Bunkers, sniper rifles: India’s deepening sectarian war hurts Modi’s image

KANGVAI, India, July 28 (Reuters) – A mile-long stretch of road in the lush green hills of the Indian state of Manipur has become the symbol of a fierce sectarian conflict that has killed more than 180 people since May and has seriously damaged the image of a strong man. of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

The bitter fighting between the Meitei community and Kuki tribes is in the country’s remote north-east but has raged for nearly three months, a deep embarrassment for Modi as he prepares to host a G20 leaders’ summit in September and contest a general election. . next year.

There have been tensions in the past between the two groups, but violence broke out in early May after the state supreme court ordered the government to consider extending the economic benefits reserved for the Kuki tribes to the Meitei.

Street protests escalated into armed conflict and now rival gunmen have entrenched themselves in bunkers and outposts along the highway and elsewhere in Manipur, regularly shooting each other with assault weapons, sniper rifles and pistols.

Tens of thousands of people have fled their homes because of the fighting, villages have been burned down and many women have been sexually assaulted, residents and the media say. The Meitei-dominated state police are seen as partisan, while army troops have been ordered to keep the peace but not to disarm fighters.

There are no signs of an early resolution.

Historian and author Ramachandra Guha described the situation as “a mix of lawlessness and civil war and a total collapse of state administration.”

“It is a failure of the prime minister at a time of grave national crisis,” Guha added in a television interview. “Narendra Modi lives in his own bubble, he doesn’t like to be associated with bad news and somehow hopes to get by.”

The prime minister’s office and a state government spokesman did not respond to requests for comment.

The Kukis, who make up a third of the Meitei population, have borne a disproportionate share of the violence and make up two-thirds of the victims, according to new government data reviewed by Reuters this week. They have mostly fled to the hills, leaving the capital Imphal and the surrounding valley, areas dominated by the majority Meitei.

Much of the violence and killings have taken place in buffer zones near Manipur’s hills, where heavy gunfire regularly breaks out, security officials said.

The section of the national highway where the Meitei-dominated Bishnupur district meets the Kuki-controlled Churachandpur is one of the buffer zones that has seen some of the worst fighting.

COMMENTS FROM MODI

This week, when a Reuters team visited the Kuki village of Kangvai, just off the road, bursts of gunfire were heard from both sides.

Jangminlun Touthang, 32, a Kuki fighter carrying a hunting rifle, held a post just in front of the Meitei lines.

He said he was there to protect his town from the Meiteis “who are going to attack us, who are going to burn our houses.”

“When they attack, we shoot,” he said.

Modi’s first comments on the violence in Manipur came last week, more than two months after the troubles began in early May. He vowed tough action a day after videos purporting to show two Kuki women parading naked and being assaulted by a mob went viral and sparked international condemnation.

“The law will take its strongest steps, with all its might. What happened to the daughters of Manipur can never be forgiven,” he said.

Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) also heads the state government in Manipur. In federal parliament, Modi faces a vote of no confidence over the violence, the second time in more than nine years in power that he has been put to the test.

Although there is no threat to his rule, Modi will likely have to address the issue in detail.

The opposition is likely to ask why he insists on supporting Manipur’s chief minister, Biren Singh, a meitei who heads the BJP state government.

Manipur, which borders Myanmar, is one of the smallest states in India with a population of 3.2 million. While the kukis are only 16% of the state’s population, the meiteis make up 53% of the population.

The death toll of 181 killed includes 113 Kukis and 62 Meiteis, according to previously unreported data reviewed by Reuters.

The data shows that in the first week of violence at the beginning of May, 77 kukis were killed compared to 10 meiteis.

“The resources available to both sides are not the same. It is not a fight between equals,” a Manipur-based federal security official told Reuters.

According to government estimates, 2,780 weapons stolen from the state arsenal, including assault rifles, sniper pistols and pistols, remain in the hands of the meiteis, while the kukis have 156.

Kae Haopu Gangte, secretary general of Kuki Inpi Manipur, a Kuki civil society umbrella group, blamed the conflict on what he said was the desire of the Meitei to dominate Kuki land.

The Kuki now want a separate state within India, he said.

“Until and unless we achieve statehood, we will not stop,” Gangte said. “We are fighting not only against Meiteis, we are fighting against the government.”

Pramot Singh, founder of Meitei Leepun, a prominent Meitei organization that has members on the front lines, said all Meitei supported the conflict.

Sitting outside his home near Imphal, gun holstered, he said his group will fight the Kuki until they stop demanding the formation of a separate Manipur state.

“The war will continue on Meitei’s side. This is just the beginning,” she said.

Reporting by Krishan Kaushik in Manipur; Edited by YP Rajesh and Raju Gopalakrishnan

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