This week, during an interview with The Assam Tribune, Prime Minister Narendra Modi spoke about the northeastern state of Manipur, where there has been a sharp divide between the Meiteis and Kuki-Zomis after the dreadful ethnic violence last year left more than 200 dead. The Prime Minister, who has been rightly criticised by many — including the opposition parties — for not speaking much on strife-torn Manipur and not visiting the state after the violence, said in the interview that there has been a marked improvement due to the timely intervention of the Centre and the efforts made by the state government.
It is true that violence has decreased in the northeastern state over the last two months. Just because there is a downturn in violence doesn’t mean that normalcy has returned to the state. The sharp chasm between the two communities exists deeply. As a result of this, no Meitei could go to a Kuki-Zomi-dominated area and vice versa. Taking the opportunity of the sharp polarisation that exists between the two communities, armed non-state groups, promising to fight for their own communities have swelled in ranks — both in the Meitei-dominated valley and Kuki-Zomi-dominated hill areas.
In addition, there have been allegations, particularly by the Kuki-Zomis, that the Meitei armed group Arambai Tenggol has the support of some top leaders in the state. On the other hand, there have been allegations by Meiteis that the Assam Rifles is soft towards the Kuki-Zomi armed groups.
ALSO READ: Demanding Assam To Volatile Manipur: Decoding Northeast's Political Landscape And Issues Ahead Of Lok Sabha Polls 2024
Moreover, The central leadership of the BJP has repeatedly supported Chief Minister N Biren Singh, who failed to anticipate and control the ethnic violence. He is seen as a divisive leader by a large section of the Kuki-Zomis. Still, Modi and the BJP are yet to remove him.
In his interview, Modi didn’t forget to speak about Union Home Minister Amit Shah’s three-day visit to the state after the violence. He also mentioned that Shah held over 15 meetings with various stakeholders to resolve the conflict. This visit by Shah was commendable and much required. But Modi didn’t speak about the peace committee formed after Shah’s visit, comprising 51 members and consisting of representatives from various groups. That committee turned out to be a non-starter. However, the outgoing government at the Centre didn’t restructure the panel, which could play a crucial role in bridging the existing gap between the two ethnic communities. The fact is that the Centre could have done more to improve the situation in Manipur but didn’t do so for reasons best known to itself.
This week, Delhi’s Education Minister Atishi, who is also one of the party’s national faces, visited the northeastern state of Assam to campaign for the party’s candidates. The party, which is a part of the Congress-led United Opposition Forum (UOF) in the state, has nominated two candidates — Rishiraj Kaundinya on the Sonitpur seat and Manoj Dhanuar in Dibrugarh. On both the seats, the party will face friendly fire from the candidates of the UOF’s constituents. Apart from Atishi, Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwat Mann, another high-profile campaigner, addressed a rally on Friday in support of the party's Dibrugarh candidate.
The party is particularly hopeful about its prospects in the Dibrugarh seat, where Atishi, too, held a mega-road show in support of Manoj, a tea-tribe leader. His father Rameshwar Dhanuar was a popular tea-tribe leader from Congress and was a Cabinet minister in the Tarun Gogoi-led Congress government. Manoj too was in the Congress and even contested the Lahowal Assembly constituency in the last state elections. But he lost to BJP’s Binod Hazarika. He was the chairman of the Tea and Ex-Tea Mazdoor Congress. But in 2022, he resigned from the grand old party.
The Dibrugarh seat has a significant presence of tea workers. With Manoj being a leader of the tea tribe community, the AAP is aiming for a good fight in this constituency, banking on the votes of the tea tribes. Atishi raised the issue of wages of the tea tribe community. It has to be mentioned that before the 2016 state elections, the BJP had promised to raise the wages to Rs 351. Although the party after coming to power has raised the wages several times, the amount of the wages haven’t yet touched the mark of Rs 351 — an issue raised by Atishi to attack the saffron party for not fulfilling its promise. Currently, the wages of the tea-tribe community in the state are Rs 250.
Manoj is being pitted here against BJP’s Sarbananda Sonowal, former Chief Minister known for his clean image, and Assam Jatiya Parishad’s Lurinjyoti Gogoi, supported by Congress. In this constituency, where Sonowal has the edge, the AAP’s target is to poll a decent percentage and, if possible, to emerge as the runner-up. For the party, the Lok Sabha polls in the state are an opportunity to test the waters ahead of the 2026 state elections.
The Himalayan state of Sikkim will vote simultaneously for the state assembly elections as well as for the lone Lok Sabha seat on April 19. The two major contenders are the ruling Sikkim Krantikari Morcha of Chief Minister Prem Singh Tamang and the main Opposition Sikkim Democratic Front of former chief minister Pawan Kumar Chamling. Both the regional parties are contesting for all the 32 assembly constituencies. The other contenders include the newly formed Citizen Action Party led by Ganesh Rai, BJP, and the Congress. CAP is contesting 30 seats while the BJP and Congress are contesting for 31 and 18 seats respectively.
One of the main issues discussed in this election season is the protection of Article 371F. This issue gained prominence after the new Finance Act of 2023 allowed Indian citizens to settle in Sikkim before 1975 — the year when the Himalayan Kingdom merged with India — to avail the same kind of tax exemptions enjoyed by the ethnic Sikimese groups. This didn’t go well with many within the state, including SDF, which has been alleging that the ruling SKM allowed this dilution of the Sikkimese identity, violating Article 371F.
On this issue, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman had clarified earlier that the amendment redefined the Sikkimese identity for income tax purposes only without diluting Article 371F. Still, the issue of protecting Article 371F has become important during this election season, finding its place in the party manifestos, including in the manifesto of the BJP released this week in the presence of party national president JP Nadda.
The author is a political commentator.
[Disclaimer: The opinions, beliefs, and views expressed by the various authors and forum participants on this website are personal and do not reflect the opinions, beliefs, and views of ABP Network Pvt. Ltd.]
Manipur Violence Abates But Centre Needs To Take Active Steps To Prevent Resurgence
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13.04.2024
This week, during an interview with The Assam Tribune, Prime Minister Narendra Modi spoke about the northeastern state of Manipur, where there has been a sharp divide between the Meiteis and Kuki-Zomis after the dreadful ethnic violence last year left more than 200 dead. The Prime Minister, who has been rightly criticised by many — including the opposition parties — for not speaking much on strife-torn Manipur and not visiting the state after the violence, said in the interview that there has been a marked improvement due to the timely intervention of the Centre and the efforts made by the state government.
It is true that violence has decreased in the northeastern state over the last two months. Just because there is a downturn in violence doesn’t mean that normalcy has returned to the state. The sharp chasm between the two communities exists deeply. As a result of this, no Meitei could go to a Kuki-Zomi-dominated area and vice versa. Taking the opportunity of the sharp polarisation that exists between the two communities, armed non-state groups, promising to fight for their own communities have swelled in ranks — both in the Meitei-dominated valley and Kuki-Zomi-dominated hill areas.
In addition, there have been allegations, particularly by the Kuki-Zomis, that the Meitei armed group Arambai Tenggol has the support of some top leaders in the state. On the other hand, there have been allegations by Meiteis that the Assam Rifles is soft towards the Kuki-Zomi armed groups.
ALSO READ: Demanding Assam To Volatile Manipur: Decoding Northeast's Political Landscape And Issues Ahead Of Lok Sabha Polls 2024
Moreover, The central leadership of the BJP has repeatedly supported Chief........
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