On 2016 December 8, Manipur became a 16-district state, after seven new districts were formed by dividing the nine existing ones during the Okram Ibobi Singh regime. The newly-created districts are Tengnoupal bifurcated from Chandel district, Kamjong from Ukhrul, Pherzawl from Churachandpur, Noney from Tamenglong, Kangpokpi from Senapati and Jiribam from Imphal East districts.
The creation of these districts came as a surprise and challenge to UNC as they were enforcing an indefinite economic blockade, protesting against the possible creation of two districts, Sadar Hills and Jiribam. They had alleged that the new districts would encroach upon the ancestral land of the Nagas. Instead, the government delivered seven new districts and defended them saying the move was purely aimed for administrative convenience and with no ulterior motives.
In the recently held Manipur legislative assembly session, Chief Minister N Biren Singh lambasted the Congress saying that the basic principles of administrative convenience were completely disregarded in the 2016 reorganisation of districts and that it was done mostly on political considerations. The subject came up in the recent assembly session, after the United Naga Council reiterated its demand for roll-back of the said reorganisation. Well, the demand for roll-back was always there in the UNC dispatches. Even after the formation of the BJP-led government which included the Naga Peoples’ Front (NPF) after the 2017 assembly elections and again in 2022, UNC did not go back on its demand. But, it was not that fervently pursued as it should be.
The regular tripartite meeting between the Centre, state government and UNC at Senapati district HQs had stopped for quite some time. How the demand chose to gain momentum at a time, while the Meitei-Kuki conflict is flaring and Chief Minister N Biren is going overboard to buttress Meitei-Naga relations, is anybody’s guess? Well, it is all politics and moves are being made on the political chessboard. The then Chief Minister O Ibobi Singh made a political masterstroke by creating new districts just on the eve of assembly elections thereby gaining favour from Kukis and dividing the Nagas at the same time.
The then government had announced the creation of the seven new districts post haste without having any basic infrastructure in place for some, of course. The new hill districts of Noney, Pherzwal, Tengnoupal, Kamjong and Kangpokpi, while in the valley it was Jiribam and Kakching. The creation of Kangpokpi district from the remnants of jurisdiction covered by the Sadar Hills autonomous district council was fulfilment of a long-standing demand of Kuki CSOs. On the other hand, by creating four other hill districts Ibobi Singh touched upon the principle of administrative convenience and also ignited new forces in the Naga political landscape.
As such, he reiterated that the creation of these new districts is a response to the longstanding demands of the people. But the Nagas were not amused. They argued that it was an attempt to divide the Naga people by merging them with non-Naga areas to form the new districts. That was the main reason for the lingering economic blockade by UNC and other Naga CSOs before the 2017 assembly elections. When the BJP-led coalition government with NPF as a partner came into power, the economic blockade ended. Although occasional talks were going on with a central representative in attendance, the government chose to buy time and simply did not consider rolling back the Congress government’s decision of the district reorganisation.
That was also politics. Chief Minister N Biren Singh did not want to disturb the waters which had somehow settled down for the present. In a complex web of differing interests and contested space, politicians usually adopt the ‘longish’ negotiation process without realising that never-ending negotiations also adds more complexity to the problem. So, it is better not to throw stones at others if one lives in a glass house.
