.

On the other hand, the Kukis were under the rule of their despotic chiefs. The British Government exploited the situation further so as to establish its supreme control and hegemony over the hill tracts. The colonial now frequently began to use both the Kukis and the Nagas against each other to suppress any form of rebellion or uprising. Kukis were used to quell the Angami Naga rebellion of 1879-80; again, many Nagas who had just returned after serving as labour corps in France during World War I were used to suppress the Kuki rebellion of 1917-19 which was not just against the British rule and the Kingdom of Manipur, for it involved open and direct attacks against the Nagas, especially the Zeliangrongs.

Several Zeliangrong villages were attacked and their people were brutally killed by the Kukis during the initial stages of the rebellion. In a recent report prepared by the Manipuri Society of Delhi, it was claimed that the total illegal immigrant population in Manipur from Myanmar is significantly higher than the official figures. The fact that there has been uninterrupted illegal immigration of the Kuki-Chin-Zo population from across the India-Myanmar international border in Manipur, leading to a massive demographic imbalance in several border districts of the state, can no longer be denied. Eastern Manipur’s five districts share a border of around 400 km with Myanmar, most of which is still unfenced.

It facilitates a safe transit route for not only illegal drugs and narcotic substances from the ‘Golden Triangle’ – the hub of a thriving drugs peddling economy – to the Northeast, but also illegal immigrants. Census data from 1961 to 2011 clearly shows an abnormal increase in the number of new villages that have sprung up in the Kuki-dominated districts of Manipur such as Kangpokpi and Churachandpur. During the last five decades, the number of newly-settled villages in Kangpokpi and Churachandpur districts was 355 and 262, respectively. Especially, the number of new settlements in some of the reserved and protected forest areas of these districts has increased manifold.

The militants almost run a parallel Government in these districts, which also, quite obviously, happen to be the hotspots of cross-border trafficking of drugs and narcotics and illegal trade of various wildlife. On the contrary, in the Naga-dominated districts of Manipur, viz. Tamenglong and Senapati, only 42 and 14 new villages have come up during the same time period. This is clear evidence which clearly suggests that migrants from Myanmar have massively settled in the Kuki-dominated districts of Manipur. There is thus a direct co-relationship between the alteration of demographics in these regions over the past few decades and illegal immigration.

The fear of the Meiteis of becoming an alien in their own land has more to do with culture than religion. Earlier, the ratio of the Meiteis versus the tribals in Manipur used to be 63%:31%. But, by 2011, the Meiteis had fallen to 53% and the tribal population had increased to 41%. In 2019, it was estimated that at least 15% of the total tribal population of Manipur were illegal immigrants from other places. Since the time the British left India in the year 1947, the migration of the Kuki-Chin-Zo people into India can be divided into different phases for the purpose of having a holistic understanding of the problem. Initially, the migration began towards the late 1950s and the early 1960s during the civil war in Myanmar.

During this period, refugee camps were set up in several border towns and villages of Manipur’s Churachandpur district such as Singhat, Tuibong, Senvawn, and Thanlon. A majority of these refugees chose to stay back and never returned to their home country. It was later reported that they were resettled in Manipur by the then Congress Government at the Centre. In August 1988 when Myanmar was witnessing widespread protests and demonstrations against the Military Junta-led Government, a huge population of the Chin-Kukis who were displaced from their homes due to continuous infighting between the rebel forces, sought refuge in Bangladesh and the hill states of neighbouring Northeast India.

This was the second phase of their migration when Manipur’s three hill districts, viz. Chandel, Churachandpur, and Senapati registered a record increase in the number of “foreigners”. Refugee camps were set up in Moreh, Singhat, Saikul, and other towns of these districts. Like the earlier batch, this second batch of refugees too, did not go back to Myanmar. Most importantly, the then Governments at both the Centre and the State did not bother to take any necessary action for the deportation of such a huge chunk of the foreign population to their home country. After this, the third phase of the Kuki-Chin-Zo migration happened in 2005 after an informal ceasefire between the Assam Rifles and Kuki militant organisations.

