N. Birendra Singh (name changed), 77, a businessman from Imphal who belongs to Manipur’s Meitei community, regularly speaks over the phone to his childhood friend, a retired government employee from the Kuki-Zo community who now lives in Churachandpur.

Recalling their conversation a few months ago, Birendra says, “He was worried and anxious. His pregnant daughter had developed some complications. My friend could not bring her to Imphal, merely 60 km away, for medical attention. She had to be taken to Aizawl in neighbouring Mizoram, 330 km away, taking a huge risk. It took over 14 hours.” He adds that the delivery was safe and a healthy baby was born.

Two years ago, Birendra and his friend, who used to live in Imphal, would meet regularly and looked out for each other. All that changed on May 3, 2023, when ethnic violence erupted between the tribal Kuki-Zo and majority Meitei people in the north-eastern State.

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Now, the Imphal Valley, where Birendra and other Meiteis live, and the hill areas, including Churachandpur, that surround the valley, are segregated by multiple layers of security. The arrangement, known as ‘buffer zones’, is to prevent violence by keeping the communities from physically venturing into each other’s areas.

Birendra had never imagined that he wouldn’t see his friend for 28 months. The divisions seem to have intensified as people, who lost their homes and loved ones in the violence, struggle to get back to regular life.

About 250 people have been killed and over 60,000 displaced in a battle for land rights and Scheduled Tribe status. After the first wave of violence, the State saw shutdowns, protests, and an information blockade, until President’s Rule was imposed in February this year.

Samuel Vaiphei, 20, who studied in Imphal until the violence broke out, now teaches children at a relief camp in Churachandpur. Like hundreds of others, he had to flee his home. He was among 40 internally displaced persons (IDPs) who met Prime Minister Narendra Modi on September 13.

This was Modi’s first visit to the State since the ethnic clashes singed Manipur. “I told the Prime Minister about our pain and suffering. I told him we do not want to live with the Meiteis any more,” Vaiphei says of the community that forms 53% of the State’s population.

The Kuki-Zo groups form 26% of the population. According to official estimates, 28,000 Kuki-Zos and 25,000 Meiteis have been severely affected by the violence.

Plan A and B

During his four-hour stay in the State, Modi made two public appearances: one in Imphal, a valley district, and another in Churachandpur, a hill district. At Peace Ground in Churachandpur, generally used for celebrations by the Kuki-Zo community, he announced several projects worth ₹7,300 crore for Manipur.

At Kangla Fort in Imphal, the seat of the Meitei dynasty until 1891, the PM inaugurated projects worth ₹1,200 crore. Rannoi Likmabam, 22, a salesperson at a nearby pharmacy, says, “It is too late. Why is he coming now?”

Security personnel at Churachandpur on September 13, when PM Narendra Modi visited. 
| Photo Credit:
Vijaita Singh

The visit was almost cancelled due to incessant rain. A day earlier, the sky was bright and sunny. The two grounds turned into a swamp within hours. Pumps were installed to drain the water as people waded through mud to reach the waterproof tents.

Roshan Thanoujam, 42, a vendor selling momos by the roadside, says, “Inaugurating projects is not akin to peace. I will not go to his rally.”

The road route was planned as a backup option, keeping in mind the political uproar over the PM’s convoy getting stuck on the road for around 20 minutes during his visit to Punjab in 2022. “The road route was in place as weather can turn truant in this region any time. We did not solely depend on the aerial route. We did not want to take a risk. By late night, troops were mobilised from other locations and the 61-km stretch was sanitised,” says a State government official.

Modi was originally slated to travel by chopper directly from Aizawl to Churachandpur. He instead flew to Imphal in an aircraft. “We would have taken him by chopper from Imphal airport (to Churachandpur), but two other helicopters could not arrive. At least three choppers are required to maintain ambiguity during a VVIP’s visit,” the official says.

He travelled by road to Churachandpur, making a mention of it during his speech. He spoke in Hindi at both places, with many people, particularly in Churachandpur, unable to follow the language. He started the day by inaugurating a railway line in Mizoram and stopped in Manipur on his way to Assam in the evening.

The much-anticipated visit was announced just a day before. Officials and security forces were, however, sounded out on September 1 about a probable ‘VVIP visit’. Roads in Churachandpur, where the convoy was to pass, were relaid 4-5 days ago, while internal roads with gaping potholes were left untouched.

“On the night of September 12, when we received the weather forecast, there was deliberation on whether the PM could address both venues through videoconferencing. He insisted that he wanted to be among the people and that if need be, the visit could be postponed, but he would not address the people of Manipur virtually,” the official says.

Union Home Minister Amit Shah monitored the PM’s visit, seeking regular updates from State government officials.

Open roads

Modi has been criticised by the Opposition and people of the State for not visiting Manipur soon after the violence broke out. During the 2024 general election, the Congress won both the Lok Sabha seats in the State. This was only the second trip by a Prime Minister to Churachandpur after Rajiv Gandhi’s visit in 1988.

