Introduction:
The British could oust the Burmese from Manipur during the first Anglo Burmese War (1824-26) with the assistance of Gambhir Singh, the King of Manipur after the Treaty of Yandaboo in 1826 the British interference in Manipur increased during the reign of Gambhir Singh itself. The relationship of British and Manipur deteriorated during the time of King Surachandra Singh, the son of King Chandrakriti. The brother of Surachandra Singh and the Army general Tikendrahit Singh was a true patriot and he revolted against the British. This was the backdrop of the first Anglo-Manipuri War in 1881. The British then used force to capture Tikendrajit and eventually hang him After his death the British annexed Manipur, amidst widespread protest by the people, as Tikendrajit was an anti-colonialist and patriot. In 1949 Manipur signed the Instrument of accession to India. The state building process in North East India was preceded by armed rebellion. The classic example of this was Nagaland, which attained statehood in 1963. At this Manipur was seething and as a consequence UNLF armed group was formed in 1964. And five years later a Communist government in exile started to function out of Chittagong hills in present Bangladesh. Amidst the insurgency
of both UNLF and the Communists, Manipur attained statehood in 1972.
The Communist movement of Manipur began with the formation of the RGM (Revolutionary Government of Manipur) in 1969. Shortly afterwards there is a split in the Meitei revolutionary movement when Kangleipak Revolutionary Party and PLA split to form different entities.
Manipur insurgency can be divided into two phases
1) 1947-56
2) 1960s till date
Biseswar Singh was the man behind the Poirei sub group that believed in armed struggle, whereas the Kangleipak group concentrated on political mobilization. The PLA were adherents of the Maoist ideology, the first such group to emerge in NEI (North East India). Since its inception on September 1978, the group had a socialist state of Manipur in its agenda. They had formulated their struggle on the sane CPC (Communist Party of China) lines as enunciated by CPC Chairman Mao Zedong. In 1989 in a restructuring of the Maoist entity, a Revolutionary Peoples’ Front (RPF) was formed. It was the political entity of which PLA would be the armed wing. The late 1970s also saw another VBIG(Valley Based Insurgent Group) formed by RK Tulachandra, a year prior to the formation of PLA.
The armed insurgent group is named as PREPAK. The Peoples’ Revolutionary Party of Kangleipak (PREPAK) was later split in 1980 under Y Inahanbi formerly of PREPAK, to form KCP (Kangleipak Communist Party). Both these formations were ideologically inclined towards Maoism. With the panoply of all these Maoist parties Manipur experienced heightened disturbances and terror acts from the turn of seventies to the 80s. KCP leader Ibahanabi belonged to the Scbta village in Imphal and the Red
Army of KCP is still a potent unit from the traditional bastion of Communists in Manipur centered around the north-east of Imphal valley, early 1960s in Manipur was dominated by groups like UNLF(United National Liberation Front)led by its chairman Sana Yaima aka RK Meghen. Now UNLF had also joined a broad coalition of armed outfits in Manipur called Manipur Peoples’ Liberation Front (MPLF), whose other groups included PLA and PREPAK.
Manipur armed insurgent groups both Maoist and other VBIGs formed a Coordination Committee in July 2011 and a joint press release listed six outfits in 2013 that included RPF, KYKL, KCP, UBLF, PREPAK, PREPAK (Pro). The Maoist Communist Party of Manipur (MCPM) formed in 2011 is the latest Maoist formation to surface in Manipur adding to the already saturated Maoist terrain in the state, with an avowed goal of establishing g a socialist, independent Manipur by armed rebellion.