Subsequently, Kuki militants stopped their attacks on the security forces and accordingly, the Assam Rifles too, halted its counter-insurgency operations against the militants. But this ceasefire lasted for a period of about six months. Out of the total 32 Kuki insurgent groups in Manipur, 25 of them had signed a tripartite Suspension of Operations (SoO) Agreement with the Government of Manipur on August 22, 2008, so as to initiate talks and negotiations for peace. These 25 militant outfits function under two umbrella groups – 17 under the Kuki National Organisation (KNO), and 8 under the United People’s Front (UPF).

As per the SoO Agreement, both the security forces and the insurgent groups are not supposed to launch any armed operation against each other. The SoO groups are required to abide by the Indian Constitution and the laws of the land by not resorting to any form of extortion or atrocities, besides accepting Manipur’s territorial integrity. The militants are confined in designated camps and given a financial stipend of Rs. 6,000/- per month from taxpayers’ money. Financial assistance is also provided to maintain these camps. The arms of the rebel groups are deposited in a safe room under a double-locking system. The weapons are to be used only within the camp premises for strictly defensive purposes.

While one of the keys remains with the militants, the other one is kept in the custody of the Army. The groups are provided arms only for the purpose of guarding their camps and protecting their leaders. The recent spate of violence in Manipur has proven that the Kuki terrorists have violated every single term and condition of the SoO Agreement, with the open and active support of the common Kuki people. They are now imposing a blockade on Manipur’s lifeline NH2, thereby stopping the supply of life-saving medicines too. They are also blocking the supply of water to several Meitei and Gorkha villages of Churachandpur and Kangpokpi. 

While the period of the SoO Agreement is one year, it is extendable depending upon the progress of the talks. A Joint Monitoring Group, with representatives from all the signatories, oversees its effective implementation. Although the State Government of Manipur had withdrawn the SoO Agreement with two groups – the Kuki National Army (KNA) and the Zomi Revolutionary Army (ZRA) – on March 10, 2023, alleging that they were influencing the agitation among illegal land encroachers, it continues to be operational with the other remaining groups. However, the demand has now come up for the immediate withdrawal of this Agreement with these groups as well.

Continuous political instability in Myanmar as a result of the civil war has led to a significant number of people from Myanmar illegally crossing the border and entering the Northeast, especially Manipur. Recognising the gravity of the situation, the Government of Manipur constituted a Cabinet Sub-Committee (CSC) led by Minister Letpao Haokip (a Kuki MLA) along with two other Ministers. As per the initial findings of the first phase of random identification of illegal immigrants in four border districts, viz. Churachandpur, Tengnoupal, Chandel, and Kamjong, conducted on the 23^rd of April, 2023, there were more than thousands of these immigrants from Myanmar in Tengnoupal district alone.

Most of these districts share a border with Myanmar. The three other districts also showed an alarming presence of migrants, with almost no native population of the Nagas and the Meiteis recorded in many places of these districts. These illegal migrants establish their villages, most often with the active connivance of their Churches, and engage in drug peddling to earn easy cash. Not just Manipur, the states of Mizoram and Nagaland too, which share an international border with Myanmar, have seen an unregulated influx of the Kuki-Chin-Zo people, especially over the past five decades. It might also be quite possible that many of these migrants have come to Manipur via Mizoram and Nagaland.

Thanks to the corrupt bureaucracy of our country, procuring Aadhar cards and Voter ID cards for these illegal immigrants have never been much of a hassle. This is a very serious issue because, without a clearly-defined national policy on refugees, it is the original settlers/the native population which is at the losing end every time. Moreover, the designated refugee camps are not well-regulated. Once the migrants make their way across the border, they have the support of the earlier migrants who have already settled there, which eventually not only helps them in availing Indian citizenship but also join the Government services. This has created a situation of lessening the opportunities for the locals in terms of jobs and businesses.

It is very important that the Intelligence agencies of our country look into the several complex dimensions involved in this matter which not only poses a serious national security threat but also a threat to the culture and civilisation of Bharat. Because, the entire process through which these migrations have been taking place and the subsequent process through which migrants’ avail of citizenship documents and other Government facilities including jobs has the blessings of not merely top politicians and bureaucrats, but as well the leaders of insurgent organisations, missionaries, criminal gangs of businessmen, Chartered Accountants, lawyers, and high-profile drug dealers.

