TMB Report
Imphal: The Konsakhul Village Authority (KVA) strongly condemned the baseless and unfounded claims made by Leilon Vaiphei village in the public domain. Such a misleading statement has the potential to escalate communal tensions and lead to bloodshed in the region. It was stated in a press release issued by KVA Chairman D. Adam that Leilon Vaiphei was a tenant of Konsakhul village. When Shonglal Khaute, Laljakhup Cholu, and Netkong Thangneng came to our village and begged for tenancy, on humanitarian grounds, they were allowed to settle as tenants on our land, and a lease agreement was signed which still stands today between the landlord (Konsakhul) and tenant (Leilon).
As a sign of loyalty to the landlord, Leilon Vaiphei village has been paying a tax of one Sangbai of paddy per household per year to Konsakhul village. To support this claim, we have a land lease agreement, copies of tax receipts, and court orders issued by PMSD (President Manipur State Darbar) in 1920, 1927, 1931, and successive magisterial court orders of C Gimson, S.J. Duncan, Major Bob Khathing, Chakraborty, and Maisnam Nabakumar.
It is also a fact that, until the 1970s, there was only one Leilon Vaiphei village, but now there are 21 villages within our boundary. Suddenly, the release added, all these villages sprang up abnormally within a very short period of time.
Furthermore, the release stated that we have planted more than one lakh and fifty thousand tree saplings in the catchment area of Singda river under the slogan of ‘Singda Dam Kanse’ in the last 10 years. We requested Leilon Vaiphei not to destroy the environment and forests and also not to pollute our only life-saving Singda river as lakhs of people in the valley, including Vaiphei villagers, are drinking from it. Although this catchment area of Singda river is a protected zone, thousands of sangdang were kept in this catchment area by Leilon Vaiphei village, which eventually pollutes the river with their urine, excreta, and carcasses during a plague.
It is an undeniable fact that the tourists coming to Konsakhul waterfall and some pilgrims coming from Imphal for the purpose of pilgrimage to Kounu Leirembi were stopped and harassed. Besides, two innocent Konsakhul villagers were abducted, one JCB owned by Edal Singh of Singjamei was vandalized, and one Scooty was burnt down into ashes by Leilon Vaiphei people on March 26, 2023. Subsequently, on March 28, 2023, a team of goodwill mission from Konsakhul village who came to inquire about the untoward incident happened at Leilon was brutally assaulted by the Leilon Vaiphei villagers where 20 people were severely injured, 2 persons are in serious condition, and hospitalized at Raj Medicity, Imphal. All these facts and figures have been recorded in the concerned Police station under the direct supervision of the Superintendent of Police, Kangpokpi district, the release added.
“It is a fact that the thugs of Leilon Vaiphei village have been waylaying travelers on the road of Leimakhong to rob, rape, assault and kidnap people regularly. Showing scant regard for the common good, they have willfully engaged in the wanton destruction of forest cover in the name of hunting, poisoned the upstream river which drains into the Singda Dam in the name of fishing, and generated revenue through poppy cultivation and logging business.
It is also true that the Konsakhul villagers are very kind and generous people. On October 18, 1993, Leilon Vaiphei village attempted to snatch our land by burning down Konsakhul village into ashes, but even then, we forgave and forgot them. And now, they are trying to grab our land again in the name of Sangdang fencing with all their baseless allegations and character assassination stated the release.
The release further stated that these people are habitual liars and they had shamelessly claimed that the Kuki defeated the Mughal Empire and ruled India. They also claimed that the Kuki emperor built the Taj Mahal in Agra (Utter Pradesh). Additionally, they even claimed that the Kuki country stretches from Jaintia Hills to Assam, Tripura, Nagaland, Mizoram, Sylhet (Bangladesh), and up to Manipur valley. We all know that these people will stoop to that low and to the extent they will even say that all the standing orders of the President Manipur State Darbar and the magisterial court order issued by C. Gimson, S.J. Duncan, Major Bob Khathing, Chakraborty, Maisnam Nabakumar Singh, including land lease agreements, copies of tax receipts, are concocted and fake documents because it is in their DNA and heredity to distort and mislead others. Besides, they are very good at fabricating facts and the history of the Manipur State, it further added.
It continued that the fact of the matter is that the standing order of the President Manipur State Darbar issued by Captain Harvey under Part-I order no.11 of August 18, 1931, clearly stated that “the Kuki shall not be issued firearms because of their savage nature against the Nagas.” Part-II reads, “declared that they shall be granted firearms on loan for protection against wild animals.” Order no.9 in September 1933 declared that the Kuki village having 20 households shall pay House Tax of Rs.6/- per annum. Additionally, the standing order of the President Manipur State Darbar issued by T.A. Sharp in his order reads “Kuki in the Naga areas in Manipur are Aliens and Refugees.” Moreover, the standing order of PMSD No.2 of July 23, 1941, declared that “the Kukis shall obtain prior permission from the Chief of Naga village for settlement and pay House Tax to the Naga Chief.” So, there are a number of facts and historical accounts documented in the PMSD court order, and all the aforementioned documents are with us. Hence, whatever Leilon Vaiphei village wants us to do to prove that we are the landlord and they are the tenant, we are ready to do it. A tenant has no right to claim land ownership and should not distort the rich history of the Manipur state according to their whims and fancy.
State Government to look into the looming situation of illegal immigrants and check the abnormal growth of villages that pop up within a short span of time in the region, it appealed.
