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BJP hails it, but not many, including within the community, are convinced at a resolution passed by the Thadous, the largest single tribe of Manipur, that they are not Kukis.
Into the tribal cross-currents thrown up by Manipur’s unrest, which is now on for a year-and-a-half, resolutions moved by a section of the state’s single-largest tribe, the Thadous, have sent fresh ripples.
In resolutions passed at a ‘Thadou Convention’ held in Guwahati on November 1-2, a section of the community “disowned” the term Kuki, condemned “escalating Kuki supremacy” and supported an NRC ( National Register of Citizens ) exercise in Manipur to secure “indigenous communities”.
While Manipur Chief Minister N Biren Singh, seen by most Kuki-Zos as the prime villain in their conflict with the Meities, has praised the move, several Kuki-Zo groups, among them the apex Thadou body based in Manipur, have slammed the resolutions.
Many Thadous figure among the tribals killed in the ongoing ethnic strife between the Meities and Kuki-Zos in the state.
The Guwahati convention was organised by two groups, the Thadou Community International and Thadou Students’ Association. On November 1, it released the first, “historic” declaration, which said: “Thadou is a distinct ethnic group of people, with our own distinct dialect, culture, traditions and great history. Thadou is not Kuki, or underneath Kuki, or part of Kuki, but a separate, independent entity from Kuki.”
What has added to the Kuki-Zo suspicions about the convention is that one of its core organisers was Manipur BJP spokesperson Michael Lamjathang Haokip. In...