DeSapalmizing Kukiland
I have subsequently listened to Karan Thapar's YouTube of Nishikant Singh Sapam (https://youtu.be/R2oSCVQqGbU), an independent MLA supporting the BJP government of Manipur, and the following is my response.
To set up the context for the current situation, certain basic background facts need to be taken on board.
1. The ethnic groups of the former Kingdom of Manipur are largely divided into three grouos: the Meiteis, or core Manipuri; the Nagas, who inhabit extensive tracts spread over "British India," "Burma," etc. and the Zo Peoples, a group of cognate peoples, of who the Kukis are the most significant ethnic group, others being the Zomi, Mizos, Chins, Hmars, etc. and who, like the Nagas, inhabit extensive tracts of "British India," "Burma," etc., including Kukiland in Manipur, all of Mizoram, the Chin Hills of Burma, and tracts in "Assam." The Meiteis were and are, relatively more developed socially and culturally, followed by the Nagas, with the Zo Peoples being the least developed socially and culturally, relatively speaking, until the arrival of the English. Despite being less developed socio-culturally, than the Meiteis and Nagas, the Zo Peoples have one feature that made and makes them stand out: their strong social orderliness, self-discipline and cohesiveness. This is seen in road traffic in Mizoram, where the Mizos show similar social traits to East Asians, in sharp contrast to the road traffic chaos of the "Indian Mainland," or to others, including the Meiteis. For the same reason, the Zo Peoples, with a 7% Scheduled Tribes reservation for government administrative services and police etc services, versus the 27% "Other Backwards Classes" reservations for the Meiteis, have by their innate, habitual sheer orderliness and self-discipline, risen up the ranks to make the Kukis dominant in the Manipur police and administrative services.
2. The Kingdom of Manipur and it's successor the Manipur Pradesh, are artificial "states," where the non-Manipuri peoples and their homelands of the Nagas and the Zo Peoples ("Kukiland") were forcibly annexed and included, partially subjugated, as subject chieftaincies, into a Manipurian Paramountcy, but where the Nagas and Zo Peoples successfully fought off the Meiteis' or "Manipurian" attempts to colonize their lands. When Burma defeated the Kingdom of Manipur and the Kingdom of Ahom's joint invasions of Burma, and conquered both Manipur and Ahom, England, as ruler of Bengal, invaded the Burmese Empire, defeated Burma, and took over Lower Burma, Ahom, Manipur, etc. The Kingdom of Manipur this became a tributary state of "British India." The "British" (English, actually), as Paramount Power, attempted to keep the peace in the Kingdom of Manipur, deposed Kings, appointed Kings, appointed English administrators, fought the Zo Peoples, who were Animist headhunters, to stop their depredations, and to pacify and settle them. As part of these efforts, the English administrators deliminated the Kingdom of Manipur land between the Meiteis, the Nagas and the Zo Peoples, essentially establishing a "Standstill Arrangement" so that the Meiteis could not immigrate into, and settle in, the Nagas and Zo Peoples lands. The Kings however, allowed Nagas and Zo Peoples to immigrate into, and settle in settlements in the Meiteis' homeland of the Imphal Valley, the only true Manipur.
This arrangement was officially called the "Inner Line Permit (ILP) Regime," where non-locals needed to obtain permission to enter and settle in these restricted areas.
The present ILP Regime is not the same regime that had been established during the English rule, but has been heavily modified, beyond recognition, and no longer affords protection to the Nagas and the Zo Peoples, but is rather used as a weapon to dispossess and to alienate the Nagas, and more so, the Zo Peoples, as alleged foreigners and illegal immigrants from Burma, by the Meiteis who dominate the government of Manipur Pradesh.
