WRISTBAND (KHUTBU)

WRISTBAND:
Korea gama mi adamlou hospital a ki admit ho khu avei lam(left hand) a white wristband kibu peh ji a, a chunga chu adamlou nu/pa min leh anat na kijeh ahi, patient dam doh jou ta lou a athi ho chu Red wristband kibu peh a thikoina(morgue) a kikoi ji ahi.
Ni1 hi Dr.khat hi alast operation ahin chai a chun nidan 2:00 am ana ging tai, nurse ho jng atamjo in kile gam u ahi tan, duty nei ho le2 bou um ahi tai, hspital sung cu athip chet in Dr.pa jng inlang kile go ta, lift sunga cu numei1 ana um, amani bou cu lift sunga um, hung kihou suh peh lhon, 2nd flor ahin phah lhn chun lift cu ahung ki nga in, kot kom chun pasal teh thim1 akang set a kivon ana ding in, ahung lut kigot leh Dr.pan jng gang chel in kot akhah tai, amani jng akitol suh kit lhn tai,adin khom pi nu chun ibola nalut sah lou hm tia adoh le Dr.pan jng akhut jet lama Red wristband akibu chu namu lou hm ati leh numei nun jong Dr.nasei dan chu kei a tobang hi ham ahin t in ajet lama akhut bu asan chu avet sah eeee, Dr.pan ama nu chu athisa ahi lam leh a Red wristband chu ana mu doh lou dan ahe.
_BEITA_

LONLHI MASA

LONLHI MASA

(Fiction Love story by: Joychand: 2006 kuma kana sut ahitai, ahinlah tu thah a enao nu u PINKY vangset na toh athu ahung kibah heu heu jeh in kahin share kit e)

Setlei khankho aheisa bang pal lou lungvul nan, toidon lai noplen ni jeng jong echinleh toi cheng to mang man lou khop in, themjil na malam non  hinkho Kaman jing e.
Lungset epi hija Ngailut epi ham ti  jong helou, numei lunglhom leh lumsong bang mol den jeng bang in  mihemkhat lungset chen ding lung vul in jong kana ngai to kha poi.
Ahinlah chungmangpa khan kho hei, kei din adang lam ta ngei je.

 Lungset nahi, khat din kipa na kol ni aso sah jin, khat din lungdon meipi bang kana le mao na kolni ahei ji e, hibang chun tun vang keidin lungset hi lonlhi masa twibang lonna ding in kolni ahung kikeu tai,  hintin lah asem sa mihem kei man, eti lamdol in kagen thei na lel jeng ta leng phatchesa golto kingai laini, agam toui bang don thah kit dem ti-a laa mang kadot jing vang in, mol pang lepta sa nungkou kit thei lou khan kho leh thim thu cheng lonlhi twibang lon na ti lou ei dong ding dang kavai mo jen e.

Date 02/05/2006 ni lhaah lam in Chungtoni jong alhangkai tan, thangvan sang lam a kon in thonggo  ahung phin e, hichun nam sepai dang chah kaheng a ahung in donding twi themkhat beh hijong leh neipen tin ahung tao ve.

Kin jong lunga khoto na dimset pum in donding sihtwi dap chu kana pen, kami khoto na sihtwi dap chu tunin vang lonlhi masa thongo joh in einung le tai.
Kangai pen Kau Lalboi in, kaheng a lungset thimthu alal ni jan, lunga mangmon ahung lang e, lung vang kalungset lheh nai, ngai jong kangai lheh jeng e, ahinlah  lungset kachan ngam loudan, kana sei nan hijeng jong leh kalungset na twipi bang kinong chun, numei kam mol keima hinan nang jou talou in, Henge heo kahin lungset e tin lungset na sangpen kana chen tai.
Ahin lah kalung lai gil la thilkhat mang mon aging jing e, ami hi nan kalungset nai, ahin lah, nam sepai ahi nan vang lung sa ih na kanei je, namsepai kadei lou ahipoi, koi ham setlei chunga nampi khankho ding gel a kipe doh golhang  lungset chen lou ding? Koi ma um him him ponte tin kagel e, ahinlah tu Nampi din mun in vang namspai nampi khankho ding gel mihem kamu loou jeh in Anjou khat leh, hui ja vaibang tham den na ding leh, lonlhia phungtha bang vul na ding bep hinkho mang khang katem ti gal gin nan meibang eibom e.

