It hasn’t been the topic of prime time debates, which is possibly why most of India is oblivious to the fact that the restive border state of Manipur has been on the boil for nearly a month. Tear gas and water cannons have been used, and as many as 30 students have been arrested over the issue of permits to regulate the entry and residence of outsiders in Manipur.

Secondary school students as well as women agitators in the valley areas of Manipur have been in the forefront of a long-standing demand to implement a permit system to regulate what is perceived to be a massive influx of migrant populations (like illegal immigrants from Bangladesh and Myanmar) into the landlocked state. Known as the Inner Line Permit (ILP), it is a mandatory time-bound official travel permit that is in force in Nagaland, Mizoram and Arunachal Pradesh. In these three states, even Indians from other parts of the country must have an ILP while travelling to these parts. Manipur has been asking for its implementation in the state for years.

There are largely three main communities in Manipur: the Naga and Kuki, who are tribals, and Meitei, who are non-tribal. While the Naga and the Kuki reside in the hills, the Meitei dwell in the valley. Both the Naga and the Kuki are negotiating with the government of India for separate administrations for themselves. What the ILP issue has done is bring forth the sharp division between the tribals and non-tribals.

“Implement ILP to save the indigenous people” said W Robinson, a student agitator. “If the politicians do not do their duty in implementing the protection bill, they should resign from the Member of Legislative Assembly post. We also condemn the atrocious police action on the students who are only doing peaceful protest. They water cannon us, they fire tear gas and mock bombs at us and even shoot live bullets. Are we not citizens of a democratic country?”

On May 30, 2015, Robinson, along with 17 other students, blocked the road to the airport in Imphal for nearly an hour before the police chased them away, firing tear gas on them.

Earlier, on May 29, 12 defiant higher secondary students — 11 of them girls — shocked the police when they stayed put on the road, despite water cannons being aimed at them. 

The demand for ILP comes from the fear that the indigenous people of Manipur will be gradually swept away by the growing migrant population, as has happened in neighbouring states like Sikkim and Tripura where the Lepchas and the tribes of Tripura are now minorities in their own states respectively.

Spearheaded by the Joint Committee on Inner Line Permit System (JCILPS) — an umbrella body of around 30 civil society organisations based in the valley — the campaign has been agitating for a permit system, akin to the ILP.  “According to 2011 census, population of Manipur is 27 lakhs,” said Kh Ratan Mangang, Convenor of JCILPS. “Out of this, indigenous population comprises 17 lakhs and the migrants contribute almost 10 lakhs. This is very frightening for us who are a very small minority in India. Unless we have some sort of constitutional protection, our population will not survive. That’s why this movement for implementing ILP like system is very important.”

The demand for ILP first came up in 2012, but it was in 2015 that it assumed a mass scale. Agitations by people who responded to the JCILPS’s call crippled the state in June 2015 and the government imposed indefinite curfews for over two months. During this time, at least one 16-year-old student was killed in police action and scores of others were injured.

On August 31, 2015, the state assembly held an emergency session. Manipur has a 60-seat assembly with 40 representatives from the valley and 20 from the hills. The assembly unanimously passed three bills —Protection of Manipur People Bill, Land Revenue & Reform (7th Amendments) Bill, and the Shop & Establishment (2nd Amendment) Bill  — to implement a permit system and ‘regulate’ ownership of land and establishments. At present only valley areas in the state can be bought since the hill regions are tribal, and therefore cannot be owned by non-tribals. The last two bills, in particular, were perceived as legislations that would disadvantage the non-Meitei.

The passing of these three bills sparked off uproar in Churachandpur, a district in southern Manipur, which had been silent on the issue. Terming the bills as anti-tribal, riots broke out and rampant destruction of public property took place between August 31 and September 1, 2015. Houses of elected representatives from the district were burnt down, including that of a member of Parliament and six MLAs.

“They have failed us as our representatives,”  said an angry Mang Haokip, a street protestor in Churachandpur. “How can they be party to passing the three bills that are formulated to rob us off our land rights and others. We’re very angry with our legislators. They have sold themselves for money.”

The Churachandpur protest paralysed the district for over a week. Several clashes with the police occurred and in the ensuing violence, at least nine protestors were killed. Till today, the bodies of the nine remain unclaimed due to the refusal to do so by the Joint Action Committee Against the Anti-Tribal Bills. They demanded retraction of the three bills that are pending and with the President of India’s office.

With elections due in 2017, the violence and unrest that’s taking place now could well be the stage being set for an electoral clash in the state, which is currently governed by the Congress. The Bharatiya Janata Party has Manipur on its radar and will be hoping to win here, especially since the existing government is ineffectual and the present turbulence — with students and schoolteachers being victimised, rather than leaders — won’t improve Congress’s street cred in Manipur.