Sitting outside a small eatery constructed with tin sheets and iron mesh, Kundram Memori, 55, adjusts an assortment of vegetables spread on gunny bags on a footpath in Manipur’s Bishnupur district. Sprinkling the stock of cabbages, beans, and carrots with water as she waits for buyers, Memori recalls how less than two years ago she lived a comfortable life, around 15 kilometres away in Churachandpur, where she owned a grocery store and her husband taught in a school.
Memori’s life changed on May 3, 2023, when ethnic violence erupted between the tribal Kuki-Zo and the Meitei people in Manipur. It was triggered by a Manipur High Court order seeking the State government’s response on the inclusion of the Meitei community in the Scheduled Tribes (ST) list. Her home in Churachandpur, dominated by the Kuki-Zo people, was burnt down. The family of four had to escape overnight.
Now, she lives in a relief camp in Bishnupur, and she says the family’s income has dropped by 80%. “My son is a research scholar; my daughter is pursuing a master’s degree in Imphal. After the violence, my husband developed hypertension. We do not have a home. I need to support the family now. We manage with whatever vegetables I sell here during the day. Evenings are spent in the camp, where we take turns to cook food and do the other chores,” says Memori.
In Churachandpur, Holkim, 70, sits quietly on a thin mattress on the floor of a community centre. The centre was converted into a relief camp in May 2023. She stares blankly when asked about her life in Sugnou, a Meitei-dominated area from where she was displaced in May 2023. “She was born in Sugnou, where she owned a shop and a small hotel. Everything was razed during the violence,” says a relative.
A relief camp at Moirang, Bishnupur.
| Photo Credit:
VIJAITA SINGH
Forced to stay in a large hall with broken windows along with 102 others, bedsheets and plastic sheets doubling as walls, Holkim’s relative says that she hopes to go back home one day. “While the men go out to do odd jobs during the day, we stay back, cook meals and maintain the camp, clean the toilets. There is no running water; we store it in buckets. For the past few months there has been a shortage of medical supplies,” said Gracy Niengneilhaing, 36, another camp resident whose house in Imphal was destroyed by a mob. She says the community members lean on each other for support but also that there is no privacy.
Memori and Holkim are among the 62,000 people still living in relief camps, more than 21 months since ethnic violence erupted in the State. They have no opinion about President’s Rule in the State. All they want is to go back home.
On February 13, 2025…
Manipur was placed under President’s Rule following an impending political crisis. The Congress party, in Opposition, was to move a no-confidence motion in the Assembly, which was set to be supported by the sitting Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) legislators. On February 9, Chief Minister N. Biren Singh was summoned to Delhi in a chartered flight. Following a meeting with the Union Home Minister Amit Shah, he resigned.
The valley, with 10% of Manipur’s landmass, is dominated by the non-tribal Meitei ethnic group, mostly Hindus, who account for over 64% of the State’s population. The hills comprise 90% of Manipur’s area but send only 20 MLAs to the Assembly, mostly Kuki-Zo and Naga members.
As per the 2011 Census, the population in the State stood at 27.21 lakh and the decadal population growth from 2001 to 2011 was 18.65%. Other than the Manipur police and the Army, 288 companies of the Central Armed Police Forces (CAPF) are deployed in the State. The strength of each company may vary from 80-120 personnel.
Kuki-Zo women protest at Kangpokpi against the free movement of vehicles
| Photo Credit:
VIJAITA SINGH
The point where Bishnupur and Churachandpur districts converge has been one of the most volatile areas with armed men or ‘village volunteers’ aiming at each other frequently. To keep the warring communities away, ‘buffer zones’ were created. These buffer zones, where the Meitei areas in the valley and the Kuki-Zo areas in the hills converge, are secured by the CAPF and the Army, but not the State police. When The Hindu visited the Bishnupur-Churachandpur buffer zone, there were at least six checkpoints on a 2-km stretch. The Army and the CAPF personnel take photos of all the visitors and note down personal details such as phone and Aadhar number.
After Central rule was imposed in the State, bunkers — sandbags and tin sheds — built by village volunteers in buffer zones to protect their communities have been removed. Some have been occupied by Central security forces.
“We had a meeting with civil society groups. Some bunkers were voluntarily dismantled, and some were destroyed by the security forces,” says a police officer in Churachandpur.
According to a senior government official, around 450-500 bunkers have been destroyed in the past 22 months. “Sometimes they are rebuilt. Since President’s Rule, it is being ensured that none of the bunkers exist in the buffer zones to prevent confrontation between the two communities,” says the officer.
The government is working on a 13-point road map to end violence and restore peace in the restive State. The road map includes disarmament, arrest of armed miscreants and extortionists, rehabilitation of internally displaced people, restoration of damaged and destroyed religious places, and free movement on highways.
On March 8, after National Highways 2 and 37 — which connect the valley to Nagaland and Assam respectively — were opened for all vehicles, violence was reported in the hill district of Kangpokpi, leaving one protester dead and 40 others, including 27 security personnel, injured.
Since May 3, 2023…
Since ethnic violence began, cases of extortion and abductions by armed groups have seen a rise, particularly in the valley areas. On January 26, 2025, as India celebrated Republic Day, the Manipur government established a dedicated Integrated Anti-Extortion Cell to deal with the “significant” law-and-order threat in the State, as a government press release put it. It said that people, including government officials, had been threatened with severe consequences via calls, messages, or letters from unlawful organisations if extortion demands were not met.
Post February 13, billboards and posters have been put up across the State displaying the helpline number of the Anti-Extortion Cell.
The trader community, many of who migrated to Manipur at least 100 years ago, have been the softest target of armed gangs. Those from Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, and Bihar say they are contemplating migrating from the State, which has become home to them.