Thus, in a way, the politics of Kuki-Chin migration into the hill states of the Northeast cannot be discussed without taking into account the broader picture involving money laundering, narco-terrorism, religious conversions, etc. As per the latest information, the population of the Kuki-Chins has gone up drastically, even way ahead of the Nagas. The waves of illegal immigration of these people are going to adversely impact the process of delimitation of constituencies in Manipur, which is already under process. The consequences of this, both short-term and long-term, on the electoral dynamics of the state cannot be ignored anymore.

There is every possibility that the number of unreserved electoral constituencies in Manipur might get reduced. Whereas, the number of reserved constituencies exclusively for the Kukis, in the Kuki-dominated areas, may increase with time due to the unnatural increase that has been registered in their population over the past few decades has made matters worse. During the Census periods from 1951 to 2011, the Kuki population in Manipur alone had incrementally increased by almost five times from 80,002 in the year 1951 to 4,48,532 in 2011. A majority of these Kuki Christians from the Chin state of Myanmar have illegally settled in many of the interior forested areas of the border districts of Manipur.

This huge, unnatural surge in the population of the Kukis cannot merely be attributed to an increase in their overall birth rates. It is assumed that if combined together, the Kuki-Chin-Zo population of Manipur at present will outnumber the population of both the Meiteis and the Nagas. It may be recalled here that the Kabaw Valley (previously known as the ‘Rice Bowl of Manipur’) of present-day Myanmar was an integral part of Manipur earlier. In terms of territorial extent and based on an overview of the fertile plain terrain that lies beyond the India-Myanmar international border, it has been roughly estimated that the Kabaw Valley extended up to the Chindwin River in Myanmar.

There is no doubt about the fact that had this Valley been a part of Manipur today, food security would have come as a boon for the state. Was there therefore any larger conspiracy behind the capture of the Kabaw Valley by Burma, aided by the then Congress Government at the Centre with the blessings of a corrupt Breaking-India mafia? What was the role of Nehru in this incident? Although the Burmese captured the Kabaw Valley, as per the Treaty of Yandaboo signed with the British later in 1826, Burma had to pay a compensation tax to Manipur. During the reign of the last King Bodhachandra, Manipur was merged with the Union of India in 1949.

In 1950, a social leader of Manipur Hijam Irabot visited Burma (now Myanmar) and negotiated with the Burmese army to stop the payment of the compensation tax to the Government of Manipur and thereby let Manipur have the Kabaw Valley. In 1954, Nehru stopped the compensation tax that the Burmese Government was paying to Manipur for capturing the Kabaw Valley. He literally transferred the Valley from the Hindu-majority state of Manipur to Burma as a “token of peace” without having the consent of the natives living there or the Ninghthouja dynasty, i.e., the Meitei royal family. Today, the Kabaw Valley is completely under the control of Myanmar.

In Myanmar, the Meiteis are counted as Bamars and classified as Buddhists, similar to the Assamese people living there despite them being more similar to the Chins than the Bamars. Since the Kabaw Valley is an integral part of the history of Hindu Dharma in Manipur, the Meitei Hindus strongly opposed this decision of Nehru who, however, refused to listen. Eventually, they were compelled to leave the Kabaw Valley and migrate to areas that constitute today’s Imphal Valley. Depending upon their convenience, many Meitei Hindu families among them also settled in the surrounding hilly regions because, at that time, they were classified under the Scheduled Tribe category.

It was from the Gazette of 1951 onwards that they were no more categorised as STs. The changes in demography in the hills of Manipur became more noticeable from this time onwards. Since 92% of Manipur's tribal area is a mountainous region inhabited by the majority of Christians, the Meitei Hindus settled here were now gradually driven out in different phases. At the same time, the process of capturing all Government and non-Government jobs by Naga and Kuki Christians had already begun. Besides grabbing jobs and land, Kuki, Naga, and Mizo missionaries have been relentlessly attacking and defaming the Hindu religion and culture of Manipur in different ways.

