What are the various factors that led to growth in the resentment in Manipuri people? List various insurgent groups active in Manipur.

Model Answer:
Manipur was known as Meitei Kingdom and during British Era, it was a princely state. However, the people of the state think that Manipur was to be an independent state after India’s independence and it accession to India is a forceful merger. The emergence of insurgency in Manipur is formally traced to the emergence of the United National Liberation Front (UNLF) in November 1964.Manipur remained a Union territory after independence till 1972.The alleged ‘forced’ merger of Manipur and the delay in the conferring of full-fledged statehood to it was greatly resented by the people of Manipur.Since then several other outfits, like the People’s Liberation Army (PLA), People’s Revolutionary Party of Kangleipak (PREPAK) and the Kangleipak Communist Party (KCP)  have emerged in the valley areas consisting of four districts of the State. All these insurgent groups have been demanding a separate independent Manipur. From Nagaland, violence by the Naga groups has also spilled over into Manipur. Several clashes between the NSCN-IM and the Khaplang faction of National Socialist Council of Nagaland (NSCN-K) have been reported from the hill districts of the State. Kuki tribals in the early 1990s initiated their own brand of insurgency against the alleged oppression by the NSCN-IM.
At present the insurgent outfits active in Manipur are: the Revolutionary People’s Front (RPF) and its army wing; the PLA, with 2500 cadres for the UNLF and its army wing Manipur People’s Army (MPA); the PREPAK and its army wing Red Army; Kanglei Yawol Kanna Lup (KYKL) and its Yawol Lanmi army and the Kangleipak Communist Party (KCP)’s.

Topics: GS-II: Mechanisms Laws for Protection of Vulnerable Sections