Departure of Deities (Part 2): How Chin-Kukis reduced a 3000-year-old Dharmic Ecosystem to smoke and rubble

(Read Part 1 here)

The Kangpokpi region had become a safe haven for “Kuki-Chin” terrorist groups by 2011. Kuki language-speaking IAS officer Lunseigh Kipgen mentions that there are numerous allegations of “Chin-Kuki” terrorist groups collecting money from the poppy farmers and the land-owning village chiefs. The village chiefs in turn collect a form of a ‘land usage fees’ from the poppy farmers. Certain “Chin-Kuki” terrorist groups like KIA, KIO and UKNA have issued press statements expressing their open support for poppy cultivation.

They have also threatened anyone opposing or working against poppy cultivation. ‘Kuki-Chin” language-speaking terrorist groups and Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) have opposed several Government afforestation projects in the Koubru ranges [13]. IAS officer Lunseigh Kipgen also points out the role of “Kuki-Chin” terror groups and the Church in creating a state-wide narco-terror ecosystem as follows :

“There are also credible inputs that some armed groups irrespective of SoO and non-SoO groups (are) sponsoring poppy plantations to fund their organisational requirements. This way a crude form of narco-terror system seems to have crept into the land. The influential Church’s silence on the issue of poppy cultivation is seen as a hypocritical tacit sanction” [7].

He goes on to mention that the Church has no problems with unethical poppy cultivation as long as the cultivators keep donating in the name of the “Ocean of Kindness”.

Terrorist groups like the KNF (N) have often justified the large-scale destruction of this Dharmic ecosystem in the name of Christianity. The KNF-N claims that :

“Ever since the Kuki tribe adopted the Christian faith, we could no longer consider the Koubru range as a sacred site anymore [12].”

They claim that the protected Koubru ranges and the adjacent KK Reserve Forests are the exclusive ancestral property of “Kuki-Chin” language-speakers, adding that :

“ It (Koubru region) cannot be considered as a sacred site for any other community as well if the land owners (“Kuki-Chins”) do not accept or agree” [12].

The local “Chin-Kuki” language-speakers had repeatedly discouraged the Meiteis, Gorkhas and other devotees of indigenous Dharmic faiths from visiting the so-called “Hill Areas”. Ratan Khuman (name changed), a former resident of Kangpokpi town mentions :

“They (local “Kuki-Chin” language-speakers) kept telling us that all the local hills were their ancestral lands. They would pressurise us to leave whenever we would visit the hills, even during our Cheiraoba festival. On one occasion, “Kuki-Chin” terrorists had forced me and my friends to abandon our trekking tour on gunpoint.”

From abode of Gods to camp of “Kuki-Chin” terrorists

Short-sighted policymaking from both the State and the Central Government had further worsened the situation after 2008. The State and Central Governments had signed the highly controversial Suspension of Operations (SoO) agreement with 25 Kuki terrorist groups in 2008. “Kuki-Chin” language-speaking terrorist groups under the Suspension of Operations (SoO) agreement were allowed to establish camps and settle down in the Koubru region. Having SoO camps in the Koubru region is allowing the “Kuki-Chin” language-speaking terrorists to attack, extort, loot and murder the general public travelling on or living near the NH2 or the isolated Imphal Tamei Road [14].

Groups enjoying the benefits of the SoO Agreement were forbidden from indulging in criminal activities like extortion, looting and murder. Successive Bharatiya Governments have allowed these terrorist groups to repeatedly violate the SoO agreement without any consequences for nearly 16 years. No decisive actions have been taken even after more than 450 days of the ongoing “Manipur Violence”.

Temples formed the heart and soul of this Dharmic ecosystem. Temples like the Koubru Leikha Shiv Mandir and the Ingourok Shiv Mandir of Leimakhong are excellent examples of Devtas belonging to different Dharmic streams being worshipped together. Mahadev and the Sanamahi deity Pakhangba were worshipped with equal devotion in the famous Ingourok Shiv Mandir.

“Kuki-Chin” language speakers had started targeting the properties of these temples from the 1980s. The Sevait family of the Koubru Leikha Shiv Mandir did everything possible to protect and develop the abode of Koubru Mahadev. They had contacted the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) for assistance and formed the Koubru Leikha Seva Samiti with Ganja Singh Nerowa as President and Sitaram Pandey as Secretary in 1982.