Lungset na eichen hocheng kasang nom poi tin nol jong leng, eba kalo ding ham ken jong kalung set e, hijeh chun hinkhoa insung khat semkhom pi din kana kigel lhan lungset na dih tah chu kana pe tai.

Ahinlah anjoukhat khat leh, lomlou khulsin nan sam gibing eikhen khan tin, kilungset lamlhung joulou in huibang sum den jeng khadem ti gal gin nan,sun tin ka gim pin,  jaan tin kaka pi ji e.

Hichun, keiman jong “Heo, kalungset nahe nai, kangai dan jong nahai poi, ajaan khat cha jong namel mu lou in kacham jou poi. Tun nanghi lomlou khulsin na cheng jeng le chun etobang hinkho kahin man ding jong nahai poi, ajeh chu namsepai, hinkho jingdaitwi leh hampa pah, phatchom cha dei um tah a hung pah tobang hinkho ahi, tunin naobang kinou jong le hen jingkho hung vah leh lungdon meipi jing in tin hiche hinkho hi nalungset pen keiman hinkhoa che pi jing jeng ding vang kajou poi.”

Tin aheng a katao tai, hichun aman jong ei don but in “Boi, nam sepai kahin, nampi ponlap noija kaki tep na mitphet kah lou a palkeh jeng thei ding kahi poi, ahin lah ven, tua pat ni sot talou jou leh kagal von ka tol koi ding kalungset pen nang to hinkhoa lungset subulhit dia hung vai kon ding kahi, hiche kah chun lunglhadai lou hel in nei na ngah jing in” tin kabeng achop in eida lha tai.

Kangaipen ka u Lalboi jin, eidahah nia pat in, ajaan jong cham jou lou asun toni beh jong lhum jou lou in hinkho kahin mang e, jaan nidan 11:00 pm vel in, call ahung in, keiman jong kagah dom in, ahileh, “Boi” ahin tin, epi ham heo, nadam jing hinam? Tin kadong pai tai, “henge kadam e nangla nadam hinam?” atin, “nang ngai puldou na leh lungnat na tilou adangse vang aphanai” katin, ahileh aman jong, tujaan galkon ding kahin, kahinkho kakhut a kichoi thoding kahitai, ahin la ven, ekitep na vang kasuh mil lou hel ding ahi,atin kin jong, koi to  ham?? Tin kadong tai, ahinlah aman asei nom ta poi,  hichun kadong kit in, koi to kikap dinga gal kon ding nahim? Tia kadoh kit phat chun aman jong koi dang hiding ham ei mi mama hina lou dingham?

Boi, nahet them ding kadei je, kei jong katha anom poi ahin lah alou thei lou ahi, lamkai kahi poi, lamkai thu ngai mai mai a vaikon ding kahi, ahin lah ven hung kile kit ding kahi hiche hi sumil hih in, tua kahung kile kit leh, lungtup emolso ding ahitai, tin asei je.

Ahinlah kalung nat na aki be lap in, kasei tai, heo, nampi sepai nahi kaki thang at pi mama e, nampi ngailu namgolhang khat in lungset eichan a kaiman jong lungset kachan kal a vangpha ding koi ma umdin kagel poi, ahin lah, na pumei long leh namei chang galmi chung joh hilou nanam mi mama ang sung leh na nam mi mama chunga achuh ding kagel thei him him poi,

Ven, nang in vangset na nato leh, nalungset pen keima leh I insung mi din kana hin tin, na ki kap pi hon vangset na ato jong leh koi dang hipon te, na nam mi mama hiding hichea lainat na leh puldou na mitlhi kaa cheng lo na jong koi dang pao hideh ding ham eipao mama hin tin, hichea chu epi ham kaki thang at pi diu?
Nagal mi hileh, ohh, nampi a dinga ahin kho phal pasal hang san ahi tin nampi leh na singsung chuleh keiding kana kolni soh nama jong leh kithang att na hiding hilou ham? Tua nanam mi mama chunga khut lha ding leh vaikon ding a nakigel u hi naki oi mong hinam? Tinn kakap jah tai.

