International Meitei Forum

The International Meeteis Forum (or "International Meitei Forum", IMF) is a Meitei ethnic advocacy group in the Indian state of Manipur. Its objectives are to assert Meitei indigeneity in Manipur, to unify Meiteis around the world, to campaign for the territorial integrity of the Manipur state and to block the influx of alleged foreigners.Meiteis demand say in accord
The Telegraph (India), 8 December 2012.

Founded in 2012 by a retired army officer R. K. Rajendro, it later teamed up with the Federation of Haomee with similar ideological motivations. Both the organisations generated free-flowing hate speech against the Kuki community of Manipur,
Haoginlen Chongloi
Free-Flowing Hate Speech, Rampant Racial Profiling: How Manipur Grew Intolerant
The Wire, 18 June 2022

labelling them as "immigrants" or "foreigners",Rejoinder to R.K. Rajendro, President, International Meitei Forum
E-Pao.net, 21 May 2015. "It is a repeated slogan and speeches of R.K Rajendro and the International Meitei Forum that ‘Kukis are foreigners’."

which was instrumental in the generation of 2023 Manipur violence.

Background

Manipur is a state in the northeast of India, a former princely state of British Raj, embedded in the Northern Arakan Yoma mountain range. It consists of a 700 square mile valley, mainly populated by the Meitei community, and the surrounding hill regions populated by hill tribes classified as Nagas (in the north) and Kukis (in the south). The hill tribes have long campaigned for autonomy, launching multiple insurgent movements, and the Meitei have consistently blocked all such efforts.
Paojel Chaoba
Centre ready to implement 6th Schedule in hill areas of Manipur, awaits chief secretary's reply
Imphal Free Press, (via Kangla Online), 1 July 2015. . "The ill Areas Committee in 1983, 1990 and 2002 re-affirmed its 1978 resolution demanding extension of 6th schedule to Manipur hills. The state cabinet recommended for the same on three occasions, in 1991, 1992 and 2001. Various government-appointed commissions also recommended for the same. Nothing came out of them till today."

In 2012, the Union Government reached peace agreements with the Naga and Kuki insurgent groups. The Naga group, NSCN-IM, had the ongoing demand for "Greater Nagaland", i.e., to merge the Naga-inhabited areas of Manipur into the Nagaland state. The Kuki groups likewise had the demand for a separate "Kukiland" state for the Kuki-inhabited areas. The International Meeteis Forum was formed in this context, in order to protect the "interest of heMeiteis". It argued for the inclusion of the Meiteis in the peace talks, and declared, "no agreement without the consent of Meiteis would be accepted".

Prior to this, the founder R. K. Rajendro had written an article in a newspaper claiming that the Kukis had migrated from Myanmar and the British had planted Kuki settlements in Manipur. A Naga organisation found the argument attractive, and claimed that prior to the 19th and 20th centuries, "our forefathers" had not experienced inter-tribal conflict.
This is not in accordance with the historical record as documented by scholars.

Anti-Kuki activism

Soon after its formation, the IMF condemned the demand for "Kukiland", claiming that Kukis had recently migrated from Myanmar between 1855 and 1881, and that they numbered only about 8,000 people at that time. The original settlers of
Manipur were claimed to have been Meitei and Naga communities, and therefore, the later entrants should be "pushed back".
IMF condemns appeal for Kukiland, The Statesman (India), 10 December 2012. .
Now, Meitei body comes out against proposed Kuki map
The Sangai Express, via e-pao.net, 8 December 2012.
At the same time, grandiose claims were made for the historical extent of Manipur.Kukis have no land in Manipur: IMF
Nagaland Post, 9 December 2012.

The Kuki Students Organisation (KSO) responded to the IMF statements as having become a "matter of grave concern".Kuki Students' Organisation hits out at IMF, gives point by point rebuttal
The Sangai Express, 18 December 2012. "Recent references to the Kuki people as 'foreigners' and 'migrants' by a newly floated 'international body' in various newspapers has become a matter of grave concern for the Kuki Students' Organisation-General Head-quarters."

As the demand for "Kukiland" as a separate state grew, the IMF also stepped up its attacks on the Kuki community. In 2013, it rejected the Kukis' claim of being one of the indigenous communities of Manipur and announced that it would launch a signature campaign against the Kukis for claiming so. It declared that there was a "continuous influx of Kukis" from Myanmar and Muslims from Bangladesh, which was causing a "dangerous demographic change" in Manipur, which would render Meiteis to become a minority.

In 2015, the Kuki Research Forum of scholars responded to a column written by R. K. Rajendro in ''The Sangai Express'', calling his comments "incendiary", "communal" and "exclusivist". Recalling Rajendro's labelling of Kukis as "foreigners", they countered with historical facts and the views of acclaimed historians. They stated that Rajendro's propaganda had no place in a civilised society and called on the media to uphold the ethics of journalism. In response, Ch. Birendra (listed as the Organiser of IMF) wrote another column in the same newspaper, addressing the Kuki Research Forum scholars as "dear descendants of immigrants", and taking personal jibes about holding "double citizenship of both Manipur and Myanmar". He also repeated the usual arguments of IMF labelling Kukis as immigrants and foreigners.

