The chief minister of India’s northeastern state of Manipur apologized Tuesday for months of ethnic unrest that has killed at least 250 people and sparked criticism of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s federal government.
Conflict between the Meitei majority and Kuki tribal communities in the state of 3.2 million people erupted in May 2023 and has displaced 60,000 people. Despite peace efforts, many Kukis and Meiteis have moved from ethnically mixed areas.
Violence erupted after a court ordered the state government to consider extending the special economic benefits and quotas in government jobs and education enjoyed by the Kuki people to the Meitei population as well.
“This whole year has been very unfortunate,” Chief Minister Biren Singh told reporters in Imphal, the state capital.
“I want to apologize to the people of the state for what is happening… many people lost their loved ones. Many people left their homes. “I regret it, I apologize.”
Sporadic attacks and killings continue to be reported, but Singh said peace efforts had made progress in recent months and he believed normality would return in the new year.
Indeed, Manipur’s two largest ethnic groups are competing for land, jobs and political influence, with large quantities of weapons in circulation, including automatic rifles stolen from police or smuggled from neighboring Myanmar.
Kukis accuses Singh, a Meitei and member of Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party, of complicity in attacks on members of his community and has called for his ouster.
Singh denies the allegations and Modi’s federal government has dismissed accusations of opposition inaction, saying it has deployed tens of thousands of security personnel and the situation is improving.