Ahin lah chunga kon a order ahijeh in ema abol thei aumpo, kangai pen ka u lalboi jong a nam mi mama chunga khut lha dia akigot jeng vang in alung a oi deh poi, ahinlah eba alo ding ham akon ding lheh vang hitan tin phone akoi tai.

Ajing in message ahung in, “boi, ka kon tao ve, ana dam sel in, keijong kadam nai, ahin la emu man lou leh nelou don man lou in kaum in, kagil akel lheh e, epi hileh, lungtup emolso niding vang sumil hih in kin jong kasu mil poi ahin tin,

Kin jong, henge heo, hung loi loi jo kangai je, koi man jong nangma chunga akhut lha da hen hibang chun nangman jong koima chunga nakhut hinlha dan tin, kale thot in hiche chu keini kihou na achai na ahung hitai.

Hiche chu, kahinkhoa, kalungset pen kamcheng kajah na achai na himai tadng hinte, ajing in, avangset thu kajan, tun vang gal gin a Kagin ka chen dinga kagel lou jaan manga jong mat dia kadei lou, kanam mi ten jong achen dia kadei lou vangset na chung nung pen kachunga ahung chu tai.

 Kangai e heo hungthou in tin kakap kap kap jong leng eba elo ding ham? Chung mangpa laitan lou ehimaije, lhase hih in, gilkel dang chah a naumding kana phal poi, ahinlah  tun vang na sungil kel thu kajan ahin lah oiva man lou in mol pang nalep tai, nei ngai dam in heo,
Chungtoni bon alhang kai leh, jingkho avah teng ahung soh thah kit ji me, agam toiva bon adon thah kit ji me, eding kei lungdei, toidon theilou khulsin nachan hitam?   Setlei nadam sung in nkhat beh nom in lai tol jeng jong naleng man poi nei ngai dam in damsung khel naho, Nalai tan thu kana jah ni chun, nalungset kei ma leh sing sung mi te lon lhin achup soh tai, na dam lai thim thu leh nakhut so, vengam lou in nao bang kakap kap e, heo lhase hih in, naloung chung lonlhi twi bang along e.
Phat chomkhat a dinga vaikon nahilou ham? eding ka u ngai kachan lo hitam? Kathoh joupoi gamgil laija lung gel hi, nahung kile kit ding ding kinem a kasan lai lungnem banjal hi kham tan te ti nagel phah lou hel hitam? Nalai tan thu kajh nin amol le lhang phaicham hin pal in lonlhi pum in kahin del lhung e heo, tong nei hin don in hung thou in heo keivang chang in kamong jou poi.

Kasen ngai nahi nahet hilou ham? Eding hibang lom a neiengbol jeng hitam? Hiti khan te tin lungset na kana pen gam poi, lungset jong nang in eihil doh ahi, puldou lhiso jonng nanga kon jeng bou ahi, tun kei epi titang katem? Kumkho a puldou va phungtha bang  nei vul jeng hi naki oi mong hinam?

Tunin vang LONLHI MASA a long e heo nalong chunga,
Lonlhi masa, keidin adam joi, hingel kit tem mo khankho hi, naselung lai oi mong naimo.

KASANG NOM POI TIN NOL JONG LENG, EBA KALO DING KIN KALUNGSET E, NGAILUT THIL PEH A NEI GON PEH LEH GOUTHIL LU BANG SANG DING HIMAI TANG E.

NB: kho helou numei chapang ejat aphat lou va meithai chaga esou hitam? Numei chapang ejat  aphat lou va pul edou sah u hitam? Mitlhi mantam dan egel doh khah lou u ham? Khaije kanam mi te, eileh ei kitha to hi lungset tah in pailhao te.

SOCIAL MEDIA MAN KHEL JEHA GOTNA PEH THEI DAN HO

*SOCIAL MEDIA MAN KHEL JEHA GOTNA PEH THEI DAN HO*

Tulai internet khanga hin computer leh mobile phone ho hi thil phachom leh khantoupi thei tah ahi gol in, man khel thet chu songkula tan, paisa tam tah choi leh kumkhoa mi melmaa ei sem thei ahi jehin chingthei taha man hi apha pen e. Hijeh chun anuoiya thu hi midang ho jong hil a seipeh din i kitem uve.

