ISAS Insights

The Northeast Indian state of Manipur will be undergoing Legislative Assembly Elections by March 2017. Media reports and recent defections of Congress MLAs to the BJP indicate that there is a high probability that the BJP would unseat the 15-year Congress rule in Manipur. The reasons for BJP's optimism and the particular strategies it has adopted has to be examined in light of how political and cultural relationship between the state and the Center has developed since Manipur became a part of the Indian union. In this paper, I will discuss how the Central Government's policies towards Manipur over the past six decades has exacerbated ethnic conflict and insurgency problems in the state. Moreover, a lack of cultural and psychological integration with the rest of India has left Manipuris experiencing a sense of alienation from the Center. Despite this, the experiences of the Manipuri diaspora, recent initiatives in investments in cultural and educational institutions, and ongoing projects to improve transport and communication linkages with India and Southeast Asia, has fostered optimism which has translated into calls for political change. The state's traditional support for the party in power and the BJP's allegations of corruption in the incumbent Congress party promises a closely contested election.