Explained | Demand for a Kuki homeland, history and rationale

The Kuki State Demand Committee (KSDC) has claimed 12,958 square km - over 60 per cent - of Manipur's total 22,000 sq km for 'Kukiland'

Amid the clashes in Manipur between the Kuki-Zomi tribes and the Meitei community, which makes up the majority, 10 MLAs of the state have sought 'separate administration under the Constitution.'

They noted that Kukis can no longer exist under Manipur adding that living among Meitis is 'as good as death.'

Home Minister Amit Shah held a meeting with the tribal lawmakers a day after he met with the Manipur CM.

Chief Minister N Biren Singh stressed that the state's territorial integrity would be protected by the rising violence in India's northeast has again shone a light on the demand for a separate administration which had died down after peace negotiations between the government and Kuki-Zomi insurgents.

Kuki homeland

The 'Kukiland' demand goes back to the 1980s when the Kuki National Organisation (KNO) - the first and largest of the Kuki-Zomi insurgent groups, was formed.

Since then the demand has come up periodically including in the 23rd KNO Raising Day Address on February 24, 2010.

However, it gained more steam in 2012, as it became clear that a demand for Telangana as a separate state would be accepted by the government,.

A group called Kuki State Demand Committee (KSDC) announced a Kukiland movement and has since then occasionally called strikes as well as economic bandhs, blocked the highways and not allowed goods to enter Manipur.

The KSDC has claimed 12,958 square km - over 60 per cent - of Manipur's total 22,000 sq km for 'Kukiland'.

As per their demand the territory of 'Kukiland' would include Sadar Hills, Kuki-dominated Churchandpur, Chandel which has Kuki and Naga populations, and portions of the Naga-dominated Tamenglong and Ukhrul.

Read | No home to return to: Manipur violence survivors

The KSDC and parts of the community maintain that the tribal areas are not part of the Indian Union. Their contention is that the King of Manipur lost in the 1891 Anglo-Manipur war, after which the kingdom became a British protectorate but the Kuki-Zomi lands were not part of this agreement.

In Democratisation in the Himalayas: Interests, Conflicts, and Negotiations it is argued that the Kuki rebellion against the British effectively became the foundation of their ethnic nationalism. The Kukis revolted against the British in 1917-19 which crystallized the political unity of the community.

However, unlike Nagas who have demanded to cease being a part of India, Kukis have only sought a separate state within the Union. As a result of the KSDC agitation, the Kuki-dominated Sadar Hills - part of the Naga-dominated Senapati district - gained recognition as a separate district.

An idea of freedom

The demand for 'Kukiland' is rooted in the concept of Zale'n-gam or land of freedom. Democratisation in the Himalayas cites that Zalen-gam aims to unite the erstwhile Kuki ancestral domain before the advent of the British.

However, some Kuki-Zomis, especially insurgents, counter the popular narrative that the British political agent was responsible for bringing their ancestors from Burma's Kuki-Chin hills and having them settle around the Imphal Valley to protect the kingdom of Manipur from plundering Naga raiders in the north.

Opposing the idea that Kuki-Zomis are of nomadic origin, they argue that the Kuki-Zale'n-gam spread across a part of India's northeast, continuing into present-day Myanmar. In India - the KNO claimed - the Kuki homeland included hill districts of Manipur, parts of Nagaland, Assam, and even Bangladesh.

The grand imagination has over the years come to a Kuki state made out of Manipur's hill areas, including the ones dominated by Naga tribes.

Kuki demand, a reaction?

The Kuki demand has been amplified by KNO chief P S Haokip and the memories of the 1993 Naga-Kuki clashes, with the Democratisation in the Himalayas positing that the Kuki expansionist ambition could well be mirroring the Greater Nagaland plans.