Tale of two women from India’s Manipur

The sectarian strife where two indigenous Christian women paid the highest price completed one year on May 3 in India’s hilly state of Manipur with no light at the end of the tunnel.

To mark the anniversary of the ethnic conflict in northeastern Manipur, bordering Myanmar, the warring factions -- Kuki-Zo Christians and Meitei Hindus -- planned several separate events.

If it was a day of “remembrance” for minority Christians, who form more than 40 percent of the state’s 3.2 million population, the majority Meiteis called it “the day of illegal immigrants backed by narco-terrorists” due to the hilly state proximity with civil war-hit Myanmar, a leading opium producer in the world.

The Indigenous Tribal Leaders’ Forum (ITLF) issued a public appeal calling for a shutdown on May 3 and urged its members to hoist a black flag on every household.

The Meiteis demanded the tracing of over 35 Meitei people who have gone missing since the violence started last year.

The strife started following a court order that asked the state government to include the prosperous Meitei community in the affirmation policy.

Christians are against the move to confer the tribal status for the Meitei people which will help them avail of government social welfare benefits meant for tribal people such as reservation in government jobs and educational institutions.

On May 3, 2023, the All-Tribal Students’ Union Manipur, the student wing of tribal people, started the stir in its stronghold Churachandpur.

Hill-based Kuki Christians allege that the inclusion of valley-based Meiteis will help majority Hindus buy land in indigenous areas.

 The communal flare-up in the state, ruled by pro-Hindu Bharatiya Janata Party of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, has so far claimed the lives of more than 220 people, injured thousands, and uprooted tens of thousands of people.

Nearly 500 places of worship have been set on fire. The Catholic Church has a diocese in the troubled state, based in the state capital Imphal, and headed by Archbishop Linus Neli. On the first anniversary on May 3, Archbishop Neli urged people to work for reconciliation.

Many Christians in the strife-torn state boycotted India’s general elections in April as demanded by the ITLF. Christians have blamed the pro-Hindu party-led state government of N Biren Singh for their plight.

Prime Minister Modi has not yet visited the state nor has he initiated any action against Singh for failing to maintain law and order in the state.

However, Modi was forced to break his silence on Manipur in July-end after a video surfaced showing two Christian women being sexually assaulted and paraded naked in the streets.

The women have reported to have pleaded with the police to drive them to a safe location but were told that "there was no key" for the vehicle.

The chargesheet filed by the premier federal probing agency stated that police drove the two women to a mob of around 1,000 people, who stripped and paraded them before gang-raping the youngest. The gory incident took place on May 4 and the 26-second video clip came to light in July-end.

The older of the two women spent days in a relief camp. Showing tremendous courage, she narrated her trauma to a reporter in which she said, “Everyone should know what happened to us.”

The 44-year-old was forced to strip not once but twice and brutally assaulted when refused, while police remained silent bystanders.

After nationwide public outrage, a case was registered against “unknown miscreants.”

Though the picturesque northeast state of Manipur, literally the “land of gems,”  has not seen large-scale violence in the last eight months,  clashes continue to take place on a daily basis, belying Chief Minister Singh’s repeated claim that peace is “gradually returning” to the strife-torn areas.