Manipur BJP spokesperson and Thadou tribe leader T Michael Lamjathang Haokip (Archive)
Imphal/Guwahati/New Delhi:
Manipur BJP spokesperson and Thadou tribal leader T Michael Lamjathang Haokip has filed a police complaint after two dozen people, some of them armed, set fire to a part of his house and fired into the air in Churachandpur on Sunday night.
In the first information report (FIR), Mr Haokip named 15 people who were “directly or indirectly” responsible for the attack on his property and family. He also named two people who allegedly asked members of a WhatsApp group to kill him. One of the two promised to give “village land” to anyone who kills the state BJP spokesperson.
“…It is suspected that the false leaders and agents of the Thadou Tribe Council (TTC-GHQ) are involved, who have been making violent rhetoric and provocative statements,” Mr. Michael said in the FIR.
He attached printouts of the screenshots of the WhatsApp group, which showed discussions to kill him. The police and the cyber cell will check the phone numbers with their service providers and seek help from central experts in cyber security against terrorism if required, Mr Haokip told NDTV. He declined to give further details.
In the alleged screenshot of the WhatsApp group chat attached with the FIR, one of the members had written, “SA (separate rule) is not acceptable without first killing LJT (Lamjathang) even if the central government is ready to allow us to do so.” Another member wrote, “I promise to give away my village land if anyone kills Lamjathang.”
NDTV has accessed a copy of the FIR, which lists a number of phone numbers in the WhatsApp group.
Mr Haokip said the attacks and threats were a result of his awareness about his tribe, Thadou, being wrongly called a Kuki tribe amid ethnic tensions in Manipur. He said it was the second time his house in Churachandpur was attacked, allegedly by people who do not accept the separate identity of the Thadou tribe.
The police case was filed a day after a new video threatening to kill BJP spokesperson and Thadou leader was widely shared on social media. The video shows a man in black tactical gear surrounded by three camouflage combat fatigues carrying AK-series assault rifles. All of them were wearing masks.
“Lamjathang, if you criticise or shame the community one more time, we will kill you, whether you are in Guwahati or Delhi… Meiteis did not differentiate between Thadou, Kuki or Zomi,” said the man in the middle.
The four men cannot be volunteers to defend the village. They normally carry single-barrel and small-caliber pistols with permits, said a retired police officer in Churachandpur, who asked not to be named.
“They can only be insurgents and this threat should not be taken lightly as they openly claim that they can kill a civilian anywhere in the country. This would not be the first time that a person from Manipur has faced a threat to his life even if he lives outside the state,” the retired officer said.
NDTV could not independently verify the video, but some members of the Thadou tribe claimed that the video and the dialect heard in it are authentic, based on what their own sources in Churachandpur told them.
The TTC-GHQ, which Mr. Haokip claimed was a “fake” organization, has six advisors and 10 executive members, according to the latest published information about the group’s structure. The TTC did not ask permission from four of them before appointing them to the “board.” The four have stated in writing that they were not aware of their membership in the TTC. They requested anonymity for fear of attack.
“My father's permission was not there. Clarification has already been given,” said the son of one of the four people.
Calls to the TTC's public numbers went unanswered.
The TTC has condemned Mr. Haokip's comments about the Thadou tribe not being part of Kuki. The TTC said in a statement that it is the main Thadou organization and is affiliated with the Kuki Inpi Manipur. “… Appropriate action will be taken if they abuse Thadou again in the future,” the TTC had said in a statement on July 21.
In its recent statement on August 20, the TTC criticized a new Thadou organization called Thadou Community International (TCI), which it alleged was not authentic and was set up by some “to work with Prime Minister N Biren Singh.”
Mr. Haokip is one of the key members of the TCI, a group that bills itself as a global platform for the Thadou tribe that focuses on the critical issues facing the community, particularly in Manipur.
No one was injured in the attack on Mr. Haokip's home on Sunday night. Four families displaced by the violence in Manipur also live in four small buildings on his family's property, Mr. Haokip said.
Manipur Chief Minister N Biren Singh and other leaders strongly condemned the attack. “…I consider this personal injury to one of our recognised tribes as a direct threat to the unity and integrity of the state. Attacks on a particular community of the recognised tribes of Manipur, as well as the attack on the family of the BJP spokesperson, are strongly condemned. We will take appropriate legal action against the perpetrators,” Singh had said in a message on X.
The attack on the family members of Micheal Lamjathang, a leader of the Thadou community, one of the oldest tribes in Manipur, and a BJP spokesperson, and the destruction of his house, was an act of cowardice.
I consider this a personal injury done to…— N. Biren Singh (@NBirenSingh) August 27, 2024
The fighting between the Meitei community, which lives mainly in the valley, and the nearly two dozen tribes under the nomenclature of the Kukis (a term coined by the British during the colonial era) who dominate some hill areas of Manipur, has left more than 220 people dead and nearly 50,000 displaced.
The general category of Meiteis wants to be included in the category of scheduled tribes, while the Kukis, who share ethnic ties with people in the neighbouring states of Chin and Mizoram in Myanmar, want a separate administration from Manipur, alleging discrimination and unequal distribution of resources and power with the Meiteis.