In 2016, journalist Phanjoubam Chingkheinganba countered the narrative of branding Kukis as "foreigners", stating that it was generated by an elderly retired army officer, whose organisation consisted of "less than half a dozen persons". He commented that the retired officer did not seem to grasp the modern meaning of "foreigner" and the discourse was seriously offensive to the Kukis.

However, by 2019, R. K. Rajendro was being listed in the core committed of Federation of Haomee (FoH), a much larger organisation founded on the back of the successful Inner Line Permit movement in Manipur. FoH was focused on the issue of "indigeneity" of Manipur's communities. Rajendro introduced his ideas on the othering of Kukis into FoH, which was used to oppose the Union government's peace talks with Kuki organisations, labelling them as "foreign militant outfits".

In 2022, scholar Haoginlen Chongloi noted that both IMF and FoH had been involved in spreading venomous hate speech directed at the Kukis for several years.

Impact

By 2022, the IMF discourse on the othering of Kukis of Manipur had entered the mainstream of the Meitei society.
Rajkumar Bobichand
Demand for a Separate Kuki State Can Lead to Violent Ethnic Conflicts in Manipur
Imphal Review of Arts and Politics, 17 December 2022. " uoting the Kuki State Demand Committee Instead of suppressing the ongoing hate campaign against the Kuki community by the dominant Meitei organisations, the incessant hate speeches against them were floated across the local dailies and social network platforms right under he Manipur government'snose''."

The chief minister N. Biren Singh branded a human rights ''cum'' greater-Kukiland activist, Mark T. Haokip, as "Myanmarese", despite he being a descendant of an Indian National Army freedom fighter. New Meitei groups such as the People's Movement for Resurgent Manipur and the Coordinating Committee on Manipur Integrity (COCOMI) replicated the chief minister's branding. The Kuki tribal body Kuki Inpi issued a statement raising an alarm about a "groundswell of Kuki-Chin-Mizophobia" in Manipur and accused the Biren Singh government of "outright abhorrence and racial discrimination" against the Kukis of Manipur.
Rokibuz Zaman
The arrest of an activist in Manipur has resurfaced ethnic tensions
Scroll.in, 3 July 2022.

In the same year, an English translation of R. K. Rajendro's book ''Manipur after the Coming of Kukis'' was published, wherein Rajendro characterised the Meiteis and Nagas as natives of Manipur (the "Haomee"), and Kukis as recent arrivals from Burma.

By May 2023, when large-scale violence erupted in Manipur, there were a large number of Meitei organisations subscribing to the view that Kukis were "foreigners" or "outsiders". Pramot Singh, the founder of Meitei Leepun, claimed in an interview on ''The Wire'', that the Kukis were not "part of the family" of Manipur and described them as "tenants" in the state.
Several news reports and commentaries pointed out that the discourse had been normalised in the Meitei society.
Kaushik Deka
Drugs, land rights, tribal identity and illegal immigration-Why Manipur is burning
India Today NE, 5 May 2023. "Kukis have often been attacked as "immigrants" or "foreigners", suggesting they had migrated from Myanmar and are not native to the Manipur Hills, which is strongly disputed by them."

Anshuman Behera
Interpreting the ethnic strife in Manipur
Observer Research Foundation, 17 May 2023. "As the Kukis are seen as foreigners and outsiders, the escalated demands for the NRC add to the apprehensions of the former... The state government's demolition and eviction drives, the process of 'othering' by terming the Kukis as outsiders and foreigners, alleging the Kukis were responsible for the poppy cultivation and influx of 'illegal migrants from Myanmar, and the Meitei community's demand for the tribal status wrapped with the old wounds of ethnic strife have directly contributed to the revival of violent incidents in restive Manipur."

Pradip Phanjoubam

The New Indian Express, 22 May 2023. "The answer may lie in certain developments in recent times. One is the revival of an old narrative that the Kukis are nomadic and not indigenous to Manipur. Muivah has said this in several recent public statements as well. Other rivals also added to this, insulting the Kukis indiscriminately with adjectives like 'refugees', 'foreigners', etc., making this an open sore for the latter."

In the first week of violence, 77 Kukis were killed, mostly innocent civilians in the Imphal Valley, as compared to 10 Meiteis.
Krishn Kaushik
Bunkers, sniper rifles: Deepening sectarian war in India dents Modi's image
Reuters, 28 July 2023.

Saptarshi Basak
'Hell! I Had a Normal Life': Kukis Share Horror Tales of Escaping Mobs in Imphal
The Quint, 9 May 2023.

Notes

References

Bibliography

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* {{citation , last=Pau , first=Pum Khan , title=Indo-Burma Frontier and the Making of the Chin Hills: Empire and Resistance , publisher=Taylor & Francis , year=2019 , isbn=9781000507454 , url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dVmnDwAAQBAJ , ref={{sfnref, Pau, Indo-Burma Frontier and the Making of the Chin Hills, 2019

2012 establishments in Manipur
Meitei organisations