The Unfolding Meitei-Kuki Conflict in India’s Manipur State and the Demand for a Separate Homeland

At least 185 people have been killed, 200 villages burned, 360 churches destroyed, and sixty thousand displaced since early May 2023 in ethnic violence in Manipur state in northeast India. The ongoing violent clashes, triggered by a protest organised by the All Tribal Student Union (ATSUM) in opposition to the Meiteis’ demand for Scheduled Tribe (ST) status, expose the deep-rooted divisions and tensions between the hill and valley people. The Hindu Meitei majority predominantly inhabits the valley in Manipur, while tribal groups, mainly the Christian Kuki-Zo tribal, dominate the surrounding hills. The current impasse is not just a matter of opposition to Meitei ST's demand—it is a complex interplay of several factors that have long simmered beneath the surface, threatening to erupt at any moment. The hill people’s fear and suspicion are further aggravated by the recent state sponsored ('institutionalised riot system’) ethnic cleansing unleashed against the Kuki-Zo people. Against this backdrop, this paper argues that the state machinery has been systematically depriving the indigenous people of their rights and subjecting them to years of socio-cultural, economic, and political discrimination through a variety of covert laws, plans, and policies. Under such circumstances, the Kuki-Zo people have demanded a separate administration in the form of homeland under the Constitution of India to safeguard their rights and ownership of land and identity in response to a significant existential threat.