Identity didn’t cause this war, but it is fueling it.

The Indian border state of Manipur has been quaking by severe ethnic violence and pathos since May 3, 2023—a long unmeasured shaking, not of land but bodily quivers.

People who escaped the war zone quiver with the thought of the atrocities they witnessed. People who could not leave quiver with the atrocities they were forced to bear.

India’s Northeast is adorned with Manipur, also known as the “Jewel of India”. The title originates from its oval shape which is surrounded by nine lush green hills, resembling a natural jewel — the breath-taking beauty of its pastoral setting and structure. But what happened in 2023 that made tribal groups commit horrors? The fire did not spread itself, years of ignition fuelled the war.

Manipur is home to several tribal groups including the Meitei, Nagas and Chin-Kuki-Mizo tribes. Meiteis are mostly Hindus and live in the Imphal valley, while Nagas and Kukis, who are mainly Christian, mostly reside in the hills. When the British colonial rulers’ captured the “Sone ki Chidiya”, India, they snatched the Jewel around its neck.

Their policy of “divide and rule” sowed the seeds of animosity among the tribal communities so much that the root word “anim” remained and grew to befriend two wicked pals ‘a’ and ‘l’. The current situation shows the humans, turned into carnivores, preying on each other. They do not see each other as humans anymore, there are hyenas and lions. The communities despise each other and are ready to tear each other apart for power and control.

In 2023, mobs burned down villages forcing over 60,000 people out of their homes in their own homeland. Over 130 people lost their lives in the clashes between the majority Meiteis and the Kukis. A mob sexually assaulted two women and the monstrous deed was broadcasted on the internet. When the Chief Minister visited a relief camp in Imphal East and met the family of a seven-year-old internally displaced girl who was recently raped and murdered — I wonder what comfort his words would have provided when the regional imbalances still remain. A bomb recently struck a residential house in Tronglaobi village, causing a powerful explosion that instantly killed two children. Why is it that wars start because of the deprivation of rights only to plunder more of them?

Identity did not start this barbarity or the thirst for power. Yet, it is the centre of it determining the next person who would suffer for merely existing. The Government can shut down the internet services all they want to prevent false rumours but misinformation does not need a Twitter handle, just ears burning with rage.

The gore atmosphere was triggered by a recommendation made by the Manipur High Court to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government in the state to include Meiteis in the Scheduled Tribe category. It sparked concerns among several communities, especially the Kukis, as they feared losing land and jobs due to potential competition from the Meitei community. They were afraid that the Meitei community will buy land in the hills, where the Kukis have had exclusive rights until now. So they argued that the Meiteis are a dominant community and already protected under Other Backward Classes (OBC) or Scheduled Castes (SC). Ultimately, neither did Meiteis receive the ST status nor did the trigger that was pulled shoot empty bullets.

It took police 78 days to detain the accused of the gang rape of the two Kuki women by the Meitei men. BJP governments in New Delhi and Imphal failed miserably, it was too late. Deadly shots had already been fired by the tribal communities causing complete mayhem.

There were allegations that the security forces and law enforcement agencies got divided along ethnic lines. A BSF personnel died after being struck by a stray bullet during an exchange of fire between suspected Kuki-Zo and Tangkhul Naga village volunteers in Ukhrul district on April 10, 2026. Security forces in Chandel district also seized a large cache of arms meant for militants. The people of Manipur cannot rely on the system meant to protect them anymore, it has fallen with a loud thud.

Many Manipuris believe the central Government should have acted sooner before. “We had begged the prime minister to intervene, but he just didn’t care, while hundreds were killed and injured,” one activist said. “Now community ties have completely broken down.”

After formally inaugurating the 28th Conference of Speakers and Presiding Officers of the Commonwealth (CSPOC) in January 2026, the Prime Minister of India said, “India’s diversity is the strength of its democracy”. Yet no actions taken to preserve that strength in Manipur.

In April 2026, PM Modi extended warm greetings to people across the country on the occasion of regional New Year festivals, emphasising unity in diversity. The unity seems to be fading in Manipur, but “it is just one state out of many, chaos in one does not necessarily have to be a nationwide concern,” right?

The question remains: if diversity really matters so much, why was it not protected by Government intervention when the situation was close to escalation? More importantly, why is there still not enough intervention when things are beyond escalation — outrageously out of order? Identity did not spark this conflict, power did. But identity indeed has turned it into an ethnic inferno.

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