Caught between the Sangh Parivar which has communalised an essentially secular concern for a uniform civil code and the orthodox Muslim leadership resistent to any change, the women's movement and other secular-democratic forces seem to have been gripped by - an intellectual paralysis. Unless these organisations de-communalise the demand and shift the focus of the debate to gender justice - not just Muslim, but all personal laws in India are loaded against women - the uniform civil code issue may prove to be a lethal weapon
While bitter hostilities between Meiteis and Kukis have formed the larger narrative, with Kukis seen as a target, Arambai Tenggol’s acts of violence on the Pangals, a small Muslim minority, with the latest being the brute torture of a young man have remained in the dark underbelly of the violence in Manipur
In all, 81 persons, including women and children were killed and 214 persons were injured in the Meitei-Kuki conflict in Manipur in the year 2024, as reported in the 5 newspapers monitored by the CSSS – The Times of India, The Indian Express, The Hindu, Inquilab and Sahafat. Among the 81 killed, 19 were from Meitei community, while 15 were from Kuki community, 12 were security personnel, and 4 were Hindu migrant workers