THE FORTUNES of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and its allies in several northeastern states appear to be waning, as they have suffered losses to the Congress and regional parties in the 2024 parliamentary elections. The year-long ethnic conflict between a minority community and the dominant Meitei community in Manipur, without any serious efforts to resolve the crisis and restore peace and communal harmony, now seems more like an attempt to browbeat one of the minorities in Manipur into submission.
The minority communities in the states are worried by the ill-treatment meted out to their brethren in the ethnic conflict. The Kuki-Zo minority has suffered terribly at the hands of the majority Meiteis, who are sometimes covertly, sometimes openly, supported by the state government dominated by the Meitei community. The Meiteis control the state government with 40 MLAs out of a House of 60 and eight ministers, including the chief minister. Manipur has experienced more than a year of lawlessness, but the state government is not concerned about the unauthorized occupation of Kuki-Zo buildings in Imphal city by radical elements, the undeclared economic blockade of Churachandpur district by Meitei organizations, open extortion by radicals, free movement of radical elements within Imphal, and the inability of the ten Kuki-Zo MLAs and their tribes to return to Imphal, the state capital.
As the unresolved conflict drags on, battle fatigue and despondency now prevail throughout the state. People have stopped talking about the conflict out of disgust and shame. No one supports the continuation of the internecine fight between the two communities anymore, except for the radical elements, for whom the persistent conflict has become their bread and butter. The ceaseless ongoing conflict in Manipur, without any signs of a serious intention to resolve the crisis by the state and central governments, has adversely affected the image of the BJP. Even the RSS chief recently stated that the Manipur crisis needs to be resolved on priority.
The impact of the ethnic violence in Manipur on the outcome of the parliamentary election results may not be discernible in mainland India, but it is clearly evident in the states of Mizoram, Nagaland, Meghalaya, and Manipur, where the BJP and its allies lost parliamentary seats to the Congress and regional parties. The Manipur conflict provided an opportunity for the Congress and the regional parties to paint the BJP and its allies in a bad light during the election campaign.
Also read | Congress gifted two seats: An outcome of inept handling of Manipur ethnic conflict
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