“Chin-Kuki” language-speakers have been harassing Sevait Bhabananda Ji and his family for decades. “Chin-Kuki” terrorists had often kicked their door open at night and extorted them on gunpoint. They often throttled his sleeping children just to speed up the process. On one occasion, his wife Subhasini Devi was kidnapped by KNF (N) cadres and taken to their camp in the Koubru ranges. The terrorists had demanded that Bhabananda Ji come to their camp and pay Rs. 70,000 as ransom [15].

Bhabananda Sharma Ji and his wife Subhashini Devi

Several “Kuki-Chin” CSOs and terrorist groups had blocked all the entry points to the Koubru ranges in 2021, claiming the Koubru ranges as their exclusive ancestral land. “Unknown miscreants” had demolished a concrete culvert on the road leading to Mount Koubru and the temporary residential house of the Koubru Leikha Shiv Mandir complex was partially damaged in a fire on April 14, 2021. The exact cause of the fire remains unknown.

The Final Blow

“Kuki-Chin” mobs had attacked the Koubru Leikha Shiv Mandir complex at around 6.30 p.m. on May 3, 2023. Around 10,000 “Kuki-Chin” youth armed with hammers, guns and swords had vandalised and looted valuables from within hours of hostilities. The mob had then rushed towards the mandir residential complex intending to trap all residents inside. Bhabananda Ji and is family had managed to run out through the back door and hide in a nearby bush. The irate Kuki mob had set fire to the Mandir and the residential complex at around 8.30 p.m. The irate “Kuki-Chin” language speakers bombarded the residential quarters with rocks, intending to finish off any survivors. They yelled and danced while firing shots in the air.

Bhabananda Ji and his family had to hide in the bush for over 7 hours while the “Kuki-Chin” youth searched for them using torches and mobile phone lights, while loudly shouting that they would kill him and his family by burning them alive. The police and security personnel of the CRPF and Assam Rifles stood on the road as mute spectators while the temple complex was burning. He and his family were rescued by an army convoy who had stopped nearby because the major had intended to use the washroom. Other Kuki-mobs had put up several barricades along the way, searching every passing vehicle for any Meiteis.

The Koubru Leikha Shiv Mandir was demolished with the help of a bulldozer on 4 May The Ingourok Mahadev temple was vandalised and set on fire by local “Chin-Kukis” on 19 May, 2023.

The Demolished Koubru Leikha Shiv Mandir

The religious angle of the ongoing tragedy in Manipur have been suppressed and denied. However, we must remember that any long-term solution can be only be obtained after acknowledging the entire truth. Indigenous Hindu-majority Meiteis and Gorkhas have been wiped out from over 8000 sq. kms. of Bharatiya territory. 1547 temples and holy sites have either been desecrated with crosses or reduced to rubble using bulldozers or explosives since April 29, 2023.

The dream of a Christian Kuki nation has been there since at least 1988. “Kuki-Chin-Mizo” language speaking intellectuals and politicians like P.S. Haokip and Mafeli Hlwando have repeatedly mentioned that the sole purpose of such a Christian nation is to unite and provide “lebensraum” for “Kuki-Chin-Mizo” language speakers [16]. The very idea of such a nation is based not on nationalism, but on xenophobia and exclusion.

The community leaders of the “Kuki-Chin-Mizo” speakers have orchestrated 10 major attacks on the non-Christian indigenous janajaatis and residents of Manipur, Mizoram Assam and Tripura since 1990, with at least 1,50,000 victims since 1990 [16]. Relying on a wait and watch strategy while conducting small covert operations have never worked against them in Bharat, Myanmar and Bangladesh and is not working now.

Without urgent legislative reforms, land prices alone would drive out the bulk of the Hindu-majority population of Imphal Valley within 15 years. Bringing peace alone would not ensure the survival of the last remaining Hindus of Manipur. In such a situation, all of us have to answer the following questions :

Is geopolitics or international image worth the destruction of a 5000-year-old indigenous culture ?
Should civilisational issues ever be diluted for party-politics ?
Are we going to watch a second Kashmir happen without extending our help to the descendants of Chitrangada and Babruvahana ?

The descendants of Chitrangada and Babruvahana are locked in a life and death struggle within a Chakravyuh and there are several Jayadraths guarding the entrance.