NEW DELHI: In what has created security and socio-political concerns in many quarters, an apex Naga body in Manipur has charged the Kuki tribals with spreading "blatant lies, and lopsided history" vis-à-vis the history of the people and land.
"The Nagas are also taken aback by the blatant lies, lopsided history, and fabricated information contained in every statement and memorandum issued by the Kuki-Zo community, which is tantamount to distortion of Naga history and insult to the Naga people," the United Naga Council (UNC) said in a strongly worded statement.
"Do the Kukis speak with sense? Such wild ventures will lead the Kukis to nowhere today and in the future. It is a sheer attempt to script bad history for the unending enmity between us. For instance, it is an act of befooling them if the establishment of new villages in Kuki areas within Naga districts is stated to be for their displaced people of the 1990s conflict, keeping the fact of illegal immigrants hidden before those authorities," the UNC said.
The Naga body has also taken exception to the Congress government under Ibobi Singh creating "new districts in 2016" out of Senapati and Chandel and called these "the handiwork of the Congress government’s appeasement policy carried out in the name of administrative convenience".
Hence, the demand for separate administration, which incorporates the so-called new two districts, is necessarily opposed. The Nagas’ stand on the opposition remains unchanged," it said.
The sociologists and the government sources feel the emerging 'Naga-Kuki' conflicts in press statements and through various memoranda may not be 'advisable, as these two communities had clashed valiantly in the 1990s for months and there were almost nightmarish type experiences both in Nagaland and Manipur.
So far, the ongoing ethnic strife between Meiteis and Kukis has not involved Nagas, who are in sizable numbers in Manipur.
An influential Kuki body, the Kuki Inpi Manipur, has charged the Meitei leadership and organisations with 'manufacturing' lies about the community.
"For instance, Manipur Chief Minister N. Biren Singh and Meitei radical and extremist groups such as COCOMI did manufacture and spread lies about the Kukis. Although these anti-national elements know very well that the Indianness of Kukis is unquestionable, they doggedly pursue their agenda by fabricating facts, manufacturing narratives, and imposing all sorts of dictates with intimidation," the Kuki body said in a memorandum.
The Naga body has, on its part, also dismissed the Kuki claim of the Anglo-Kuki War of 1917–19 and stated that "it was never a war but a mere rebellion with the colonial power, as there is no record of the Anglo-Kuki War in the history of India".
In fact, making things complicated, one organisation called The Federation of Haomee lodged an FIR at Imphal West Police Station earlier this month against the author of the book, The Anglo-Kuki War 1917-1919', Retd. Col. (Dr.) Vijay Chenji, and two Kuki-Zo academicians.
According to a local newspaper, The Ukhrul Times, the FIR was filed for legal recourse in the interest of the state against the two JNU academicians and the author by Y. Vicisy Shimray of New Canaan Village, Ukhrul district, and others.
The FIR charges "waging war against the government of India, concealing with intent to facilitate the design to wage war, and promoting enmity between different groups".
Sub-Inspector S. Basanta Singh, and ASI Th. Saratchandra Singh have been given the charge to investigate the case, the newspaper said.
All these imply that the ongoing clash is gradually drawing towards a likely conflict of interest between Nagas and Kukis.
In Manipur, the Kuki-Naga clashes allegedly started due to the double standards of the Narasimha Rao government in the 1990s.
In fact, Union Home Minister Amit Shah said in Lok Sabha on August 9 that "in 1993, 700 people were killed in Naga-Kuki clashes".
The latest ethnic strife in Manipur between Meiteis and Kukis started on May 3 and the violence during the last three months has claimed the lives of more than 150 people.
In his Independence Day address to the nation, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that "the people of Manipur have maintained peace in the past few days, and they should continue to foster that peace, as it is the path to resolution. Both the state and central governments are working together to find solutions to the issues and will continue to do so".
It is also being presumed that, left flabbergasted by Manipur violence, the Centre may be happy to note the newfound Meitei-Naga bonhomie. Perhaps it time now for Modi and Shah to redraw their strategy on Nagas.
The Nagas and Meiteis had also clashed in 2000, when the ceasefire with NSCN-IM was extended even in Manipur.
The Meiteis saw this as a threat to the territorial integrity of the state of Manipur. (IANS)
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