In Which Dr Akoijam Teaches Us Topography
«Dr Angomcha Bimol Akoijam attributed the current crisis partly to England's policies on the segregated governance of the Hills and Valley that was based on a "false topographical perspective," and which the Indian government carried forward.
«According to Akoijam, the Imphal Valley, at 790 meters above sea level, and the Hill District of "Churachandpur" (Lamca) at 922 meters above sea level, were treated as separate topographical entities just because of a difference of 132 meters in altitude.
«He said that this division between the Valley and the Hills led to people belonging to the same "ethno-linguistic" group thinking of themselves as different from each other.
«Land laws introduced in 1960, which bar Meiteis from buying land in the Hills, accentuated the difference between the hills and the valley.»
Akoijam makes several points: 1. That the Meiteis & Kukis are one "ethno-linguistic group" that have been artificially taught to think of themselves as separate ethnic groups; 2. That the Hills-Valley distinctions are "topographically" false, artificial, unjustified, that the difference in altitude of the Hills and the Valley is not significant; 3. That, instead of the demand for a Separate Administration, setting up a Bicameral Legislature for Manipur Pradesh will provide the various tribes better representation in the Provincial Administration.
MEITEI MYTHOGENY
Meiteis keep peddling one mythology after another, vis-a-vis the Kukis. This is true of every single Meitei that has gone public on the topic, whether it is Nishikant Sapam, Pramot Singh Neanderthal, Ms Binalaxmi Nepram, Dr Akoijam.
It seems that Meiteis have a collective and pathological aversion, possibly even a life-threatening aversion, to the Truth!
ETHNOLOGICAL ARGUMENT
Kukis claim that the Meiteis were originally a Kuki sub-tribe that settled the Valley, while the Kukis chose to remain in the Hills.
Meiteis, in their representation to the UN Committee on Decolonization, state that Nagas and Kukis are "proto-Meiteis," apparently ignorant of the meaning that the term "proto-Meitei" conveys!
I haven't studied the subject, therefore, I'm unqualified to speak on it.
Throughout the history of humanity, peoples often speaking either the same language, or languages close enough to be considered dialects of each other, have fought to be separated from each other, to go their separate political ways.
There are too many examples, but the Americans speak the same language as England and Canada, yet the Americans fought a long and hard war to be free from England, and the Canadians have always rejected the suggestion that they merge with the USA.
Similarly, Serbia, Croatia both speak variants of the same language, as do the Bosniacs, Montenegrins and, (to an extent) the Vardarians or "Macedonians," yet each insists that they are separate peoples, not one nation.
The Experiment called Yugoslavia was premised on the idea of uniting these peoples, effectively speaking dialects of the same "Serbo-Croatian" language, but has spectacularly failed, with great bloodshed.
"Pakistan" claims that it's "national language" is Urdu.
India in the 1880s Sanskritized Urdu to create "Hindustanee" and then, in 1947, "Hindi," as it's "Official language."
Effectively, from the Ethno-linguistic viewpoint, as Urdu and "Hindi" are one and the same language, India and "Pakistan" are, like the USA & Canada, not united, not consolidated, but are actively separated by a "common language"!
For the two thousand years that the Kukis and Meiteis have occupied Kukiland and Meiteiland, while they interacted, they never fused into one people. They did not have the same religions, the same gods, the same cultures; they've lived in "splended isolation" from each other!
When the Meitei King "Garib Nawaz" embraced Hinduism, rejecting Sanamahism, he forcibly imposed Hinduism on all the Meiteis. Yet, his power did not extend to the Kukis, he wasn't able to impose Hinduism on the Kukis, the Kukis retained their ancestral animist religion(s) until the 1950s!
So much for "Kukis and Meiteis were one people"!
TOPOGRAPHICAL ARGUMENT
Regarding Dr Akoijam's arguments on topography, it is best to share a few topographical maps.
The relatively smooth area in the center is Meiteiland, the homeland of the Meitei nation.
These maps should, by themselves, disabuse everyone of Dr Akoijam's arguments, drive home the point that the Hills and the Valley constitute distinct natural biospheres, environments, particularly for people that have lived on these lands for 2000 years.
The suggestion of a "Bicameral Legislature" as a solution to meet the needs of the Kukis in the aftermath of the Total Genocide of the Kukis by the Meiteis in Meiteiland (Imphal Valley), is too little, too late, and consciously so.
The severity of the Abuse - the total Genocide of the Kukis in Meiteiland or the Imphal Valley, and their (Meiteis') Aspirations for a Total Holocaust of the Kukis from Kukiland, militates for the total Separation of Kukiland from it's Political Dependency upon Meiteiland.
The Separation is not the work of the Kukis.
The Separation is the work of the Meiteis, by means of the May-June 2023 Total Genocide, & Attempts at a Holocaust, of the Kukis.
Despite that, the Meiteis, people such as Ms Binalaxmi Nepram, Dr Akoijam, etc., HYPOCRITICALLY pretend as if it is the Kukis who are demanding Separation, instead of forthrightedly denouncing the Meiteis for their Genocide, and attempts at the Holocaust, of the Kukis!
The Guwahati Declaration of All the Kuki MLAs for Separation, is not a Request to "Initiate a Separation," it is a Request to take note of the Meiteis' Total Genocide of the Kukis from Meiteiland, to take note of, and record for posterity, that the Meiteis have effectively ejected Kukiland from it's connexions with Meiteiland, and to accordingly take Steps for the Protection and Survival of the Kukis, by formalizing the Separation that has been forced by the Meiteis upon the Kukis.
Meiteis saying that they oppose the Separation of Kukiland, without first violently denouncing the Genocide, and attempts at a Holocaust, of the Kukis by the Meiteis, certify themselves as not only Hypocrites, but also as Active Criminals, seeking to keep Kukiland for the Meiteis, after it has been prospectively rendered bereft of it's native Kukis!
Even for Meiteis who do violently denounce the Gross Criminality that is the Total, Unprovoked and totally Unjustified Genocide of the Kukis from all of Meiteiland, a grand number of ZERO* in the last 45 days of the ongoing Genocide-Holocaust, it does not give them any proprietorial rights or veto rights over Kukiland's Total and Unequivocally Separation from Dependency upon Meiteiland!
Lucio Mascarenhas
*Not even one Meitei has had the morality and gumption to publicly denounce the Genocide and ongoing attempts at a Holocaust of the Kukis. Very many individual Meiteis helped thousands of Kukis escape from the Meitei Mobs in Meiteiland, but not even one Meitei has had the gumption to publicly denounce the Genocide and ongoing attempts at a Holocaust as immoral, criminal. Not even the vaunted Mr Ratan Thiyam. A grand total of ZERO!
P.S.: "Asked if reconciliation is not possible or doesn't happen and, therefore, trust cannot be restored between the Kuki and Meitei communities, would he accept that the time has come to concede the Kuki demand for a separate administration? To put it differently, if the two communities cannot live happily together, perhaps they might be able to live happily as neighbours? This is when Thiyam said that he cannot believe the anger and divide has gone so deep that it cannot be resolved."
It is dishonest on Mr Ratan Thiyam's part, to suggest that he "cannot believe the anger & divide has gone so deep that the Kukis cannot be persuaded to remain subject to the Meiteis" given the severity of the Total Genocide of the Kukis in the Meiteiland, and the continuing attempts at the Holocaust of the Kukis in Kukiland.