In the hill district, village chiefs, whose diktats are seldom defied, were roped in by the State administration to ensure maximum presence of people along the road when the convoy passed. The longer roadshow planned earlier had to be curtailed due to incessant rain. Schoolchildren and other locals, who were waiting for the PM with the Tricolour and posters at a vegetable market, were rushed to the other side of the town in buses and open mini-trucks at the last moment owing to the change in plan.

“We were asked to stand maintaining a considerable distance from the crowd when the convoy passed as the presence of security personnel would give an impression that things are not normal here,” says a CRPF official posted at one of the points of the roadshow.

Buffer zones were enforced after the imposition of President’s Rule and Modi’s motorcade travelled through one such zone between Bishnupur and Churachandpur. His motorcade passed by a damaged bridge that was blown up by miscreants in 2023 and several homes and properties burnt during the conflict. Some of the burnt properties in the buffer zone are occupied by security forces, with the bullet-riddled walls freshly painted and turned into control rooms to monitor social media and drones.

On the road are at least seven checkposts, which were removed to give quick access to the PM’s convoy. It took around an hour to reach Churachandpur from Imphal airport. The checkposts were back in place after the convoy left.

Linda Kim, 42, a resident of Hiangtam village in Churachandpur, says travel outside the State has become expensive. “There are no good hospitals here. Earlier, it cost us ₹200 and took an hour to reach Imphal airport. Now, we pay around ₹3,500 to reach Aizawl in 12-13 hours. If there is a landslide, sometimes we are stuck on the road for two days. I hope after the PM’s visit, the two communities can meet halfway,” she says, admitting that it will be difficult for them to live together.

The IDPs who met the Prime Minister were carefully chosen and vetted by the State administration, say officials. N. Samananda Singh, 42, a retired Navy man, was building a small resort in Moreh, along Manipur’s border with Myanmar, when the violence struck. On his phone, he still has a video of the under-construction resort in which he had invested all his retirement money. He points to a small swimming pool he was building there. On May 4, 2023, a day after the violence started in Churachandpur, his house and the resort were attacked.

Several Meitei families like his had to take refuge in Army camps while their properties were razed. Samananda now lives in a relief camp in Imphal that has been set up in a part of a girls’ college. He told the Prime Minister that those who have become refugees in their own State need jobs as there is no regular source of income. He said many people in the camp had either taken their lives or died of diseases. “We have to depend on others for food or work as daily wage labourers to make ends meet,” he says.

He demanded that National Highway-2, which connects the Imphal Valley to Dimapur in Nagaland and further to Assam, be opened to Meitei people. “We cannot afford air travel. If the roads open, we can travel to Guwahati in Assam and earn some money,” he says.

The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) had announced on September 4 that NH-2, which passes through Kuki-Zo areas in Kangpokpi district to Imphal’s north, has been opened for free movement of all vehicles. On September 14, when The Hindu visited the border checkpoint, only commercial goods vehicles, and private vehicles and buses with non-Meitei passengers were plying on the road. The checkpoint was turned into a buffer zone between the Meitei-dominated Imphal West district and the Kuki-Zo-dominated Kangpokpi district after May 2023.

The highway, broken and riddled with potholes, is key to bringing essential supplies to the landlocked Imphal Valley, which does not have rail connectivity. It is the key road to the airport in Imphal, which the Kuki-Zo people have not been able to access.

Pointing to the deep divide on the ground, a security official said they were refused delivery of a coffee machine from Imphal when the vendor learned that it was headed for the hills. While economic activity has been affected, there is little progress in ensuring justice for the victims. The trials in most cases registered during the violence are yet to begin.

The hope of healing

On June 19, 2023, a short video clip of two women being stripped and paraded by a mob surfaced on social media. The women were trying to escape a mob of 800-900 people that was chasing their family.

One of the women had allegedly been gang-raped 70 days before. Her father and brother were killed by the mob. It was alleged that the women were handed over to the mob by the policemen, whom they trusted to protect them.

Though six persons, including a juvenile, were arrested and the case was transferred to the Central Bureau of Investigation on the directions of the Supreme Court, the trial is yet to begin. Around 3,000 cases related to the ethnic clashes were filed in 2023.

Neither of the two rape survivors were among the IDPs who met the Prime Minister at the Peace Ground, which is around 20 km from the rented accommodation of one of them. More than two years on, she is still battling the trauma.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi during a meeting with violence-affected people at a relief camp, in Imphal, Manipur. (X/PMO via PTI Photo)

The Assam Rifles (AR), a 190-year-old paramilitary unit that acts as both a counter-insurgency and peacekeeping force, arranged for regular psychological counselling sessions for the rape survivor. A room with videoconferencing facilities was readied on the AR campus in Churachandpur, where the woman is joined by a counsellor from Guwahati.

“The hill town neither has medical facilities nor counsellors. To help the woman, we decided to organise counselling sessions. We provided her with a room and Internet connectivity, so she can get professional help,” an AR officer says.

Back in Imphal, Birendra, whose dairy business was severely affected due to the violence, says philosophically, “What is the use of quarrelling? We are all here just temporarily.”