Former Indian lawmaker and his brother shot dead by men posing as journalists in attack caught live on TV
CBSAUG 2023
The Kukis are right to protest the inclusion of the Meities in the ST list, as the latter is already classified under Scheduled Castes (SC) and Other Backward Classes (OBC) and have access to the opportunities associated with the special status. Giving more privileges to the Meiteis would be unfair and would rob the poor tribals of their ancestral forest land rights, tradition, culture, and livelihood.
The Meiteis were recognized as a tribe before the merger of the princely state of Manipur with the Union of India in 1949; however, they lost their identity as a tribe afterwards. Kukis' protest is a facade, as they are illegal immigrants from neighboring Myanmar who resent the Manipur government's eviction drives to clear their settlements in reserve forest areas.
This violence — which has reopened an old ethnic faultline between the valley-based Meitei community and the hill-based Kuki community — is a complete failure of the state institutions. The Biren Singh-led BJP government remained mute spectators as rioting mobs, criticizing and instigating a High Court order, set the state alight. These events show the sad state of democracy in northeast India.