*IT Act, 66A - Computer akon thu, limlah leh video, internet leh mobile phone ho manga thu phalou leh dihlou, mi lunghanna leh mah thei thot doh leh the-thang.
Gotna: Kum thum chan songkula tan leh paisa choi

*IT Act, 66C - Mi identity guhpeh (password leh adangho)
Gotna: Kum thum chan songkula tan leh dangka lakh khat chan choi.

*IT Act 66D - Midang mina kilep-a mi lhep chatvai.
Gotna: Kum thum chan songkula tan leh dangka lakh khat chan leona thei.

*IT Act, 66E - A nei ho phalna louva midang jamo limlah/video the jal leh tahlan.
Gotna: Kum 3 chan songkula tan ham dangka lakh 2 chan choi ham, a ni ni ham.

*IT Act, 67 - Jamo lampang thil thethang.
Gotna: Khatvei suhkhelna chu kum 2 apata kum 3 chan songkula tan leh dangka lakh 5 chan choi. A niveina leh a ban chu kum 5 chan songkula tan ham dangka lakh 10 chan choi ham, a ni ni ham

*IT Act, 67A - Sex video ham chutobang lampang thil video leh limlah thethang.
Gotna: Khatvei suhkhelna chu kum 5 chang songkula tan leh dangka lakh 10 chan choi. A niveina leh a ban chu kum 7 chan songkula tan leh dangka lakh 10 chan choi.

*IT Act, 67B - Chapang kumlhing lou chungchang, sagoh keo ham jamo lampang, chutobang lampang thil download, sei phat, lah khom, hol, kithot to leh thethang.
Gotna: Khatveina chu kum 5 chan songkula tan leh dangkha lakh 10 chan choi. A niveina leh a ban chu kum 7 chan songkula tan leh dangka lakh 10 chan choi

*IPC Sec 153A - Social media-a midangho sakho, pen dol, hina, phung le changa, etc. manga dou leh seiset.
Gotna: kum thum chan songkula tan leh paisa choi

*IPC Sec 506, 507 - Social media manga mi gihna (tha, suhset, etc.) leh chutobang thu thethang.
Gotna: Kum 7 chan songkula tan leh paisa choi.

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Will creating new hill districts help the Congress capture the Kuki vote in Manipur?

Will creating new hill districts help the Congress capture the Kuki vote in Manipur?

The state votes for a new Legislative Assembly on March 4 and 8.

