Bid to turn the story on its head Puncturing the false narrative
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If at all credit points or marks are to be awarded for spinning yarns to suit their narratives then it would go to organisations such as the Committee on Tribal Unity (CoTU), Indigenous Tribal Leaders’ Forum (ITLF), Kuki-Zo Council (KZC), Kuki Inpi Manipur (KIM) and their hangers on. The yarns began to be spelt out from the moment Manipur went up in flames on May 3, 2023. Apart from playing the victim card to near perfection, ITLF and CoTU expertly weaved such a yarn to make even Union Home Minister Amit Shah believe that the violence erupted due to the ruling of the High Court of Manipur, which had merely asked the State Government to send the ethnographic and socio-economic report of the Meiteis to study whether they fit the bill to be tagged a Scheduled Tribe in the Constitution of India. That violence first erupted at Churachandpur with fully armed militants leading the way to Torbung on May 3, 2023 and which quickly spread to Kangpokpi and Moreh was conveniently overlooked and a victim story, a story of a tribal group being targeted by the majority Meiteis was convincingly portrayed to the pen pushers who flew down here to file a story or two on the violence. The lie peddlers did not stop there for it went on from one story to the other to ultimately give the clash a religious tinge, so much so that it even featured on the floor of the European Parliament. And the lies continue to this day. Just one day after the bomb attack at Tronglaobi in Bishnupur district numbed the senses of everyone, the Kangpokpi based CoTU came out with a fantastic tale of pointing fingers at what they say are ‘valley based insurgent groups’ and went on the justify this with their observation, ‘the use of explosives such as landmines, improvised explosive devices and rocket propelled grenades bore the distinct signatures of valley based insurgent groups.’ The Sangai Express published the statement of CoTU and gave it a prominent space stretching over three columns, but at the same extra care was taken to rebuff the accusations raised, point by point. To put it bluntly, it was the Kuki militants who have used long range mortars, RPGs, local made pumpis and weaponised drones after May 3, 2023. Weaponised drones were used and reported in September 2024 and in January 2025. The first use of weaponised drones was reported at Koutruk on September 1, 2024 and it was during this attack that a woman was killed while her minor daughter sustained injuries. Then again on January 14, 2025, weaponised drones were used to attack a temporary camp of the Manipur Rifles near Kangchup Chingkhong Lang-daibung under Lamshang police station. And Manipur would certainly not have forgotten the RPG which exploded on the compound of former MLA of Moirang AC at Moirang and in which one elderly man was killed. The selective amnesia of CoTU is also not surprising when it pointed fingers at protesters marching towards the CRPF camp at Moirang on April 7 but overlooked that the SP of Kangpokpi was injured on the head when protesters tried to storm the Kangpokpi police station some time back.
Bombing two children to death while they were still in bed is a tragedy, a tragedy that should be mourned and condemned unconditionally but the manner in which CoTU condemned the bomb attack and tried to pass on the buck to what it called the VBIGs was in line with what it has been doing since the evening of May 3, 2023. Seems like a case of ‘if lies and more lies have taken us so far, why abandon this approach’ and this is the precise reason why The Sangai Express deemed it fit to rebut the statement of CoTU whenever the need arose, even as it gave prominent space to its media release. This is another aspect which Manipur and those at the forefront in demanding justice for the Tronglaobi massacre must be aware of and that is to be on their toes for there are elements who are more than ready to turn the incident on its head and give it a totally different understanding. The Government too must do more than its half baked proclamation of netting three UKNA cadres after the bomb attack. Much more needs to be done and Manipur will be watching.
Bombing two children to death while they were still in bed is a tragedy, a tragedy that should be mourned and condemned unconditionally but the manner in which CoTU condemned the bomb attack and tried to pass on the buck to what it called the VBIGs was in line with what it has been doing since the evening of May 3, 2023. Seems like a case of ‘if lies and more lies have taken us so far, why abandon this approach’ and this is the precise reason why The Sangai Express deemed it fit to rebut the statement of CoTU whenever the need arose, even as it gave prominent space to its media release. This is another aspect which Manipur and those at the forefront in demanding justice for the Tronglaobi massacre must be aware of and that is to be on their toes for there are elements who are more than ready to turn the incident on its head and give it a totally different understanding. The Government too must do more than its half baked proclamation of netting three UKNA cadres after the bomb attack. Much more needs to be done and Manipur will be watching.