Room 004, School of Arts and Sciences
Central Campus
Manipur, a major gateway state and regional pivot for India’s Act East Policy, has remained aflame since May 2023, when conflict that began over rights and reservation quickly spiralled into chaos. Ethnic groups, primarily the majoritarian Meitei and the minority Kuki-Chin-Mizo, have warred with each other, with numerous incidents of protests, destruction, and death. The state is now adrift in conflict and political gamesmanship. Failure of governance is masked by ethnic profiling. Manipur today remains an object lesson in the how-to of hate and the how-not-to of administration, even as clarity of purpose for a shared future, peace, and reconciliation, remain urgent imperatives.
Sudeep Chakravarti is a Professor of Practice at the School of Arts and Sciences at Ahmedabad University; and Chair of the Communication Programme. Until August 2024 he was Director of the Center for South Asian Studies at University of Liberal Arts Bangladesh, where he also taught conflict studies, South Asian literature, ethics, and journalism. He is the author of ten books that encompass history, ethnography, conflict and conflict resolution, geopolitics, geo-economics, and the intersection of business and human rights. These include The Eastern Gate: War and Peace in Nagaland, Manipur and India’s Far East (Simon and Schuster, 2022); Plassey: The Battle that Changed the Course of Indian History (Aleph, 2020); The Bengalis: A Portrait of a Community (Aleph, 2017); Highway 39 (Fourth Estate, 2012); and Red Sun (Viking/Penguin, 2008/2009). His latest book is Fallen City (Aleph, August 2024). An extensively published columnist with wide experience in Indian and global media, he has for long advocated conflict resolution in several geographies of South Asia in general and Northeastern India in particular.