Ipsita Chakravarty,

Angai Ngaijalhai sits, birdlike, at her stall in the women’s market in Manipur’s Kangpokpi town. The counter is sparse though it answers to a wide range of culinary needs. There are turnips, eggs, green gourd seeds, a pumpkin or two, sweets made of khoi (popped rice) and jaggery, gnarled roots and beans.
Once, Ngaijalhai used to make Rs 300 to Rs 400 a day. But that was before the blockade. Now she makes just Rs 100 to Rs 200. The elderly shopkeeper constantly worries about where to source her produce from, whether she will sell enough, whether she will have enough money to buy necessities like rice and vegetables. Her health has suffered from the stress, she says.
On November 1, the United Naga Council launched an economic blockade of two highways that bring essential goods into Manipur. They were protesting against the state government’s decision to create two new revenue districts in the hill areas of Manipur – Jiribam and Sadar Hills, later called Kangpokpi district. The Nagas say that the creation of the new districts was done to weaken Naga-dominated areas in Manipur. The town where Ngaijalhai sells her wares is the headquarters of Kangpopki district, dominated by people from the Kuki tribe.
“It has little impact on government employees but for people like me, who live hand to mouth, it has a great impact,” she said, speaking of the blockade. For all the hardships, she is happy about the new district, which separates Kangpokpi from the Naga-dominated Senapati district.
She has no particular feelings about the Congress government, which introduced the district. But she conceded: “I don’t know any other parties because Manipur has always been ruled by the Congress.”
Kangpokpi goes to polls on March 4, and she hopes the area will elect a candidate who will work towards peace and “focus on the downtrodden people”. This candidate would also have to be Kuki, she added, since they are the dominant tribe in Kangpokpi and their grievances need to be looked after.
Polls and polarisation
Driving into Kangpokpi from the northern hill town of Senapati, motorists will pass an arched gateway bearing the legend, “Sadar Hills Autonomous District Council, Kangpopki 1972”. The metal letters are blackened, some of them threatening to fall off the archway.
The site of administrative power has moved down the road and up a hill, to the deputy commissioner’s office. Here, a shiny new plaque proclaims “Kangpokpi District, Inaugurated by Chief Minister Okram Ibobi Singh”. The plaque is at the epicentre of the turmoil that has riven the state in the last few months.
The Congress government announced seven new districts in the hill areas on December 8, after a sudden midnight meeting of the state cabinet. Devabrata Singh, general secretary of the Manipur Pradesh Congress Committee, said the decision was taken for “administrative convenience”, to bring government closer to the remote reaches of the hills. The original plan to create two new districts was expanded to seven under “pressure from MLAs and civil society organisations”, Singh said.
But he admitted there were two other factors: that the new districts bifurcated older Naga-dominated areas, and that the government had also taken into account an old Kuki demand for the Sardar Hills Autonomous District area to be turned into a full fledged revenue district.
The creation of the hill districts polarised the state at two levels. First, it laid bare the old rift between the hills and the Valley, especially after the Naga economic blockade cut off essential supplies to state capital Imphal. Second, it reopened the feud between the Nagas and the Kukis, the two dominant tribes in the hills who have long fought for homelands that overlapped.
By privileging Kuki demands over Naga, the government seemed to have driven the second group away, into the fold of the Naga People’s Front and the Bharatiya Janata Party. But will the last-minute creation of the new districts, especially Kangpokpi, endear the Congress to the Kukis?
The Kukis of Kangpokpi say district status will bring more funds and development to the backward region. They look forward to jobs, district hospitals and better roads. “For a very long time, we have been living on scraps in the Sadar Hills, all the funds go to the Naga areas,” said Seikhojan Kipgen, principal of the Elite Higher Secondary School in Kangpokpi.
But the Kukis are spread out all over the Manipur hills, forming the majority in districts like Kangpokpi and Churachandpur. The imagined Kuki homeland, for which underground groups have waged a violent war over the decades, is sprawled across most of the state, leaving out only a few areas of the Imphal valley. It is a vast and variegated vote, not all of it assured to the Congress.
The Kanpokpi district plaque (Photo credit: Ipsita Chakravarty).
Party who?
To begin with, many, like Ngaijalhai, will vote on the basis of community, not party. “Elections in Manipur are totally different from elections in the mainland,” explained Seikhogan Kipgen. “If there is a Kuki candidate, there is no point, we vote for the Kuki candidate.” In these remote regions, largely untouched by government, clan and tribe come first, and voters are prepared to migrate with candidates as they switch parties.