3. The Meiteis population in the decades since the 1980s, has seen a massive explosion, and the Meiteis have invented a Mythology of Lies that claims that:
3.a). All of the land of the Kingdom of Manipur had been held in common, (despite the fact of the Inner Line Permit or ILP Regime enshrined by the English, that excluded the Meiteis from the homelands of the Nagas and the Zo Peoples), that there had been free movement of peoples within the Kingdom of Manipur, until, allegedly, Nehru bestowed Scheduled Tribes status upon the Nagas and Zo Peoples, "and untagged the Meiteis as no longer Scheduled Tribes," so that Meiteis could thereafter no longer freely settle in the Manipur Highlands, in the homelands of the Nagas and of the Zo Peoples;
3. b). That the Zo Peoples of the Kingdom of Manipur are actually only about 1% of the population of Manipur Pradesh and the rest of the Zo Peoples are allegedly illegal immigrants from Burma, that the "National Registry of Citizens" (NRC) regime be extended to Manipur Pradesh so that the Zo Peoples are forced to show proof that they are natives of the Manipur Pradesh, and are not "illegal immigrants from Burma," etc.; this Pretension is based on the fact that the Zo Peoples were not well integrated into the Kingdom of Manipur administration and lack historical formal paperwork to show that they are natives; in the NRC Regime, those who cannot provide paperwork to show that they are natives, are by default stripped of citizenship, land rights, etc.
Mr Thapar didn't do his homework, did not know all of these facts, wrongly accused Sapam of changing his stance.
Mr Thapar also incorrectly attempted to force Sapam to say that he had reached agreement (or perhaps had reached a consensus with Thapar) on points that weren't agreed on by Sapam.
Sapam was extremely uncouth, lying, twisting and turning, a perfect exponent of Goebellsianism.
Sapam: "We merged with India."
You did? There was no merger. It is an Infamously publicly known fact that the King of Manipur, Bodhachandra, had a gun put to his head by Indian Armed Forces, at Shillong, under instructions by Jawaharlal Nehru, Vallabh Patel, etc. and forced to surrender his kingdom to India, an act under duress, and therefore not a free act.
In light of Supreme Court of India, In Re Fr Chico Monteiro, the same formula applied by the Supreme Court, "Acquisition by military conquest," therefore applies to the Kingdom of Manipur, the Kingdom of Sikkim, Hyderabad, Sorath ("Junagadh,"), Manavadar, Mangrol, Khasi States, etc.
Sapam, "The King of Manipur owned the entire State of Manipur."
He did not. He himself recognized that. That's why he attempted to set up a Constitutional Regime, a Constitution for the Kingdom of Manipur. India claimed that the king had, with the Lapse of English Paramountcy, signed a "Standstill Agreement," that made India the Paramount Power over the Kingdom of Manipur, and that therefore, the king couldn't set up a Constitution without the Approval and Assent of India as the "Paramount Power."
Many "Princely States" being pressured by both India and Pakistan, signed "Standstill Agreements" with both India and with Pakistan. That means, technically, they had two "Paramount Powers" over themselves?
Sapam, "Meiteis had legally the exact same rights as the Nagas and the Kuki-Zomi-Mizo-Hmars, and could buy land anywhere in the Kingdom of Manipur. Meiteis were stripped of Scheduled Tribes status unilaterally by Nehru in 1951, and or Nehru conferred Scheduled Tribes status on the Nagas and on the Kuki-Zomi-Mizo-Hmars, but did he ask us, were we asked, was our consent taken?"
These are Goebbelsian lies.
There has never before been made the claim, as Sapam makes it, "We are stakeholders. Did Nehru ask our permission, the permission of the Meiteis, to confer Scheduled Tribes status upon the Nagas and Kuki-Zomi-Mizo-Hmar-Chins? Did Nehru ask us before doing so, were we asked, was our consent taken?"
No law (or custom) makes it necessary to "ask permission" of other communities, for conferring Scheduled Tribes or Scheduled Castes status on particular peoples.
Thus for example, the Marathas were not consulted before the Mahars were given that status.
If the approval and consent of the Meiteis was "required" in order to grant Scheduled Tribes status on the non-Meitei peoples, we are forced to ask: Was the consent and approval of the peoples of Manipur obtained, taken, to merge the "Kingdom of Manipur" into India? If not, why not?
If it wasn't needed, why would the consent of the Meiteis be needed to confer Scheduled Tribes status on the non-Meitei peoples?
That Churachandpur is named after King Churachand Singh of Manipur only proves military conquest of the Kuki homelands by Churachand Singh and nothing more. It does not prove that Meiteis have "property rights over the city or town of "Churachandpur," or "over the lands of the District of Churachandpur."
