I feel the pain of Chongtham Vikram Singh’s family. A young Meitei musician goes to Delhi to chase his dream and comes back in a coffin. He was killed in South Delhi on September 6 and his death has rightly angered Meiteis across the country. Protests at Jantar Mantar on September 9 demanding CBI probe are justified. When our own boy dies outside, we want the whole country to stand with us. I support that.
But I have one honest question to my Meitei brothers. Where was this same hunger for justice when non-local poor workers were killed inside Imphal one after another? When 8 Hindi-speaking labourers were shot dead in one night on March 17, 2008 in Imphal West and Imphal East, who protested? When a Bihari trader was gunned down at Thangal Bazar on September 14, 2010 while opening his shop, which Meitei organisation went to his family? When a Bengali shopkeeper was killed at Paona Bazar on June 2, 2017, and a daily wager from Bihar was beaten to death at Kwakeithel on October 18, 2022, where were the candle marches?
The bitter truth is, Imphal valley has been unsafe for non-locals for years. Poor people from Bihar, UP, Bengal, Assam come to Lamphel, Sangakpham, Khuyathong, Mantripukhri, Chingmeirong to work as masons, barbers, carpenters and small shopkeepers. They live in rented rooms and work 12 hours a day. But they live under fear of extortion notes, threats to leave Manipur, and bullets. On May 20, 2014, three Assamese labourers at Langol construction site in Imphal West were abducted and killed. On July 11, 2009, two Bihari workers were killed at Chingmeirong after being asked their identity. Their families never got justice.
This is why I call it selective justice. When a Meitei dies in Delhi, it becomes a national debate on racism and safety of North East people. When a non-local dies in Imphal, it becomes just a police statistic. You want CBI for Vikram Singh in Delhi, but you don’t even want an FIR for a non-local killed in Thangal Bazar. You want constitutional rights in Delhi, but you deny the same rights to Indians living in Imphal.
Meitei civil society like COCOMI, UCM and Meira Paibi who are very vocal in Delhi today, have never held a single protest for non-locals killed in Imphal. When a non-local is killed, it is often justified in the name of protecting indigenous people and ILP demand. But when a Meitei is killed outside, you talk about human rights and Indian Constitution. You cannot have it both ways.
I am not comparing deaths. Every death hurts. The pain of Vikram Singh’s mother is real. So is the pain of the widow of the Bihari labourer who never got her husband’s body from Imphal. So is the pain of the son of the Bengali trader who had to close his father’s shop in Paona Bazar. Justice does not see community. If justice sees community, it is not justice, it is politics.
So my humble suggestion is simple. If Meiteis want India to stand with them for Chongtham Vikram Singh, let them first stand for non-locals killed in Imphal. Let Meitei organisations go to Thangal Bazar and assure Hindi-speaking traders that they are safe. Let them ask the Manipur government to reopen all cases of non-local killings from 2008 to 2024, publish a white paper, arrest culprits, and give compensation. Let justice begin at home in Imphal.
Only then will your demand for justice in Delhi have moral legitimacy. Otherwise, the rest of the country will see it as selective justice. And selective justice is no justice at all.
The Government of India must also take serious responsibility for this repeated failure. Every time non-locals are killed in Imphal, Delhi looks the other way. Central agencies, intelligence, and the Ministry of Home Affairs have detailed reports of how non-local killings happened in Thangal Bazar, Lamphel and Khuyathong, yet no special investigation was ever ordered. If the killing of a Meitei in Delhi deserves national attention, then the killing of Indians in Imphal by Meitei extremist groups also deserves the same national attention and action.
This repeated silence is the failure of the Government of India. For years, the Centre has tolerated valley-based militant groups under the guise of peace talks and law and order issues of the state government. Non-local Indians are Indian citizens too, and protecting them in Imphal is the duty of the Centre. If India can demand justice for Vikram Singh in Delhi, India must first show that it gave justice to non-locals killed in Imphal. Without that, the credibility of Indian justice itself is questioned.