This year, there is only one Kuki candidate in Kangpokpi constituency. Nemcha Kipgen, a member of the legislative Assembly, married to the chief of the Kuki National Front, an underground group, and who recently switched allegiance from the Congress to the Bharatiya Janata Party.
The Congress then gave a ticket to Khadga Tamang, an ethnic Nepali, whose community has a substantial presence in the district. But this led to protests from the Joint Committee for the Inner Line Permit System, which is fighting for restrictions on outsiders settling in the state. They contended that Tamang was “non-Manipuri”, since Nepalis did not figure in the list of scheduled tribes and scheduled castes indigenous to the state, and therefore should not be allowed to contest.
The Congress bowed to pressure and withdrew the ticket to Tamang, who is now contesting as an independent candidate in Kangpokpi constituency. In the end, it did not field any candidate in Kangpokpi, Kuki or otherwise.
The consensus among Kuki civil society organisations is that Nemcha Kipgen is the only real candidate, even though there are two other candidates.
“We would like to convert this unreserved constituency to a reserved constituency,” said Lamcha Chongloi, general secretary of the Kuki Students Organisation, Kangpokpi district.
They say even if Nemcha Kipgen had switched to another party, the Kuki vote would have gone to her. Saikul and Saitu, also in Kangpokpi district, are reserved constituencies. A number of Kuki candidates will fight it out there – Saikul has a staggering 11 candidates in the fray. The Congress has a good chance in these seats, according to Chongloi, but more minute loyalties to clan and village are likely to shape these contests.
The Kuki cause
The other cause for discontent with the ruling party is planted at the deputy commissioner’s office. The new plaque says “Kangpokpi” instead of the longed for “Sadar Hills District”, which would have included a much larger area. The district’s formation – over 40 years after the demand was first raised – has been a case of too little, too late.
“We want a hill district,” explained Hahat Touthang, general secretary of the Kuki Women’s Union. “The important thing is that we do not have any land in our name – Kuki land. If we could get Sadar Hills District, we could have got a separate administration for the hills. For 15 to 20 years we have been voting Congress but nothing has changed much.”
Besides, Kuki nationalism does not stop at district formation. It has deep roots in these areas, traced back to the Kuki rebellion (1917-1919), where they refused to join the labour corps of the British imperial army in the first World War.
“Naga people willingly followed the diktat of the British,” said Seikhojan Kipgen. “And now Gaidon Kamei [a member of the United Naga Council who is currently in prison], who never fought the British, claims to be a freedom fighter.”
The BJP, Kuki groups feel, could take them closer to their political aspirations. The Centre’s talks with Naga groups and the framework agreement for a political settlement are a powerful example here.
What exactly are Kuki political aspirations?
As of last year, these underground groups, all under suspension of operation agreements, wanted an autonomous hill state to be carved out of Manipur.
On November 1, the United Naga Council launched an economic blockade of two highways that bring essential goods into Manipur. (Photo credit: PTI).
“The Kuki National Organisation and the United People’s Front [an umbrella body of Kuki rebel groups] are in talks with the government,” said Moinu Kipgen, vice-president of the Kuki Women’s Union. “What they have put forward is the demands of the Kukis.”
According to the women’s union, Nemcha Kipgen’s being married to the Kuki National Front supremo will not be a factor in these elections.
But in previous years, underground groups are believed to have influenced polls. “The candidate they back will win,” said Seikhojan Kipgen. “No one has the authority to go against their order. It is followed by people.”
This year, however, the rebel groups have declared there will be “free elections”. They have also been ordered back into their designated camps by polling authorities.
The Central question
Finally, the Congress may have created a new district but it can no longer guarantee Central funds for its development. Traditionally, the states of the North East have tended towards the party in power at the Centre, which helped in funneling money into the region.
It is the reason put forward for Nemcha Kipgen’s defection. “The Centre is BJP,” said NS Gangte, who is secretary to Nemcha Kipgen. “We have to look at national politics, not just local politics. Recognition as a district is not a benefit in itself. There has to be developmental progress.” The sitting MLA, he said, had moved to the BJP so as to have a direct line with the Centre.
It is a sentiment echoed by tribal bodies. “There is a new district but what is going to happen?” demanded Hekai Chongloi, vice-president of the Kuki Inpi, the apex tribal body of the Kuki people. “Now if the BJP comes then there could be development.”
It is a rationale accepted by traders in the Kangpokpi market, still reeling from the effects of the economic blockade.
Paradoxically, they also say that if the Congress had fielded a candidate in Kangpokpi constituency, it might have won.

