To weaken China, Modi must strengthen Manipur
New Indian ExpressThe enduring travesty of colonialism is not the blood that has been spilt of indigenous populations, but the festering wounds of identity politics the invaders left unhealed. Home Minister Amit Shah was compelled last week to leave election meetings in Maharashtra to fly to Manipur and turn down the heat. Last year he had ordered 10 km of the Manipur-Myanmar border—which has both Hindu Meitei and predominantly Christian Kuki-Naga-dominated regions—to be fenced, with an additional 80 km to follow. To cut a long story short, there were many palace coups, and in the 1891 Anglo-Manipuri War, Manipur lost. Manipur’s Prince Tikendrajit and Thangal General were hanged; the general had ordered the beheading of unarmed Company officers visiting the king.