By Sapam's specious, foolish, imbecilic argument, the Tamil majority Kaniyakumai District should be a part of Kerala and not Tamil Nadu because the District headquarters is Marthandam, conquered by, and named for, King Marthanda Varma of Travancore (Kerala)!
By Sapam's specious, foolish, imbecilic argument, the city of Koenigsburg, now Kaliningrad, must belong to the Czechs, as it was named for a King of Bohemia!
Sapam, "MOST KUKIS ARE ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS"
Sapam says that the Kuki-Zomi-Mizo-Hmars have grown "magically," "dubiously," from 1% in 1901-1902, to 29% currently.
Thapar misheard Sapam's 29% as 22%.
Thapar says that the Kuki-Zomi-Mizo-Hmar-Chin are, as per the most recent Census, of 2011, 14% of the population of Manipur Pradesh.
Sapam says that the current population of Manipur Pradesh is 35 lacs or 3.5 millions.
1% of Manipur Pradesh's 35 lacs or 3.5 millions, is 35,000.
14% of Manipur Pradesh's 35 lacs or 3.5 millions, is 4.9 lacs, or just under half a million.
29% of Manipur Pradesh's 35 lacs or 3.5 millions, is 980,000, or nearly a million.
Sapam suggestively says that approximately only 35,000 of the Kuki-Zomi-Mizo-Hmars of Manipur Pradesh are natives, and the rest, whether, 4.55 lacs, or 9,45,000, are illegal infiltrators, illegal immigrants, foreigners.
The Kuki-Zomi-Mizo-Hmars on the other hand, claim that there are a few hundreds of Burmese Kuki-Zomi-Mizo-Hmar refugees from the Feb 2021 Coup and ongoing civil war in Burma.
Sapam, Biren Singh, and the Meitei "Consensus" is that Manipur Pradesh needs a "Registry of Citizens," generally called the "National Registry of Citizens," (NRC), to identify, and to "weed out" these supposed or alleged "nearly half a million, or nearly a million illegal immigrants."
On the other hand, the Kuki-Zomi-Mizo-Hmars reject the proposal for the NRC being extended to the Manipur Pradesh, saying that, as forest tribes, they were not integrated into the tax and governmental structures of the Kingdom of Manipur, and therefore lack the documentation needed to validate themselves in the proposed NRC Manipur.
It is obvious that the Kuki-Zomi-Mizo-Hmar-Chin peoples of Manipur Pradesh are not foreigners, but are natives, and that the Meiteis, being aware of their lack of documentation, have pounced upon this lack of documentation as a stratagem to rob and to dispossess the Kuki-Zomi-Mizo-Hmar-Chin peoples, and steal their lands.
Sapam "very generously" offers to sit down and talk with the Zo Peoples but only, obviously, after the supposed "illegal immigrants" are "identified and excluded," leaving for his "talks" only a miniscule and insignificant remnant rump of 35,000 or "1% Kuki-Zomi-Mizo-Hmar-Chin population"!
This is extremely generous of the Meiteis, indeed! (Sarcasm)
Sapam makes the Meiteis' landgrab against the Zo Peoples extremely blatant.
He regurgitates the Meiteis' manufactured mythology that there was free movement of peoples within the Kingdom of Manipur, that any of the subjects of the Kingdom of Manipur could freely purchase land, and settle down anywhere within the confines of the "Kingdom of Manipur."
That is a lie.
The segregation of lands and peoples between the Meiteis, the Nagas, and the Zo Peoples, has always existed, and was not created or artificed by the English, as Thapar wrongly suggested. The English merely codified these agreements, reduced them to writing, in order to preserve the peace between the various nations that inhabited the "Kingdom of Manipur."
Those agreements have been, by-and-large, continued, perpetuated, by the Indian State. That is the "Nehruvian Arrangements" that the "Meitei Consensus" lies that Nehru invented out of whole cloth: It wasn't, Nehru's Government of India only continued, perpetuated, further enshrined the arrangements already in place, arrangements made long before, before even the English arrived.