Will creating new hill districts help the Congress capture the Kuki vote in Manipur?

Will creating new hill districts help the Congress capture the Kuki vote in Manipur?

The state votes for a new Legislative Assembly on March 4 and 8.

Ipsita Chakravarty,

Angai Ngaijalhai sits, birdlike, at her stall in the women’s market in Manipur’s Kangpokpi town. The counter is sparse though it answers to a wide range of culinary needs. There are turnips, eggs, green gourd seeds, a pumpkin or two, sweets made of khoi (popped rice) and jaggery, gnarled roots and beans.
Once, Ngaijalhai used to make Rs 300 to Rs 400 a day. But that was before the blockade. Now she makes just Rs 100 to Rs 200. The elderly shopkeeper constantly worries about where to source her produce from, whether she will sell enough, whether she will have enough money to buy necessities like rice and vegetables. Her health has suffered from the stress, she says.
On November 1, the United Naga Council launched an economic blockade of two highways that bring essential goods into Manipur. They were protesting against the state government’s decision to create two new revenue districts in the hill areas of Manipur – Jiribam and Sadar Hills, later called Kangpokpi district. The Nagas say that the creation of the new districts was done to weaken Naga-dominated areas in Manipur. The town where Ngaijalhai sells her wares is the headquarters of Kangpopki district, dominated by people from the Kuki tribe.
“It has little impact on government employees but for people like me, who live hand to mouth, it has a great impact,” she said, speaking of the blockade. For all the hardships, she is happy about the new district, which separates Kangpokpi from the Naga-dominated Senapati district.
She has no particular feelings about the Congress government, which introduced the district. But she conceded: “I don’t know any other parties because Manipur has always been ruled by the Congress.”
Kangpokpi goes to polls on March 4, and she hopes the area will elect a candidate who will work towards peace and “focus on the downtrodden people”. This candidate would also have to be Kuki, she added, since they are the dominant tribe in Kangpokpi and their grievances need to be looked after.
Polls and polarisation
Driving into Kangpokpi from the northern hill town of Senapati, motorists will pass an arched gateway bearing the legend, “Sadar Hills Autonomous District Council, Kangpopki 1972”. The metal letters are blackened, some of them threatening to fall off the archway.
The site of administrative power has moved down the road and up a hill, to the deputy commissioner’s office. Here, a shiny new plaque proclaims “Kangpokpi District, Inaugurated by Chief Minister Okram Ibobi Singh”. The plaque is at the epicentre of the turmoil that has riven the state in the last few months.
The Congress government announced seven new districts in the hill areas on December 8, after a sudden midnight meeting of the state cabinet. Devabrata Singh, general secretary of the Manipur Pradesh Congress Committee, said the decision was taken for “administrative convenience”, to bring government closer to the remote reaches of the hills. The original plan to create two new districts was expanded to seven under “pressure from MLAs and civil society organisations”, Singh said.
But he admitted there were two other factors: that the new districts bifurcated older Naga-dominated areas, and that the government had also taken into account an old Kuki demand for the Sardar Hills Autonomous District area to be turned into a full fledged revenue district.
The creation of the hill districts polarised the state at two levels. First, it laid bare the old rift between the hills and the Valley, especially after the Naga economic blockade cut off essential supplies to state capital Imphal. Second, it reopened the feud between the Nagas and the Kukis, the two dominant tribes in the hills who have long fought for homelands that overlapped.
By privileging Kuki demands over Naga, the government seemed to have driven the second group away, into the fold of the Naga People’s Front and the Bharatiya Janata Party. But will the last-minute creation of the new districts, especially Kangpokpi, endear the Congress to the Kukis?
The Kukis of Kangpokpi say district status will bring more funds and development to the backward region. They look forward to jobs, district hospitals and better roads. “For a very long time, we have been living on scraps in the Sadar Hills, all the funds go to the Naga areas,” said Seikhojan Kipgen, principal of the Elite Higher Secondary School in Kangpokpi.
But the Kukis are spread out all over the Manipur hills, forming the majority in districts like Kangpokpi and Churachandpur. The imagined Kuki homeland, for which underground groups have waged a violent war over the decades, is sprawled across most of the state, leaving out only a few areas of the Imphal valley. It is a vast and variegated vote, not all of it assured to the Congress.
The Kanpokpi district plaque (Photo credit: Ipsita Chakravarty).
Party who?
To begin with, many, like Ngaijalhai, will vote on the basis of community, not party. “Elections in Manipur are totally different from elections in the mainland,” explained Seikhogan Kipgen. “If there is a Kuki candidate, there is no point, we vote for the Kuki candidate.” In these remote regions, largely untouched by government, clan and tribe come first, and voters are prepared to migrate with candidates as they switch parties.