“Even at the height of insurgency and violence in the State in the 1980s and 1990s, the situation was not this bad. People no longer have the purchasing capacity. With daily blockades, goods cannot move. First, we pay in the hills to move vehicles, then we have to pay sundry armed gangs in the valley. I do not accept calls from unknown numbers as those may be from extortionists,” says a trader from Uttar Pradesh on condition of anonymity. He notes that extortion calls and visits have stopped since President’s Rule was imposed.
Under a glass table at his shop in Thangal Bazaar in the heart of Imphal, the trader has a receipt of ₹4,500 acknowledging payment to Arambai Tenggol, a radical armed Meitei group, whose popularity has shot up in the past two years, coinciding with the period of violence. The trader says it is a pass to save him from other extortionists, as a few days after he paid the amount, another group arrived at his shop seeking money.
“It is 6 in the evening now. The market should be bustling with activity. But what do you see here? Many shops are shut, while many have started rolling down their shutters,” says another trader of Marwari origin at Thangal Bazaar.
Anil Haorokcham, secretary of the Manipur Chamber of Commerce and Industry, says they have been pursuing the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and the State and Central government for a moratorium on bank loans. “Up to 99% of entrepreneurs here will fall in the category of non-performing assets (NPA) if a financial package is not announced by the government,” he says.
He says the government is yet to publish data on financial losses incurred in the State. “More than 50% of regular transactions have been lost. As the main city (Imphal) is cut off from satellite towns (hill areas) of Manipur, the towns are also facing collateral damage,” Haorokcham says.
Kundram Memori, a resident of Churachandpur in Manipur, whose house was burnt down during the May 2023 ethnic violence.
| Photo Credit:
VIJAITA SINGH
He says the vegetable vendors at Ima Keithel (mother’s market), the all-woman-run market in Imphal, whose average turnover per day was ₹10,000 before May 2023, are not able to sell ₹2,000 worth of produce now. The exodus of Kuki-Zo people from Imphal has had an impact on health care, hospitality, and other sectors too.
“Private hospitals are contracting their businesses because Kuki-Zo people are not coming. Private schools are affected; tourism is wiped out from the State. A hotel owner said they are running the hotel at a 20-30% occupancy. The staff is on a rotational basis. They can’t fire the staff, nor can they employ them full-time. Salary is based on working days,” he says. His list of economic troubles continues: FMCG distributors say demand has gone down by 50% because people have lost purchasing power.
Ch Priyoranjan Singh, a professor in Manipur University’s economics department, says many businesspeople from the valley are moving to neighbouring Guwahati in Assam, to Manipur’s west. “First the pandemic and then the violence have set back the economy by several years. A mineral water bottling plant shut down two of its units after rampant extortion calls,” Singh says.
Manipur has a sizeable Nepali population. Devi, a clothes shop owner who came to Imphal after she married 12 years ago, says her family is considering moving back to Nepal. “We came to India as the education here is much better. But the other day my son was talking about guns and bombs. Last year, he heard gunshots outside his school. Many families from Nepal are now thinking of going back,” Devi says as she waits for customers to come.
On February 20, 2025…
After President’s Rule was imposed, Governor Ajay Kumar Bhalla appealed to members of all communities to surrender looted police weapons at the nearest police station within seven days or face strict action.
Since May 2023, around 6,020 police weapons and lakhs worth of ammunition were looted from police armouries, almost 90% in the valley areas dominated by the Meitei people. Since 2023, there have been multiple advisories by the government to surrender the weapons.
The amnesty period was extended until March 6. From February 20 to March 6, as many as 1,063 weapons, 15,027 pieces of ammunition, 684 improvised explosive devices (IEDs) and 5,971 other items such as bullet-proof jackets and helmets were surrendered.
A police officer says that the deadline was not extended as people would stop taking the administration seriously. “A message had to be sent that the police mean business. The image of the police had taken a hit after Arambai Tenggol members abducted and assaulted a police officer on February 28 last year. After the deadline to surrender arms was over, it was made clear that the police and security forces would crack down on people hoarding them,” says the officer. Since February 18, around 90 people have been arrested for extortion-related activities.
Meitei civil society groups argue that the Kuki-Zo people are backed by armed insurgent groups that are in a Suspension of Operation (SoO) pact with the Centre. They also want this protection.
In Churachandpur, most Meitei homes have been flattened after the arson. In Imphal, Kuki-Zo properties have either been gutted or occupied by members of the Arambai Tenggol. The Trulock Theological Seminary, run by the Kuki Christian Council, located metres away from the office of the Manipur Rifles, has “mobile unit of AT” scribbled on its wall, pointing to its current occupants.
Mutum Yoiremba, a political consultant, feels the way forward is through an agreed collective amnesia, “a forgetfulness, even if not forgiveness”. “The government must enable, encourage, and protect those who are willing to come out and engage in this dialogue. The military way of resolving things with an iron fist has failed in the past. It was through political dialogue that the Northeast had finally seen peace after nearly half a century of turmoil. The Government of India must act as an enabler for peace,” said Yoiremba.
Haorokcham says that a deteriorating economy does not discriminate on caste or religion. “There are many Kuki women married to Meitei men. When they want to have a family gathering, they go to Guwahati or Delhi. I wish normalcy comes back soon,” he says.
Sharad Leishangtham, 46, who used to work as a welder in Churachandpur, now sells sugarcane juice in Bishnupur, and lives in the relief camp. “They tore down my house. I have lost just about everything. But there should be no more fighting in Manipur,” says Leishangtham.
vijaita.singh@thehindu.co.in
Edited by Sunalini Mathew
Published – March 20, 2025 11:55 pm IST