In Jammu-Kashmir, the BJP illegally struck down Jammu-Kashmir's status claiming to want "all Indians to be able to freely live anywhere."
The Meiteis claim that that is exactly what they too want for Manipur Pradesh: to be able to buy land, and to settle down anywhere within the Manipur Pradesh, negating, annulling the age old and "pre-British" ILP Demarcation Agreements that firewalled the native lands of the Nagas and of the Kuki-Zomi-Mizo-Hmar-Chin peoples from Meitei Colonization.
However, the Meiteis are blatantly lying.
The Meiteis have demanded and been granted, have recently imposed the "Inner Line Permit" regime for the Manipur Pradesh, to control and to regulate, to prevent the free flow of the peoples of India, to safeguard against an influx of Peoples from "Mainland India," and also from Mizoram, etc.
That proves that their rhetoric of "free movement of peoples" is a blatant lie.
Instead, the Meiteis seek for the "free movement of Meiteis to be able to freely settle anywhere within" the Manipur Pradesh, to effectively colonizing the Zo Peoples' homelands!
The Meiteis can prove themselves by actively inviting, soliciting, people from "Mainland India" to come and settle in the Imphal Valley, redistributing the land in the Imphal Valley to provide them with homesteads, and by formally giving them unconditional equal rights, without restrictions, rights equal to, and in no manner inferior to, that of the Meiteis.
After all, the "imbalance of distribution of land" is not merely intra-Manipur Pradesh, but is also intra-Indian. Open the doors of the Imphal Valley and there will be more than 10 million people from "Mainland India" willing to migrate to, and settle in the Imphal Valley. This will be a win-win situation for India and for the Meiteis as it will integrate the Manipur Pradesh more securely into India, and also make India's NorthEast region's international borders more secure.
Sapam, "LAND IMBALANCE"
The Meitei tomtom that there is an acute land distribution imbalance in Manipur Pradesh, between the Imphal Valley, which is the only true Manipur, and the "rest of" Manipur Pradesh.
The "land imbalance" is not the fault of the Zo Peoples, the Zo Peoples haven't stolen Meitei people's land, and do not owe anything to the Meiteis.
The Meiteis and the Zo Peoples are separate peoples, the lands of the Meiteis and of the Zo Peoples are separate lands.
Meiteis do not have any rights over the lands of the Zo Peoples.
However, the lying, fraudulent claims of the Meiteis over the Zo Peoples' lands is interesting.
The Meiteis are rather fond of parroting the BJP Goebbelsian propaganda lines, of Dogwhistles such as "Urban Naxals."
Mukesh Ambani, Gautam Adani, etc., are "filthy rich." There are millions of "dirt poor."
If "land imbalance" between Population Explosion Imphal Valley and Kukiland is "wrong," by that same token, "wealth imbalance" between Ambani, Adani, etc., and the hundreds of millions of "dirt poor" is equally wrong, and the wealth of the rich should be confiscated and redistributed among all equally.
This is called Communism, Naxalitism, and we can therefore clearly see that the Meiteis are Communists, Naxalites.
Or, to use the BJP's favorite Dogwhistle, the Meiteis are "Urban Naxals"!
Sapam, "DHARAMSHALA"
I will take this opportunity to enlighten Sapam and the Meiteis that Kukiland is not the Meiteis' Dharamshala, as they so very fervently and obsessively delude themselves.
Sapam, "KUKI ADVANTAGE"
The Meiteis have a Dogwhistle that the Kukis are at an advantage in cornering government jobs, in administrative services, police, etc.
As proof, they point out to the incontrovertible fact that the upper echelons of government bureaucrats, and of police officers, are predominantly Kukis.
This is indeed a fact, a fact that can't be controverted, that the upper echelons of government bureaucrats, and of police officers, in Manipur Pradesh, are predominantly Kukis.
Why is that so? Do the Kukis have an easy access to these positions to the exclusion of the Meiteis?
Kukis have access to these positions, via the Scheduled Tribes quota, which is 7% of the overall intake of recruits at starting positions, a quota that they share with the Nagas.
