The early warning signs of an impending storm were already there months before May 3. The anti-drug campaign launched by the Manipur government turned out to be a devastating body blow to the drug cartels where it hurt most. As state forces began its campaign of destruction of poppy fields, a few things came out in the open. The first was clearing of large tracts of reserve and protected forest areas for poppy plantation and rampant use of chemical fertilizers for the plantation. The second was encroachment and habitation in such forest areas and mushrooming growth of new villages.
Some Kuki chiefs even had the audacity to claim whole hill ranges, including the sacred Mt Koubru and Mt Thangjing as their territory. Kuki chiefs backed by militants also began obstructing afforestation drives taken up by the Forests department. Then as the state government began its eviction drive in forest areas, trouble began. In February 2023, the state government notified and carried out the eviction drive, deploying hundreds of police personnel and paramilitary forces to evict around 12 families at K Songjang, a village recently set up within the Churachandpur-Khoupum protected forest stretch.
According to Forest department, K Songjang village is a new settlement established in 2021, much after the notification of the Protected Forest in 1966, and violates state forest conservation laws. Back then, the Churachandpur DC had ordered a verification drive in several villages under the Churachandpur and Mualnuam sub-divisions in Churachandpur district to identify the villagers as to whether they were ‘illegal immigrants' from Myanmar or indigenous folks. A show cause notice was also served to the Kungpi Naosen village in the same district, directing the villagers to vacate the land for the same reason. Thus, the Indigenous Tribal Leaders’ Forum (ITLF), a newly formed conglomerate of tribal groups, was born to resist the state government move at all costs.
It was on record that ITLF and the Kuki Students Union (KSO) organised mass rallies in all the hills districts to protest evictions. Protests were also held at Delhi's Jantar Mantar in February 2023. BJP MLA Paolienlal Haokip elected from Saikot assembly constituency, an upstart took up the cause against the state government’s action in Songjang. He had taken voluntary retirement after years of service in the Indian Parliament and defeated veteran TN Haokip in the hustings.
In fact, he was the new kid in town who wanted to grab the headlines. The grapevine says, he has a grudge against the BJP leadership for not including him as a representative of the Kukis in the government formation. Further, he seems to have joined forces with detractors of Chief Minister N Biren Singh among the Meitei MLAs. He was quite vociferous in support of the May 3 solidarity march. Except for him voicing support for the protest march by Kukis in some districts against what they call interventionist forest laws as against tribal rights, almost all other MLAs from the Kuki-Chin groups are silent. He was also one of the politicians openly criticizing the government and the Meiteis in the national media even after ethnic clashes broke out. He was also very active on social media championing the hate campaign.
The BJP leadership, both at the state and central level, chose to remain silent. Action should have been taken a long time back. But, it never happened due to political considerations and the situation turned for the worse. Now, the state government is contemplating action against Paolienlal after the recent violence in Churachandpur town for inciting the people. It is a little late, but better late than never.
