relationship between the nagas and the kukis
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Answer:
Few groups of the Kuki militants have sought the intervention of PM Modi to subdue the rising tension between the Kukis and the Nagas in Manipur.
What is the cause of recent tensions?
Tensions between the Kukis and Nagas are not new, and in light of them building up again, the Manipur government ordered that the stone memorials be taken down.
The centenary the Anglo-Kuki War was celebrated by a Committee under the aegis of Kuki Inpi Churachandpur (KIC).
The KIC which is the apex body of Kuki people in various northeastern states, asked all Kuki villages to install memorial stones with the inscription,
But Naga bodies objected to the Kukis installing these stone memorials on the Naga’s ancestral land.
The Anglo-Kuki War
Before the British came in, the Kukis had been one of the dominant tribes of hill areas surrounding Imphal during the rule of the Maharajas of Manipur.
The Kukis exercised full control over their territory until then.
Therefore, the Anglo-Kuki War was essentially a war for the independence and liberation of the Kukis from the imperialists.
The war had unified the efforts of Kukis living in northeast India, Myanmar and Bangladesh.
Even so, the state of Manipur had already lost its independence to the Britishers in 1891 and became free only after India became independent in 1947.
The Anglo-Kuki War began when the Britishers asked the Kukis to get enrolled in their labour corps in France and the latter resisted.
Naga claims it as rebellion
The Nagas claimed that the Kukis have been trying to distort history as there has been no “Anglo-Kuki War” but a “Kuki Rebellion” in 1917.
The United Naga Council (UNC), the apex body of the Nagas of Manipur, asserted that the Kuki rebellion against the British was for labour recruitment drive under the Labour Corps Plan.
Following this, the Nagas conveyed to the state government to take appropriate steps such that the history of Manipur is not distorted.
What has been the reason for Kuki-Naga clashes in the past?
I. Reorganization of Manipur
After the conclusion of the Anglo-Kuki War in 1919, for administrative and logistical ease, the state of Manipur was divided into four areas.
It included Imphal, Churachandpur, Tamenglong (that was inhabited by the Kukis, Kabui Nagas and Katcha Nagas) and Ukhrul (that was inhabited by Kukis and the Tangkhul Nagas).
The reorganization of Manipur is cited to be the most central result of the war.
The Kuki chiefs who were not used to any bureaucratic control in the earlier now had to function bureaucratically.
II. Identity
Furthermore, it is believed that Kukis came to Manipur in the late 18th/early 19th century from neighbouring Myanmar.
While some of the Kukis settled next to the Myanmar border, others settled in Naga villages, which ultimately became a contentious issue between the two tribes.
The relationship between the two worsened during the colonial period and reached a low point during the Anglo-Kuki war, referred to as a “dark period” in the oral history of the Tangkhul Nagas.
Essentially, identity and land govern their ethnic conflict.
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