Meiteis have a 27% "Other Backward Classes" or OBC quota of 27%, besides Scheduled Caste and other quotas.
Assuming that at a given time, 100 government employees are being recruited, and assuming that no Naga at all applies (an impossibility, but let's take it as hypothetical), the most that Kukis can get is 7 positions out of 100.
Despite getting only 7 positions out of 100, over the years, those 7% magically translate to a Kuki top heavy police and bureaucracy. Why is that? What accounts for it?
Thapar suggested that it is the Manipur Pradesh Education System. As a matter of fact, the Manipur Pradesh Education System is skewed in favor of the Meiteis, and the Kukis go through that same system, with several disadvantages as compared to the Meiteis. So, it's not the Education System.
It's the Zo Peoples' habitual orderliness and self-discipline that gives them a natural advantage to advance in the ranks, advance to the top.
Sapam, "Kuki MLAs asking for Separate Administration under coercion from Kuki militants"
Sapam patronizingly and hypocritically pretends that the 10 Kuki MLAs have demanded a Separate Administration for Kukiland / Zosylvania / North Mizoram "under duress from armed Kuki militants."
These are Goebbelsian lies.
Sapam and the Meiteis are able to only see Kuki militants, but are totally and magically incapable of seeing the far more numerous Meitei militants such as of Meitei terrorist organizations, the PLA, UNLF, PREPAK, Arambai Tenggol, Meitei Leepun, etc.!
Sapam, "CONSENSUS"
Sapam says, "In 1951, there was a consensus, Scheduled Tribes status or tag was taken off the Meiteis, we were not asked, we were not consulted, we were not informed, we were not made aware, we did not know."
Does Sapam know the meaning of the word "Consensus"?
A Consensus is created, constructed, by consulting all concerned parties. If there was a Consensus, as Sapam admits on behalf of the Meiteis, who put him forward as their spokesperson, then evidently, the Meiteis were consulted, were advised, were informed, were made aware, their consent obtained to the "Nehruvian Arrangements."
Since there was an admitted Consensus, there is an Estoppel on Meiteis' claiming otherwise now, an Estoppel on disputing the then agreed arrangements now, especially as these arrangements did not have a sunset clause!
Sapam: "Is Meiteis' Demand of a 'Level Playing Field' Unjust"?
Yes, it is unjust, an injustice, a Criminal Fraud.
Sapam and the Meiteis, when they say that they want a "Level playing field," mean that the Kukiland should be opened up to Meitei Colonization.
This is certainly, unquestionably unjust, an injustice.
Kukis haven't taken and do not hold or possess lands that belong to the Meiteis, in any manner of speaking, and allowing the Meiteis to colonize the native lands of the Kukis is unquestionably an injustice to the Kukis.
The Meiteis pretend that they want a "Level playing field," but opening Kukiland to the Meiteis will certainly be anything other than a level playing field, as the Meiteis are wealthier, socially better developed, and will crowd out the Kukis in their own homelands.
Sapam and Meiteis' malice is proven by the Big Lie that there are only about 35,000 legal Kukis in the Manipur Pradesh, and that between half a million to a million Kukis are illegal immigrants from Burma!
I'm spitballing here, but the Meiteis are falsely and maliciously pretending that 99% of the Kukis of Manipur Pradesh are "illegal immigrants from Burma"!
This is a claim widely made by Meiteis on Social Media, in the news, and even in "protests for peace," and not only in Manipur!
This Big Lie, this maliciously false claim, is exactly the same force that motivated Biren Singh's and "Maharaja" Lieshemba's terrorist entities, Arambai Tenggol and Meitei Leepun's Anti-Kuki Pogroms and Genocide of the Kukis in the Imphal Valley, and is a Declaration of an Intent for a Total Genocide of all the Kukis in the Manipur Pradesh, the Zo Peoples, and to thereby steal their homelands, rob them of their lands.
This Big Lie, and it's concurrent publicly declared Intent for a Total Genocide of the Kukis, militates for a Separate Administration for Kukiland, militates that the Kukis are absolutely not safe living with, and under, a Meitei Government, under any circumstance.
