As Manipur enters its fourth year of ethnic conflict, The Sangai Express, one of the state’s leading newspapers, has issued a sharp warning that the information war surrounding the crisis has become as dangerous as the violence itself.
In an editorial published this week, the Imphal-based daily invoked its 27 years of continuous publication since September 1999 not as a celebration, but as a statement of credibility.
Having reported on insurgencies, ceasefires and repeated cycles of ethnic unrest, the newspaper argued that it was speaking from hard-earned experience when it said that false narratives pushed since May 3, 2023 had systematically distorted public understanding of the conflict beyond Manipur’s borders.
Widely regarded as one of the highest-circulated English and Meiteilon dailies in the state, the paper said it had “seen and experienced it all” and was therefore positioned to present the conflict with authenticity.
The editorial’s central argument was that the Tribal Solidarity March preceding the outbreak of violence on May 3, 2023 was built on what it described as a deliberate misrepresentation.
According to the paper, the Manipur High Courthad never ordered the inclusion of Meiteis in the Scheduled Tribe list. Instead, it had only directed the state government to forward an ethnographic and socio-economic report to the Centre for consideration — a routine administrative process originally sought by the Union Ministry of Tribal Affairs in 2013. The editorial argued that this distinction was intentionally blurred to inflame tensions.
The newspaper also rejected what it described as a selective portrayal of victimhood, pointing out that violence on May 3 first erupted in Churachandpur and that Meiteis were attacked at Torbung — details it claimed were consistently omitted in national and international coverage.
The editorial further highlighted what it called a dangerous new flashpoint in the conflict. Eight Naga men allegedly taken captive at Leilon Vaiphei village on May 13 remain missing, the paper said, contradicting claims by Kuki Inpi Manipur that all Naga captives had been released.
According to the newspaper, the emerging tensions between Kukis and Nagas expose contradictions in the very idea of “tribal solidarity” that formed the basis of the 2023 march. It also warned against attempts by some commentators to revive old Meitei-Naga fault lines by reframing past political protests as ethnic hostility.
Referring to the 2001 protests in Imphal and demonstrations following the killing of SDO Thingnam Kishan, the editorial maintained that these agitations were directed against government policies and actions, not against the Naga community, and argued that portraying them otherwise amounted to deliberate historical distortion.
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