This year, there is only one Kuki candidate in Kangpokpi constituency. Nemcha Kipgen, a member of the legislative Assembly, married to the chief of the Kuki National Front, an underground group, and who recently switched allegiance from the Congress to the Bharatiya Janata Party.
The Congress then gave a ticket to Khadga Tamang, an ethnic Nepali, whose community has a substantial presence in the district. But this led to protests from the Joint Committee for the Inner Line Permit System, which is fighting for restrictions on outsiders settling in the state. They contended that Tamang was “non-Manipuri”, since Nepalis did not figure in the list of scheduled tribes and scheduled castes indigenous to the state, and therefore should not be allowed to contest.
The Congress bowed to pressure and withdrew the ticket to Tamang, who is now contesting as an independent candidate in Kangpokpi constituency. In the end, it did not field any candidate in Kangpokpi, Kuki or otherwise.
The consensus among Kuki civil society organisations is that Nemcha Kipgen is the only real candidate, even though there are two other candidates.
“We would like to convert this unreserved constituency to a reserved constituency,” said Lamcha Chongloi, general secretary of the Kuki Students Organisation, Kangpokpi district.
They say even if Nemcha Kipgen had switched to another party, the Kuki vote would have gone to her. Saikul and Saitu, also in Kangpokpi district, are reserved constituencies. A number of Kuki candidates will fight it out there – Saikul has a staggering 11 candidates in the fray. The Congress has a good chance in these seats, according to Chongloi, but more minute loyalties to clan and village are likely to shape these contests.
The Kuki cause
The other cause for discontent with the ruling party is planted at the deputy commissioner’s office. The new plaque says “Kangpokpi” instead of the longed for “Sadar Hills District”, which would have included a much larger area. The district’s formation – over 40 years after the demand was first raised – has been a case of too little, too late.
“We want a hill district,” explained Hahat Touthang, general secretary of the Kuki Women’s Union. “The important thing is that we do not have any land in our name – Kuki land. If we could get Sadar Hills District, we could have got a separate administration for the hills. For 15 to 20 years we have been voting Congress but nothing has changed much.”
Besides, Kuki nationalism does not stop at district formation. It has deep roots in these areas, traced back to the Kuki rebellion (1917-1919), where they refused to join the labour corps of the British imperial army in the first World War.
“Naga people willingly followed the diktat of the British,” said Seikhojan Kipgen. “And now Gaidon Kamei [a member of the United Naga Council who is currently in prison], who never fought the British, claims to be a freedom fighter.”
The BJP, Kuki groups feel, could take them closer to their political aspirations. The Centre’s talks with Naga groups and the framework agreement for a political settlement are a powerful example here.
What exactly are Kuki political aspirations?
As of last year, these underground groups, all under suspension of operation agreements, wanted an autonomous hill state to be carved out of Manipur.
On November 1, the United Naga Council launched an economic blockade of two highways that bring essential goods into Manipur. (Photo credit: PTI).
“The Kuki National Organisation and the United People’s Front [an umbrella body of Kuki rebel groups] are in talks with the government,” said Moinu Kipgen, vice-president of the Kuki Women’s Union. “What they have put forward is the demands of the Kukis.”
According to the women’s union, Nemcha Kipgen’s being married to the Kuki National Front supremo will not be a factor in these elections.
But in previous years, underground groups are believed to have influenced polls. “The candidate they back will win,” said Seikhojan Kipgen. “No one has the authority to go against their order. It is followed by people.”
This year, however, the rebel groups have declared there will be “free elections”. They have also been ordered back into their designated camps by polling authorities.
The Central question
Finally, the Congress may have created a new district but it can no longer guarantee Central funds for its development. Traditionally, the states of the North East have tended towards the party in power at the Centre, which helped in funneling money into the region.
It is the reason put forward for Nemcha Kipgen’s defection. “The Centre is BJP,” said NS Gangte, who is secretary to Nemcha Kipgen. “We have to look at national politics, not just local politics. Recognition as a district is not a benefit in itself. There has to be developmental progress.” The sitting MLA, he said, had moved to the BJP so as to have a direct line with the Centre.
It is a sentiment echoed by tribal bodies. “There is a new district but what is going to happen?” demanded Hekai Chongloi, vice-president of the Kuki Inpi, the apex tribal body of the Kuki people. “Now if the BJP comes then there could be development.”
It is a rationale accepted by traders in the Kangpokpi market, still reeling from the effects of the economic blockade.
Paradoxically, they also say that if the Congress had fielded a candidate in Kangpokpi constituency, it might have won.