Unrest in Manipur: Evaluating the Ramifications for India’s “Act East Policy”

By Shiv Bhagwan Saharan

The revelation of a video depicting the naked parade and rape of women in Manipur has sparked a widespread debate, extending from the parliament to the Supreme Court and among the general public. In this context, it is necessary to discuss India’s AEP in relation to northeast India. India’s needs to maintain peace and tranquility in Manipur in order to strengthen Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Act East Policy (AEP). Also, Manipur plays an important role in formulating the objectives of AEP, with a view to improving relations of Myanmar in terms of trade, cultural, and strategic relations and, also dealt the deep connections with other Southeast Asian countries through the developments of some major projects like Kaladan Multi-Modal Transit Transport Projects, Trilateral Highway Project (the India-Myanmar-Thailand), Rhi-Tiddim Road Projects and Border Haats etc.

With a focus on strengthening the AEP, social and political stability in Manipur is needed. According to Angshuman Choudhury, associate fellow at the Centre for Policy Research, there are two ways that “One, it has physically destabilised a critical transregional, cross-border connectivity route that connects India with Myanmar and onward to Southeast Asia; and two, it has generated social, political and economic volatility, which will in turn, dissuade stakeholders from making crucial AEP-linked investments in the Northeast.”

Also, the Ministry of Development of North Eastern Region (MDoNER) states that “India’s Northeastern states likely Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Manipur, and Mizoram play a vital role in strengthening India’s Act East Policy. We know, if the Northeastern state of Manipur has been shared as a land-bridge or gateway to Southeast Asia, then it needs peace and stability in Northeastern India. Moreover, Choudhary is of the opinion that the Moreh-Tamu land border bridge in the Mizoram-Chin State is the “historical entrepot to Southeast Asia as well as East Asia from South Asia.” Several trading communities are active on both sides of the border. He said that these communities suggest leveraging the pre-existing local networks to strengthen transregional connectivity within the AEP framework. However, Manipur, the main gateway to Southeast Asia, is intrigued by ethnic violence.

Manipur’s geo-demography

The state of Manipur is geographically constituted of both hills and valley, which divided five districts in hills; Churachanpur, Chandel, Senapati, Tamenglong and Ukhrul. Also, to be divided into six Autonomous District Councils (ADC) which are inhabited by various recognized indigenous tribes namely Kuki’s and Naga’s, as per the Constitution Scheduled Tribes Order of 1950. The tribes constitute over 85 percent of the total land mass of the state which is in the hills, and the remaining total land mass which is in the valley are inhabited by the Meitei and Meitei Pangals community, which comprises over 64 per cent of the state total population. TheLegislative Assembly of the state is formed with 60 seats, where 40 seats are from the valley constituencies, and the remaining 20 seats are elected from the hill, including the non-reserved seat of Kangpokpi.

Thongkholal Haokip says in an article ‘The Politics of Scheduled Tribes status in Manipur’ that if we look at a written history of Manipur dating back to 33 AD., the Imphal valley was an independent kingdom with rich cultural heritage. Also, due to the oldest kingdoms in the northeast frontier, Manipur was not ruled under the umbrella of British rule.

What’s behind the Manipur Violence?

On 3^rdMay, the Manipur High Court directed the state government to pursue a 10- year-old demand of non-tribal Meitei community for granting it the status of Scheduled Tribes (ST). Earlier, in the state of Manipur, the Meitei community has been considered as a general category for the last 60 years. The Meitei community had argued that the ST status was needed to preserve the community and save their ancestral land, tradition, culture, and language. The Scheduled Tribes Demand Committee of Manipur (STDCM) also emphasised granting of the ST status to non-tribal Meitei communities under article 342(1) of the Indian constitution, which is a power vested to the President. The STDCM has been demanding ST status for the Meitei since 2012.

According to the Jawaharlal Nehru University, Prof Thongkholal Haokip “… the demand for ST status is a ploy to attenuate the fervent political demands of the Kuki’s and Nagas, as well as a tacit strategy of the dominant the valley dwellers to make inroads into the hill areas of the State.”

Some experts say that targeting of Kuki’s can be the reason behind the Manipur violence. Since 3^rd May,the Manipur violence fuels between the minority Kuki’s and the majority Meitei, Manipur has witnessed over 150 people’s lives so far.Many villages have been torched down and around 70,000 people have been displaced internally, and taken refuge in various relief camps. Moreover, many attacks have also been attempted on the police vehicles and government transports, police rifles, machine guns, mortars, and carbines.

One of the key reasons for India’s foreign policy’s eastward shift since 1992, is the development of the economy of India’s northeastern states through enhancing their connectivity and access to Southeast Asian markets. India took up its Look East Policy (LEP) in 1992. However, due to several insurgencies in India’s Northeast states, and political unrest in neighboring Myanmar, Indian aims to establish border connectivity with the Southeast Asian region failed. Therefore, India needs to maintain peace and tranquility in Manipur in order to strengthen the AEP (Act East Policy).The long-period of violence and instability in the state has already impacted India’s land-border connectivity with Southeast Asian nations.

The author is a doctoral candidate at the School of International Studies (SIS), Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. He tweets at @ShivBhagwan_JNU.

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