Guwahati:

The Thadou Inpi General Headquarters (TI-GHQ) which says it is the top body of the Thadou tribe has rejected the formation of another body, called the ‘Thadou Inpi Manipur’, or TIM. The new Thadou body was formed at the two-day Thadou Convention held on November 1 and 2 in Assam’s Guwahati, an event which the organising committee billed as “historic” for the tribe.

“… The formation of the ‘Thadou Inpi Manipur’ and other bodies in the Thadou Convention held at Guwahati… under the aegis of the Thadou Community International is invalid,” TI-GHQ said in a statement.

The TI-GHQ said the ‘Thadou Inpi Manipur’ and other bodies were formed “without the knowledge and consent of the TI-GHQ, [and] it is contrary to the principles or provisions of the constitution of the Thadou Inpi.”

The TI-GHQ in the statement appealed to “all sensible members of our community” to consider the ‘Thadou Inpi Manipur’ and declarations at the Guwahati event “null and void”.

The newly-formed TIM in a statement on Tuesday said it will have a three-year tenure. H James Thadou, Michael Lamjathang Haokip, and seven others have been unanimously elected as president, general secretary, and executive members, respectively, it said, adding three advisers have also been appointed.

“TIM shall function as the legitimate peak body of Thadou tribe for Manipur, providing strategic leadership, coordination and advocacy. TIM will also spearhead, be responsible for, and coordinate movements and representation and all affairs relating to Thadous of Manipur and beyond as needed,” the TIM said in the statement.

The Thadou Convention held in Assam had released a 10-point declaration and a 9-point resolution. The declaration emphasised on the tribe’s distinct ethnic identity having its own language, culture, traditions, and history.

“Thadou is not Kuki, or underneath Kuki, or part of Kuki, but a separate, independent entity from Kuki… Thadou is one of the original 29 native/indigenous tribes of Manipur, India, that were all simultaneously and duly recognised as independent Scheduled Tribes of Manipur under the 1956 Presidential Order, Government of India,” the declaration stated.

“Thadous have always been known and recorded as Thadou, without any prefix or suffix to it, and it has been the single-largest tribe in Manipur consistently since the first census of India in 1881 till the latest census in 2011 that recorded Thadou population at 2,15,913. Any Kuki Tribes (AKT) had a population of 28,342 in the latest Manipur census in 2011, the first time Kuki was ever recorded in a census,” it stated.

Civil society organisations and a defence volunteer group of the Meitei community welcomed the formation of TIM to assert Thadou as a distinct tribe. Meitei Leepun in a statement said it gives “heartfelt appreciation” to the Thadou tribe for the new Thadou body’s latest announcement that it would support the National Register of Citizens (NRC) exercise if the Centre decides to carry it out in Manipur.

The Meitei defence volunteer group Arambai Tenggol – similar to village defence volunteers of the hill-dominant Kuki tribes – in a statement in Meiteilon said it welcomes the decision taken at the Thadou Convention to support the NRC.

Volunteer groups from both sides have accused each other of atrocities.

The Kuki tribes and the Meiteis have been fighting since May 2023 over a range of issues such as land rights and political representation.