Manipur Elections 2017: Competing parties don’t seem to take Naga vote bank seriously

As one makes their way to Ukhrul from Imphal, the last stretch is along the back-breaking National Highway 2, which is no more than dirt-path. The dilapidated road is the first of the signs of underdevelopment; and the signs are many.

Ukhrul, along with Tamenglong, Chandel and Senapati are home to Manipur’s 5,00,000 Nagas. These include several tribes like Poumai, Mao, Maram, Thangal, Tangkhul, Anal, Maring, Rongmei, Liangmei, Zeimei, Tarao, Kharam, Chiru, etc. With over 1,83,115 inhabitants (as per the 2011 census), Ukhrul has one of the largest Naga population in the state, and it goes to the polls in the second phase -- March 8.

For the longest time, residents say Ukhrul had only one bank -- the United Bank of India. In the last few years, says Tangkhul Naga Long president V. Weapon Zimik, two more banks -- State Bank of India and UCO Bank -- have opened outlets. “ATMs operate only during office working hours,” says Zimik.

He adds that the lone government-run secondary school usually has no teachers, and for the longest time, Ukhrul has had a severe shortage of mathematics and science teachers. The only government college in Ukhrul does not have a science stream. The local dispensary, too, does not have any specialist doctors. “There is a systematic development deficit in the hill areas, especially in the hill areas,” he says.

It is, unsurprisingly, more difficult for women. Grace Shatsang, president of the Tangkhul Shanao Long, the Tangkhul Hoho, says that child-bearing is an extremely difficult task in the hill areas. “There are no emergency vehicles, and pregnant women have to be ready to travel long distances to reach a nearby hospital,” she says. Her own children were brought up by her parents, who now live in Guwahati.

The Nagas in Manipur have, for long, felt the pinch of underdevelopment. When the three controversial bills were introduced in Manipur, the tribes in the hills flared up. Churachandpur, where people still refuse to bury the eight who died in the protests that ensued after 550 days have passed, came to be the place that epitomised the protests. It also came to unify the Naga tribes and the Kuki tribes, two warring sections.

But, barely months to go for the elections, CM Okram Ibobi Singh carved out seven new districts. Out of Ukhrul, Senapati and Tamenglong, Kangpokpi was created, realising a long-standing demand of the Kukis. Soon after that, the body of 11-year-old Khaizamang Touthang, a Kuki, was stolen away from the district mortuary in Churachandpur and buried.

The new districts became revenue districts, meaning that any unclaimed land now belongs to the government. “Our lands are ancestral, passed on from one generation to another. Many do not have land agreements,” says John Pamei, an Imphal-based Rongmei student leader and activist.

The hills flared up again; and this time the United Naga Council called for a blockade of two of Manipur’s arterial roads, stopping the supply of essentials to the state. Many see that as a move to divide the tribals by CM Ibobi. Yet, the deeper into Ukhrul one goes, or for that matter Senapati, poll materials of the Congress are negligible. There are BJP flags, flags of the Nagaland People’s Front, and even those of Rashtriya Janata Dal. It’s as if the Congress does not care for the Naga votes.

A flag of the Nagaland People's Front in Shirou in Ukhrul.

The BJP, which is an ally of the NPF in neighbouring Nagaland, has not announced an alliance in Manipur. A state BJP leader confided that the “Naga integrity” clause in the NPF’s manifesto has made the party uncomfortable. In Ukhrul and Senapati, the National Socialist Council of Nagaland (NSCN-IM) has put their weight behind the NPF.

Seth Shatshang of the All Naga Students Association Manipur (ANSAM) says that the UNC has put their weight behind the NPF. “In Manipur, the polls always revolve around the Nagas -- as an unifier of the Meitei votebank,” says Seth.

The casualty, in most cases, are the common people. Senapati-based Romgmei Students Union general secretary Theophilus Poumei says that the situation at home has lead to the young migrating to the metros. “When I went to Delhi, I saw that there were over 5,000 Tangkhuls and more than 3,000 Poumeis. But very few Aos and Angamis. This is because in Nagaland the situation is better,” he said.

The Naga Accord, a framework agreement signed between the BJP-led Centre and the National Socialist Council of Nagaland (NSCN-IM) in 2015, shroud in screcy, has now become a poll volley-ball being passed around between the BJP and Congress. While the PM Modi said in his rally that Manipur’s territorial integrity will remain untouched, CM Ibobi has been questioning him on the need for such secrecy.

Land is a crucial identifier, especially in areas where the Naga tribes live. Naga Women’s Union (NWU) president Tabitha says that that identities are linked to the land. “Nagas are governed by a different set of social institutions -- we have the family, then the clan, then the village, the block, the tribe and village republics,” she said. To be the chief of the NWU, she needs to be elected by the heads of all the tribal councils, the Hohos. “If our land is taken away, we will have nothing,” she adds.