The later Governments at both the Centre and the State only facilitated the further break-up of the Meitei Hindu society for their own vested interests. The conflict became intense with each passing day. The sordid state of affairs of the economy of Manipur further added to the problems. As written by Maloy Krishna Dhar in his book Open Secrets: India’s Intelligence Unveiled, way back in the year 1968, Manipur had very little to boast of its economy. Despite the rates of literacy being significantly higher when compared to other states of the country at the same time, the Manipuri youths were denied the opportunity of higher education in general and specialised streams.

Scholarships and jobs were limited and students from well-to-do, affluent families went to Shillong, Guwahati, and Calcutta to pursue higher education. The well-educated yet frustrated Meitei youths had taken to alcohol and drugs of cannabis origin for escaping to a different realm. The markets of Manipur soon began to be flooded with IMFL. Through his own personal experiences, the questionable role of the Indian intelligence agencies in this regard has been thoroughly explained by Dhar in his book. The IB was well aware of the developments in the Northeast at that time including the rapid scale at which the Missionary-Islamist-Communist combine was spreading its wings in almost all the states.

Several Christian missionary organisations were supportive of the Naga and the Mizo rebels. Alongside this, Islamic forces were continuously at work in states like Assam, Meghalaya, and Tripura for destabilising Bharatvarsha as a whole. In Manipur, however, the Government relied on brute force tactics, instead of genuinely reaching out to the Meiteis who were under the impression that the Central Government deliberately refused to elevate the status of the former princely state of Manipur into a full-fledged state of the Union of India. Even under the British Empire, Manipur maintained its Independence in some form or the other.

A series of popular agitations for statehood now began in Manipur. But, the then Governments turned a deaf ear to the emerging developments and instead relied on the police, paramilitary and the army for dealing with the catastrophe that was still yet to come. The Inner Line Permit (ILP) System was applicable only for the hills, i.e. the Outer Manipur area. On the contrary, anyone could enter, buy land and encroach in the Inner Manipur area, i.e. the Imphal Valley where a majority of the Hindus were concentrated. When Manipur was finally granted statehood in the year 1972, 90% of the state’s land was reserved for the Christian tribals whose population was approximately around 30% at that time.

The rest 10% of the land in the Valley was accessible to all. In the meantime, the increasing consumption of alcohol and drugs by men was soon beginning to take its toll on families. With the Government failing to address this burgeoning problem in Manipur, Meitei women eventually decided to take the call leading to the formation of a social movement called Meira Paibi aimed at tackling the issues of alcoholism and drug abuse, forcing the then Manipur People’sParty-led Government to pass the Manipur Liquor Prohibition Act in the year 1991. However, despite the prohibition, liquor consumption could not be successfully controlled and alcohol remained widely available.

This led to agitations in different parts of the state against liquor and drug-related menaces. The Government’s apathy towards these issues paved the way for murky propagandists of the Left-Christian cabal to infuse feelings of self-doubt among the Meitei Hindus against their own Dharma. They were ridiculously made to believe that Hinduism had only weakened them from within and that they were never Hindus but only nature-worshippers or animists. The intention was to defame Hindu Dharma in every way possible and thus cut the Meiteis off from their own roots so that they can be easily trapped and converted later.

This was reinforced further through the deracinated Indian education system and concocted theories of racial discrimination. The rest of India was not taught anything about the Northeast, its glorious Hindu history and culture. An image of the Northeast as a terror-infested zone with no progress and development soon came to be popularised in the media. This was the beginning of discord and disruption between Northeast India and other parts of Bharat. Christian missionaries began to decide everything from the price of groceries, fruits and vegetables sold in shops owned by Hindus to the different ways of celebrating Hindu festivals. Unfortunately, the situation on the ground at present has not changed much!

 

Acknowledgements: A sincere note of thanks to Vladimir for being a pillar of support in my work. My gratitude to all the people of Manipuri Basti, Guwahati. May Dharma conquer Adharma!