The underlying tensions in Manipur stem from a complex interplay of various factors, one of which is a crackdown on drugs in recent years. The BJP-led state government, under Chief Minister N Biren Singh, who is a Meitei, launched a controversial campaign targeting poppy farming.
Since 2017, his government claims to have destroyed more than 18,000 acres of poppy farms, thr majority of them in Kuki-inhabited areas.
Manipur has long battled a drug-addiction crisis and is among the four north-eastern Indian states bordering Myanmar, the world's second largest opium producer.
A paper pasted on a corrugated tin wall declared local support for a "war on drugs" urged people to stop poppy plantation and "save our generation".
The scale of poppy farming in these parts is unclear. According to official figures, more than 730 acres of poppy farms in Imphal east district - home to 16% of Manipur's estimated 3.3 million people and including Naga, Meitei and Nepali inhabited villages - have been destroyed since 2017.
Then there's the brewing fault line over undocumented illegal immigrants from Myanmar, a country with which Manipur shares a near-400 km (243 mile) border. Stickers bearing the message "go back, Burmese refugees" have begun appearing on storefronts and residences across Meitei villages.
A state government panel identified 2,187 immigrants from Myanmar in four districts of Manipur until end-April. An official note spoke of a "large number of illegal migrants" and said the "recent violence was fueled by influential illegal poppy cultivators and drug lords from Myanmar settling in Manipur".
Tailpiece.
Got up a trifle earlier than 6, the chores and was ready by 10. The maid had also come down for work.
A very wet and rainy day!
A quiet evening.
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