MEITEI - NAGA COMPLICITY
It is now an admitted fact that there was some kind of an understanding between the Meiteis and the Nagas, that the Meiteis' terrorist arms, the Arambai Tenggol and the Meitei Leepun, would not target the Nagas, that the Nagas would not join or help the Kukis in fighting back against the Meitei terrorist organizations, the Arambai Tenggol and the Meitei Leepun and their Anti-Kuki pogroms.
The fine details of this criminal conspiracy is not yet out.
Certainly, the Nagas were under no obligation to get involved. When God asked Cain, "Where is your brother Abel?", Cain replied, "Am I my brother's keeper?" Indeed Cain wasn't, anymore than that the Nagas are, or were, the Kukis' keepers.
It is certain that the Nagas will have obtained great solace by the spectacle of the approximately 222 Anabaptist and Calvinist-Presbyterian churches, identical in all respects to their own, being defiled, destroyed, and the name of Jesus Christ, that these churches represent, rightly or wrongly, being insulted. To each his own, and to each the rewards that they merit at the hands of Jehovah.
The claims that the Meiteis make against the Kukis and the Kukiland are valid for the Nagas and their homelands too.
Why would the Meiteis attack only the Kukis, and not also the Nagas.
Answer # 1: Divide and rule, as taught by Manu and Chanakya for thousands of years.
It's not, however, the whole answer.
More information will trickle out, slowly. We will need to wait.
Sapam says that the Meiteis and the Nagas are the same racial stock, but that the Kukis are a different racial stock.
Since the Meiteis and the Nagas are one racial stock, and are deeply inter-integrated, and since the Meiteis are starved for land, it is obvious, it is logical, that the Meiteis should leave the Kukis well alone, and expand into the Naga tribes homelands.
This will even further inter-integrated the Meiteis and the Nagas.
The Meitei people can rest assured that the Kukis will have NO OBJECTION to a mutual agreement between the Meiteis and the Nagas allowing the Meiteis to expand from the Imphal Valley into the Naga tribes homelands, to colonize the Naga tribes homelands.
Sapam: "Jinnah, Jinnah, blah, blah"
This was the most idiotic, imbecilic part of the interview. Sapam was determined to drag in the name of Jinnah and of his grandson, Nusli Wadia, into his Goebellsian lies, even though it made zero sense.
Muhammad Ali Jinnah was born a Hindu. His father, a Hindu named Jinnahbhai Pooncha, apostatized to Mahomettanism. Since then, Jinnah used his father's Hindu name as his surname. He seduced the 16 years old minor daughter, Rattan Petit, of his Parsi Zoroastrian friend and eloped with her. Later, as she matured, they were estranged. Her and Jinnah's daughter, Dina, long estranged from Jinnah, married a Parsi Zoroastrian, and their son, Nusli Wadia, is a Parsi Zoroastrian businessman in Bombay.
How any of this is remotely relevant, entirely escapes me.
CHURCHES VS TEMPLES
One of the most extraordinary displays of mendacity, humbug, charlatanry, and of Goebellsian lies, was this exchange: Thapar, "Meiteis burned hundreds of churches." Sapam, "Why would Meiteis burn temples?"
I won't comment. I've no desire to join Sapam in his frolics in his favorite sewer of lies.
Sapam, "FLARE-UP"
Sapam downpedals the systematic murderous targetting of Kuki MLAs, bureaucrats, police officers, income tax officers, government of India officers and employees, pastors, civilians, etc for murder and genocide as a "flare-up," a mere contretemps, a minor flap.
He and his fellow Meitei liars have obviously learned, and learned devotedly, and well, at the lips of Herr Joseph Goebells.
WHAT PEACE? WHAT TALKS?
The only question is not if, but of how long will the Government of India obfuscate and stonewall the Separation of Kukiland from the Manipur Pradesh.
Given the detailed, uncovered, broad daylight "Meitei Consensus" for a Total Genocide of the Kukis, Intent to steal the lands of the Kukis, and Intent of a Meitei Project of Colonization of Kukiland, there is absolutely no scope for any talks, any conversations, between the Kukis on the one hand and the Meiteis and the Manipur Pradesh on the other hand.
Lúcío Mascarenhas
