As Manipur gears up for its elections — the northeastern state will go to polls in two phases, 28 February and 5 March, political parties have been going the whole hog to woo voters.
In that same vein, Home Minister Amit Shah on Wednesday during an election rally in Manipur's Churachandpur district said that the government would hold peace talks with all Kuki militant groups and their issue will be resolved in the next five years.
Who are the Kuki militants, what problem do they pose and what Amit Shah has promised the people of Manipur.
Who are the Kukis?
The Kukis, a tribal group, are spread out in Assam, Nagaland, Mizoram, Tripura, Meghalaya and Manipur, where they have the bulk of their population.
The last Census pegged the population of the Kuki tribe in Manipur to be about 30 per cent of the 28.5 lakh people living in the state.
Since India’s Independence, the Kukis have lived peacefully with the other tribes such as the Meitei and the Nagas. However, with the passing years, there’s been a growing resentment within the Kuki community owing to difference in perception of territorial lands and overlapping boundaries.
In the early 1990s, the National Socialist Council of Nagaland {IM} allegedly masterminded a series of ethnic cleansing against the Kukis.
Rise of Kuki militancy
The ethnic clashes between the Nagas and Kukis led to the formation of several Kuki insurgent groups.
Moreover, the Kuki tribe believes that they were marginalised in their homeland and demanded for an independent state.
However, those demands have scaled down over the years and presently, the Kuki militant outfits of Manipur have raised a demand for a Kukiland Territorial Council to be carved out of their ancestral lands.
Kuki outfits are engaged in tripartite talks with the central government and the Manipur government and want the territorial council to be modelled after the Bodoland Territorial Council {BTC} in Assam.
The Kuki National Organisation {KNO}, one of the two umbrella bodies, comprising 17 of the 23 Kuki rebel outfits with more than 2,000 cadres, said the Kukis want their issues to be settled within the framework of the Indian Constitution.
Amit Shah’s vow
Union Home Minister Amit Shah said the government will bring all the Kuki rebel groups for talks, like what was done in Assam and Tripura.
"Have confidence in us, we will talk to all Kuki organisations, and a new life will be given to all Kuki youths to enable them to join the development of the nation, of the hills and of Manipur under Prime Minister Modi," Shah was quoted as saying by PTI.
He claimed that the Bodoland issue was solved in Assam. "We have brought them {Bodo rebels} to the path of development and today, no Bodo youths have weapons in their hands. Instead, they have motorcycle keys, keys to industries and laptops," Shah said.
"The BJP government will bridge the divide between hills and valleys. When the Congress was ruling, they used to divide the hills and valleys and make people fight. We are bridging the gap. We kept our promise of blockade, bandh mukt {free} Manipur. I take pride in the fact that the Biren Singh government has been leading Manipur in the path of peace," Shah added.
With inputs from agencies
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