"Parliament Statements Appear To Tread Manipur Government Line": 10 Tribal MLAs In Letter To Amit Shah

Ten tribal MLAs from Manipur have written to Home Minister Amit Shah asking him to speed up the political dialogue for "recognition of ethnic separation" from the violence-hit northeast state.

They also expressed disappointment over Mr Shah's recent statement in the Lok Sabha on the Manipur violence, and asked the centre to give data on the number of illegal immigrants and refugees who have entered India from Myanmar.

"... They (Kuki-Zo-Chin people) also felt greatly disheartened by the statements in parliament of the central government which appear to tread the line of the Manipur government, linking the ethnic cleansing to the issue of illegal immigration. Therefore, we urge the central government to come up with actual figures of illegal immigration and refugee influx due to the political turmoil in Myanmar," the 10 MLAs said in the letter.

During a discussion in the Lok Sabha on August 9, the Home Minister had said the 2021 military coup in Myanmar forced many Kuki-Chin people to flee to India, leading to anxiety among the valley-majority Meiteis. He also defended Manipur Chief Minister N Biren Singh as someone who has been cooperating with the centre, amid calls by the Kukis for the Chief Minister's resignation.

The MLAs in the letter alleged they may no longer be able to ask their people to not block the highways as the Meiteis have not allegedly reciprocated.

"... Essential medical and other supplies to hill areas in Churachandpur, Chandel, and Tengnoupal districts continued to be blocked by the Meitei community and the state government had failed to give any effort to ensure the essential supplies reach the hill areas," the MLAs said.

In his parliament speech, Mr Shah rejected the opposition's call for imposition of President's rule in BJP-ruled Manipur under Article 356 of the Constitution as playing politics over violence.

"They (opposition) keep saying why we didn't apply (Article) 356? (Article) 356 is applied when during turmoil the state government doesn't cooperate. We changed the DGP, the state accepted the centre's decision. We changed the Chief Secretary, the state accepted the decision," Mr Shah said.

Mr Shah had visited Manipur for three days in June. He met people from both communities and looked into relief arrangements for thousands of internally displaced people.

In June, the centre's proposed peace talks with all communities in Manipur failed due to the Manipur Chief Minister's participation in the dialogue team. The Kukis did not agree to the talks as Mr Singh would be present, after which Manipur's umbrella civil society group COCOMI also decided not to participate in the planned talks.

Over 180 have been killed and thousands have been internally displaced since violence broke out between hill-majority Kukis and valley-majority Meiteis over the Meiteis' demand for Scheduled Tribes (ST) status. A week later, the Kukis moved to demanding a separate administration.